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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Aircraft  Flying Fortress |
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Eagle Attack by Nicolas Trudgian Typical of great air battles fought in the skies above occupied Europe were the determined interceptions by Luftwaffe fighters, particularly upon the massed daylight raids mounted by the American Eighth Air Force. Major Herman Graf, Gruppenkommandeur of JG50, and Oberleutnant Alfred Grislawski, Staffelkapitan of 1./JG50, flying Me109G-6s lead an attack on B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 91st Bomb Group, high over Germany in early September 1943. |
Rocket Attack by Nicolas Trudgian. It required more than a little nerve to fly a fighter into the barrage of fire sprayed out by the gunners of a box of B17 bombers; it took even greater courage to do so in the rocket propelled Me163 Komet. With rocket science still in its infancy, these small aircraft were still in the experimental stage, and piloting what amounted to a flying bomb was in itself a perilous business, let alone flying them into combat. But these were desperate times. The day and night bombing assault on Germany was bringing the mighty war machine to its knees, and aything that might help stem the tide was thrown into battle. Powered by a mixture of two highly volatile chemicals, the slightest leak, or heavy landing could cause a huge explosion, and the mix was so corrosive that in the event of even a minor accident, the pilot could literally be dissolved. Sitting in a cramped cockpit, surrounded by dangerous chemicals and ammunition, the intrepid aviator would be launched into the sky on what was, at best, a four minute mission. After, hopefully, engaing the enemy, he would glide powerlessly back to the nearest airfield to be refuelled so as to attempt the hazardous operation all over again. Though limited to a handful of victories, the Komet did make the Allied crews wonder what else the Luftwaffe had hidden up its sleeve, and had the distinction of being the forerunner of aircraft technology that eventually took aircraft into space. Capable of nearly 600mph and climbing to 30,000ft in less than two minutes, this tiny rocket propelled Me163 Komet was typical of Germanys ingenuity in its desperate attempts to stem the havoc being wreaked by the USAAFs daylight bombers. |
Top Cover by Stan Stokes. The painting depicts a P-51D Mustang (flown by William Bailey of the 353rd Fighter Group) flying escort for B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The scene is over the French countryside during late 1944, and several more hours of high altitude flying lies ahead of these pilots before the days work is over. Bombing played a major role in the Allies victory in Europe. The RAF relied primarily on night bombing which was also called strategic bombing. Day time bombing was a necessity for hitting specific targets such as munition plants, dams, and submarine pens. The Mighty Eighth took on responsibility for most of the day time bombing missions. The hazards and discomforts of high altitude flying, the perils of enemy flak batteries, and the threat of enemy fighters made these missions exceedingly dangerous until only very late in the war. Fighter escort was critically important in improving the odds of a successful mission, and the P-51 became arguably the premier aircraft for providing that cover. The P-51 is generally acknowledged as Americas top fighter plane of World War II. The first Mustangs were ordered by the British Government in 1940. The USAAF was initially reluctant to order the Mustang, having already committed itself to the P-38 Lightning, the P-47 Thunderbolt, the P-40 Warhawk, and the P-39 Airacobra. In 1944 an improved version of the Mustang, the D, came off North American Aviations assembly line in California. It was dramatically altered from earlier versions, as major changes in fuselage design were incorporated to improve pilot visibility. The P-51D was powered by a Packard-built, Rolls Royce-designed, liquid cooled V-12 engine which generated 1,612 HP. The Mustang had a top speed of 436 MPH, a range of 949 miles, and an operational ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet. Nearly 8,000 P-51Ds were produced. In service with the USAAF Mustangs flew in excess of 200,000 missions, and were credited with destroying nearly 5,000 enemy aircraft. The Mustang was unique in its ability to provide long range fighter escort, and this greatly enhanced the effectiveness of Allied bombing missions. On returning from their escort missions Mustangs would generally split into squadrons and take varying routes home looking for targets of opportunity. |
Flying Into a War by Stan Stokes. John Davy Crockett was trained as a navigator by Pan Am in mid-1941 because the USAAF did not have its navigator school in operation. Davy was assigned to the 36th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group flying the new B-17C Flying Fortress. Davy found that most Air Corps pilots were used to doing their own navigating, so his job would be easy. Davy experienced a crash in a B-17 while training, but the crew walked away from the wreck. In late 1941 his crew was informed that they would be flying to Clark Field in the Philippines. On December they left Albuquerque and flew to Hamilton Field in California. They received a briefing on expected weather and left on the evening of December 6 for their first stop at Hickham Field, Oahu Hawaii. Flying into the darkness over the vast Pacific, the pilot for the first time in Crocketts career turned the navigation over to Davy. Realizing that the Hawaiian Islands were only small dots on the charts of the vast Pacific, and that his aircraft would have little fuel reserves left when it arrived, sent chills up Crocketts spine. As dawn broke Davy saw lots of islands where there were not suppose to be any. His panic subsided when he realized that they were only clouds. The pilot, Earl Cooper, came on the intercom at that moment to ask for an ETA. As Davy responded, the gunners in the back came on the intercom to report a large formation of aircraft about ten miles north of their position. They must be Navy aircraft. Minutes later they had descended to about 1200 feet when eight fighter aircraft came straight at them with their guns blazing. As the aircraft flew bye the flight engineer, Jesse Broyls, yelled out, Rising Sun ! The zeros reformed behind the unarmed B-17, and as Cooper dove the lumbering giant towards the wave tops, Crockett could hear the thump of bullets hitting his plane. The No. 2 engine was hit and Cooper shut it down. Rounding Diamond Head at about 300-feet the crew saw smoke and fire everywhere, and Japanese planes all over the sky. They passed over Hickham Field at about 1000-feet, realizing that this was no time and place for a landing. They turned towards Ford Island and passed directly over the USS Arizona minutes after the ship had exploded. Crocketts B-17 now became a target for nervous anti-aircraft gunners on the ground, and the B-17 had its No. 4 engine shot out. Cooper prepared the crew to bail out, but he then saw an opportunity to bring the big bird into Wheeler Field. He came straight in and belly-landed the B-17 with almost no fuel left. The plane slid to a stop on the turf just short of a group of P-40s. The entire crew got out of the B-17 and ran for cover in a patch of nearby woods. The B-17s on the flight from the mainland were scattered all over the island, with most of them seriously damaged. Fortunately, there were only two casualties, a flight surgeon who was killed and a bombardier who was injured when they were strafed while running from their plane. Crockett would survive a third crash in another B-17 on December 25th when he would spend six days in a life raft. |
A Green Hill Far Away by Robert Tomlin. On the morning of October 14th 1943 along with 15 others from the 305th Bomb Group, Lazy Baby set off from Chelveston in England on Mission 115, the second Schweinfurt raid, later to become known as Black Thursday. By the time they reached Aachen on the outward leg only Lazy Baby and two others of the 305th were left flying, They were then seriously damaged and three crew severely injured whilst two bailed out. Diving from 23,000 ft to only 3,000 ft, pilot Ed Dienhart managed to escape the attacking fighters. With the ball turret gunner trapped and navigator seriously injured they proceeded at 30 to 50 feet, hedge-hopping all the way, to Switzerland and safety. Guided by the navigator Don Rowley who, despite having both arms virtually severed, managed to steer them from memory for over an hour to Switzerland where they made a dramatic crash landing only four miles from the German border. The navigator died the following day from his injuries. Whilst the pilot drew upon every ounce of his flying skills, the rest of the crew exhibited untold valour in the face of terrible adversity and selfless devotion to their stricken comrades. This print is autographed by pilot Ed Dienhart and Swiss Schoolmaster Leo Thuring who helped to rescue the mortally wounded navigator. Accompanying the print is a 24 page illustrated book which charts the story from take off, through the landing, to the eventual escape of some of the crew back to England. An individual book plate is also signed by members of the crew, the author and relevant Swiss personalities providing not only a complete historical record of the heroism and valour of the crew, but a tribute to all who fought for the freedom which we now enjoy. |
First Strike on Berlin by Nicolas Trudgian. The first successful daylight raid on Berlin. Nicolas Trudgians painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th B.G. are attacked. Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I charge into the bomber stream. With throttles wide open, 56th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolts come hurtling down to intercept. B-17 gunners are working overtime, the air is full of cordite, smoke, jagged pieces of flying metal and hot lead. We are in the midst of one of the fiercest aerial battles of the war. |
Texas Raiders by Nicolas Trudgian. Issued to help raise funds for B-17 'Texas Raiders' of the Gulf Coast Wing, Houston, Texas. |
Teamwork by Nicolas Trudgian. P-51 Mustangs of the 20th Fighter Group make a low pass over B-17s of the 401st Bomb Group at Deenethorpe, as they return to their base at Kingscliffe in late 1944. |
Return to Rattlesden by Nicolas Trudgian. With their crews, the 447th Bomb Group B-17 Fortresses arrived at Rattlesden in late 1943, the East Anglian base from which the group flew all its missions until the end of the war. Entering combat on December 24, the 447th targeted submarine pens, naval installations, ports and missile sites, airfields and marshalling yards in France, Belgium and Germany in preparation for the Normandy invasion. In the thick of the bomber offensive, the 447th took part in the Big-Week raids, supported the D-Day landings, aided the breakthrough at St. Lo, pounded enemy positions during the airborne invasion of Holland, and dropped supplies to the Free French forces fighting behind enemy lines. During the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 - January 1945, the group attacked marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communications centers in the combat zone, later resuming their offensive against targets deep inside Germany. When the war ended the 447th had flown over 257 individual missions, with one of their aircrew, Robert Femoyer, being awarded the Medal of Honor. Theirs was typical of the action packed campaigns flown by the American Eighth Air Force bomb groups in Europe during WWII. Published 2001. Signed by eight combat crew veterans flying B-17 Flying Fortresses for the 447th BG out of Rattlesden, England, during World War II. |
