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Cranston Fine Arts Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures United States B Birch, William

Second Lieutenant William L Birch

William L Birch was born on the 7th September 1917 in Galexico, California and graduated from Kern County High School in 1935. He joined the United States Army Air Force in September 1939, trained as a bombardier, and by 1942 was a Staff Sergeant in the 34th Bomb Squadron. When the squadron was asked, Mr. Birch was among those who volunteered for the Tokyo Raid. He took part in the Raid as the bombardier of the #11 aircraft flown by Capt. Ross Greening. Their aircraft made a bomb run on an oil refinery and attacked a patrol boat headed out of Tokyo Bay to the China Sea. The crew bailed out at night over China and were assisted by Chinese villagers. After the raid Birch went through pilot training, received his wings and commission as an officer in June 1943, and flew B-24s. He left the Air Force in 1945 and was married in 1947. He worked with his father in his butcher shop and did machinist work until becoming a commercial helicopter instructor in 1964. In the late 60s he was forced to retire as a result of a crash which broke his back. Second Lieutenant William L Birchpassed away on Saturday, November 18, 2006

Second Lieutenant William L Birch - Signed Aviation Art

Into the Teeth of the Wind by Robert Taylor. 3 of 4 editions available. All 4 editions feature up to 13 additional signatures. £215.00 - £475.00

Text for the above items :

Into the Teeth of the Wind by Robert Taylor. Bound for Tokyo, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle launches his B-25 Mitchell from the heaving deck of the carrier USS Hornet on the morning of 18 April, 1942. Leading a sixteen-bomber force on their long distance one - way mission, the Doolittle Raiders completed the first strike at the heart of Imperial Japan since the infamous attack on Pearl Harbour four months earlier. Together, they completed one of the most audacious air raids in aviation history.