Blog Archives
Before the Journey Begins
A well researched blog, I know you all will be interested!
This is a most precious page in Flight Sergeant W.S. Hall’s log book. There is everything I need on it to find out when and where some photos were taken.
Rongotai N.Z. 24-8-1940 to 2-9-1942 (2 years and 9 days)
ITW Rotorua N.Z. 3-9-1942 to 15-10-1942 (I.T.W. is Initial Training Wing) (42 days)
EFTS Harewood N.Z 16-10-1942 to 1-1-1943 (E.F.T.S. is Elementary Flying Training School) (77 days)
SFTS Woodbourne N.Z 2-1-1943 to 7-5-1943 (S.F.T.S. is Special Flying Training School) (125 days)
No. 12 P.R.C. Brighton, England 8-7-1943 to 14-9-1943 (P.R.C. is Personnel Reception Centre) (69 days)
No. 6 PAFU Little Rissington, Glos 15-9-1943 to 7-2-1944 (P.A.F.U. is Pilots Advanced Flying Unit) (145 days)
No. 5 PDC Blackpool, Lancs 8-2-1944 to 19-2-1944 (No. 5 Personnel Despatch Centre) (11 days)
No. 1 ME. A.P. C. Jerusalem 8-3-1944 to 14-4-1944 (A.P.C. – Armament Practice Camp) (37 days)
76 O.T.U. Aqir 15-4-1944 to 16-7-1944…
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Lieutenant Colonel Dick Cole, the Last of the Doolittle Raiders, Dies.
IN REMEMBRANCE…..
On this date in 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led a raid of 16 B-25 bombers on Tokyo, Japan, launched from the USS Hornet. The raid was in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor some four months earlier. It was the first time B-25s had been launched from an aircraft carrier and many thought it couldn’t be done. Japan thought they were immune to attacks from far-away America and the raid devastated Japanese moral and boosted that of the United States. (See “The Doolittle Raid 70 Years Ago Today” posted on 18 April 2012 at https://mypoetrythatrhymes.wordpress.com/2012/04/.) Lieutenant Dick Cole was Doolittle’s copilot during that raid and the last of the raiders to die on 9 April 2019. This is his story.
The Ballad of Richard “Dick” Cole
Wind was blasting the open hatch.
China was dark below.
The B-25 was out of fuel.
The lieutenant had to go
Out…
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The Fight for Mindoro
A clearly detailed description of following through on a mission!!
Night Action off Mindoro by Jack Fellows On the night of December 26, 1944, this radar-equipped B-24M night intruder, piloted by Lt. Samuel L. Flinner of the 63rd Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group attacked and immobilized the Imperial Japanese Navy Yugumo-class destroyer, Kiyoshimo, off the Philippine island of Mindoro, where it was left behind and sunk by a PT boat.http://irandpcorp.com/products/night-action-off-mindoro/
Find this Pin and more on Ken’s Men Against the Empire Vol. II.
Night Action off Mindoro by Jack Fellows
Jack Fellows Figuratives, Landscapes, Sketches & more.
Expanding a little more on last week’s post…
As 1944 was wrapping up in the Pacific Theater, units continued their march northward with the invasion and seizure of the island of Mindoro and continuing attacks on Clark Field, Luzon. Mindoro was considered a strategic asset for continued attacks and the eventual push towards reclaiming Luzon from the Japanese. The Japanese knew this, and even though they were driven off Mindoro on December 15th, they weren’t going to give up easily.
Two airfields were constructed on Mindoro within 13 days of the Allied takeover in preparation for the invasion of Luzon. Admiral Masatomi Kumura did not want to see these airfields become usable by the Americans and he assembled eight ships to sail from Vietnam on December 24th to Mindoro in hopes of disrupting the building efforts. It wasn’t until the 26th that their presence was detected some hours south of…
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Pacific Paratrooper 