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Old 02-01-2015, 11:41 PM
30-30remchester 30-30remchester is offline
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Default New book about the forgotten 15th Army Air Corps

My father-in-law flew 51 missions hanging on the underside of a B-17 in the 15th Army Air Corp. While mentioning the fact at our local bakery, I was overheard by some acquaintances from Missouri that summer in our small town. The woman stated her father was also in the 15th. He had kept a diary (against regulations) and had been persuaded to write a book. I was gifted a copy of ADVENTURES UNDER FIRE by Albert C. Henke. This is no mind challenging book. It led you through his training, 50 missions as a tail gunner on a B-17, and the trip home. A very easy read that even I got through in one day. Lots of picture and a brief walk through of every mission. The day to day fascinated me. I could finally see what my FIL went through daily. Albert's electric flight suit shorted out and he nearly froze to death. Same as my FIL. For me it was a book I couldn't put down. Thirty four days on a ship just to get home. These truly were some great men.
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Old 02-06-2015, 07:47 PM
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......Who?
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Old 02-07-2015, 01:50 AM
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And where? Was the 15th based in Italy, or flying missions over it? My memory is vague on that.

I did read a book by a fighter pilot in that theater. He flew Spitfires until they got P-51's.

I also saw a movie that showed a lot of P-47's in that region.
I think they were based on Sicily or Corsica. Maybe Crete?
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Old 02-07-2015, 06:02 AM
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15TH flew out of N Africa and Italy---it also included a large collection of B-24's.
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Old 02-08-2015, 10:49 PM
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Another recent book about the Fifteenth is "Forgotten Fifteenth" by Barrett Tillman. It's more of a daily log of planes and missions and results.
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Old 02-09-2015, 01:32 AM
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Why was the 15th 'forgotten'?
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Old 02-09-2015, 05:08 PM
30-30remchester 30-30remchester is offline
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Originally Posted by rwsmith View Post
Why was the 15th 'forgotten'?
The 15th was forgotten because of the 8th. Clark Gable and Andy Rooney along with others were in the 8th. The 8th took a terrible beating and deserve all accolades given them, but there were others that suffered terribly as well. The 15th lost 227 planes in just a few months IIRC. That figure came from the above mentioned book" The Forgotten Fifteenth " that I am in the process of reading now.
An interesting story from the Forgotten Fifteenth, was about flight crews fighting to get into a newly arrived B-24 or B-17. Seems some of these planes had some repair to be done after the flight crew was done. Come to find out, Rosie the Riveter that built the plane would write their names, addresses, and even bra sizes, somewhere hidden on the plane. If a crew member found it, then they could write this girl and the girl would write them in return.
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Old 02-09-2015, 05:59 PM
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I believe that the formation in question was properly known as the Fifteenth Air Force, not "15th Army Air Corps". It was formed in 1943 and operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Its first CO was some guy named Jimmy Doolittle.
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