Young crew!
08-01-2011 | 05:30 PM
#11
Line Holder
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
I have read (can't cite the sources), but believe in WWII, the average pilot was between 20-21 years old. Most fighter pilots showed up with about 200-250 hours total; some had as little as 15-20 hours in type before their first combat sorties.
Robin Olds was a Major, and the squadron commander, at 23.
"Pappy" Boyington was so-named because at 28, he was considered "old."
(I may be off a little in these numbers, but they are close).
N9373M: You got me curious, so I looked it up: color photography has existed since at least 1877, but was not readily available (to those with the money) until near the 1900 time-frame. Mass-marketed color film was not really until the mid to late 1960s (I remember that part).
Robin Olds was a Major, and the squadron commander, at 23.
"Pappy" Boyington was so-named because at 28, he was considered "old."
(I may be off a little in these numbers, but they are close).
N9373M: You got me curious, so I looked it up: color photography has existed since at least 1877, but was not readily available (to those with the money) until near the 1900 time-frame. Mass-marketed color film was not really until the mid to late 1960s (I remember that part).
08-03-2011 | 11:11 AM
#12
Line Holder
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
Absolutely! Something to think about.
08-04-2011 | 07:46 AM
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 945
Likes: 0
Funny that they threw a life jacket over their full uniform (shirt, tie, etc.) to go flying back then.
I guess that's why flight suits are officially called "flying coveralls" - so you can zip them up over your regular uniform, go fly, then remove the coveralls and be ready to do more paperwork.
Cool picture.
I guess that's why flight suits are officially called "flying coveralls" - so you can zip them up over your regular uniform, go fly, then remove the coveralls and be ready to do more paperwork.
Cool picture.
08-05-2011 | 09:42 PM
#14
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 270
Likes: 0
From: A-320 Capt
I had a high school math teacher that had been an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1936 Olympics in Munich, ****ed off Hitler more than Jesse Owens did, then became a Tuskegee Airman, then got his masters in Math, then taught at my school.
He flew "The Hump" China-Burma in a C-47, then P-51s with red tails. He was a teen aged black kid in a P-51, and was beaten by Jesse Owens by 10 minutes in being the first black American to win gold in the Olympics. Nobody ever heard of him. Archie Williams, my Dad's golf buddy 40 years ago.
One of the greatest men to inhabit this planet.
Rest in peace, Mr. Williams.
TW
He flew "The Hump" China-Burma in a C-47, then P-51s with red tails. He was a teen aged black kid in a P-51, and was beaten by Jesse Owens by 10 minutes in being the first black American to win gold in the Olympics. Nobody ever heard of him. Archie Williams, my Dad's golf buddy 40 years ago.
One of the greatest men to inhabit this planet.
Rest in peace, Mr. Williams.
TW
08-06-2011 | 07:31 AM
#15
Self Employed.
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,120
Likes: 0
From: Corporate Pilot
The Germans
Near the end of the war the Germans had pilots that were only 14 years old. Long ago I knew a man in my home town who flew several missions in an ME-109 for the Luftwaffe at 14. Once combat would commence he would duck into a cloud empty his guns of ammunition and return to base. When he saw that the allies lines were well inside Germany he ditched his plane behind the American lines in a field, changed back into kid clothes and was immediately was sent to the US as an orphan.
In JR High School in the US he saw American kids playing with model P-51's and ME 109's but he could not tell anyone of his story about flying a real one for fear of being sent to a prisoner of war camp.
Skyhigh
In JR High School in the US he saw American kids playing with model P-51's and ME 109's but he could not tell anyone of his story about flying a real one for fear of being sent to a prisoner of war camp.
Skyhigh
08-11-2011 | 09:08 AM
#16
Thread Starter
Weekends off? HA!
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 991
Likes: 0
More color WWII photos (UPI)...
What engine is in #36? Pratt-Whitney?
New photos from WWII-era America - UPI.com
What engine is in #36? Pratt-Whitney?
New photos from WWII-era America - UPI.com
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
