80th Anniversary of D-Day-- Part 5: Bombing the Germans

"We did our job and we came home and that's it.  We never talked about it I think.  For 70 years I didn't talk about it," said Ralph Goldsticker, a U.S. Army Air Force captain who served in the 452nd Bomb Group.

Of the D-Day landings, he recalled seeing from his aircraft "a big chunk of the beach with thousands of vessels," and spoke of bombing raids against German strongholds and routes that German forces might otherwise have used to rush in reinforcements to push the invasion back into the sea.

"I dropped my first bomb at 06:58 a.m. n a heavy gun placement," he said.  "We went back home and landed at 9:30.  We reloaded."

--GreGen

Remains of Illinois Airman Identified

From the January 7, 2023, ABC Eyewitness News (Chicago)  "Remains of World War II airman from Illinois finally identified thanks to new technology."

The remains of a WW II airman have finally been accounted for.

Harold Kretzer, a 32-year-old Odin man in downstate Marion County, was a U.S. Army  Air Forces  tech.

In the summer of 1943,  he was on board a bomber that was hit by enemy fire and crashed in Romania.  He was buried there as an unknown hero,  but new technology has allowed his remains to be identified.  

He will be reburied in Springfield, Illinois.

--GreGen

What Happened to the Surplus WW II Planes-- Part 2

Kingman, Arizona, became a huge and well-known desert parking lot for a surplus fleet estimated at more than 5,000 aircraft.  But there were many smaller "parking lots."

Most of the planes were scrapped in the postwar 1940s.

Army Air Force depots near Spokane, Washington, and Ogden, Utah,  yielded scrap in an era long before these machines were prized as historical icons.

Meanwhile,bases in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Pyote, Texas,  parked aircraft in the dry sunshine.  Pyote is said to have stored as many as 2,000 warplanes, including many B-29  Superfortresses.

Walnut Ridge, Arknasas, as well as Clinton and  Altus, Oklahoma,  also swelled with surplus aircraft, with Walnut Ridge storing nearly 4,000.  Augusta, Georgia, was another RFC storage center.

The current military aircraft storage and salvage facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson also stored Army Air Force craft  after the war.  Included in this was a number of foreign and domestic artifacts destined for the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

--GreGen

An Original Tuskegee Airman Dies Back in 2019

From the Jne 25, 2019, Chicago Sun-Times "WW II pilot, original Tuskegee airman, AP.

World War II  pilot Robert Friend, one of the last original members of the famed all-black Tuskegee Airmen, has died at age 99.

He died at a southern California hospital.

Born in South Carolina on 1920's leap day, Mr. Friend flew 142 combat missions in the war as part of an elite group of fighter pilots trained at  at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute.  The program was created after the NAACP began challenging policies barring black people from flying military aircraft.

Mr. Friend's 28-year Air Force career included service in Korea and Vietnam.

He also worked on space launch vehicles and served as foreign technology program director before retiring as a lieutenant colonel and forming his own aerospace company.

Quite a Life.  GreGen

Sgt. Ridolph on Overseas Broadcast

From the April 29, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Sgt. Sam J. Ridolph, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ridolph of 901 North Thirteenth Street, will be heard in a special overseas broadcast Friday noon.

"The program was recorded somewhere over in Europe where Sgt. Ridolph  is serving with a ground crew in the First Tactical Air Force."

Good to Hear from Loved Ones at the Front.  --GreGen

Interstate TDR-1 Drones-- Part 4: Testing and the Yamasuki Maru

The code name for the project was Operation Option and the U.S. Navy had plans for up to eighteen squadrons of the drones with 162 Grummans TBF Avengers as control aircraft and  1000 flying TDR-1 drones.

However, there were technical difficulties with their operation and unfortunately, low priority given to the project.  The contract was modified and the order reduced to just 300 of the aircraft.  A single TDR-1 was tested  bu the U.S. Army Air Force as the XBQ-4, however no extra production orders were received.

In 1944, under control of the Special Air Task Force (SATFOR), the TDR-1 was deployed operationally in the Pacific for operations against the Japanese.  Additional testing was done by SATFOR in July, complete with a strike against a previously beached Japanese freighter named the Yumasuki Maru  (Yamasuki Maru), including management of the flight from seven miles away by TBM Avenger aircraft, which could monitor the progress from the TDR's  via early television technology.

--GreGen

Death of Daring WW II WASP, Dorothy Olsen-- Part 1: One of Just 1,074

From the August 8, 2019, Chicago Tribune "Daring aviatrix flew with WASPs during World War II" by Emily Langer, Washington Post.

DOROTHY OLSEN  1916-2019

Growing up on a farm in Oregon, Dorothy Olsen fell in love with flying.  She recalled, "From the time I was a little girl... until the time I was flying night missions as a Woman Airforce Service Pilot (WASPs) over moonlit Texas during World War II, I just loved to fly."

Olsen was one of the few surviving WASPs, the long unrecognized corps of female pilots who flew vital domestic missions for the Army Air Forces during World War II, died July 23 at her home in Washington state.  She was 103.

Olsen, then Dorothy Kocher, was working as a dance instructor in Portland, Oregon, when she joined the WASPs in 1943, the year the program was established.