Safe Pastures by Mark Postlethwaite. B-17G 42-37755 NV-A 325th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group from Poddington crash landing in Switzerland on 25th February 1944 after sustaining damage over enemy territory after a raid on Augsburg and Stuttgart. |
Favorite Lady by John Young. A damaged Boeing B-17G of the 510th Bomb Squadron, 351st Bomb Group operating out of Polebrook, Northants, escorted here by North American P-51Ds of the 357th Fighter Group from Leiston in Suffolk. |
Scheherazade by Tim Fisher. This aircraft is credited with flying 126 missions without an abort for the 447th Bomb Group and was one of only three original aircraft to survive the war and return to the US. To the left can be seen the famous A Bit O Lace. All these aircraft were based at Rattlesden. The scene is early 1945, the aircraft flying out to bomb rail marshalling yards. |
Clearing Skies by Robert Taylor. The winter of 1944 / 45 wasn't the coldest ever recorded in England but it came close. The weather was bitter and, in what would turn out to be the last Christmas of the war, temperatures plunged across the country, bringing ice, freezing fog and deep banks of drifting snow. Airfields across East Anglia stood bleak and frost-bound, runways kept clear of snow when conditions allowed, whilst the heavy bombers of the US Eighth Air Force remained under wraps, engines oiled, warmed and ready for any break in the banks of murky fog that would allow them to fly. And when those breaks came, the bombers were back in action ready to play their part in the final destruction of Hitler's Third Reich. The end game was rapidly approaching and both sides knew it. Clearing Skies portrays one such break in the weather when, with recent heavy snow beginning to thaw, the B-17 Fortresses of the famous 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk are being prepared for a new mission to Germany in early 1945. Earning the nickname 'The Bloody Hundredth' due to the heavy losses they suffered, Robert has fittingly chosen the 100th BG to represent all those who flew so heroically with the Eighth Air Force in England during World War II. The Eighth flew its final bomber operations of the war on 25th April 1945, the last of 968 combat missions involving over 523,000 sorties; they had dropped some 700,000 tons of bombs, inflicting destruction on a scale from which the enemy could never recover. Yet the cost of the victory in which they had played such a major part made for sober reading; they had lost some 6,130 bombers and fighters along with some 47,000 casualties, including more than 26,000 dead - half of the entire US Army Air Force losses during the conflict. |
Deadly Pass by David Pentland. Magdeburg, Germany, 10th April 1945. Attacking from behind and above, ObLt.Walter Schuck, Staffelkapitain of 3./JG7, ripped through the massed boxes of 8th Airforce B17s, downing four in a single high speed pass. |
Nine O Nine by Philip West. Nine O Nine awaits her next mission over occupied Europe. Part of the 91st Bomb Group, 323rd Squadron, this B-17 went on to complete a record mission tally of 140 without an abort or loss of a single crew member. She started operations in February 1944. By April 1945 Nine O Nine had flown an extraordinary 1,129 hours. This aircraft and crew represented just one of many who fought in war-torn skies for the freedom we now enjoy. |
Those Golden Moments by Philip West. As the sun slowly begins to rise this wintry morning over Thorpe Abbots, Norfolk, ground crew prepare B-17G The All American Girl in an almost surreal setting, for her 99th dangerous mission over enemy territory. On 10th January 1945, 19-year-old pilot, 1st Lt. John Dodrill and his crew went missing on a combat sortie to Cologne. Like many other crews, they made the ultimate sacrifice in the fight for freedom, with the Bloody Hundredth Bombardment Group playing its full part with courage and honour. |
Nine-o-Nine by Stan Stokes. One of only fourteen B-17s that still fly, the Collings Foundation is the proud owner and operator of B-17G serial no. 44-83575. This aircraft was built on April 7, 1945 in Long Beach, CA by Douglas Aircraft under license from Boeing. She served as part of the Air/Sea 1st Rescue Squadron and in the Air Transport Service. She was subject to three separate nuclear explosions. After a thirteen-year cool down period the aircraft was sold for scrap. The Aircraft Specialties Company began a restoration of the aircraft. Named Yucca Lady the aircrafts skin was fabricated and replaced on site; engines and props were stripped, cleaned, repaired and tested. For the next twenty years 44-83575 served without incident as a fire bomber dropping water and borate on wild fires throughout the West. In 1986 the Collings Foundation of Stow Massachusetts purchased the aircraft and had her restored to her wartime configuration by Tom Reilly Vintage Aircraft. She was considered one of the finest B-17 restorations and has received numerous awards. In 1987 at an airshow at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, the aircraft was struck by a severe cross wind while landing. This resulted in a severe non-fatality accident, that necessitated another substantial restoration. With the support of many individuals and corporations, and support from many folks from Beaver Falls 44-83575 rose again like a Phoenix. The aircraft is named in honor of Nine-O-Nine, a B-17 that flew 140 successful combat missions with the 323rd Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group. The original Nine-O-Nine did not lose a crewman, and did not have to abort a single mission. This amazing record was attained between February 1944 and April 1945. During this time the Nine-O-Nine participated in eighteen raids on Berlin and flew an amazing 1129 combat hours. She underwent 21 different engine changes, 4 wing replacements, and fifteen main gas tank replacements due largely to heavy damage from flak. The Nine-O-Nine had six hundred patches in her fuselage and wings when the War ended in Europe. She was flown home, but later succumbed to the scrappers guillotine. In Stan Stokes highly detailed painting, that is a tribute to both the original Nine-O-Nine, and her present namesake flown by the Collings Foundation, the original Nine-O-Nine is readied for another mission to Berlin at its airfield in England in 1945. |
Thundering Home by Nicolas Trudgian. (B) When the U.S. Air Forces arrived in Europe in 1942 it was the beginning of a three year aerial campaign, the scale of which had never been seen before, nor since. The 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces constituted the mightiest aerial armada in history. With outstanding leadership and sustained courage, they blazed a trail of glory across the skies of war-torn Europe that today is legend. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. Air Forces campaign in Europe, the talented aviation artist Nicolas Trudgian has painted a spectacular canvas, bringing to life the men and machines of that epoc-making era, half a century ago. Set in a dramatic and powerful evening sky, B-17 Fortresses come thundering home after a mid over enemy territory. Joining the formation are a pair of B-24 Liberators which have become separated from their own group, and P-51 fighters fly in close escort for the perilous journey home. Aboard the aircraft, pilots and gunners scan the horizon for enemy fighters. Flight engineers are busy coaxing their ships along, some having to deal with overheating engines, damaged fuel lines, leaking hydraulics and other inflicted damage. Some have injured on board. Glistening in the strong evening sunlight the lead aircraft fills the canvas. Clearly visible are the pilot and upper turret gunner, and all the fine detail of this legendary warbird as it thunders through the sky. Below, reflecting the evening glow, is the forbidding North Sea, providing a constant reminder that the dangers of the mission are not yet ever. |
Ruby's Fortress by Stan Stokes. The B-17 Flying Fortress, was one of the most acclaimed aircraft of WW II. It is also one of those uniquely popular warbirds which has attracted more than its fair share of romance and nostalgia over the years. Nearly 13,000 of these aircraft were produced. The origins of the B-17 dates to 1934 when the Boeing company was authorized to build a prototype of a long-range, metal, monoplane, medium bomber which was designated Model 299. During the first public exposure of the prototype a reporter from the Seattle Daily Times coined the term flying fortress in his description of the new sleek, heavily armed aircraft. Boeings public relations department liked this reference, and shortly thereafter the aircraft became known as the Flying Fortress. Boeing received an initial order for 13 aircraft, designated the YB-17, and these aircraft were delivered in 1937. Later that year Boeing obtained orders for several enhanced models, which were designated B-17Bs. These aircraft had supercharged engines permitting higher ceilings, redesigned nose sections, hydraulic brakes, and larger rudders. With the outbreak of WWII the first Flying Fortresses were used by the RAF. Early experience by the RAF underscored the need for increased defensive firepower. Boeing responded by redesigning the entire rear fuselage on the aircraft, and incorporating a rear gun and a remotely controlled under belly turret gun. The resulting B-17E was only slightly slower than its predecessor at 317 MPH, and in mid-1942 the USAAF began moving B-17 units to the United Kingdom. These were primarily B-17Fs. Flying Fortresses had the ability to take a lot of punishment. The aircrafts flying characteristics were excellent, and it was not unusual for B-17s to return to base with large sections of wing surface or tail fin missing. The first B-17G models began to see action late in 1943, and were, along with the B-24 Liberators, carried the brunt of the USAAF daylight bombing campaign against targets of strategic significance. Such missions were exceedingly dangerous until only very late in the War. Luftwaffe pilots learned to attack B-17s head-on from the 12 oclock position, as this was the most vulnerable area to attack, and one in which crew injury was the most likely. Aviation artist Stan Stokes, in his painting entitled Rubys Fortress, shows a B-17G of the 8th Air Forces 385th Bomber Group over Germany in 1945. The aircraft in the foreground was named for Cpl. Ruby Newell of Long Beach, California. Ms. Newell was voted the most attractive WAC in England in 1944. The nose art painted by Cpl. Ploss was a fitting tribute, and such nose art was a great morale booster for bomber crews and ground support staff. Many B-17s were named after women, appropriate considering the fact that during wartime the majority of the people which built these planes were women. |
B-17 Flying Fortress by Nicolas Trudgian. Part of a small print series of six American WW2 aircraft, signed by some of the great American pilots, some no longer with us. Cranston Fine Arts have purchased the last remaining stocks of this aviation series. |
Defenders of the Reich by Graeme Lothian. Major Rudolf Rudi Sinner of STAB.III/JG7 attacking B-17s of 91st Bomb Group during March 1945. Attacking in a Kette of three aircraft from behind and below targeting the tailenders and rising over the B-17s. Avoiding any debris and evading the incoming fighter escort, who are dropping down from their top cover positions. Rudolf Sinner acheived a total of 39 victories, including two in the Me262. |
