Warbird Information Exchange

Okay, so I'm on vacation and find this book called, "First Heroes" about the Doolittle Raiders. It's a good read but I do feel like I'm rereading bits and pieces from other books and accounts. The author is clearly not an aviation enthusiast or a pilot – some parts are hard to read because of this. One thing though that has been really bugging me is he keeps having the narrative refer to the B-25's as "Billy's". All the crewmembers lament the loss of their "Billy" - you get the idea. I've never heard the B-25 called that. Obviously the Mitchell was named after Billy Mitchell. Just wondering if it's a slang that hasn't been passed along, I'm just in the dark, or this author is clueless.

i've never heard of that lame term & i've been into aviation history since 1972, & i'm 45 now, so i think i'm fairly well read on the topic. i do recall somebody else commenting on the term on this site, he probably read the same trash book.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

In my association and research of the Marine Bombing Squadrons and their vets, I have never, never heard them refer to their PBJs as "Billy."

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In Honor and Memory of Marine Bombing Squadron VMB 611 "Black Seahorse" 1943-1945
Remembering 1st Lt Doit L Fish, MIA May 30, 1945 in PBJ-1J "MB 11"
Cherry Point - Parris Island - Emirau - Zamboanga

Had the honor of speaking with Lt. Nolan Herndon, Navigator on No.8, several years ago at a dinner. He never mentioned "Billy" in reference to his aircraft.
His aircraft was the one that went to Russia.

It seems like James Bradley calling the pilots in his second book, "FLYBOYS".
It seems like the author to wanted to inject a new term into popular culture, but skybolt was right! The author doesn't have a clue, besides the book is weak, there are better ones out there.

In 45 years of reading and meeting aviators, I have never heard the term Billy used for a B-25.

There was a whole thread on that book over on the http://www.doolittleraider.com forum. I personally dislike that book for more than the "Billy" references.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Alright, well I'm glad I wasn't nuts about the billy thing. It really rubbed me the wrong way everytime the author called a B-25 a Billy. There were lot of other things that indicated he had no idea of what flying is about, plus he had really bad fact checkers and editors.
I was kind of shocked at the start when in the author notes he mentioned being mid-40 years old and had never heard of the doolittle raiders. What?? I read 30 seconds over tokyo when i was in fifth grade and saw the movie a thousand times. what dipstick could have been that age and never heard of the mission.
I started reading "flyboys" and was immediatly stopped by the authors use of the term "napalm' regarding the B-29 raids on Tokyo. I always heard napalm in Viet Nam, and thought of WWII firebombs just as "incindiaries"> I did a bunch of googling and found that it was composed of napalm, although not the same exact composition of naplalm from the Viet Nam war, and not called that then, but I guess it was more incindiary to call it that. If you get my drift. It didn't sound right.

Re napalm, what did they call the jellied gasoline that flamethrowers shot? I read Thirty Seconds also as a kid, and Guadacanal Diary, which made me nt anxious to be Marine and invade any beaches.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Here's my book review from amazon.com
Although this is a great subject for a book. It is one of the most poorly written books I've ever read. The authors strangely refers to the B-25 bombers as 'Billys', refers to the airmen by their nicknames which is very confusing, refers to the gunners as bubble boys which I found insulting and needs a lesson in basic aviation before he writes another book on the subject. My advice to prospective readers is to purchase any book by C.V. Glines as he is the official historian of the Doolittle Raiders.

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Don't touch my junk!!

jack, your appraisal of the book seems to be in the majority of the critiques i've read at both the professional & enthusiast levels. not even worth reading on the crapper!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Well said Jack!

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Way to go Jack!

Sounds like a horrible book...

it's a shame president bush #1 got tied up in the book. his credibility isn't damaged in my view, but to be linked to a harlequin romance class book just doesn't look good to a man of his status as a past leader of the u.s. & as a vet.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!