History WWII nose art 5th air force

Hemiman,

Thanks for posting [all if this for that matter], ...it could well be, but I'm afraid I can't verify. Too bad Dad's not still with us, he was still mentally sharp at 90yrs when he passed, ...hell, he probably coulda told you who the driver was! I know Dad's bird said "Mavis" on the nose, he & Mom grew up in the same neighborhood but didn't marry 'til he returned in '44, ...he was dating an Aussie gal by that name at the time. I'll have to check some of our old photos & see what I can find.

Dad, by the way, was a charter member of & the 2nd Commander of the 21st Squadron; which incidentally is, so far as I'm aware, the only remaining Transport Squadron formed in WWII that is still existent in todays Air Force. They have been active in the Pacific pretty much continually since then [including Vietnam], and are currently assigned to Travis AFB.

 

Nice read!

 

Ironically, 53Hattie,after WWII my brother in law went to work in the control tower at TRAVIS AFB until his retirement.---Don

 

repost this without resizing it, its too small to enjoy. and thank you guys for posting i cant get enough.

 

My Dad flew C-141s out of Travis, '66-'69.

 

13th Sqdn A-20

 

8th Sqdn plane over the Boram strip at Wewak

 

Hollandia.. The 5th did a royal job on the Japanese base. Over 300 a/c were destroyed..

 

Later on, when the 5th moved into Hollandia, a couple Japanese a/c were rebuilt/flown by the ground crews. Here's the Japanese "Dinah" observation plane that the 89th Sqdn, with some help from the other Sqdns rebuilt. It was returned to the US for flight tests and was lost in a landing incident.

 

I recently received a couple pics from my good friend, Col. (Ret) Ed Shook. Major C.C. Smith was the CO of the 8th Sqdn. In Sep 44' he rotated home on a pretty unusual mission. Per Ed, C.C. flew this fighter, a KI 43, called "The Raccoon Special" from Hollandia to Finschhafen, where it was loaded on a flat top and delivered to Long Beach. After a short stay, Major Smith departed on a cross country trip to deliver the a/c to Wright Patterson. After 4 emergency landings, he was able to reach his destination. This plane now resides in the Pima Museum today. Oh, and CC's friend is Sir Patrick O'Malley. Plane was rebuilt by the 84th Airdrome Squadron

 

I would be remiss in not saying that I have to thank many members of the Reaper family for their memories and photo's. One hell of a bunch of guys!

 

My favorite pic of my dad and his buddies... I hope I haven't worn my welcome out, and wish that others on this board will dig out their family photo's and either add them here or maybe start a post to honor them.
Bill

Standing L-R

Dad , Harry Kiser

Kneeling L-R

Nick Sowka, Charles Storms

 

This just gets better and better!!

Doc.

 

Yeah, it's a small world eh Don?! ...and Thank You for start'n this'n! Really a big part of my life, even though it's second hand to me. Always living on/near Bases as a kid, every time there was a BBQ or other social gathering at our place, as soon as Dad & his contemporaries got a tad lubricated, it'd come down to war stories! I could, and often did, sit rapt for hours listening to those "brown shoe corps" guys rehashing their exploits!

A good book, if you're interested in the troop carrier part of the Pacific Theater during WWII and can find a copy, is "the 347th Troop Carrier Group 1942-1945" by Col. Edward T. Imperato. You'll find a photo of my Pop on page 131. Pretty good selection of "Gooney" nose art included also.

 

We gotta keep this thread going on. These are some great photos. Let's see some more !

 

Fantastic pics Hemiman. Great stories too guys. Just trying to get my head around the sort of stuff that went on back then. You can nearly get into those pics. Sure was a different time with a different kind of man.

 

Striper/Doc..

Here's a good one for ya ! As you mates know, Charters Towers was an old gold mining town. Well, I guess they used the scat from the mines to make the runways that the 3rd used. When the guys found out they were taking off and landing on a runway that contained gold remnants, the gold fever struck and more than a few tried panning in the Burdic (I think thats the name) river. Jack Heyn sent me a pic of some of the guys looking for a little added income..

