Canadian Flying Ace 'Stocky' Edwards Dies

From the May 23, 2022, Vancouver Sun "'Stocky' Edwards, flying ace in Second World War, dies at 100" by Phil  Davison, Washington Post.

He was heralded as Canada's "top gun" over the North African desert in 1942 and 1943.  he died May 13 in Comox.

With the rank of  wing commander, Mr. Edwards shot down a confirmed 19 Luftwaffe fighter planes and scored many more "probables."  He also destroyed at least  12 more enemy warplanes on the ground before they could take off.

Edwards flew U.S.-built P-40 Kittyhawk fighters, far heavier and slower than the German Messerschmidt's Bf-109, which made his accomplishments all the more remarkable.  Over Italy and  France later in the war, he would fly the  more nimble British Spitfires.

Physically, he was far from "stocky" and very skinny, but he got the name later in honor of his fortitude.

In all, he flew 373 combat missions, mostly over North Africa, but also flew over Allied landings in Italy in 1943 and 1944 and in Normandy on D-Day on June 6, 1944 --  a rare "triple" among Allied pilots.

--GreGen

Women in the Soviet Air Force-- Part 3: Beware the Nachthexen!!

There were three separate units of women in the Soviet Air Force.  One was staffed by women pilots,  a second was of navigators and a third of ground personnel.  

The 588th Bomber Squadron was staffed entirely by women and led by the intrepid  Maria Roskova..  They flew older wooden planes which necessarily were slower than other aircraft.  As a consequence, they flew only at night to avoid easy detection.  This also contributed to their fame.

The pilots would often cut their motors so the Germans wouldn't hear them.  Then, after a quick dive, they would release their bombs.  Once dropped, they would reengage their engines and leave the area.

Sometimes the bombs would jam and one of the two women crew members would have to climb out on the wing and hand-release them. 

One in every ten of these bomber crews received the Hero of the Soviet Union medal.

The Germans were so vexed by them that they  nicknamed the Soviet Union  Nachthexen (Night Witches).

The crews flew more than 30,000 missions, each member averaging more than  250 apiece.  Some nights they flew more than one mission.

Stuff I Definitely Didn't Know.  --GreGen

Kenneth Taylor, One of Just 14 Pilots to get Their Planes Up Against the Japanese at Pearl Harbor Honored-- Part 1

From the October 27, 2019 Enid (Oklahoma) News & Eagle  "Enid native, Pearl Harbor hero to be inducted into Military Hall of Fame" by James Neal.

The late Brigadier Gen. Kenneth Taylor was honored as one of the first two pilots to get their aircraft into the air to fight the Japanese Dec. 7, 1941.  He was inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame on Saturday.

He was one of 13 veterans who were inducted.  Also honored at the ceremony were the USS Oklahoma  and 429 sailors and Marines who died aboard her that day.

Taylor was born December 23, 1919,  and shortly afterwards his family moved to Hominy, Ok., where he graduated high school.  He attended pre-law at the University of Oklahoma and joined the Army Air Corps two years later.

After completing flight training at  Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas,  He was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field in Oahu, Hawaii.

--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

D-Day +75 Years-- Part 4: "I'd Like To Volunteer, Sir"

These are the stories of those beaches on June 6, 1944, as told by those who were there -- the voices of D-Day.

" I'D LIKE TO VOLUNTEER, SIR"

As a boy in Machias, New York, Fayette Richardson was fascinated with airplanes and ear movies.  At 17, he enlisted but didn't qualify for pilot training.  Instead, he was asked to join a parachute regiment's Pathfinder team: those who jump first and guide those who follow.  It was strictly a voluntary thing according to his commanding officer.

"I think of Errol Flynn and how he and David Niven volunteered to do things in 'Dawn Patrol,' " Richardson recalled.  he told his commanding officer: "I'd like to volunteer, sir."   This is according to Richardson's personal story in an oral history story "I Wouldn't Want to Do It Again" by Joel Baret.

Richardson and others of the 82nd and 101st Airborne dropped inland on Normandy just after midnight the day of the invasion.

--GreGen

The Curtiss P-40 B Tomahawk #41-13297-- Part 2: In a Hanger During the Attack

The Collins Foundation Tomahawk was made a part of the 19th Pursuit group at Wheeler Field in Hawaii.

In October 1941 it was in a wheels up landing which required repairs.  It was in a hanger when the Japanese attacked and that probably saved it.

It was quickly repaired afterwards and returned to flight worthy status.

However, on January 24, 1942, after just nine months of service and just 56 hours flight time, on a routine training flight it spun out of control and crashed.

The pilot, Lt. Kenneth Wayne Sprankle, was killed.  The crash took place in a rather inaccessible area.  The body was recovered and the plane left in place.

It has since been recovered.

--GreGen

Coast Guard Tender Kukui-- Part 3: Pearl Harbor's Ni'ihau Incident

One of the men on that trip to Niihau Island was George Larsen, who wrote that the Army raiders went ashore and returned on the 14th of December with the pilot's belongings.  The pilot was dead, having been killed by a 6 foot 6 inch Hawaiian who grappled with him.  The Japanese pilot, Shigenori Nishikaichi shot the Hawaiian three times point-blank in the groin, but that didn't stop the Hawaiian.

They inspected the items brought back and was a synchronized machine gun from the planes which still had 20 bullets in its breech.  Another was a fish skin water proof wrapping that had been around the pilot's waist which contained local maps, money and other things necessary if he had to bail out over Oahu.

George Larson pulled a bullet out of the machine gun as "an easy souvenir."

Deaths in 2014: Richard Bolt, RNZAF

RICHARD BOLT Royal New Zealand Air Force officer.  Born 1923, died 27 July 2014.

