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100th BG B-17 "Miss Irish" vet at my hangar

Sat May 05, 2007 1:51 pm

Yesterday while I was out of town working, my dad brought some of his buddies from the local 8th AF Association to my hangar to see my T-33. Among them was Col (ret) John Gibbons, a pilot on 100th BG B-17 "Miss Irish". Dad wrote me in an email this morning that Mr. Gibbons told him of one mission where they took a direct hit from flak that nearly cut his airplane in two, but they managed to limp home. Mr. Gibbons recognized my "Rosie's Riveters" B-17 print on the hangar wall and mentioned he was in the same squadron as Rosie Rosenthal. Holy crap! :o Gonna have to talk to dad about coordinating our schedules next time so I'm in town for these kinds of visits. My dad is inviting them back next time I fly the T-Bird so I'm excited to meet Mr. Gibbons and a couple other B-17 vets. If any of you historians know the story of B-17 "Miss Irish" let me know. Hearing the WWII vets' stories is awesome. I met a WWII B-24 flight engineer vet at the Honolulu Int'l Airport last week. Whenever I meet an older guy wearing a ball cap with "USAF" or "8th AF" etc. on it I inquire if they served and then let them tell their story--too cool. Anyway, the B-24 flight eng told me about being held back stateside after initial training for the duration of the war to be a flight eng instructor. He went on to fly flight eng on B-29s and C-119s. I love encounters like that! 8). I met another passenger a year or so ago in a jetway boarding early in his wheelchair and was wearing some WWII fighter group ball cap and I asked him if he served in that group and what he did. He answered yes he served and flew P-38s and P-51s. I asked him his impressions of the airplanes and he said, "the P-38 was a piece of sh*t, but the P-51 was a Cadillac!!" His wife just grinned and shook her head and he went on to praise the P-51 for a few more minutes, then I had to get going to work. Wish I could have talked longer.

Sun May 06, 2007 5:19 am

From the 100th BG website some info on John Gibbons and "Miss Irish" :

http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/ ... ibbons.htm

Dave

Sun May 06, 2007 11:23 am

Dave,

That's awesome! Thanks!

Sun May 06, 2007 12:00 pm

Thatr is very cool stuff. There is so much to learn from veterans.

Sun May 06, 2007 1:32 pm

Thanks for sharing Paul!!! Great stuff!

Sun May 06, 2007 6:34 pm

Chat to a vet any chance you get! They're not getting any younger.
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