Bienvenue, La Louisiane!!!

[RedNigel]

I'm taking advantage of the impending cool front to make the 260 mile run to Homer, LA to wish my dear old dad a happy 90th birthday.
The old man is on the clock and waiting to be called.
For those who are aviation enthusiasts, he was a member of VMF(N)533, the most decorated night fighter squadron of WWII.
During his time in the Marine Air Corps, he flew Corsairs and Hellcats
He was a winner of the Navy Air Medal and The Distinguished Flying Cross
When he was offered a chance to return to service and fly jets in Korea, he opted for Seminary and served his church faithfully for over 50 years.
I'm real proud of my dad and I will miss him when he's gone.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Nigel, you should be very proud of your dad. We all owe him and his generation our thanks and appreciation. I can't help but be curious: What denomination is your dad and where did he go to seminary?

Have a great trip, BTW.

 

[androu]

I'm taking advantage of the impending cool front to make the 260 mile run to Homer, LA to wish my dear old dad a happy 90th birthday.
The old man is on the clock and waiting to be called.
For those who are aviation enthusiasts, he was a member of VMF(N)533, the most decorated night fighter squadron of WWII.
During his time in the Marine Air Corps, he flew Corsairs and Hellcats
He was a winner of the Navy Air Medal and The Distinguished Flying Cross
When he was offered a chance to return to service and fly jets in Korea, he opted for Seminary and served his church faithfully for over 50 years.
I'm real proud of my dad and I will miss him when he's gone.

Tell him I said thanks for his service, he's a great American from the greatest generation!

 

[RedNigel]

Nigel, you should be very proud of your dad. We all owe him and his generation our thanks and appreciation. I can't help but be curious: What denomination is your dad and where did he go to seminary?

Have a great trip, BTW.

Dad is Presbyterian and went to seminary in Austin in '51, just blocks from the UT campus, which reminds me of a story he tells...When he was in school the seminary had a plane in which he would ferry student ministers to various churches in Texas , Arkansas and La on Sundays to preach.. Dad would land in some town, give a sermon, then pick them all up one by one and bring them back to Austin after church. One day he was in a really good mood and buzzed the cafeteria on the campus of UT at extremely low altitude. An FAA (or whatever sanctioning body we had back then)official saw the whole thing and wanted his head on a pike. He had phoned the airfield and was on his way to tar and feather 'whoever was flying that plane.' When dad landed, his supervisor was waiting for him and had him sneak into the woods to lay low til he could smooth things over with the FAA guy. I forget the rest of the story but I guess it all worked out!
Dad loved flying, and though he never got to buy a plane, he never lost his passion for it. He told the best stories

 

[Phil Tarman]

Great story! I had lots of friends who went to Austin Pres. Since I left the Ark-La-Tex area, I've lost track of all of them, but it was a good seminary. I'd love to meet him and hear some of his stories.

 

[skiper]

Shout Out to your Pop..... I knew a guy at Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island who did final assembly foreman on hellcats. Could have assembled yur Dads plane. And when i worked for emery airfreight we had the old grumman buildings - got to see the exact hangers and engine hoist trolly tracks indicated exactly where those machines were born. great grist for amatuer historians... threads conneting past and present . Cheers for your pop - say hello...

 

[tawilke46]

Tell your dad thanks, we all owe a great debt to him and to all who fought in WWII. Not many in his generation are still around.
I fear many here in the United States will forget the tremendous sacrifice these veterans made during this great conflict.

My dad passed away November 30, 2010. He was also a WWII veteran with two Bronze Stars. Started out as a flight engineer, top turret gunner on B-24's, flew missions from North Africa and Italy to targets in Europe. Stayed in the Air Force for 28 years.
Retired in 1968 as a Lt Col.

 

[Phil Tarman]

My dad, who died in '04, fought the Battle of Texas. He had learned to fly in Wichita in '39, at Rawdon Field in the Civilian Pilot Training program, instituted by Roosevelt to help us have some preparation for the war FDR knew was coming in the face of much of the civilian isolationism (think about Lindberg) of the late 30's.

When he tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps after Pearl Harbor, he was told that he was a flight instructor and that he was needed more there than he would be as a pilot in Europe or the Pacific. So, he instructed in PT-19s in Bonham, TX, where I was born, then went to Kelly and Randolph in San Antonio to be "federalized" and then was sworn as a Warrant Officer and instructed the rest of the war at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX, flying Vultee BT-13s.

