Trailer Park Casanova
07-20-2003, 11:46 AM
All us kids ever knew about my dads WW2 war experiences were a few things my mom knew. Other than that, we, my mom included, didn't really know much.
My dad was a bomber pilot even before the war began. Career Army. Early on, he found himself in England, with his bomber group pounding the Germans. Later on, flying out of Italy hitting the Romanian oilfields, then back to Britain where he got involved with, but did not pilot, Catalina Flying Boats as a Army Liason officer to the Navy.
We knew he got shot down three times,, but the last shoot down was the mysterious one,, that even mom, who dad had met and married in England, knew very little about.
If I ever brought up the war to my dad, the conversation went no place. Other than that,, the only other miltary experiences I had with my dad was he got sore when I joined the Marines, and we occasionally see his old friend Paul Tibbits, who piloted the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, who dads still friends with today.
The old guy is still alive and has a nice little place near the American River in Cool, Calif., and spends his days fishing/reloading and shooting.
I was up visiting him recently, got up early in the morning and was reading the paper. A little artical mentioned that several WW2 aircraft will be on public display that day at the Alameda Air station. Rides in some of them for a hundred bucks.
Dad got up,, and over fried egg sandwiches, I brought up the aircraft display and asked if he'd like to go.
I was expecting silence, perhaps him moving on to something else to talk about,, but he just answered; "sure, lets go".
The ol buzzard knew everything about everything about the bombers and several other aircraft at the show. The crews were glad to see him, and gleen info from him.
The Catalina Flying boats caught my attention, and dad explained what remarkable aircraft they were.
So facinating were (are) these metal , cloth and wood Flying Boats, I coughed up the $200 bucks for us to take a ride.
That night, we returned to Cool, and were barbequeing on his upstairs patio. After a few glasses of Barbera Wine, he blindsided me with a few war stories. He opened up with the very dark story of his last shoot down.
His group was flying to the German occupied oilfields of Romania to throw a few spitballs at them.
The Germans were clever, they built several fake oilfields to confuse the Americans.
As they were on final approach to drop their wad, the Germans sent up exploding rounds at several altitudes that were merely smoke. As the bombers would break through, the observers on the ground could make their altitude, speed, & direction. It was a very accurate way of early warning.
Dad said in a few minutes all hell broke loose, and they took several rounds through the engines and tail section,, killing the gunner.
That was it,, they bailed out.
They were picked up by some illiterat Russian conscrips that didn't know an American from a German.
They were held as prisoners, and forced to work for the Russians.
The Russians were invadeing Romainia, and were slaughtering everyone in their pathway. They went for the churches first because thats where most townspeople took refuge. Babies, old women, teenagers, everyone was slaughtered.
I'll spare you the details , but the treatment of Civilians was horrific and my dads crew was forced along and witnessed some pretty bad stuff.
Finally, a comissar got wind of my dads crew, and was able to get them back to the US.
The Army didn't send him back into Bombers,, he was able to get into a Catalina Flying Boat unit as an Army liason officer to the US and British Navies, and rejoin my mom in England.
The next morning, I got up and dad was down in his basement reloading. I went down and all over the walls, he had hung pictures of his various WWII aircraft & crews.
These pics have been packed away for a half century. We never knew they existed.
If you ever get a chance to fly in, or visit a display that features these remarkable aircraft,, I suggest you don't let it pass you by. Especially my favorite, the Catalina Flying Boats.
[ July 20, 2003, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Trailer Park Casanova ]
My dad was a bomber pilot even before the war began. Career Army. Early on, he found himself in England, with his bomber group pounding the Germans. Later on, flying out of Italy hitting the Romanian oilfields, then back to Britain where he got involved with, but did not pilot, Catalina Flying Boats as a Army Liason officer to the Navy.
We knew he got shot down three times,, but the last shoot down was the mysterious one,, that even mom, who dad had met and married in England, knew very little about.
If I ever brought up the war to my dad, the conversation went no place. Other than that,, the only other miltary experiences I had with my dad was he got sore when I joined the Marines, and we occasionally see his old friend Paul Tibbits, who piloted the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, who dads still friends with today.
The old guy is still alive and has a nice little place near the American River in Cool, Calif., and spends his days fishing/reloading and shooting.
I was up visiting him recently, got up early in the morning and was reading the paper. A little artical mentioned that several WW2 aircraft will be on public display that day at the Alameda Air station. Rides in some of them for a hundred bucks.
Dad got up,, and over fried egg sandwiches, I brought up the aircraft display and asked if he'd like to go.
I was expecting silence, perhaps him moving on to something else to talk about,, but he just answered; "sure, lets go".
The ol buzzard knew everything about everything about the bombers and several other aircraft at the show. The crews were glad to see him, and gleen info from him.
The Catalina Flying boats caught my attention, and dad explained what remarkable aircraft they were.
So facinating were (are) these metal , cloth and wood Flying Boats, I coughed up the $200 bucks for us to take a ride.
That night, we returned to Cool, and were barbequeing on his upstairs patio. After a few glasses of Barbera Wine, he blindsided me with a few war stories. He opened up with the very dark story of his last shoot down.
His group was flying to the German occupied oilfields of Romania to throw a few spitballs at them.
The Germans were clever, they built several fake oilfields to confuse the Americans.
As they were on final approach to drop their wad, the Germans sent up exploding rounds at several altitudes that were merely smoke. As the bombers would break through, the observers on the ground could make their altitude, speed, & direction. It was a very accurate way of early warning.
Dad said in a few minutes all hell broke loose, and they took several rounds through the engines and tail section,, killing the gunner.
That was it,, they bailed out.
They were picked up by some illiterat Russian conscrips that didn't know an American from a German.
They were held as prisoners, and forced to work for the Russians.
The Russians were invadeing Romainia, and were slaughtering everyone in their pathway. They went for the churches first because thats where most townspeople took refuge. Babies, old women, teenagers, everyone was slaughtered.
I'll spare you the details , but the treatment of Civilians was horrific and my dads crew was forced along and witnessed some pretty bad stuff.
Finally, a comissar got wind of my dads crew, and was able to get them back to the US.
The Army didn't send him back into Bombers,, he was able to get into a Catalina Flying Boat unit as an Army liason officer to the US and British Navies, and rejoin my mom in England.
The next morning, I got up and dad was down in his basement reloading. I went down and all over the walls, he had hung pictures of his various WWII aircraft & crews.
These pics have been packed away for a half century. We never knew they existed.
If you ever get a chance to fly in, or visit a display that features these remarkable aircraft,, I suggest you don't let it pass you by. Especially my favorite, the Catalina Flying Boats.
[ July 20, 2003, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Trailer Park Casanova ]