B-24 War Story

[30-30remchester]

My father-in-law was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 with the 15th AAC, stationed in Africa. On base were both B-17's and B-24's. There was a rivalry between the two. He often called the 24's as the crates the B-17's came in. It was so ugly that the Germans called the flying furniture van.

 

[Kinman]

I suppose most have heard about the B-24 "Lady Be Good" that crashed in the Libyan desert on its return from a bombing mission over Italy. It wasn't discovered until 1958. It was the crew's first mission and no bodies were found. Seems that everyone at the base in Libya assumed it had gone down in the Mediterranean, so they didn't look for it on land. I remember that Rod Serling made an episode of "The Twilight Zone" about it back in the early 60s.

I recently lost a friend that had been in the early OSS and later worked in the Air Force as an investigator and ultimately involved in cryptography and lastly lie detector analysis. He told the story about being stationed in Libya and being one of the first group that examined the LBG, according to him they were ignorant of correct procedures regarding traipsing all over the scene, handling stuff that could be used as evidence. He said that by the time the military had thoroughly screwed the pooch it was almost entirely rumor and speculation about what truly happened. Big surprise

 

[DWalt]

When I was at Ohio State, my graduate advisor had been a B-24 pilot, and operated mainly out of North Africa, don't remember exactly where. He was almost deaf as a post from the engine noise. Even with him wearing a hearing aid you had to speak in a loud voice to carry on a conversation. He also had a loudspeaker on his telephone. I heard lots of war stories, don't remember any of them, far too long ago.

 

[S-W4EVER]

I grew up at the south end of DFW (my Dad was a Navy Recruiter). Being a Navy brat, once I got my DL I was able to drive to NAS-Dallas & Carswell AFB.

I remember watching Navy F8's dogfighting over our house, also remember the KC-97's flying overhead. I saw my first SR71 at an airshow at Carswell (back in a hangar) about 1970.

I bought my own school clothes (mostly mowing lawns) and my dollar went a lot farther at the Navy Exchange & the AF BX.

One of my chores was to do the grocery shopping at the Commissary at Carswell (my Mom died when I was 17). My Dad would give me $200 for the month of grocery shopping. I had to cover anything over that so I learned to do the math in my head (guesstimating). Can you believe $200 in those days filled four grocery carts?

Sorry for the thread drift, it just brought up some memories…

BTW, while I never met him I believe BG Jimmy Stewart is one of the finest men that ever lived.

 

[robertrwalsh]

Not B-24, but... My mom worked for Douglas during WWII. She was a riveter. She said the first "little people" she ever saw worked in the plant. They hired them because they could get into the wing tips for the riveting.

 

[Chubbs103]

My wife's Great Uncle was part of a B-24 crew in the Pacific. He went MIA 16Apr1944 and was declared dead 25Feb1946. Our youngest is named for him. In 2002 the wreckage of his aircraft (as well as that of another B-24) was discovered in the Finisterre Mountains of Papua New Guinea. The crew was interned in Arlington National Cemetery in 2007.

 

[M1A4ME]

Carswell was the base they were supposed to be at for the B36 parts of the movie Strategic Air Command (a Jimmy Stewart movie - also a great movie if you haven't seen it).

Bomber Pilot is a great book (about Jimmy Stewart in WW2).

I still remember that Twilight episode. How the crew was standing around tossing a baseball and BS'ing about stuff when the plane was discovered. How each one would disappear as their bodies were found. As a kid, that was a pretty wild show.

Gen. LeMay (not a general then) was one of the pioneers of the really hard/long range missions over Europe. Taking off in B24's from England to fly over Europe to drop bombs on a target and then land in north Africa. Then rest up, work on the planes, fuel up, re arm and fly another bombing mission on the return to England. In the movie Strategic Air Command he was the character "General Hawks."

There's a pretty good book out there about the B24 in Europe. I think it's called "Wild Blue". Really makes you think about things as each chapter starts off with a report of the new B24's and crews that arrived at one air base or another on a certain date and then told you how many of them were still flying/how many crew members were lost by a date that was 3 or 4 months later.

Several years ago I was coming down Rt.10 here in Chesterfield, VA in my 81 Z28. I had the T-tops out and was just enjoying the breeze and listening to the radio. Suddenly I heard this noise that was unusual, rough, and getting louder and louder. I checked the oil pressure and coolant temp and they were normal. Pushed in on the clutch to let the engine rpm drop down and the noise was still quickly getting louder and louder. I hit the turn signal, pulled onto the side of the road at and noticed I was lined up with the Chesterfield County Airport runway. Before I could get the engine shut off a huge B24 passed right over me on it's way in to a landing for one of the little local weekend air shows they used to do there. Awesome experience to be that close to a flying/landing WW2 heavy bomber. I took our youngest son to the air show the next day and he got to walk through the B17 and B24 (for a fee). He loved it.

 

[robertrwalsh]

They have a really nice aircraft museum at Atwater, CA. They have an "open cockpit" day a couple of days a year. The only B-36 I have ever seen for real is there. There are very few of them left. Those things are HUGE.

 

[M1A4ME]

A picture of the Lady be Good.



We "get" the idea of the size of the B17 and B24. We know the B29 was a good bit bigger than either of those. With a longer range, more bomb load/capacity, etc.

Here's a picture of a B29 and B36 sitting on the concrete somewhere. It's about the only way to understand how big the B36 was.