Warbird Information Exchange

I just got a reminder from Amazon that Jeff Shaara's book "No Less a Victory" is coming out in paperback.

I haven't read it...but in reading the reviews I found..."Thanks to Shaara's visceral descriptive powers, we ride on a bombing mission with bombardier Sergeant Buckley as his B-17 flies through the flak-filled skies over Germany."

Were there enlisted bombardiers? I can't imagine someone making that Mistake.

Also, late in the war, weren't bombardiers dispensed with on some heavies in Europe? (The crew (navigator?) would dorop them when everyone else did, IIRC)

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

They were called toggleers. They manned the chin turret and dropped the bombs when the lead dropped theirs. It was cheaper to train someone to drop bombs on a signal from the lead than to train a bombardier. The navigator was busy doing navigator stuff.

I hope you meant a mistake in the review of the book. Otherwise that was written like a true enlisted hater.

In early 42', many of the 13th Sqdn Bombardiers in the B-25's were enlisted men. Manpower shortage was the main driving force. 13th Sqd. T/Sgt Jack Methvin was credited with hitting a transport ship in the Battle of the Bismark Sea. Also, some of the Crew Chiefs actually flew combat as Co-Pilots. 13th Sqd member T/Sgt "Jug" Main is one example, flying almost 20 missions as copilot on the a/c he took care of, including the Royce Mission .


Bill

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Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.

What I meant was a mistake in the book which also showed up in the review.
I had to read your comment twice to see where you were coming from...far from my intention. (or dimension ).

Am I correct in assuming it was late in the war? Everything I've read about 8th AF had bombardiers as officers...including an uncle who was shot down in a B-24.
He's still alive and living (unassisted) in Minnesota!

_________________
Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

If you do a quick search on Footnote - which is a tremendous resource - for "sgt bombardiers" or some other likely search terms, you'll likely find some of pictures of them if you dig far enough. So far I haven't found a ton, but there are a few. For instance: http://www.footnote.com/image/#32150334 and http://www.footnote.com/image/#32147909.

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.