You should have been hugged more as a kid.

Do you ever add anything meaningful to this board, or do you just hang around waiting for opportunities to be an internet dick?

Was I talking to you?

Awesome story. Thanks for sharing.

EDIT: Fox News article about different WWII veteran named Bill. Sorry.

Pretty cool. My granddad was a B-24 radio operator with the 90th Bomb Group in the Pacific.

agcrock2005 said:

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He's getting a lot of press. Congrats!

Fox News Article

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I don't think that story is about B-1's dad

That's really great B-1!

but since i can't help it...


... his plane was shot down. sad.

i prefer to honor those whose planes weren't shot down. those are the true winners.

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I don't think that story is about B-1's dad

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True! I didn't read the article but saw Bill Henderson and then the Fox News was also about a WWII vet named Bill Hermann. Oops. Sorry for confusion.

KCEN did a nice story....

http://www.kcentv.com/mb/news/local/world-war-2-veteran-gets-to-see-the-aircract-he-served-in/424145054

Thanks for sharing,

My Uncle, a 21 year old B24 Pilot, died in Romania in 1943. It was after a bomb run, had mechanical failure, he ordered the crew to bail out and chose to try to land the aircraft by himself. He got it on the ground, yet got burned up in the crash landing. There were six guys who lived that day.

Never knew him of course, it just devastated the family,...as my Mom would tell me when I was very young. She said her Father never recovered after losing his Son, and died a few years later of a heart attack.

I almost went to Temple this week to take a flight on the B24 that was there. Seeing this story was very cool,

Again, Thanks

B-1, may have missed it in the write up, but what bombing group was your dad in? My grandfather is 94 and was a mechanic for a group based out of England.

He's still active in the Vaught retiree club in Dallas, as well as the CAF. Both groups are always working on restoring old planes.

436th. They were out of Karachi India

They were just in College Station. Over 19,000 built and it's the only one fully restored and flying.

Great story, a real hero and an Academy boy to boot. Good Bull.

petey88 said:

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Thanks for sharing,

My Uncle, a 21 year old B24 Pilot, died in Romania in 1943. It was after a bomb run, had mechanical failure, he ordered the crew to bail out and chose to try to land the aircraft by himself. He got it on the ground, yet got burned up in the crash landing. There were six guys who lived that day.

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I was struck by the similarity to:

http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/lloyd-hughes/

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Lloyd "Pete" Hughes studied Petroleum Engineering at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas, where he was a member of Company G, Infantry.

Hughes enlisted in the Army Air Corps in January 1942 as an Aviation Cadet, earning his pilot's wings later that year. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1943, he was assigned to the 564th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, 389th Heavy Bombardment Group. Initially sent to Africa, Hughes began his participation in five combat missions in the Italy-Romania area.

During Operation Tidal Wave, 178 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers took off on an 18-hour, 2,400-mile round-trip mission to destroy the largest of the Nazi-held oil refineries at Ploieti, Romania. Flying through intense anti-aircraft fire, the plane was severely damaged, leaking gas from the bomb bay and left wing tanks.

Instead of attempting a forced landing of his damaged aircraft before reaching the target area, Hughes elected to continue on, rather than jeopardize the success of the mission. He flew into a wall of fire at 30 feet above the ground and dropped his bomb load with precision. After completing his bomb run, his aircraft cartwheeled into the ground. Of the ten-man crew, Hughes and six others were killed on August 1, 1943. Of the survivors, one died of his wounds and two became prisoners of war.

Hughes was the first Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.

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CanyonAg77 said:

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petey88 said:

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Thanks for sharing,

My Uncle, a 21 year old B24 Pilot, died in Romania in 1943. It was after a bomb run, had mechanical failure, he ordered the crew to bail out and chose to try to land the aircraft by himself. He got it on the ground, yet got burned up in the crash landing. There were six guys who lived that day.

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I was struck by the similarity to:

http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/lloyd-hughes/

Quote:

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Lloyd "Pete" Hughes studied Petroleum Engineering at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas, where he was a member of Company G, Infantry.

Hughes enlisted in the Army Air Corps in January 1942 as an Aviation Cadet, earning his pilot's wings later that year. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1943, he was assigned to the 564th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, 389th Heavy Bombardment Group. Initially sent to Africa, Hughes began his participation in five combat missions in the Italy-Romania area.

During Operation Tidal Wave, 178 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers took off on an 18-hour, 2,400-mile round-trip mission to destroy the largest of the Nazi-held oil refineries at Ploieti, Romania. Flying through intense anti-aircraft fire, the plane was severely damaged, leaking gas from the bomb bay and left wing tanks.

Instead of attempting a forced landing of his damaged aircraft before reaching the target area, Hughes elected to continue on, rather than jeopardize the success of the mission. He flew into a wall of fire at 30 feet above the ground and dropped his bomb load with precision. After completing his bomb run, his aircraft cartwheeled into the ground. Of the ten-man crew, Hughes and six others were killed on August 1, 1943. Of the survivors, one died of his wounds and two became prisoners of war.

Hughes was the first Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.

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Thanks for the story Canyon,

Never saw this before. My Uncle was part of Operation Tidal Wave in the Ploesti raid, he had just turned 21, a 1st. Lt., pilot. My Mom would always start crying when she spoke of her only sibling losing his life. A few years ago, I spoke with a elderly cousin, who was in the Living Room when my Grandmother was told of how my Uncle died in the crash. I was told, the military officials told my Grandmother he had got his plane down, burned up in the subsequent fire.

I have been unable to find much information on his flight, but was told that his B24 had mechanical issues, the mechanics in LIbya had said it was fixed before they took off.

I have an old black and white 8" x 10" photo of my Uncle in cock pit looking out, smiling at the camera.

Ploetsi was a famous, terrible raid.

With the internet, you could probably find out a lot about your uncle. Start with his squadron and start digging.

He bombed japans so you could post on the general board.

Thank him for his service tia

Ploesti



Lots of info here:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/mission/2024

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I have an old black and white 8" x 10" photo of my Uncle in cock pit looking out, smiling at the camera.

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What's the name of the aircraft?

Awesome stuff!

My grandpas brother was a bomber escort over Japan in WWII.

wait, B-1's Dad is Obi-wan?