Second World War bomber pilot and senior RNZAF officer in the postwar years until 1980.  His father was the pioneer New Zealand aviator George Bolt.

During the war, he served with the Pathfinder Force and flew Lancaster bombers.

Received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945.

--GreGen

Deaths in 2014: Lettice Curtis, English Female Aviator (ATA)

LETTICE CURTIS  (1915-July 21, 2014)

British female aviator who learned to fly in 1937.  In July 1940, became the first woman to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).  She remained with it until 30 November 1945 where she primarily delivered training aircraft to the male pilots.

She was one of the first women to qualify to fly four engine bombers and was the first woman pilot to deliver an Avro Lancaster bomber.  She also flew the 222 Handley Page Halifax and 109 Short Stirlings.

Flew 13 days on and 2 off for 62 consecutive months.

Quite a Woman

Death of Heroine Jacqueline Morgan in 2014

From the March 1, 2014, KTRE 9 TV "East Texas WWII heroine Jacqueline Morgan dies" by Francesco Washington.

Jacqueline Morgan, 94, died in Lufkin, Texas.  She was one of 1,174 WASPs (Women Air Force Service Pilots."  She joined in 1943 and towed targets for anti-aircraft practice, mostly flying  AT6s and BT-13s.

She joined because an older brother, already in the military, had been killed in a training accident.

WASPs were considered civilians and their records were classified for 35 years and were not offered military status until 1977.

In 2009, the group received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award.  they also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

--GreGen

Navy Pilot Sought and Destroyed Submarines

From the February 6, 2012, Canton (Ohio) Rep "World War II Then and Now: Navy pilot sought and destroyed enemy submarines" by Gary Brown.

MARVIN BLAIR FISHER was a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Navy a month before Pearl Harbor. He already had his private pilot's license.

He flew a torpedo bomber off aircraft carriers in the Pacific after getting his Navy Wings July 20, 1942 and flew off several carriers, including the USS Saratofga, before it was sunk.

His job was to protect the fleet and especially its aircraft carriers. Otherwise, he had nowhere to land. He dropped torpedoes and bombs and went after Japanese submarines. "We dropped a lot of depth charges" as well, he said. (Most often I regard depth charges as being dropped by surface ships.)

He added that once, "I actually saw two kamihaze planes hit each other before they could hit their target."

A problem faced by the crews of torpedo bombers was their slow speed and another was that they had to fly a straight course during attacks, making them easy targets: "They were huge planes...we were sitting ducks when we went that slow. And, you can't maneuver well with the load we carried." He recalls meeting Joe Kennedy, JFK's older brother, before he was killed.

Not All Fun and Games. --GreGen

World War II Air Ace Buried In an Unmarked Grave

From the Feb. 12, 2012, U.K. Telegram "World War II: air ace in an unmarked grave."

The remains of Flying Officer Derek Allen was found after being in an unmarked grave for 71 years. Over an eight-day stretch when he was 22-years-old, he was shot down twice and credited with four outright and three shared enemy kills.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for shooting down a German bomber that was wreaking havoc on Allied forces during the Battle of France in May 1940.

One day, his Hurricane fighter plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He bailed out and spent 24-hours walking through enemy-held territory to get to Allied lines. He went into battle two days later, but his plane was shot down again in northern France and this time he was killed. He was listed as MIA and presumed KIA.

Recently, Andy Saunders began researching on Flying Officer Derek Allen and discovered that a Hurricane plane had crashed the same day that Allen disappeared. His body was removed May 18th and buried in an unmarked grave in the village of Poix-de-Nord, near Cambra.

Some 40,000 RAF personnel were unaccounted for at the end of the war.

Let's Hope the Grave Is Now Marked, Or, Even Better, Moved Back to Britain. --GreGen

Follow Up from the 2-16-12 History Channel. Derek Allen's younger brother, Richard, now 81, will lead his family to his grave for a dedication.

Jim Landis' Pearl Harbor Plane-- Part 4

Continued from February 22nd.

After Midway, the shot up SBD-2 was sent back stateside, repaired and assigned to Carrier Qualification Training Unit at Glenview NAS in Illinois.  A lot of obsolete or heavily damaged planes were assigned to this site, which, along with pilot error (after all, they were learners) led to a large number of crashes into lake Michigan while attempting to land on the converted carriers.

On the morning of June 11, 1943, with Marine 2nd Lt Donald A. Douglas piloting, it too crashed into the lake during an errant approach to training carrier Sable (IX-81).

It was recovered from the lake in 1994.

This plane has a lot of history as a survivor of Pearl Harbor, two other air actions and the Battle of Midway and then training.  Without qualified pilots, the aircraft carriers were not of much use.

Its armament consisted of two forward-firing .50 inch machine guns and a rear-firing .30-inch machine gun.  Its crew consisted of a pilot and a gunner.  This would make sense of Jim Landis saying at Pearl Harbor that he had gotten a machine gun from the plane and used it to fire at the Japanese planes.

The plane can be seen at the Naval Air Museum at Pensacola NAS in Florida.

The Story of a Plane.  --GreGen

"Hump Pilots" Hold Final Reunion

From the May 4, 2011, Charleston, SC, 4 ABC.

World War II "Hump Pilots" held what might be their last reunion in Charleston back then when five men between the ages of 89-91 met in the city.One was Tex Rankin and another was Bill Thomas, 91, of Charleston.

In the 1940s, they flew support missions over the Himalayas (the Hump) between India and China.

Their first reunion was in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan.

The reason for disbanding, of course, is age and death.

The Greatest Generation.  --GreGen