Slightly Off Topic - Underage USAAF Crew

[Dan Jones]

Slightly off topic, but I was just reading about Clifford Roy Wherley who passed in 2013. He was a B-26 mid-upper gunner who enlisted in the AAF when he was 14. I was just wondering what the Luftwaffe would have done with him if he’d have been shot down and captured and they discovered they had a fifteen-year-old kid on their hands?

[junkman9096]

I "gar-on-tee" you he would have been exploited for propaganda purposes. "Just look at this CHILD! Exploited and forced into the US Army. He should be home, in school. Instead, he was set against the Fatherland. These are the Untermensch being set against us." Or some such, imitating Nazi propaganda tropes is beyond my experience and skills. I recall the old "12 O'Clock High" TV show had a episode with an underage airman as the subject.

[JohnB]

Propaganda value notwithstanding, I'm sure other combatants had underage soldiers and sailors.
I'm sure the Royal Navy had sailors that young (based on their history) and both Germany and Russia had underage members out of necessity.

I'm a bit more surprised about the USAAF having an underage aircrew. I would have thought given their rank/NCO status, there was less a chance of it happening.

[junkman9096]

To pile on my previous post: recall the "sturm und drang" from the Nazi propaganda machine when aircrews were captured wearing provocative aircraft names on their uniform jackets. In particular early in the campaign a crew from a B-17 named "Murder Inc" was shot down and the photos of said jackets were widely utilized for their propaganda purposes.

[JohnB]

To pile on my previous post: recall the "sturm und drang" from the Nazi propaganda machine when aircrews were captured wearing provocative aircraft names on their uniform jackets. In particular early in the campaign a crew from a B-17 named "Murder Inc" was shot down and the photos of said jackets were widely utilized for their propaganda purposes.

I have read that the "Murder, Inc" (a media nickname for a gangster group) incident led to "the powers that be" requiring aircraft names to be approved, by whom and what level (at the squadron, group, wing or NAF), I don't know.
If any original documents survive, that would be interesting research.

Another propaganda - related name issue. We have all seen the photos of (then) Princess Elizabeth with a B-17. Originally they were going to name the aircraft after her. But someone (probably the Royal staff) objected because it would look bad if the aircraft was lost in combat. So it was named "The Rose of York" after her instead. IIRC, the aircraft was indeed lost.

[junkman9096]

Another propaganda - related name issue. We have all seen the photos of (then) Princess Elizabeth with a B-17. Originally they were going to name the aircraft after her. But someone (probably the Royal staff) objected because it would look bad if the aircraft was lost in combat. So it was named "The Rose of York" after her instead. IIRC, the aircraft was indeed lost.

Somebody didn't get that memo in the 352nd FG. P-51B 42-106449 HO-W William Whisner pilot