| Top Aces for : Flying Fortress | ||
| A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown this aircraft. A profile page is available by clicking the pilots name. | ||
| Name | Victories | Info |
| Charles Rankin Bond Jr | 9.25 | The signature of Charles Rankin Bond Jr features on some of our artwork - click here to see what is available. |
| Flying Fortress Pilot and aircrew signature details |
Staff Sergeant Robert E Altman Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Staff Sergeant Robert E Altman Robert Altman had joined up in October 1939, serving with the 42nd Bomb Squadron in Hawaii. December 41 found him at Clark Field in the Philippines with the 14th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group. He was radio operator and belly gunner on Kellys B- 17. Robert was captured by the Japanese after bailing out, and taken as POW for the remainder of the war. He spent 36 months of that captivity in Tokyo, Japan. |
John Asmussen Our estimated value of this signature : £25 Died : 2007 | John Asmussen Tail gunner, B-17 Flying Fortress 'Yankee Queen'. Sadly John Asmussen passed away on 31st July 2007. |
  S/Sgt Raymond Baus Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | S/Sgt Raymond Baus Ball Turret Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Lazy Baby'. |
Lt Col Joe M Bean USAF Our estimated value of this signature : £50 Died : 1999 | Lt Col Joe M Bean USAF Born in Kim, Colorado in 1916, Joe Bean enlisted in the Army Air Corp. in early 1940. He completed his basic training in California and his advanced training at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Joe went through navigator training at Coral Gables. He flew to Hawaii in September of 1941 where he was assigned to the 14th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group. Captain Colin Kelly personally selected Joe as his navigator, and the crew made the long journey in their B- 17 from Hawaii to Clark Field in the Philippines. Joe's total air training consisted of this long distance flight. On December 8, 1941 (December 7th in the U.S.) the B- 17 under Kelly's command, and with Joe as its navigator, flew a reconnaissance mission northward from Clark Field towards Formosa. On their return leg of the mission they observed a large number of Japanese ships escorted by aircraft. On the following day Joe and his crewmates were assigned an older B-17C model and were ordered to fly this aircraft on a mission to seek out and bomb an enemy aircraft carrier situated off the north coast of Luzon. While no carrier was found they were successful on an attack on a large capital ship believed to be the Cruiser Ashi,-ari. This was the first loss of a capital ship by the Imperial Navy since the War had begun. On the way back to Clark Field the B-17 was jumped by a large number of Japanese fighter aircraft. Sgt. Delchanty was killed in the attack, and with the ship in bad shape, Captain Kelly ordered the crew to bail out. Kelly went with the ship. Bean was picked up and returned to Clark Field. In late January Joe left the Philippines by ship which was bombed by the Japanese. Joe's squadron mates were sent to Lake Lanau, and then on to Australia in the bomb bay of a B-24. Joe eventually ended up in Perth, Australia where General Royce organized a task force of three B-17s and ten B-25s. This group flew a number of missions out of Perth and later flew out of Charters Towers. Joe returned to the States in June of 1943. He married the former Janc Danielsen of Ripon, Wisconsin in April of 1944. Joe remained in the Air Force until 1964 when he retired. He was on the Bikini atomic bomb mission from Kwajalein in 1946. Most of Joe's Air Force career was spent with the Strategic Air Command. His numerous decorations include the Purple Heart, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Commendation Medal and Commendation Ribbon. After his retirement Joe relocated to Colorado Springs where for more than twenty years he was active in the real estate business. In May of 1994 Joe, accompanied by his son and his wife of fifty-two years, attended the Second Dedication of the Four Freedoms Monument in Captain Colin P. Kelly's hometown of Madison, Florida. At the dedication were Kelly's son, the Rev. Colin P. Kelly II of Las Alamos, New Mexico, and Kelly's grandson Colin P. Kelly, III. He died on 8th December 1999. |
First Lieutenant Frederick J Bird Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | First Lieutenant Frederick J Bird Navigator with the 326th BS, 92nd Bomb Group, Fred Bird flew 14 combat missions on B 17 Fortresses, his first being on 26 August 1943. Following the second raid on Schweinfitirt he was later shot down and taken prisoner of war. He remained captive until liberated on 29 April 1945. |
Colonel George P Birdsong Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2004 | Colonel George P Birdsong George Birdsong was born on the 12th of October 1919 and raised in Clarksdale MS where he earned a football scholarship at Southwest MS Jr. College. Winning his pilot's wings in April, 1942 he was immediately assigned to a B-17 with the 91st BG and sent to Bassingbourn. George Birdsong arrived in England in the fall of 1942, assinged to 323rd Squadron of the 91st Bomber Group 'The Ragged Irregulars', where he was one of the first to fly daylight combat missions over Germany. On 4th March 1942, George took part in the famous raid on Hamm, the 91st being the first group to attack a target on the Ruhr. His aircraft - Delta Rebel #2 - made claim to being the first US bomber in World War II to complete 25 combat sorties. George Birdsong remained in the US Air Force experiencing four wars, flying a combat tour in B/17s and B-19s, B-47s, B-52s and B-58s during the Korean and Cold Wars. He was a Wing Commander of the 633rd Special Operations wings, Piciku Airbase in the Central Highlands of Vietnam where he flew A-1 Skyraiders. He survived over 245 combat missions including 220 in Vietnam and his combined military service was 32 years. Sadly Colonel George Purnell Birdsong Jr passed away on the 9th of July 2004 at the age of 84. Colonel Birdsong was buried with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery VA. |
T/Sgt John C Bitzer Our estimated value of this signature : £40 Died : 2016 | T/Sgt John C Bitzer John Bitzer joined the service in 1942 before tramsferring to England. On 30th December 1943 flying the B-17G Fortress 'Maid to Please', on his very first combat mission his aircraft was shot down and he had to bail out. John was taken prisoner by the Germans and remained in captivity until May 1945. Died 1st August 2016. |
  2nd Lt Brunson Bolin Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | 2nd Lt Brunson Bolin Co-pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Lazy Baby'. Brunson Bolin was just 18 years old when he volunteered for the Army Air Force. Within months, he was training to be a pilot and flew the B-17 named the Lazy Baby. 2nd Lt Brunson Bolin was on his seventh mission - flying as a co-pilot. Their mission was to bomb the ball-bearing factory on the Schweinfurt Raid. They had just dropped their bombs when the plane was attacked. The left board engine was on fire, communication systems were destroyed and the navigator was mortally wounded. The situation looked grim and the pilot ordered everyone to bail out. With the plane in distress, Brunson Bolin jumped from the bomb bay - he slammed into one of the doors breaking most of his ribs. As he tumbled towards the earth, Brunson stretched back and noticed holes popping up inside his parachute. He looked down to find a group of German farmers taking shots at him. The only thing that saved his life was a German Army Corporal who got to him before the farmers did. And in the middle of a huge hay field, Brunson Bolin was captured. He would spend the next 18 months at Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland as a prisoner of war. When 2nd Lt Brunson Bolin returned after the war he was awarded a Purple Heart and the Air Medal for his service to our nation. After the war, he took a job with Delta Air Lines. |
  Gen. Charles R. Bond Our estimated value of this signature : £55 Died : 2009 | Gen. Charles R. Bond Bond was born in 1915 in Dallas, Texas. His military career began in the Texas National Guard, and he was commissioned in 1939 at Randolph Field, Texas. His first assignment was flying B-17s based at Langley Field, Virginia. During this period, he participated in one of the first good-will flights to South America in 1939. After joining the AVG, he was assigned to the Adam & Eves, and recalls being the first to introduce the painted shark mouth motif on AVG P-40s. One of the Tigers great aces, he was credited with shooting down three Japanese aircraft in one mission in the defense of Rangoon. While serving with the AVG, Bond was shot down twice, and was ultimately credited with 8.77 victories. In 1942, Barld rejoined the U.S. Army Air Corps and began teaching combat skills to new pilots. A year later he served as an Ambassadors aide in the U.S. Military Mission to the U.S.S.R. in Moscow. In 1949, Bond graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Management Engineering. He then completed nearly 20 years in military leadersnip positions throughout the United States, Europe and Far East. After serving as Commander 12th Air Force, USAF, he retired with at the rank of Maj. General in 1968. Sadly, Charles Bond passed away on 18th August 2009. A Clipped Signature is Available |
 Captain Turner G Brashear Our estimated value of this signature : £35 Died : 2012 | Captain Turner G Brashear Joining up on June 1st 1943, Turner Brashear arrived at Ridgewell in time to fly his first combat mission on 24th November 1944m with the 535th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group. He flew as aircraft commander on 27 missions right up to VE-Day. On the 11th April 1945 returning from a mission to Munich, his B17 suffered a mid air collision over the Rhine, as another aircraft descended into his, shearing off the right horizontal stabilizer. The bomber spun downwards for 8000ft before Turner managed to regain some control, coaxing his aircraft home with great skill. He died on 24th May 2012. |
Captain Al Brown Our estimated value of this signature : £65 Died : 2006 | Captain Al Brown Based in England with the 8th Air Force, Alvin H Brown flew B-17s with the 95th Bomb Group, taking part in the first bombing raid on Berlin in March 1944. The 95th BG claimed 425 enemy aircraft destroyed, the highest number by any Fifth Air Force Bomb Group. All Browns crew survived 26 awesome raids without a scratch. He returned to the U.S. with an array of decorations, later flying C54s out of Japan during the Korean War. He was awarded 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses. He died on 8th January 2006. A Clipped Signature is Available |
T/Sgt Norman Bussel Our estimated value of this signature : £45 | T/Sgt Norman Bussel As Radio Operator on the B-17 'Mississippi Lady', Norman Bussel flew his first combat mission in March 1944 to Frankfurt. On 29th April 1944 his aircraft was shot down over Berlin, the worst day for losses for the 447th during the entire war. Bailing out with his clothes on fire, four of his crew died that day. Norman was taken PoW for the rest of the war. |
