Amusing reading!!

[johnwayne]

Thought you good people might be interested in the following extract from a book I've just finished reading, 'The American Airman in Europe' by the late Roger Freeman, so well known for his numerous titles re USAAF in WWII, particularly the ETO. It's the only mention in the 150 pages of the A2 and is in the penultimate chapter on 'Personalities and Eccentrics!' and says;-

From Fred Hollien, 392nd Bomb Group Flight engineer

“It was not uncommon for the flight crew members to decorate the backs of their flying jackets with the name of the bomber they usually flew, the number of missions they had completed and the victory symbols for enemy aircraft claimed shot down. For security reasons these jackets were not allowed to be worn on missions and it became a tradition that a man only decorated his jacket when he completed his tour. It was quite common to see men with each completed mission represented by the bomb symbol and each enemy aircraft by either a swastika or German cross.

One day I happened to see a tail gunner walk by with 30 bombs, 2 Maltese crosses and 2 baby carriages painted on his jacket. When I asked him about this he said that all the other members of his crew had the same 30 bombs and 2 enemy planes that had been credited to them but as he had married an English girl who had just produced twins, he felt he had the right to show he was 2 up on the other guys!”

Wonder what happened to that jacket? Can't see many of us painting our repro's with such!!

Cheers
Wayne

 

[TankBuster]

That is really funny. I could have done the same when my twins were born! :lol:
I've heard from many vets the same regarding jackets being painted after the tour was complete. The other common story is the plane name or insignia being applied to the jacket, then the bombs and such later.

 

[havocpaul]

In a similar vein although very dark 'humour', quoted from Roger Freeman's 'Friendly Invasion'...
"There was a common view the British were lazy, in the majority cases based on the slowness of the civilian workmen on US bases. The frequency of tea breaks and the lethargy observed led to these individuals becoming a joke. When one unmindful labourer was struck and killed by a propeller of a manoeuvring Liberator at Hethel airfield, its groundcrew painted a small tea cup and saucer symbol on the aircraft's 'scoreboard'. The station headquarters were quick to have this ill-placed humour removed, but, although a tragedy, the incident remained a source of humour for many US servicemen at that base."
Don't think they put that symbol on a flight jacket do you?!

 

[Silver Dollar]

That's a great read. Now I understand why nobody has a jacket with under 25 mission markers.