I think it bothered him all his life that he never got to fly combat with any of the men he taught to fly.

 

[gary15068]

My dad flew B-26's & B-25's for the 319th BG in Italy in WWII. After he got shipped back to the US he got about 100 hours in the A-26. One time he flew one from South Carolina back to Pittsburgh (his hometown, mine too) to get it out of a hurricane. Since he was going to Pitt before the war he thought it would be cool to buzz the campus. He circled the Cathedral of Learning(36 stories) 3 times. BELOW THE TOP FLOOR! Then headed out to Greater Pitt. Stayed at home with his mom a few days & went back out to the airport to return to SC. There was a bunch of navy guys there that had moved a bunch of their planes too. They all knew the A-26 was a "hot" airplane so they asked him to show them what it could do. He asked for permission to buzz the tower but they denied it. When he was doing his final checks the tower called him back & said "Permission to buzz the tower denied but if you fly by, we'll check your gear." He took off, got some altitude, turned around, put it into a dive, advanced the props & throttles & knife edged pass the tower at about 400mph! Oh to be 20 years old & have a government plane at your disposal.

 

[Bear]

My late father fought with the Resistance during WW II. Father in law who lived with us his last seven years landed in Normandy. He was a Sgt. and was awarded the Bronze Star. I have a lot of respect for those guys and we owe them big time for the freedoms we enjoy today.

 

[RedNigel]

Nigel, you should be very proud of your dad. We all owe him and his generation our thanks and appreciation. I can't help but be curious: What denomination is your dad and where did he go to seminary?

Have a great trip, BTW.

Forgot to mention for those who like to read about WWII...There is a book about Dad's squadron that was released earlier this year. "Nightfighter:Radar Intercept Killer" by Mark Macgruder, son of Col. Marion 'Black Mack' Macgruder, who founded VMF(N)533 (Black Mack's Killers) There are a few pages about my dad, including a story and photos of a Hellcat he was flying while shot up like swiss cheese by friendly fire, and managed to nurse the ship home

 

[gary15068]

Here's another one of my favorites my dad told me. After he came back from the Med they sent him to twin engine instructor school somewhere in Texas. I could look it up in his log book but I'm too lazy to go out to the garage. Anyway, he's told they're going to practice formation flying one day. So he goes up with his civilian instructor in the left seat & him in the right in a B-25. So they're in formation with a B-25 on their left & above them. So my dad's flying "cross cockpit". The civilian pilot is hanging back a bit, at a safe distance. He tells my dad "you take over". My dad always smiled when he got to this part. He says "Man, I put that B-25 right up under that other guys prop wash. I thought that instructor was going to **** himself." He says the instructor looks over at him like he's nuts cause he's working the controls like a mad man to keep it tight. After they were on the ground the civilian instructor says What were you doing up there? My dad just says "That's the way we flew in combat, keeps the bombs on target & concentrates your defensive gunfire." His BG the 319th, Colonel Randy's Flying Circus to this day is the only unit to take off 6 abreast. They did that on Corsica. Crazy times.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Good story, Gary! Thanks!

 

[tawilke46]

Good story Gary!
My dad loved to talk about the exploits of the 449th Bomb Wing. In a general way.
But there were certain stories he never told the family. Some things he just did not want to talk about.

I asked him one day "How many of our bombers got hit by friendly fire flying those defensive formations?"
His reply was "More than you would think". Those gunners were tracking enemy fighters.......they were concentrating on the target. There were friendly bombers all over the sky. There were casualties.

 

[gary15068]

My dad was over there from June of 44 to Feb of 45. They didn't see many German fighters because they were all up in France defending against the invasion. What they did see was A LOT of flak. They were bombing bridges & railroad junctions to keep the Germans from retreating back to Germany to help with the invasion. The Germans knew they were going after those targets so that's where they set up all their guns. On one mission as they were turning off the bomb drop they took a hit to the nose of their B-26. The bombadier was hit but the nose was so torn up that it took both pilots(my dad was the co-pilot on that mission)to keep the plane in the air. You had to slide the co-pilot's seat back all the way to get up to the nose so nobody could get up there to help the guy. He bled to death from a shoulder wound. Only time anybody got killed on one of my dad's planes. They did stop counting holes in their B-26 after 100 one time he said. I got more if you want to read them.