  Lt Col Henry Hank Cervantes Our estimated value of this signature : £45 | Lt Col Henry Hank Cervantes Lt Col. Henry Cervantes was born in Fresno, California in October 1923. He joined the US Air Force and graduated on the 27th June 1944. Lt Col. Henry Cervantes was one of only a few Mexican American Pilots, of The Bloody100th Bombardment Group flying B-17s. On 18th March 1945 he flew on the last Eighth Air Force mission to Berlin, and on 7th April got home safely after his B-17 E-Z Goin' was badly damaged in a head-on attack by Me109s of Rammkommando Elbe. A Clipped Signature is Available |
  S/Sgt Robert Cinibulk Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | S/Sgt Robert Cinibulk Waist Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Lazy Baby'. |
Keith Compton Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2004 | Keith Compton Keith Compton was born in 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri, and graduated from Central High School there in 1933. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, in 1937. He entered military service in February 1938 as an aviation cadet at Randolph Field, Texas, and received his pilot's wings a year later. Compton spent the next two and a half years at Langley Field, Virginia, with the 2nd Bomb Wing, the first unit equipped with the B-17 Flying Fortress. In April 1942 he became commander of the 409th Bomb Squadron and later, at Fort Myers, Fla., operations officer for the 93rd Bomb Group. In February 1943, Compton became commander of the 376th Bomb Group in Africa and, on August 1, 1943, led the disastrous air attack on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. He was reassigned as assistant to the air chief of staff for operations, Fifteenth Air Force, in North Africa in March 1944 and returned to the United States in July that year as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and training, Second Air Force, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Following several command assignments and graduation from the Air University, Compton was assigned in June 1948 to the Air Proving Ground Command, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, as deputy for operations, a position he held until February 1953. It was during this tour of duty that Compton, flying an F-86 Sabrejet, won the National Air Races Bendix Trophy for 1951, setting a new national speed record for the route. In February 1953, Compton transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC). Several successful command assignments in SAC resulted in his designation in September 1961 as SAC director of operations. In June 1963 he became SAC's chief of staff. In August 1964 he was assigned to be the Inspector General of the U.S. Air Force. Six months later he was designated the deputy chief of staff for plans and operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. With these duties he also became the Air Force's operations deputy sitting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force. He assumed his last position in February 1967. He retired August 1, 1969. Military decorations awarded Compton include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters, the Air Force and the Army Commendation medals. In addition he holds his college's outstanding Alumni Achievement Award and is one of the few holders of aviation's famed Bendix Trophy. Keith K. Compton sadly died on June 15th 2004 aged 88. Allied leaders determined to bomb Ploesti during the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 and Gen. Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold delegated the problem to Col. Jacob Smart of his Advisory Council. Smart, the principle architect and planner for Operation TIDALWAVE, proposed, in complete antithesis of USAAF bombing policy, a low-level massed raid on the nine most important Ploesti refineries by five B-24 bomb groups, two from North Africa and three borrowed from Eighth Air Force in England. By July 1943, the five groups - the 44th, 93rd, and 389th Bombardment Groups from England had joined the 98th and 376th Bombardment Groups at Benghazi, Libya, where they made final preparations and conducted additional low-level training under the direction of Ninth Air Force. Commanded by Brig. Gen. Uzal G. Ent, the force of 178 B-24s took off on the morning of 1 August, followed a route across the Mediterranean, passed the island of Corfu, crossed the Pindus Mountains into Rumania, and approached Ploesti from the east. While over the Mediterranean the formation divided into two parts: the first led by Col. Keith K. (K.K.) Compton commander of the 376th, consisted of the 376th and 93rd Bomb Groups; the second led by Col. John R. (Killer) Kane, commander of the 98th, included the 98th, 44th, and 389th Bomb Groups. Mandated radio silence prevented the leaders from reassembling the formation. The goal of a single, mass attack disappeared. Compton's formation reached Rumania well ahead of Kane's. It descended to low level and, in error, made its planned turn to the south at Targoviste, miles short of the correct Identification Point (IP). Compton led two bomb groups toward Bucharest. Col. Addison L. Baker, commanding the 93rd Bomb Group following Compton, saw Ploesti to his left, turned his group and led it into the target first. Meantime, Compton found that he was heading to Bucharest and turned, almost reversing course, and bombed Ploesti from the south. As the two groups emerged from Ploesti and escaped to the south, the 98th and 44th Bomb Groups led by Kane plunged into Ploesti where they found many of their targets in flames. They sought alternate targets of opportunity. Far to the north, the 389th Bomb Group successfully bombed its target, a separate refinery at Campina, as planned. |
L G Creel Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | L G Creel Navigator of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Yankee Queen'. |
John Davy Crockett Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | John Davy Crockett John Davy Crockett was trained as a navigator by Pan Am in mid-1941 because the USAAF did not have its navigator school in operation. Davy was assigned to the 36th Bomb Squadron of the 19th Bomb Group flying the new B-17C Flying Fortress. Davy found that most Air Corps pilots were used to doing their own navigating, so his job would be easy. Davy experienced a crash in a B-17 while training, but the crew walked away from the wreck. In late 1941 his crew was informed that they would be flying to Clark Field in the Philippines. On December they left Albuquerque and flew to Hamilton Field in California. They received a briefing on expected weather and left on the evening of December 6 for their first stop at Hickham Field, Oahu Hawaii. Flying into the darkness over the vast Pacific, the pilot for the first time in Crocketts career turned the navigation over to Davy. Realizing that the Hawaiian Islands were only small dots on the charts of the vast Pacific, and that his aircraft would have little fuel reserves left when it arrived, sent chills up Crocketts spine. As dawn broke Davy saw lots of islands where there were not suppose to be any. His panic subsided when he realized that they were only clouds. The pilot, Earl Cooper, came on the intercom at that moment to ask for an ETA. As Davy responded, the gunners in the back came on the intercom to report a large formation of aircraft about ten miles north of their position. They must be Navy aircraft. Minutes later they had descended to about 1200 feet when eight fighter aircraft came straight at them with their guns blazing. As the aircraft flew by the flight engineer, Jesse Broyls, yelled out, Rising Sun ! The zeros reformed behind the unarmed B-17, and as Cooper dove the lumbering giant towards the wave tops, Crockett could hear the thump of bullets hitting his plane. The No. 2 engine was hit and Cooper shut it down. Rounding Diamond Head at about 300-feet the crew saw smoke and fire everywhere, and Japanese planes all over the sky. They passed over Hickham Field at about 1000-feet, realizing that this was no time and place for a landing. They turned towards Ford Island and passed directly over the USS Arizona minutes after the ship had exploded. Crocketts B-17 now became a target for nervous anti-aircraft gunners on the ground, and the B-17 had its No. 4 engine shot out. Cooper prepared the crew to bail out, but he then saw an opportunity to bring the big bird into Wheeler Field. He came straight in and belly-landed the B-17 with almost no fuel left. The plane slid to a stop on the turf just short of a group of P-40s. The entire crew got out of the B-17 and ran for cover in a patch of nearby woods. The B-17s on the flight from the mainland were scattered all over the island, with most of them seriously damaged. Fortunately, there were only two casualties, a flight surgeon who was killed and a bombardier who was injured when they were strafed while running from their plane. Crockett would survive a third crash in another B-17 on December 25th when he would spend six days in a life raft. |
 Lieutenant Colonel Robert W Dees Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | Lieutenant Colonel Robert W Dees 'Bob' Dees originally joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 1941 but transferred to the Air Corps for pilot training in Jan 1943. Assigned to the 4th and then 18th Squadron, 34th Bomb Group, Bob flew the South Atlantic route to Mendlesham, England, in early 1944 and was soon in the thick of the action on operations against military and industrial targets in Germany and occupied Europe. He flew the first of his 31 combat missions on 24th May 1944, flying the B24, before the 34th converted to B-17 Flying Fortresses on which he finished his tour. He had flown 31 combat missions, 14 of which were as lead crew pilot. Bob Dees was awarded the Air Medal with five Oak clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. |
  Lt Edward Dienhart Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Lt Edward Dienhart Pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Lazy Baby'. |
Colonel Edward A Dingivan DFC Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2010 | Colonel Edward A Dingivan DFC Edward Dingivan was pilot of 'Brass Wagon', flying his first combat mission to Neuminster , Germany in September 1944. He completed a tour of 30 combat missions in the B-17. after the war, Director of Traffic during the Berlin Airlift and Commander of the 35th Air Transport Squadron. Later Military Executive to the Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force, he retired in 1969. Sadly, Edward Dingivan passed away on 2nd December 2010. |
 Lt Col James D Fletcher Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Lt Col James D Fletcher The day after Christmas in December 1941 James Fletcher enlisted in the service. Completing his pilot training, he was posted to join the 91st Bombardment Group - The Ragged Irregulars at Bassingbourne in England. Flying the B-17G with the 401st Squadron, James flew his first combat mission on 28 March, 1944 and on 20 July was co-pilot of The Peacemaker on the raid to Leipzig. Badly mauled and damaged, the pilots eventually got her home safely to Bassingbourne. James Fletcher went on to complete 32 missions in the B-17 in Europe, and over 4000 hours of flight time as a command pilot. He retired in 1976, with 30 years active service in the USAF. |
First Lt Frank Frision Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | First Lt Frank Frision Frank Frision was Bombardier on the Fortress 'Bouncin Baby' flying his first mission on 2nd November 1944 when the Luftwaffe mounted one of their largest fighter operations of the war. He flew the last of his 35 combat missions on 22nd March 1945, supporting the Rhine Crossings. |
