First Lt. Hal Johnson stands in front of his P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter after World War II when he was flying with the 81st Fighter Group, 91st Squadron, stationed at Wheeler Field in Hawaii. Photo provided
As a kid Hal Johnson wanted to be a fighter pilot. When he joined the Army Air Corps in 1943 they made him a B-24 “Liberator” bomber pilot. Read the rest of this entry »
Wes Belleson is pictured in England during World War II when he flew from Horsham Air Base near Norwich as the tail gunner on a B-24 “Liberator” bomber in the 8th Air Force . Photo provided
The American 8th Air Force saved the English from being invaded and defeated by Germany during World War II, according to Wes Belleson, who served as a tail gunner in a B-24 “Liberator” flying from a field near Norwich, England during the Second World War.
“Never Mrs.” was a shapely lass who adored the nose of Matt Williams’ “Liberator” four-engine bomber during the Second World War. Photo provided
1st Lt. Matt Williams of Englewood, Fla. flew his first combat mission piloting a B-24 “Liberator,” four-engine bomber over Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day Invasion, June 6, 1944, along the beaches of Normandy in World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Bill Lightfoot of Quail Run is pictured at 21 about the time he began teaching British cadets how to fly Stearman PT-17 biplanes at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. in 1941. Photo provided
Bill Lightfoot was in his fourth year in a small Presbyterian liberal arts college in South Carolina in 1941 when he got his civilian pilots license. He decided to quit school and become an aviation instructor for he United States Government. Read the rest of this entry »
Wearing his leather flying cap, goggles and a leather flight jacket, Don Bunger of Port Charlotte, Fla. looks like the quintessential World War II Aviation Cadet. He learned to fly pursuit planes at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. in 1944. Photo provided
Don Bunger was in “Class 45-B,” the last class of pursuit pilots to graduate from Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. at the end of World War II. He soloed and got his wings flying a Stearman PT-17 two cockpit biplane just days before the program closed for good.
Capt. Wally Weber returns from a mission in his Corsair fighter. When this picture was shot, he was flying from Peleliu Island in the Pacific. Photo provided
Wally Weber of Burnt Store Country Club didn’t have to sweat the draft during World War II. His father was the chairman of the local draft board in the little town in Oklahoma where he grew up. Read the rest of this entry »
The crew of “Hubba-Hubba”, a B-24 bomber, is pictured on the snow-covered ground in Yugoslavia during World War II. The crew is surrounded by the family of the commander of the Yugoslavian partisans who rescued them. Photo provided
Staff Sgt. Raymond Hook , radio operator on a B-24 Liberator called the “Hubba-Hubba,” and the other eight members of his crew were shot down on their sixth combat mission to destroy a German oil refinery during the final months of World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
