Veterans Voice Fall 2019
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Reflections of War Culture in Silverplate B-29 Nose Art from the 509Th Composite Group by Terri D. Wesemann, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2019
METAL STORYTELLERS: REFLECTIONS OF WAR CULTURE IN SILVERPLATE B-29 NOSE ART FROM THE 509TH COMPOSITE GROUP by Terri D. Wesemann A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in American Studies Specialization Folklore Approved: ______________________ ____________________ Randy Williams, MS Jeannie Thomas, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member ______________________ ____________________ Susan Grayzel, Ph.D. Richard S. Inouye, Ph.D. Committee Member Vice Provost for Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2019 Copyright © Terri Wesemann 2019 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Metal Storytellers: Reflections of War Culture in Silverplate B-29 Nose Art From the 509th Composite Group by Terri D. Wesemann, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2019 Committee Chair: Randy Williams, MS Department: English Most people are familiar with the Enola Gay—the B-29 that dropped Little Boy, the first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Less known are the fifteen Silverplate B-29 airplanes that trained for the mission, that were named and later adorned with nose art. However, in recorded history, the atomic mission overshadowed the occupational folklore of this group. Because the abundance of planes were scrapped in the decade after World War II and most WWII veterans have passed on, all that remains of their occupational folklore are photographs, oral and written histories, some books, and two iconic airplanes in museum exhibits. Yet, the public’s infatuation and curiosity with nose art keeps the tradition alive. The purpose of my graduate project and internship with the Hill Aerospace Museum was to collaborate on a 60-foot exhibit that analyzes the humanizing aspects of the Silverplate B-29 nose art from the 509th Composite Group and show how nose art functioned in three ways. -
The Other Atomic Bomb Commander: Colonel Cliff Heflin and His “Special” 216Th AAF Base Unit
The Other Atomic Bomb Commander: Colonel Cliff Heflin and his “Special” 216th AAF Base Unit 14 AIR POWER History / WINTER 2012 Darrell F. Dvorak AIR POWER History / WINTER 2012 15 (Overleaf) B–17s at he Distinguished Service Medal is earned for Wendover AAFB. “exceptionally meritorious service to the gov- T ernment in a duty of great responsibility, in combat or otherwise.” The U.S. Air Force’s third- most prestigious award, it is rarely given to airmen lower than major general, but it was awarded to Col. Clifford J. Heflin upon his retirement in 1968 after thirty-one years of service. Heflin was recom- mended for the DSM primarily because he had com- manded two vital, top secret and highly successful projects in World War II. Few people—military or civilian—knew about those commands at the time, and even fewer knew about them when Heflin died in 1980. The story of his first command began to emerge in 1985 but remains little known, and the story of his second command is remembered only by his immediate family. Both deserve to be univer- sally known because together they change the pre- vailing narrative of the Army Air Forces (AAF) role in the atomic bombing of Japan. This paper is based on Heflin’s private records, overlooked primary sources, and prior scholarship. It addresses three key questions: Why was Heflin chosen for a top com- mand in the atomic bomb project; what were his specific contributions to that project; and why has his story been overlooked? After almost seventy years, “The Manhattan Further sessions between Groves and Arnold in July Project” is widely recognized as the codename for the and August conceptually defined two key organiza- massive, top secret U.S. -
A Meditation on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 6 | Issue 1 | Number 0 | Jan 2008 Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr. by Peter J. Kuznick Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation on the publicly and thoughtfully on the A-bomb Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr. decision, the lives it cost and also the lives it saved.”[1] A closer look at Tibbets’s life and Peter J. Kuznick comparison of his views with those of others who participated in the atomic bombings will shed On November 1, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr., the light not only on whether Tibbets was as humane man who piloted the plane that dropped the and thoughtfully reflective as Kamm suggests, atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died at hisbut on why so many World War II veterans share Columbus, Ohio home at age 92. Throughout his Tibbets’s difficulty in moving beyond official adult life, he was a warrior. He bravely fought pieties of 1945 and today to understand the the Nazis in 1942 and 1943. He fought the complex history of the end of the Pacific War, the Japanese in 1944 and 1945. And he spent the next role the atomic bombings played in the Japanese 62 years fighting to defend the atomic bombings. surrender, and their own role in the historical process.[2] Paul Tibbets was born in Quincy, Illinois on February 23, 1915 and raised mostly in Miami, Florida. His father, a wholesale confectioner, sent him to Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois. As a young man, Tibbets had aspired to become a doctor. -
