My Father in class of 43-17 (top, 2nd from R)

[416rigby]

 

[dujardin]

hiiiiiiiiiii

thanks for sharing this one with us


by the way, welcome aboard


marcel

 

[Grant]

Very cool photo, thanks for posting! What outfit did he end up serving with after he graduated?

 

[dmar836]

Great shot! Welcome to the forum.
Dave

 

[416rigby]

I have very little info on his service. He survived a full tour with the 8th, 305th BG, 564th BS as a Flight Engineer out of Chelveston. I have feelers out on the 305th BG forum now.

He returned to the states went thru Cadets, graduated class 43-17 Bombarder school, spent the rest of the war in the PTO, 13th AAC. I have a current records search pending.

 

[dmar836]

I have a friend who was an enlisted man - in AAF mechanic school. Later was pulled out and sent to school to fly. He has pics as an enlisted man in the AAF then later as a Lt. with many missions as a fighter pilot.
Interesting stuff.
Dave

 

[SuinBruin]

My grandfather started out as enlisted before heading off to OCS. But he hadn't served a combat tour -- that's very cool.

Great pic, BTW, and I hope you'll share the results of your research when you get it.

 

[shedonwanna]

My dad top left. This was not the full crew, they had just finished an orientation flight to get familiar with the area. The first of 35 combat missions began within days of this photo.

 

[RCSignals]

388th BG?

A friend of mine was a Gunner with the 560th BS and was aboard 'Little Boy Blue' when it had a mid air collision.

 

[RCSignals]

388th BG?

A friend of mine was a Gunner with the 560th BS and was aboard 'Little Boy Blue' when it had a mid air collision.

Looking into it further




Actually the 388th site I think has things confused between the 'Little Boy Blue' Malaniak with the other ac in the collision, 42-30195, unless the Malaniak crew were not aboard their usual ac Little boy Blue.

http://www.388bg.org/servlet/Controller ... d=388-L132

http://www.388bg.org/servlet/Controller ... d=388-L131

http://www.388bg.org/servlet/Controller ... d=388-M166

 

[shedonwanna]

The crew data base shows that the Malaniak crew was flying Little Boy Blue, 42-30851, at the time of the collision. Harold Hagerty(your friend) and James Bennett were the only members of the crew to survive. I have not seen a MACR for the incident and the text on the web site is a reprinted mission narrative from one of the Huntzinger histories. I don't have any info concerning the other aircraft involved.

Blind Date, 42-30195, flown by the Maring crew on the Schweinfurt mission returned to another base with flak damage after the mission. I think that MACR page on the database was inadvertantly linked with the Malaniak crew. There was not a MACR since the aircraft(Blind Date) returned. I'll let our historian know and he will get it corrected. There are a few holes in the database and we continue to update with info from the national archives and other sources as they surface. We still need lots of crew and individual photos - I must confess that I have yet to supply my dad's photos. I did get the photo for my dad's aricraft, Jamaica Ginger (42-97210) submitted for the database.

I will ask around and check some of my other sources to see if there is more details on the Little Boy Blue collision. There may be more in one of the newsletters. I am sure the collision has been discussed in recent years in the newsletter or a reunion. Let us know if you have any info from Hagerty to be added to our archives.

David Miller
388th BG Association, Associate and Past President

 

[RCSignals]

The crew data base shows that the Malaniak crew was flying Little Boy Blue, 42-30851, at the time of the collision. Harold Hagerty(your friend) and James Bennett were the only members of the crew to survive. I have not seen a MACR for the incident and the text on the web site is a reprinted mission narrative from one of the Huntzinger histories. I don't have any info concerning the other aircraft involved.

Blind Date, 42-30195, flown by the Maring crew on the Schweinfurt mission returned to another base with flak damage after the mission. I think that MACR page on the database was inadvertantly linked with the Malaniak crew. There was not a MACR since the aircraft(Blind Date) returned. I'll let our historian know and he will get it corrected. There are a few holes in the database and we continue to update with info from the national archives and other sources as they surface. We still need lots of crew and individual photos - I must confess that I have yet to supply my dad's photos. I did get the photo for my dad's aricraft, Jamaica Ginger (42-97210) submitted for the database.

I will ask around and check some of my other sources to see if there is more details on the Little Boy Blue collision. There may be more in one of the newsletters. I am sure the collision has been discussed in recent years in the newsletter or a reunion. Let us know if you have any info from Hagerty to be added to our archives.

David Miller
388th BG Association, Associate and Past President

Thank you David. That makes sense.
I do have something here that was given to me which describes the incident. I'll get it out and try to scan it or transcribe it.