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GEARING UP
- Thread starter Grant
- Start date
Hey, thanks! I don’t think I’ve ever looked him up. I collected most of my stuff in the 90s and early 2000s when info wasn’t that available. I really appreciate it. I should put more names up here for those more tech savvy than me!
Thanks again,
Dave
unclegrumpy
Well-Known Member
You are welcome...sometimes these guys are not too hard to find, other times near impossible. I think there is a very good chance this is the correct id...he was from Denver...and the name is not too common.
Carl
Well-Known Member
I have a original photo of "knockout dropper" ! Now to find it ! ??
Edward
Well-Known Member
very young and mostly inexperienced. many just barely got their wings before arriving and many had very little actual air time before their first mission. Then there was mechanical failures let alone enemy attacks. In 1942-43 it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete a 25-mission tour in Europe .The guy on the left looks about 16 at the most.
A different breed .
According to the AAF Statistical Digest, in less than four years (December 1941- August 1945), the US Army Air Forces lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and assorted personnel plus 13,873 airplanes --- inside the continental United States! They were the result of 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months.
They average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month---- nearly 40 a day. (again- on the Homefront before leaving to a theater of operation!)
Almost 1,000 Army planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign locations.
43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat missions (18,418 against the Western Axis) and 20,633 attributed to non-combat causes overseas.
A different breed indeed. just to be assigned was a death sentence.
I read where it was so sobering that command would even tell men at briefings to consider themselves already dead. how's that for starting out your day after breakfast!
Thomas Koehle
Well-Known Member
This is real “hard stuff” and makes me think over how I would react if I where in their shoes
Edward
Well-Known Member
ya. I finished watching The Pacific 10 part series never having had watched it (I had watched Band of Brothers years ago and didn't realize this was similar but about the marines in the CBI) and it really touched upon PTSD and all that they mentally had to endure during missions let alone post war trauma. I was depressed for a couple of days after watching the final episode. I enjoy my WW2 collecting and watching movies, reading books etc but glamorizing and romanticizing the era is a mistake I often make. it wasn't exactly good times to be sure.
Cocker
Well-Known Member
Noticed this too, is there any good reason for that? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen B-17 crew with them, or at least never noticed before.
Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk
unclegrumpy
Well-Known Member
Also notice it does not appear that there are any ear phones in the flight helmet...one side is partially unsnapped and there is no sign of a communication cord.
It is not uncommon for publicity photos to have things wrong with them...the most surprising thing here is the broken goggle lense....how hard would it have been to grab a different pair of goggles or just put a new lense in? They probably figured nobody would notice...and I bet they knew the pictures would be printed in a smaller size or in black and white where that wouldn't show up.
It is not uncommon for publicity photos to have things wrong with them...the most surprising thing here is the broken goggle lense....how hard would it have been to grab a different pair of goggles or just put a new lense in? They probably figured nobody would notice...and I bet they knew the pictures would be printed in a smaller size or in black and white where that wouldn't show up.
Edward
Well-Known Member
this is a cool January 1943 publicity photo of Jimmy Stewart wearing a B-2 cap, HS-23 receivers, A-8B and a B3 Flight Jacket. since it was published in January this would be a 1942 photo.
unclegrumpy
Well-Known Member
This looks like the same day...and shows what he was wearing was actually what he was wearing when he was flying:
First Lieutenant James M. Stewart, USAAF, (third from left) as a pilot at the Training Command Bombardier School, Kirtland AAF, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
First Lieutenant James M. Stewart, USAAF, (third from left) as a pilot at the Training Command Bombardier School, Kirtland AAF, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
Edward
Well-Known Member
Wow! Nice find! Great pic!! Thanks!This looks like the same day...and shows what he was wearing was actually what he was wearing when he was flying:
First Lieutenant James M. Stewart, USAAF, (third from left) as a pilot at the Training Command Bombardier School, Kirtland AAF, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
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unclegrumpy
Well-Known Member
Slightly off topic, but in looking for 1942 Jimmy Stewart pictures....
Notice what it says on the chest of the L2B he is wearing...
This photo was taken when he went on a B-52 mission to North Vietnam in 1966 with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Wing. While not a rack number (there probably is one inside it somewhere), this clearly was not his jacket...but one "loaned" to him for the mission...though they did put generals stars on for him.
Notice what it says on the chest of the L2B he is wearing...
This photo was taken when he went on a B-52 mission to North Vietnam in 1966 with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Wing. While not a rack number (there probably is one inside it somewhere), this clearly was not his jacket...but one "loaned" to him for the mission...though they did put generals stars on for him.
Edward
Well-Known Member
LOL! more than one James Stewart serving in the ETO!
James M. Stewart Crew
B-17F-5-FO #41-24399 "Man O' War"
306th BG - 367th BS
Standing Left to Right: James M. Stewart (P), Thomas McMillan (R/O), William Dickey (CP), Charles Meriwether (FE), Raymond Schnoyer (BTG), Jack Wheeler (TG), Hugh Langan (WG), John Creamer (B)
James M. Stewart Crew
B-17F-5-FO #41-24399 "Man O' War"
306th BG - 367th BS
Standing Left to Right: James M. Stewart (P), Thomas McMillan (R/O), William Dickey (CP), Charles Meriwether (FE), Raymond Schnoyer (BTG), Jack Wheeler (TG), Hugh Langan (WG), John Creamer (B)
unclegrumpy
Well-Known Member
Notice that it is not just James Stewart, but another "James M Stewart".....and I bet there were others...maybe not 8th AAF pilots, but others in the Army in WW II....a great example of how common names can be, and how that can make researching someone or something difficult without more clues or information.
Edward
Well-Known Member
Very good point!
