[MEDIA]
A bit of devotion from WW2. This is the first of 4 totaled B-24's that my late friend survived. He flew 3 more back to Italy that were junked on their return. One was left on the Island of Vis in the Adriatic. All done without fanfare. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I didn't attempt to demean the intent of the movie, I simply realize that devotion has many faces and my late bomber pilot friend had that in his way of caring for his crew. I met the remnants of his crew and they told me of many things that he did that saved all of them. After making sure that the airplane was operating at 100%, his crew was the first concern and anything else was in descending order. After their first crash he went through the airplane to account for everyone and then assembled the crew outside the airplane. They said that he stood there with blood in his face from a head injury while he kept counting the numbers of those assembled and got rattled that he could only account for ten. Crew compliment was 11. He was ready to go back into the airplane when one of them said, " Lt. you're number 11! ....Oh. I guess that he did some things that you couldn't ever get a way with in flying a B-24 like turning into the dead engines side with a shot up airplane and crash landing it on Vis with all the crew safe. They told me that," If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't be here." They obviously idolized him. So, to me, that's one of the expressions of devotion of one human to another....or others.
well, did anyone see it? mixed reviews, but mostly positive. It's like restaurant reviews. Seventeen 5-star say best ever and three 1 star, never again. .
A search on the movie "Devotion" brought me here (to this section).... Might you have any additional info on this pic? Year? Maybe part of the 15th out of Grottaglie? Many thanks
I shouldn't be mentioning names but this picture was stateside during training in New Mexico. After deployment to the 15th in Italy , my late friend went through three more much like this plus having his assigned aircraft spend 6 weeks in the repair depot to repair flak and fighter damage. Oil in Rumania and aircraft factories in Germany were heavily defended and the 15th sustained heavy losses that were seldom recognized. The attached photo was one in his outfit. Image Unavailable, Please Login
But you just did, thank you never forget. My Dad was w the 449th (717th BG) made the Ploiești run several, miraculous, times....
The B-24 was a little more vulnerable to hits than the B-17. Combine that with heavy defenses and the 15th had a rough time.
The B-24 was a scary airplane that required a tough and dedicated crew. I think that I may have written something about it before. it was not a transition airplane like the B-17 that was a cross between the earlier wooden truss structures with new metal skins. The cross-over resulted in an over- design that had a multiple load path wing that was almost indestructible and a well designed tubular fuselage. It had good range when it was designed but 7 years later It had a moderate bomb load compared to the newer B-24. The B-24 structure was lighter due to a newer design technique using the shear web concept enabling it to carry twice the bomb load of the B-17 and at a faster cruise speed. The new high aspect ratio Davis wing design made that possible but it proved to be altitude limited at 27,000 ft. where the B-17 was capable of 35,000 to 40,000 feet. Two vastly different airplanes now for the same mission. It didn't take long for the Germans to figure out who to hit first in a bomber formation. And that was another blockheaded decision by the higher commanding level to insist that the two airplanes be used in the same formation where one could out-climb the other ( B-17) and one that could out- cruise the other( B-24) . The B-24 could not take the punishment that the B-17 sometimes shucked off. Both had fuel bladders but the B-24 had lighter wing structure and it didn't take much to light one off with 20mm cannon fire. At altitude. the B-24 was difficult to fly compared to the B-17 that always acted like it was on rails. I had stick time in the 247 and it was just a small B-17, once you set it up, it stayed there. I got a short right seat time in a B-24 and it was the opposite as far as I could determine. My first experience with the B-24 was in the summer and when I approached the airplane , the odor of fuel was heavy. All panels, hatches and the bomb bay doors were open. Take off was made with the bombay doors open 6 inches or more. Once the ground static wires had broken contact withe ground, the doors were closed. One of my assignments was to watch the landing gear and the engines on take off for smoke. I was surprised to see the tires increase in diameter as the take off speed increased. No problems. Another surprise was the flexibility of the airplane compared to the B-17. It constantly flexed and vibrated in flight where the B-17 had very little. I had better quit.
Some more stuff. The landing was another assignment to keep an eye on the landing gear. The landing gear strut jerked back about 10 " when it hit the runway and wheel spin up was immediate, smoky, and brutal with the tire growing again. Didn't have to do any of this in the B-17, just watch for engine smoke. I still get a chuckle when I think of the movie, "Memphis Belle", where the gunners were sitting in the waist "discussing" why they didn't want to die. If you have ever been in the waist of either airplane with gun ports open the only thing you could hear was the four R1830's (or R1820's) and 170MPH wind roaring like hell. Another sound that I won't forget is during night ops when the line of airplanes taxied past our quarters with the ghostly wail of the brakes being applied and, of course, the roar of pre take off run up and then the take off. No way that will ever be duplicated except in one's memory. Something that I will have until the switches are off.