Technical Sergeant Jack R Goetz Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | Technical Sergeant Jack R Goetz Jack Goetz served with the 544th BS, 384th Bomb Group, flying B 17s from Grafton Underwood. Top turret gunner, his full tour of 25 missions took in the second Schweinfurt raid, raids on Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart, and included a crash landing at his home base, and a ditching in the North Sea. |
William Gonyo Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | William Gonyo Gunner, B-17 Flying Fortress Yankee Queen'; |
 Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gossman Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gossman Bob Gossman joined the USAAF in March 1943, and after training was posted to England as a B-17 pilot with the 8th Air Force. Here he oined the 351st Bomb Group, 508th Bomb Squadron, based at Polebrook, Northamptonshire. He flew his first combat mission from there in January 1944, and later took part on a mission to Berlin with over 1300 bombers. After the war in Europe he went on to fly 58 missions in Korea, and another 30 missions in Vietnam. He retired from the Air Force in 1984. |
Major Paul H Greer Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | Major Paul H Greer After arriving in England, the first of Paul Greers 35 combat missions took place on a freezing cold New Years Day, 1945, as co-pilot on B-17s. Flying out of Thurleigh in Bedfordshire with the 368th Squadron, 306th Bomb Group (The Reich Wreckers), the oldest operational Bomb Group in the 8th Air Force, Paul flew a total of 31 missions on Fortresses as co-pilot, and a further 4 as lead pilot. Amongst other targets in Germany, he went on the big raids to Dresden and Schweinfurt, and led led missions to Berlin, on which he came under heavy attack from the Luftwaffes fast Me262 jet fighters. |
Captain Vernon L Grim Our estimated value of this signature : £45 | Captain Vernon L Grim After joining the service in 1942, Vernon's operational squadron in England was the 407 Sqn, 92nd Bomb Group, based at Poddington, the oldest group in the ETO. Flying the B17 he participated in many of the major raids over Germany, including 4 missions to Berlin, and in the D-Day operations in occupied Europe. Later, losing an engine over Hamburg, he was glad of the help from two P38s who escorted him all the way back to England. |
Master Sergeant James E Halkyard Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | Master Sergeant James E Halkyard James Halkyard was right waist gunner on Kellys B-17 that day in December 1941. He joined the service back in January 1937 and the outbreak of war found him in the Philippines with the 14th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group. After being shot down he was picked up and served for a time with the local Philippine guerrillas. Evading capture he returned to US forces and later served at Bataan. |
 Robert Hanson Our estimated value of this signature : £35 Died : 2005 | Robert Hanson Radio Operator and Gunner on the 'Memphis Belle'. Robert Hanson became a regular member of the crew during their training at Walla Walla, Washington in 1941. He kept a log book of the 'MEMPHIS BELLE' missions. He eventually retired from business to Mesa, Arizona. Robert Hanson, the last surviving crew member of the famed Memphis Belle B-17 bomber of World War II, passed away on October 1st 2005. Robert Hanson recalled 'When we got the tail shot off, Captain Morgan put the ship into a terrific dive and we dropped 2,000 or 3,000 feet. It pretty nearly threw me out of the airplane. 'I hit the roof. I thought we were going down and wondered if I should bail out. Then he pulled up again and I landed on my back. I had an ammunition box and a frequency meter on top of me. I didn't know what was going on. On another bombing run, Mr. Hanson was writing in a logbook when he sneezed, jerking his head. A bullet missed him when he moved and hit the logbook, which he kept the rest of his life. |
 Captain C B Red Harper Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Captain C B Red Harper Red Harper joined up in late 1940 and after training was posted to the 350th Squadron, 100th BG. Based at Thorpe Abbotts flying the |B-17 Flying Fortress, he flew his first combat mission on February 28, 1944. Red flew with the Bloody One Hundredth on the first |successful daylight mission to Berlin - March 6, 1 1944, just one of his 35 combat missions. |
 Lt Col Marion H Havelaar Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Lt Col Marion H Havelaar Marion Havelaar joined the service on 24 August, 1942. After training he was posted to England joining the 401 st Squadron, 91st Bomb Group - The Ragged Irregulars - based at Bassingbourne. Flying the B-17G, he made his first combat mission on 2 June, 1944, but lost his original crew to Me 410s on a mission to Berlin, 21 June, 1944. Marion flew the rest of his tour as a replacement crew member and on 20 July, 1944 he was flying as deputy lead bombardier in the B-17 The Peacemaker. Badly shot-up with one crewman wounded, they made it safely back, four others from the 401st did not. Marion later flew 29 missions in B-29s in Korea, and served in Vietnam. He retired from the USAF in 1971. |
 Harry D Hink USAAF Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | Harry D Hink USAAF Harry Hinks 28 year military career began during the height of World War Two. After completing training, in 1943 he flew his first of 28 combat missions in heavy bombers against Japan, attached to the 39th Bomb Group. He vividly recalls Iwo Jima, not only as a navigational checkpoint to and from bombing missions over the Japanese islands, but also found it to be a safe haven personally on three separate occasions, when he and his crew made emergency landings in their B29. In April 1945, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on Guam, and would later fly missions in both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. He retired from the U S Air Force in 1970 as a Lieutenant Colonel, with decorations including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Seven Clusters, Distinguished Unit Citation and many others. After the military, he worked with the FAA for 17 years, holding various positions in Airport Safety. Harry resides today in the Washington DC area. |
Col Edward M Jacquet Our estimated value of this signature : £15 | Col Edward M Jacquet 19th Bomb Group, 93rd Sqn. Clark Field B-17 copilot, 47 combat missions with the 19th Bomb Group. |
Ralph Keele Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | Ralph Keele Pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Yankee Queen'. |
First Lieutenant Wilbur Bud Klint Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | First Lieutenant Wilbur Bud Klint 'Bud' Klint joined the service in 1942, and after qualifying as a pilot was posted to England in July 1943. He flew the first of his tour of 25 combat missions in B 1 7s on 16 August 1943. The following day he went on the first mission to Schweinflart, and then to Stuttgart on 6 September when he was forced to safely ditch his aircraft. On 14 October he went to Schweinffirt again - this time on the fateful second mission, but again brought his aircraft safely home. He finished his tour in Europe and after a period instructing on B 17s left the service in November 1945. |
Lieutenant Colonel William P Kincheloe Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Lieutenant Colonel William P Kincheloe Bill Kincheloe joined the service in April 1942, training as a pilot. He was posted to England to join the 327th Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group (Fames Favoured Few), based at Podington in Bedford, flying B-17s. His first combat mission was on 18 December 1943, when the 92nd went to Kiel, and in the following months other notable targets included the heavily defended factories at Schweinfurt. Bill flew a total of 28 raids to the Reich during his tour, all on B-17s, and six of which he commanded. After World War II Bill flew KC135s during the Vietnam War. He retired from the service in 1972. |
 Major Edward A Klein Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | Major Edward A Klein Edward Klein joined the USAAF on 21st September 1941. As a bombardier he was posted to England, and became part of the 381st Bomb Group, based at Ridgewell, flying B-17s with the 534th Bomb Squadron. Ed Klein went on his first combat missions, to Germany, on 8th October, 1943, and the following day was under constant fighter attack for four and a half hours. On 31st October he went to Schweinfurt. On 6th March 1944 he flew on the first bombing of Berlin by American bombers. Finishing his 25 mission tour in March 1944 he had been Squadron Leader, and Group Leader. Ed Klein retired from the service in 1963. |
 Colonel William Lawley Our estimated value of this signature : £60 Died : 1999 | Colonel William Lawley Lawley, Jr. was born in Leeds, Alabama on 23rd August 1920. In 1938, he graduated from high school in Leeds. Lawley enlisted in the US Army Air Forces on 9 April 1942 and received his pilot's wings and Second Lieutenant's commission. He went to Europe that November as a B-17 pilot with the 364th Bomb Squadron (305th Bomb Group ) On February 20th 1944, he earned the nation's highest award for gallantry at the risk of his life during a bombing mission over occupied Europe. Coming off the target, he was attacked by approximately 20 enemy fighters, shot out of formation and his plane severely crippled. Eight crew members were wounded, the co-pilot was killed. one engine was on fire, the controls shot away, and then Lieutenant Lawley seriously and painfully wounded about the face. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor citation read, in part: '...Forcing the copilot's body off the controls, he brought the airplane out of a steep dive, flying with his left hand only. After the order to bail out had been given, one of the waist gunners informed Lieutenant Lawley that two crew members were so severely wounded that it would be impossible for them to bail out. With the fire in the engine spreading, the danger of an explosion was imminent. Because of the helpless condition of his wounded crew members, Lieutenant Lawley elected to remain with the ship and bring them to safety if it was humanly possible, giving the other crew members the option of bailing out. Enemy fighters again attacked but by using masterful evasive action, he managed to lose them. One engine again caught on fire and was extinguished. Lieutenant Lawley remained at his post, refusing first aid until he collapsed from sheer exhaustion caused by loss of blood, shock and the energy he had expended in keeping control of his plane. He as revived by the bombardier and again took over the controls. Coming over the English coast, one engine ran out of gasoline and had to be feathered. Another engine started to burn and continued to do so until a successful crash landing was made on a small fighter base.' Bill Lawley flew 14 combat missions before he was reassigned in June 1944. He returned to the United States in September 1944 where he remained in the Air Force and served in a variety of staff and command positions throughout his thirty year career. He was Assistant Air Attaché at the US Embassy in Brazil from 1951 to 1954 and commanded the 55th Air Refueling Squadron at Forbes AFB from 1955 to 1959. Lawley died in his home town of Montgomery, Alabama on June 1st 1999, at the age of 78. |
