Badger52
01-09-2014, 13:36
I used to sneak out to the garage, go through my Dad's trunk and, carefully removing the souvenir sword, his flight gear, manuals and old trig books, and an old sweaty shoulder holster with 1911, peruse this book as a little kid. I see now that the 444th has finally revamped their website, partnered up with the B-29 association for a permanent physical museum location (where the "sharks in suits" wouldn't sell off their stuff) and the unit history is now available online.
This book and a couple of photos were given to me when my folks divorced, Dad asking if I would "take care of it" for him. (It doesn't get loaned, ever.)
I thought I'd post the link here for the somewhat large .PDF download but it's worth every bit-per-second if you enjoy seeing some priceless photos from the Far East during that time, as well as some "GI" humor that can be recognized anywhere.
Dad was a navigator on "Undecided" although the "shit hot" pic I have of him shows just 7 personnel & many more missions on the nose - this at the time after Lemay had crews & gun loads reduced and took everyone down from altitude to incinerate the Japanese mainland. The plane's name comes from the inability of the original crew to pick whose wife/girl-friend would have the honors. Finally, embarassed, the NCO maint chief had enough of stupid officers and painted that on it - it stuck. (Don't mess with line chiefs I guess.)
Link to the PDF for the unit history (http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/128/)
Link to the 444th's website (http://www.444thbg.org/)
If one peruses the photos (either in the website or in the book) one can't help but notice that returning the Air Force to the 2 primary branches might at least let us enjoy something the Air Corps did better than anyone else - NOSE ART!
The caveat is that I'll defer if it means more SHARP training for my still serving comrades; after all, there are some members here whose avatars would grace any aircraft nose with class.
This book and a couple of photos were given to me when my folks divorced, Dad asking if I would "take care of it" for him. (It doesn't get loaned, ever.)
I thought I'd post the link here for the somewhat large .PDF download but it's worth every bit-per-second if you enjoy seeing some priceless photos from the Far East during that time, as well as some "GI" humor that can be recognized anywhere.
Dad was a navigator on "Undecided" although the "shit hot" pic I have of him shows just 7 personnel & many more missions on the nose - this at the time after Lemay had crews & gun loads reduced and took everyone down from altitude to incinerate the Japanese mainland. The plane's name comes from the inability of the original crew to pick whose wife/girl-friend would have the honors. Finally, embarassed, the NCO maint chief had enough of stupid officers and painted that on it - it stuck. (Don't mess with line chiefs I guess.)
Link to the PDF for the unit history (http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/128/)
Link to the 444th's website (http://www.444thbg.org/)
If one peruses the photos (either in the website or in the book) one can't help but notice that returning the Air Force to the 2 primary branches might at least let us enjoy something the Air Corps did better than anyone else - NOSE ART!
The caveat is that I'll defer if it means more SHARP training for my still serving comrades; after all, there are some members here whose avatars would grace any aircraft nose with class.