Olsen had scrimped by to pay for private flying lessons for a pilot license and was one of mire than 25,000 women who applied to be WASPs, one of 1,879 candidates accepted and one of 1,074 to complete the training program.

--GreGen

Peshtigo Firestorm-- Part 6: Firebombing Japan

From Facts and Detals "Fire Bombing Attacks on Tokyo and Japan in World War II.

The U.S. Army carefully studied the Peshtigo Firestorm in Wisconsin in 1871 before they commenced firebombing of Axis cities in Germany.

During the spring and summer of 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force destroyed nearly every major Japanese city.  Early raids were daytime and high altitude with many bombs missing their targets.Later these changed to low-level, night-time raids that used hundreds of B-29 bombers that dropped bombs with napalm and other incendiary chemicals.

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm-- Part 5: The Japan Firebombins

Tokyo and sixty other Japanese cities were firebombed by the United States during the war.  despite how deadly they were, the wasn't much American criticism at the time because most felt "they  had it coming" after Pearl Harbor.

E. Bartlett Kerr's book "Flames Over Tokyo:  The U.S. Army Air Force's Incendiary Campaign Against Japan 1944-1945" discusses the origins, development, planning and implementation of this campaign.

There are also other books that discuss it.

On November 7, 1941, General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, instructed his aides to develop contingency plans for "general incendiary attacks to burn up the wood and paper structures of the densely populated Japanese cities."

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm of 1871-- Part 3: Operation Gomorrah

In Europe, Allied airstrikes at Dresden and Hamburg were carefully planned to turn into incendiary firestorms

Indeed, the destruction at Hamburg was code named "Operation Gomorrah."  Hamburg, because of its industry, shipyards, U-boat pens and oil refineries, made it a major target for Allied attacks all throughout the war.  But the last week of July 1943 Operation Gomorrah created one of the largest firestorms of the war.

Some 42,600 civilians were killed and 37,00 wounded by Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force and virtually destroyed most of the city.

It had not rained for some time and everything was very dry.  The concentrated bombing created a vortex and a super-heated air which created a 460 meter tornado of fire.

--GreGen

Sycamore Vet Recounts Pearl Harbor Attack-- Part 2: "What Could Be Better?"

Thirty-three men died at Wheeler Field that day.

Both brothers survived the attack, but they didn't see each other for another three days, as the men hid, fearing the Japanese had invaded the island.  Their mother wouldn't get word of their survival until a month later.  (That had to be a really hard month for the family.

Bruce Miller, Burton's son, said his father and uncle enlisted in the Army Air Corps after seeing an ad in their local newspaper in Mount Vernon.  They had been in Hawaii for less than a year when the attack came.

"The ad said to sign up  for four years in the Army Air Corps and spend three years in Hawaii,"  Bruce said.  "This was 1940 and they had no idea what was coming, and they thought, 'What could be better?'  Two farm boys got away from milking cows and doing chores."

The Army Air Corps became the Army Air Forces on June 20, 1941.

--GreGen

Deaths: US Army Air Force Felix Michael Rogers in 2014

Felix Michael Rogers, 92  Born July 6, 1921.  Died April 23, 2014.

United States Air Force general.  Enlisted as a private in April 1942 and became an aviation cadet in August of that year.  Completed pilot training and commissioned second lieutenant in 1943 in Yuma.

Served as a P-39 Airacobra pilot.with the 353rd Fighter Squadron.  Also flew the P-51 Mustangs and became a squadron commander.  Credited with 12 kills flying out of England, Italy and France.

Deaths: John Murray-- Part 2

John Murray and his partner Dennis Trettel, learned how to forecast the weather's effects on the operations of their clients in the Chicago area and were the first to use the color code to indicate weather severity

Locally in Chicago, his company had accounts with the City of Chicago, Commonwealth Edison, Ravinia, the Cubs and Brach's Candy company.

John Murray was born in Chicago.  While attending Loyola University, he joined the Army Air Forces meteorology division and was sent to the University of Michigan where he received a bachelor's degree, specializing in micrometeorology.

I was unable to find out if he was one of the meteoroligists who played such an important role in D-Day.  Perhaps he was.

--GreGen

Deaths: John Murray, Weather Forecaster During the War-- Part 1

JOHN MURRAY (1921-2015)

From the Jan. 6, 2015, Chicago Tribune  "Weather forecast firm took industry by storm" by Joan Giangrasse Kates.

John Murray started, with a partner, a small weather forecasting service after serving as a military meteorologist during World War II.  The firm became the source of highly specialized forecasts for major industries as well as regular people.

He died December 9, 2015, at age 94.

His partner was Dennis Trettel, cofounder of Murray and Trettel.  Both were veterans Army Air Force weather officers who used their expertise gained in war for peace time.  They gave companies specific real-time weather, better than what the Weather Bureau, now the National Weather Service was doing.

--GreGen

Hats at the Ranger Inn in Chicago-- Part 2: Some More Facts

The original hat was hung by the relative going into the United States Army Air Force.  The hats were hung from the bar's rafters and eventually there were 420.  Sixty of them were left by women.

At the hat reclamation party, several hundred people didn't want their dusty old hats, but were there for the free drinks. Three of the unclaimed hats were from those who were killed in action.

After the Fact:

Military hats recalled or disposed in 2001 from China by the United States: 618,000.

Illinois residents killed during the war: 22,283.

--GreGen