 Charles Leighton Our estimated value of this signature : £75 Died : 1991 | Charles Leighton Navigator on the 'Memphis Belle'. Eventually retired to become a teacher and guidance counselor before he passed away in 1991. |
Col Edwin A Loberg Our estimated value of this signature : £35 Died : 2004 | Col Edwin A Loberg Edwin A. 'Ed' Loberg was born in Tigerton, Wisconsin on February 20,1915. Like many children in Wisconsin, Ed grew up on a dairy farm. After graduating from High School Ed attended Central State Teacher's College at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He joined the Army prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in the Spring of 1941. Loberg graduated with the Class 41-D from Kelly Field near San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to the 26th Bomb Squadron of the 11th Bomb Group. Based at Hickharn Field during the Pear Harbor attack, Ed is a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. During the War Ed flew approximately 90 combat missions with the B-17 Flying Fortress. His bases ranged from Hawaii to Guadacanal and New Guinea. Ed had many memorable missions, and as he recalls, four of the Fortresses he returned in never flew again, having sufficient battle damage to warrant their use as spare parts. On one mission which involved bombing a Japanese task force, a 5 inch shell from one of the ships ripped through the tail and stabilizer of Ed's B-17. Fortunately, the shell didn't detonate, but it did rip away a good portion of Ed's aircraft. After dropping several thousand feet in altitude, Ed regained control of the aircraft. By using the trim tabs he was able to get the ship back to his airfield. One of Ed's most interesting missions was the one depicted in Stan Stokes' painting when he had a frantic forty-five minute dog fight with a four-engine Mavis Flying Boat. That mission became well known because a war correspondent was onboard at the time. Loberg returned to the States in 1943. He was assigned to one of the first B-29 units, the 769th Bomb Squadron of the 462nd Bomb Group, as Squadron Commander. A combat tour followed to China and India where Ed would pilot the B-29 Super Fortress for another 40 missions in 1944. Ed piloted the lead pathfinder aircraft on the first B~29 attack on Japan. Following the War, Ed remained in the new USAF and served in various staff and command positions, the last being that of Executive Officer of Headquarters Command at Bolling Air Force Base. He retired with the rank of Colonel. Ed then pursued a civilian career with Martin Marietta where he was involved with both the Apollo and Skylab programs. Ed lost his wife, June, following forty-two years of marriage. Two of their three sons are alive, and Ed enjoys his visits with his grandchildren. His oldest son, Bruce, has a private pilots license. Ed, who still retains a commercial pilots rating, flys regularly with his son, and continues to enjoy the thrills of piloting an aircraft. When asked about the B-17, Ed reflected, 'They were great airplanes - really tough!' Sadly, Edwin Loberg died on 28th February 2004. |
 Harold Loch Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2004 | Harold Loch Engineer and Top Turret Gunner on the 'Memphis Belle'. Harold P. Loch from Green Bay, United States born November 29th 1919. Army Air Corps Soldier. A native of Wisconsin, Loch joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In February 1943, Loch was assigned to the B-17 bomber 'Memphis Belle' as the flight engineer and top turret gunner, replacing Eugene Adkins. On May 17, 1943, After the war, Loch entered the construction business and eventually founded his own home construction company. He would also serve the state of Wisconsin as the Brown County Register of Deeds from 1947 until 1974. He eventually retired as a building contractor and records registrar. Sadly Harold Loch passed away on the 12th November 2004. |
Technical Sergeant Bill E Martin Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | Technical Sergeant Bill E Martin Bill Martin was a Fortress waist gunner with the 384th Bomb Group, flying his firs combat operation in June 1943. He took part in many of the Groups main raids including the second Schweinfurt operation. After completing 21 missions his aircraft was shot down and he bailed out, escaping captivity via Switzerland. |
Chief Master Sergeant Roy C McGinnis Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Chief Master Sergeant Roy C McGinnis Joining up in November 1940, Roy McGinnis was the right waist gunner on a B 17 o the 339th BS, 96th Bomb Group. His first mission was in October 1943 to Erriden and after a couple of other major raids, he was shot down during the 14 October Schweinfart mission and taken prisoner by the Germans. |
  First Lieutenant Ed McKay Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2009 | First Lieutenant Ed McKay Ed joined the US Marine Corps in 1937, but transferred to the Air Force in November 1941. Posted to the 350th Squadron of the 100th BG, Ed flew his first combat mission in January 1944 in the B-17, and on March 3 took part in the recalled raid to Berlin. Flymg his regular plane Alice from Dallas II, his gunners claimed three fighters en-route. On March 6, they again went to Berlin, this time successfully Ed served in both the European and Mediterranean theaters, and flew the B-29 at the end of the war. Ed McKay passed away on 17th July 2009. |
General J Kemp McLaughlin Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | General J Kemp McLaughlin As a Second Lieutenant in October 1942, Kemp McLaughlin had already brought a heavily damaged and burning B 17 safely home whilst under heavy attack from German aircraft. It was a suitable prelude to the dangers that would face him and his crew a year later when on 14 Oct 1943, he was the pilot of the 92nd Bomb Group's B 17 Equipose, the mission command plane during the second mission to attack the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt. Under constant attack from German fighters for almost six hours, he again brought the crew safely home. The following month he was deputy air commander on a bombing raid in Norway, when his aircraft lost oil pressure due to one engine overheating. The crew carried on to the target, but on the return to England were attacked by fighters. Unable to return fire because all guns had been thrown overboard to lighten the aircraft, he skilfully coaxed his plane safely back to base. His 'luck' continued when in December 1944 he was air commander on a raid during the Battle of the Bulge when shrapnel pierced his scat a few inches from him, he was uninjured. |
Colonel Ed Millson Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Colonel Ed Millson Flying with the 379th Bomb Group, Ed flew 47 missions on B 17s, most as lead bombardier. He went on the 14 Oct raid, and in Feb 1945 led the 8th Air Force to Berlin. |
Master Sergeant Dale Moon Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | Master Sergeant Dale Moon Flying B17s with the 381st Bomb Group, Dale Moon was based at Ridgewell with the 533rd Bomb Squadron. Dale undertook his first combat mission in April 1944 during the build up to D-Day, and went on 4 big raids to Berlin during his tour - surviving two crash landings following heavy action. After the war Dale saw service in Korea, and flew the B29 and B36 Peacemaker - the largest American bomber ever produced. A Clipped Signature is Available |
Colonel Bob Morgan Our estimated value of this signature : £75 Died : 2004 | Colonel Bob Morgan The 24 year old Captain and pilot Bob Morgan skippered the Memphis Belle on every one of her 25 combat missions over the skies of occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. His renowned skill as a B-17 pilot, his courage under fire, and his leadership welded his crew into one of the best fighting units in the 8th Air Force. Bob Morgan later commanded a squadron of B-29s in the Pacific and led the first B-29 raid on Tokyo. He completed a total of 26 missions against Japan, and became the most celebrated American bomber pilot of WWII. On 21 April 2004, Morgan broke his neck when he fell at the Asheville Regional Airport. He was admitted to a hospital in Asheville, where he remained in critical condition for several weeks. On 10 May, Morgan came down with pneumonia, and that combined with a massive infection brought him face-to-face with one final combat that he lost. Robert Morgan died on Friday, 15 May 2004. He was 85. He was buried on 22 May with full military honours including an Air Force flyover at the NC State Veterans Cemetery. |
 Captain James A Pete Mullinax Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | Captain James A Pete Mullinax Pilot James Mullinax flew B 17 Flying Fortresses with the 332nd BS, 94th Bomb Group undertaking his first combat mission in September 1943. He had completed ei operations before his aircraft was attacked and shot down during the 14 Octobe. Schweinfurt mission. Bailing out, he was taken POW by the Germans. |
Captain James A Myl Our estimated value of this signature : £45 | Captain James A Myl Jim Myl joined the USAAF in 1942. Assigned to the 511th B.S., 351st B.G., he flew his first B17 combat mission in June 1944. On 4th August he brought his badly mauled B17 safely home from Berlin, but three days later, returning from Munich, he was hit again. With his aircraft in flames, he and his crew bailed out into the North Sea, six miles from England. He and six survivors were rescued y an RAF Air Sea Search launch. He completed his tour in just 72 operational days, the fastest tour in the 8th Air Force. |
Casmir Nastal Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2002 | Casmir Nastal Casimer A. 'Tony' Nastal from Apache Junction, Arizona flew one mission on the 'MEMPHIS BELLE' but qualified for the PR tour with his 24 other combat missions on other Flying Forts. After the PR tour, Nastal returned to the ETO and completed a total of 60 combat missions. |
First Lieutenant Don Nielsen Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | First Lieutenant Don Nielsen A pilot with the 457th Bomb Group, Don Nielson had joined up in February 1943, originally training for combat flying on B24 Liberators. In November 1944 he was posted to England, joining the 751st Squadron, 457th Bomb Group at Glatton flying B17 Fortresses - first as co-pilot and then as First Pilot, undertaking the first combat mission of his tour on 12 December 1944. On 3 February 1945 he took part in the big raid on Berlin, which was the heaviest concentration on the German capital so far in the war, encountering some of the most intense and accurate flak ever experienced by the Eighth. During his tour Don took part in a total of 34 raids, all on B17s. |
First Lieutenant John P Noack Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | First Lieutenant John P Noack Joining the service in March 1942, John trained as a pilot before being posted to England joining the 369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group flying B17s from their base at Thurleigh in Bedfordshire. He undertook his first mission in anger on 12 August 1943, and on 14 October went on the second mission to Schweinfurt. On 11 December 1943, after completing 15 combat missions, his B 17 was shot down over Europe and he was forced to ditch, and taken prisoner by the Germans, remaining in captivity until liberated on 30 April 1945. |
John OConnell Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | John OConnell Bombadier, B-17 Flying Fortress 'Yankee Queen'. |