Bill

 

Haha, that's a good one Bill. Charters Towers airfield is still used, though it's now a sealed two runway municipal airport!. Most of the WWII airfields are still there up north, some now like Charters Towers some are just a dirt strip and some are now overgrown and disused.
I loved it when we were on Exercise up north, I used to get 'detached' as a specialist Medic and have my own Ambulance and driver. We would get sent all over the north of Australia, we would stop in at every airfield still there from WWII. Its an amazing feeling standing there looking down the very same strip that the very first Australian attack on the Japanese was launched from.
A lot of the strips are still used by the Army and Air Force, mainly by helicopters and transport aircraft. Did a lot of Aeromedical Evac from some for the Army's 1st Field Hospital (Now called 1st Health Support Battalion) it's almost scary how much like M.A.S.H. that unit was like set up in the field.
We used places like Milingimbi Airstrip (There is still some aircraft components there from WWII), Daly Waters , Tindal (Still an operational R.A.A.F. Base), Batchelor Airstrip, Adelaide River Airstrip and many more. Your father would have flown in and out off all of these airstrips.
Used some them as bases for H.A.P.O. jumps.
Good fun times, I miss all that.


Doc.

 

Doc..

Early 42' the 8th was flying A-24's and I do have a pic of them at Daly Waters.

Bill

 

This is one of the most interesting threads that I have had the pleasure or reading on the HAMB, thanks to all.

 

A C-141 flew me home in 1966. Pleku to Clark, then Yakoda, and finally Travis. It was a brand new airplane with a new car smell. Tell your Dad thanks for me.

 

Great shots of the bombing runs. I'll have to look for my family photo's of their in flight footage...

Meanwhile here's some footage of my friends Dad after he became an Ace.!

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/6...icer-dividing-money_pilot-in-cockpit-of-plane

Tim is still around he has a great attitude but he's deaf as a stone!

Here are a couple of my wife's Gandfather sitting on the wing of the P39's that helped his platoon under heavy gunfire.

 

Hey Doc, You're close in to Brisbane, do you ever drop by the Brecky Creek for a steak & a brew?

 

Hey Bill,---Whats a A-24???---I was a Junior aircraft spotter during WWII, but I don't recall that make.----Don

 

The A-24 was the Army version of the Douglas Dauntless dive bomber.


Doc.

 

Thanks Doc!----I only knew it as Douglas SBD dive bomber.

Searching the military aircraft, I found this pix,---Looks identical nose art to my brother in laws jacket patch he gave me in 1943!!---Small world!

 

Don,

Yep, Doc is correct, the Army version of the Dauntless. Here's a pic of the 8th's CO' "Buck" Rogers" bird. Now, this one is special, as it has the "hot rod" mod. Look closely at the prop and you'll notice it's a bit large. This bird had a bad engine, with no spares available, BUT, there were a couple B-17 engines laying around, so the swap was made. A very famous RAAF pilot "Black Jack" Walker did the preliminary flight test on it.

Bill

 

Ok..

Some more mission photo's. 13th Sqdn plane doing his thing



Kavieng Japanese Float planes...



Parafrags dropped on one of the Wewak strips



Out on the hunt



Practice makes perfect

 

I posted a couple pics of the guys rebuilding some Japanese a/c, so here's a series of photo's of what they did with one of ours. 89th Sqdn plane "Lil Hellion" bellied in at Moresby. The guys used two a/c to make one and named it "The Steak & Egg Special". It was used to bring food and beverages back from Australia. She got caught in bad weather, exhausted her fuel and was beached on Low Wooded Island. 2 years ago, two of my Aussie mates made a trek to the island and brought back pieces of her for some of the guys who rebuilt her.. Thanks to my mates John Jewell , Bruce Buchan and the Aussie Coast Guard!!













where she rests today

 

Love the "Jackstands" in the rebuild photos, just that little bit of improvisation woulda been a chore in itself! The work these ground crews did was hard work even under the easiest of circumstance, much less under the conditions in which they applied their craft about 95% of the time! They obviously spent alot of time thinkin' outa the box, Ya gotta believe a fair number of'em were hot rodders at heart, if not in actuality!

Upon afterthought: In my initial comment my thoughts were mostly of their chronic lack of parts, proper tools, facility, and etc. ...let us not forget lack of shelter [no "shade tree" mechanics here], coupled with miserable weather: searing sun, blistering heat, suffering humidity, and/or pouring rain [mud], & anything else mother nature could brew up! Leave us also not forget the snakes, bugs [the likes of which are unknown stateside], rats, & every other kind of critter you can imagine. They also couldn't "call the game on account of rain" as it were, the work schedule didn't allow for putting anything off 'til tomorrow! ...they Broke Their Butts day in & day out!

Then toss in being shot at on occasion just for sport too!