S/Sgt John H Osbahr Our estimated value of this signature : £40 Died : 2006 | S/Sgt John H Osbahr John Osbahr of Nahant died Friday February 17th 2006, aged 80 at his home after a brief illness. Born and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, he was the son of the late William and Anna (Sopko) Osbahr. He had lived in Nahant for the past 42 years. After graduating from high school in 1943 he volunteered for the Army Air Corps. He served as a Ball Turret (belly) Gunner on the B-17 'Bouncin Baby' in the 447th bomber group, flying his first combat mission on 2nd November 1944, flying to Merseberg, Germany. He flew on 32 Combat Missions over Germany in 1944 and 1945, was a survivor of an emergency crash landing in France, when he was listed as MIA for 3 days, and received various medals and citations. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. John completed the last of his 32 missions in March 1945 on a mission to Dresden. He is featured in the documentary, produced by Julie Gerisch, titled 'Though The Heavens Fall' - Courage Beyond History which details the 'Heroic Exploits' of the 447th Bomb Group during World War II. |
Captain Robert Paris Our estimated value of this signature : £35 Died : 2010 | Captain Robert Paris Joining up in June 1940, Rob Paris qualified with dual rating as pilot and navigator, flying a total of 52 combat missions on B17s. Posted first to the 8th Air Force in England, Rob flew with the 325th Squadron of the 92nd Bomb Group, completing his first mission in October 1942. In November he was posted to join the 12th Air Force in North Africa, again with B17s, joining the 342nd Squadron of the 97th Bomb Group. Amongst others, he participated in raids on the Italian Fleet in Trieste and Gorizia, the battle of Kasserine Pass, at Palermo during the Invasion of Sicily, as well as raids on the Italian mainland. Rob flew a total of 52 combat missions on B17s, and was Lead Navigator of many 100-plane missions. Sadly Rob passed away on the 21st September 2010, he was honored in december during a ceremony at National Cemetery in Phoenix with a fly over by a vintage B-25 aircraft. |
 First Lieutenant Vincent J Peters Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | First Lieutenant Vincent J Peters Vincent Peters flew his first combat mission in October 1944 flying B17s with the 535th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group out of Ridgewell. He flew missions to attack the Nazi capital Berlin, to Cologne and Dresden, as well as targets in the Ruhr valley. On 1st January 1945, during a mission supporting the Battle of the Bulge, his aircraft was hit and he and his crew were forced to bail out. |
Major General Carl D Peterson Our estimated value of this signature : £50 Died : 2010 | Major General Carl D Peterson Carl D. Peterson was born on January 19, 1924. After attending St. John's University, Peterson enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp. in October 1942. He commenced pilot training in April of 1943, and in early 1944 was commissioned as a second lieutenant. After completing B-17 training at Hobbs, New Mexico, and combat crew training at Sioux City, Iowa, Peterson was assigned to the 549th Bomb Squadron of the 385th Bomb Group based at Great Ashfield, England. The 385th was part of the Eighth Air Force, which was under the command of General james Doolittle, the great aviation pioneer who had led the daring B-25 raid on Tokyo only a few short months after Pearl Harbor. Peterson arrived in England in late September 1944 in time for the 200th mission celebration. While undergoing his final training the 549th lost eleven aircraft on a single mission to Berlin during an all out attack by 75 German fighters. Peterson's rookie crew became the fifth oldest in the squadron before they had flown their first mission. Peterson participated in a bombing raid of the Cologne rail yards during his third mission. On this mission, Peterson's aircraft lost two engines because of flak hits. A third engine was lost on return and he was forced to make a crash landing in Belgium, only two miles behind the front. In November Peterson took part in the largest air battle of all time when 1100 bombers and 900 fighters of the Eighth Air Force took on 500 Luftwaffe fighters during an attack on Meresberg. Peterson flew a total of thirty-five B-17 missions. On more than half of those missions he lost one or more engines. On four of those missions they were attacked by German fighters, and on four occasions they were forced down on the European Continent due to battle damage. Carl Peterson flew Ruby's Raiders as a back-up aircraft on more than one occasion. Peterson was also present when Cpl. Ruby Newell visited the 385th for the dedication of the aircraft, named in her honor. Peterson also served in Korea as Squadron Commander of the 339th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, which flew the F-94B. In 1961 while stationed in Saudi Arabia, Peterson organized an acrobatic team flying the F-86. General Peterson served in Vietnam where he piloted the A-1 Skyraider. In 1973 Peterson was promoted to Brigadier General and put in command of the USAF Defense Weapons Center at Tyndall Air Force Base. General Peterson flew his last operational flight in an F-106 in May of 1977. This was the culmination of more than 5,400 hours of military flying in 28 different aircraft. For two years prior to his retirement in 1979 General Peterson was third in command of land, air, and naval forces assigned to the NATO mission. Peterson received more than 20 decorations during his distinguished career. He and his wife Twy-la Jean have been married for more than 44 years, and have seven children and 16 grandchildren. Carl Peterson died on 23rd December 2010. A Clipped Signature is Available |
S/Sgt Orlando Pete Petrillo Our estimated value of this signature : £40 Died : 2007 | S/Sgt Orlando Pete Petrillo Pete Petrillo was a Waist Gunner on the B-17 'Bit o' Lace'. He flew his first combat mission to Caen, France in August 1944, and the last of his 35 missions was in December 1944 to Mainz in Germany. One of his memorable trips was a supply drop to the French Maquis. He died on 12th November 2007 aged 92. |
Gene Platek Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | Gene Platek Co-pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Yankee Queen'. |
Johnny Quinlan Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2001 | Johnny Quinlan John P. Quinlan was the only officially wounded crew member of the 'MEMPHIS BELLE'. After the PR tour, he tried unsuccessfully to fly again with Robert Morgan in the Pacific Theatre. Quinlan was eventually assigned to the CBI Theatre and downed 3 Zeros, to become a 'gunner Ace' before his B-29 was shot down. He had already shot down 2 German fighters from the 'BELLE'. Quinlan eventually retired to Stephentown, New York. He passed away in 2001. |
Staff Sergeant Robert Rickel Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | Staff Sergeant Robert Rickel Left waist gunner with the 379th Bomb Group, Robert flew a full tour of 25 missions on B 17s. Amongst many missions, he participated in both of the Schweinfurt raids. |
Staff Sergeant Ben Roberts Our estimated value of this signature : £25 | Staff Sergeant Ben Roberts Flying with the 364th BS, 305th Bomb Group, Ben Roberts was a B17 ball turre gunner. Flying his first mission on 5 October 1943, his fifth mission was the 14 Octobe raid to Schweinfurt, during which his aircraft was shot down. Bailing out he wa captured and taken to Stalag Luft 17B until the war's end. |
Sgt Byron Schlag Our estimated value of this signature : £40 Died : 2003 | Sgt Byron Schlag Byron Schlag was the Tailgunner of B-17 'Ol Scrapiron', flying his first combat mission on 26th February 1945 to Berlin. On 23rd March his B-17 collided mid-air with another B-17, cutting the tail off. He managed to bail out at just 400ft; his ball-turret gunner fell in his turret from 23,000ft and survived. The rest of the crew died. Byron Schlag was taken PoW; he escaped and was recaptured four times. He died 25th November 2003. |
 First Lieutenant Harry Seip Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | First Lieutenant Harry Seip The Pilot and Captain of B-17G Silver Meteor with the 568th Bomb Squadron, 390th Bomb Group, he flew 35 combat missions over Germany and throughout the Normandy invasions. |
 First Lieutenant Ken Sharpe Our estimated value of this signature : £10 | First Lieutenant Ken Sharpe After joining the USAAF in March 1943, Ken Sharpe qualified as a pilot and was posted to the Eighth Air Force serving with the 388th Bomb Group from RAF Knettishall in Suffolk, England. Flying B-17s with the 561st Bomb Squadron, he undertook his first mission in January 1945 and went on to complete a total of 18 gruelling daylight operations over occupied Europe. His significant raids included trips to Berlin, the Ruhr Valley and as the war in Europe was coming to an end, his crew picked up 30 French POWs from Linz in Austria and flew them back home to Paris. |
First Lieutenant Arthur Sherman Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | First Lieutenant Arthur Sherman Arthur Sherman joined up as soon as he could on 10th April 1942, and after training was posted to the 15th Air force in Italy, joining the 779th bomb Squadron, 464th Bomb Group flying B25s. He flew his first combat mission on 2nd May 1944. Transferring to the 483rd Bomb Group he flew B17 Fortresses and was regularly escorted by the 332nd Tuskegee Fighter Group. Among his numerous strategic bombing missions were included the momentous raid to Memingen airfield to destroy the factory where over 600 Me109s were being made every month, together with the new Me262 jet fighter. |
S/Sgt Don Sherman Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | S/Sgt Don Sherman Don Sherman was the ball-turret Gunner on the B-17 'Buddy Buddy'. The first of his 31 combat missions was in December 1944 to Mainz in Germany. His final mission was flown in April 1945 against German targets holding out a Royan in France. |
Major Robert Simpson Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | Major Robert Simpson Signing up in June 1941, Robert Simpson served both in Europe and the South Pacific. Initially with the 42nd Sqn, 11th B.G., 7th Air Force in the South Pacific, his first landing in a B17 was on a steel strip in a coconut grove. After participating in the bitter battles of the Solomons and at Guadalcanal, he transferred to Europe joining the 8th Air Force in England for the battle against Germany. During World War Two he flew both the B17 and B24. |
 First Lieutenant Leonard L Spivey Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | First Lieutenant Leonard L Spivey Leonard Spivey joined the USAAF in 1942 and trained as a navigator, joining the Eighth Air Force in May 1943. He was posted to fly B-17 Fortresses with the 281st Bomb Group at Ridgewell in Essex, where as the Squadron Navigator he was the Group lead navigator on most of his missions, and on one was Wing lead. On 19th August 1943 he was shot down over Holland on his 13th mission, parachuting out of his B-17 and captured immediately by German forces. He was paraded through the streets in front of Dutch civilians, who incensed the Germans by displaying their support for this Allied airman. Leonard was sent as a POW to Stalag Luft III, made famous by the book and movie The Great Escape, and remained a POW until liberated by the US Army on 29th April 1945. |
 First Lieutenant Charles Norm Stevens Our estimated value of this signature : £10 | First Lieutenant Charles Norm Stevens Joining the Army Air Corps in April 1943, Norm Stevens graduated as a Bombardier and was commissioned shortly after. Posted to the 351st Bomb Group, he and his recently formed crew flew a new B-17 from Nebraska to their new base at Polebrook in Northamptonshire, England. Flying with the 509th Bomb Squadron his first combat mission was a raid on Le Bourget airfield outside Paris on 14th June 1944, followed by operations to targets across occupied France and Germany, including Berlin. His final mission was a raid on a Luftwaffe airfield at Kassel on 22nd September 1944 and he completed a total of 34 operations during WW2. |
 Jim Verinis Our estimated value of this signature : £50 Died : 2003 | Jim Verinis James A. Verinis from Woodbridge, Connecticut also piloted the B-17 'The Connecticut Yankee'. Jim was the crewmember who purchased the crew's mascot: A Scottish-Terrier named 'Stuka'. Captain Verinis went over with the Memphis Belle as co-pilot, but during much of the time he was overseas he flew another B17. Retired from the USAF with the rank of Lt. Colonel. Passed away 2003. |
Staff Sergeant Leon Walden Our estimated value of this signature : £30 | Staff Sergeant Leon Walden Joining up in November 1942 Leon Walden trained to become a waist gunner on B17 fortress, being posted to Europe, joining the 840th bomb Squadron, 483rd bomb Group in Italy. Going into combat on 12th April 1944, Leon flew 50 combat missions with the 483rd, including the heroic raid on the Me262 jet fighter factory at Memingen Airfield on 18th July 1944, when the group was attacked by a force of over 75 Luftwaffe fighters. |
Col John A Wallach Our estimated value of this signature : £10 | Col John A Wallach 19th Bomb Group, 14th Sqn. Clark Field B-17 and later part of 'Swoose' crew and fighter pilot. |
Robert Weiler USAAF Our estimated value of this signature : £10 | Robert Weiler USAAF Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bob Weiler enlisted in the Army, seving in field artillery and the newly formed Tank Destroyer Forces. In September 1943 he began flight training in the Army Air Corps as an aerial gunner, first on B-17s, and eventually as an electrical specialist gunner aboard the new B-29 Superfortresses. Stationed on Guam, he flew many 3000 mile combat missions of 18 hours per flight against the Japanese home islands. On his 14th mission, to Osaka, his plane was badly shot up. His crew bailed out, narrowly escaping the complete destruction of their plane, which exploded just before hitting the water. Bob and his surviving crew were picked up by submarine. Over the course of his 19 combat missions, Bobs crew made emergency landings on Iwo Jima on a number of occasions, due either to battle damage or engine problems. He was honorably discharged as a Sergeant in December 1945. Bob is retired, living in the Sarasote, Florida area. His decorations include two Air Medals, Purple Heart, Pacific Theater Medal with Air Offensive Japan Star, and other WWII service medals. |
 First Lieutenant James L White Jr Our estimated value of this signature : £10 | First Lieutenant James L White Jr Graduating in April 1944, at 20 years old he was one of the youngest pilots in the Eighth Air Force and joined the 398th Bomb Group at Nuthampstead as a Co-pilot on B-17s. His first mission was in September 1944, followed by numerous raids over Europe, including several to Cologne and Meresburg. However on his 18th mission on Christmas Eve 1944, his B-17 crashed in freezing fog during an operation to support the front units at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Wounded, and with a broken leg, he was hospitalised and unable to fly again. He returned to the US aboard RMS Queen Elizabeth. |
 Captain Rolland H Whited Our estimated value of this signature : £20 | Captain Rolland H Whited The Captain and pilot of the 34th Bomb Group B-17 Flying Fortress Queenie, Rolland Whited arrived in England with the 391st Bomb Squadron, 34th Bomb Group in April 1944. He flew his first combat mission on June 20th. A veteran of many heavy bombardment missions he flew on operations against Luftwaffe airfields, VI rocket sites, chemical plants and the railroad marshalling yards at Cologne and Ludwigshafen. After completing 26 missions on B24s, the 34th re-equipped with B17 Flying Fortresses. Rolland flew a further 8 missions on the B17, flying his final mission in January 1945. He holds the Air Medal with three Oak clusters in addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross. |
Colonel Earl Williams Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | Colonel Earl Williams Flying a stripped down B17 with the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron en-route from Hamilton Field to Clark Field in the Philippines, Earls aircraft and eleven others were landing to refuel at Oahu when they ran straight into the Japanese attack. With their aircraft hit they managed to land. Williams went on to complete 55 missions in the South Pacific, including the Battle of the Coral Sea. |
Captain Charles Wilson Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2013 | Captain Charles Wilson Charles Winters Wilson, affectionately known as Hong Kong, has Gone West on January 11, 2013. Born June 9th, 1921, in Dublin, Texas he spent his youth in Ft. Worth, Texas. At 19, Charlie was eager to become a pilot hitchhiking to Canada to join the Royal Canadian Air Force becoming a Sergeant Pilot. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and with the United States now engaged in World War Two, Sergeant Pilot Wilson transferred into the United States Army Air Corps. Soon he became a commissioned officer and command pilot of the B17 Flying Fortress going on to fly 28 missions with the famed 100th Bomb Group, 350th squadron, out of Thorpe Abbotts, England. After his combat missions, he participated in Operation Chowhound, the dropping of food supplies to the people of Holland and was most proud of flying French POWs out of Linz, Austria back to Paris, France, buzzing the Eiffel Tower upon returning the POWs. After military service, he spent the next ten years building and flying for Philippine Airlines. He is noted for flying the historic first DC6 revenue flight eastbound across the Pacific from the Philippine Islands to San Francisco, California. His next flying duty was a three year contract developing Ethiopia Airlines in east Africa. 21 additional years were spent flying for Transco Company in Houston, Texas. Captain Wilson accumulated over 23,000 flight hours throughout his lifetime in aviation. |
Bill Winchell Our estimated value of this signature : £50 Died : 1994 | Bill Winchell Clarence E. 'Bill' Winchell downed the eighth and final German fighter from the guns of the MEMPHIS BELLE. His diaries provide most of the accurate accounts of the missions. Winchell retired as a chemical engineer and passed away in 1994. |
 Jay Zeamer Our estimated value of this signature : £45 Died : 2007 | Jay Zeamer Jay Zeamer was born in Carlisle Pennsylvania and grew up in Orange County, New Jersey. He became an Eagle Scout at the age of thirteen, and at 14 enrolled in Culver Military Academy in Indiana. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating high school and enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. One of the USAAFs most highly decorated bomber pilots, Jay Zeamer was awarded the Medal of Honor on his 47th mission. Badly injured when attacked by Japanese fighters, he got his B-17 crew safely home. Zeamer died in a nursing home at the age of 88 on March 22nd, 2007. |
  S/Sgt Christy Zullo Our estimated value of this signature : £35 | S/Sgt Christy Zullo Waist Gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress 'Lazy Baby'. |
| Flying Fortress Squadron details |
100th Bomb Group Country : US | 100th Bomb Group The 100th Bomb Group were based at RAF Thorpe Abbotts, and flew Flying Fortresses which specialised in daylight bombing deep into Germany. The 100th Bomb group became known as the ‘the Bloody Hundredth’ due to their heavy losses. On their first mission alone the 100th Bomb Group lost three planes and thirty men and worse was to follow. On March 6th 1944 fifteen aircraft were lost during a mission to bomb Berlin. The 100th Bomb Group's main missions were to bomb strategic targets such as airfields, oil installations, enemy ground defences and submarine and transport facilities. The 100th Bomb Group flew six ‘Chowhound’ missions dropping food parcels to hungry Dutch citizens after May 1945. |
19th Bomb Group Country : US | 19th Bomb Group |
2nd Bomb Group Country : US | 2nd Bomb Group |
301st Bomb Group Country : US | 301st Bomb Group 301st Bombardment Group was a highly decorated group flying B-17 Flying Fortresses that served primarily in North Africa and Italy. It operated as part of Eighth, Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces. In the postwar era, the 301st Bombardment Group was one of the first USAAF units assigned to the Strategic Air Command on 4 August 1946, prior to the establishment of the United States Air Force. The group was activated as a redesignation of the 467th Bombardment Group due to the Air Force's policy of retaining only low-numbered groups on active duty after the war. The group was inactivated in 1952 when the parent wing adopted the Tri-Deputate organization and assigned all of the groups squadrons directly to the wing. Reactivated as the 301st Operations Group in 1991 |
303rd Bomb Group Country : US | 303rd Bomb Group |
305th Bomb Group Country : US Known Codes : , XK, | 305th Bomb Group |
306th Bomb Group Country : US | 306th Bomb Group |
324th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 324th Bomb Squadron |
325th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 325th Bomb Squadron |
326th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 326th Bomb Squadron |
327th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 327th Bomb Squadron |
32nd Bomb Squadron Country : US | 32nd Bomb Squadron |
331st Bomb Squadron Country : US | 331st Bomb Squadron |
332nd Bomb Squadron Country : US | 332nd Bomb Squadron |
334th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 334th Bomb Squadron The squadron was first activated in June 1942. It saw combat in the European Theater of World War II, where it was assigned to the 95th Bombardment Group, the only group in Eighth Air Force to earn three Distinguished Unit Citations. From 1947 to 1949 the 334th Bombardment Squadron served in the reserves. It was inactivated when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve flying units under the wing base organization model. During the Cold War, the squadron was part of Strategic Air Command (SAC)'s 95th Bombardment Wing and performed strategic bombardment training with Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers at Biggs Air Force Base. Texas. It supported SAC's global commitments until 1966. |
335th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 335th Bomb Squadron |
335th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 335th Bomb Squadron |
336th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 336th Bomb Squadron |
337th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 337th Bomb Squadron |
338th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 338th Bomb Squadron |
339th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 339th Bomb Squadron |
347th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 347th Bomb Squadron |
349th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 349th Bomb Squadron |
34th Bomb Group Country : US | 34th Bomb Group |
350th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 350th Bomb Squadron |
351st Bomb Group Country : US | 351st Bomb Group |
352nd Bomb Squadron Country : US | 352nd Bomb Squadron |
355th Bomb Squadron Country : US | 355th Bomb Squadron |