A Meditation on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr
Volume 6 | Issue 1 | Article ID 2642 | Jan 01, 2008 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul Tibbets, Jr. Peter J. Kuznick Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation Basing his judgment of Tibbets on the on the Life of Hiroshima Pilot Paul“accounts of those who knew him,” Kamm Tibbets, Jr. declared that Tibbets was “a humane man, who reflected publicly and thoughtfully on the A- Peter J. Kuznick bomb decision, the lives it cost and also the lives it saved.”[1] A closer look at Tibbets’s life On November 1, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr., the and comparison of his views with those of man who piloted the plane that dropped the others who participated in the atomic bombings atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died at hiswill shed light not only on whether Tibbets was Columbus, Ohio home at age 92. Throughout as humane and thoughtfully reflective as Kamm his adult life, he was a warrior. He bravely suggests, but on why so many World War II fought the Nazis in 1942 and 1943. He fought veterans share Tibbets’s difficulty in moving the Japanese in 1944 and 1945. And he spent beyond official pieties of 1945 and today to the next 62 years fighting to defend the atomic understand the complex history of the end of bombings. the Pacific War, the role the atomic bombings played in the Japanese surrender, and their own role in the historical process.[2] Paul Tibbets was born in Quincy, Illinois on February 23, 1915 and raised mostly in Miami, Florida. -
Abra 135.Pmd
Ano XXIV Nº 135 ABRA-PC JUL/AGO Notícias 2019 1 Mensagem da Diretoria Prezados Associados, Na oportunidade em que nos preparamos para as comemorações dos 75 anos do Dia 22 de Abril – Dia da Aviação de Caça do Brasil, a ser celebrado em 2020, a ABRA-PC vem se mobilizando para marcar essa data que nos é tão cara com algumas atividades. Uma delas será a edição do 6° volume do Estória Informal da Aviação de Caça, no qual pretendemos publicar estórias e "causos" que incluam a participação dos Veteranos do 1° Grupo de Caça que combateram na II Guerra Mundial. Nesses termos, gostaríamos de contar com a colaboração dos nossos associados no sentido de enviar para a ABRA-PC suas memórias que reportem a estórias junto aos nossos Mestres e Ídolos, para que sejam publicados nessa próxima edição. Colocamos o email da Associação ([email protected]) à disposição para o recebimento dos artigos. Também informamos que outras atividades e iniciativas estão sendo planejadas para essas comemorações, em coordenação com o COMAER, e que sugestões por parte dos associados serão muito bem-vindas, com vistas a abrilhantar as festividades e destacar tão importante data na História da nossa Aviação de Caça. A La Chasse! Senta a Púa - Brasil!! Agenda 03 de setembro 1971 - Primeiro voo do AT-26 (Xavante). Voo de ensaio com o Maj Carlos Rubens de Rezende e o piloto de provas da EMBRAER Basílico Freire Neto, no FAB 4462. 2 2006 - Chegada dos dois primeiros F-2000 no Brasil, às 14:30 Z, em Anápolis. -
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Last updated 1 July 2021 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| BOEING B-17 FLYING FORTRESS ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 1963 Model 299 NX13372 Boeing Aircraft Co, Seattle WA: ff 28.7.35 XB-17 crashed Wright Field, Dayton OH 30.10.35 ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2125 • B-17D 40-3097 19th BG, Philippines: BOC 25.4.41 RB-17D (Ole Betsy, later The Swoose: used as personal aircraft of General George H. Brett, Australia and South America 42/44) City of Los Angeles CA: displ. Mines Field CA 6.4.46/49 Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 3.49/61 (del. Park Ridge IL .49 for storage, del. Pyote TX .50 for storage 50/53, del. Andrews AFB .53, open storage 53/61) NASM Store, Silver Hill MD: arr, stored dism. 4.61/08 USAFM, Wright Patterson AFB Dayton OH 7.08/19 (moved in sections 7.08 to Wright Patterson AFB, complete fuselage moved 11.7.08, under rest. 10/12) (exchange for USAFM’s B-17 “Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby”) ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2249 B-17E 41-2438 (to RCAF as 9206): BOC 15.12.43: SOC 27.12.46 LV-RTO Carlos J. Perez de Villa, Moron .47/48 (arr. Argentina 3.47 on -
Enola Gay Guessed—But Had Not Been Told— What the Weapon in Its Bomb Bay Was
The crew of the Enola Gay guessed—but had not been told— what the weapon in its bomb bay was. Atomic MissionBy John T. Correll n Sunday morning, Aug. weapon was hoisted by hydraulic lift The crew of the Enola Gay. Paul Tib- 5, 1945, the clouds that into the bomb bay. bets, the pilot, is standing fourth from had hung over southern Among those who watched the loading left. Japan for a week began was Col. Paul W. Tibbets, 30, commander was the world’s first atomic bomb, and Oto clear and the weather forecast said of the 509th Composite Group. He would Special Mission No. 13 would drop it on conditions would be right on Monday fly the B-29 on its mission to deliver Japan. The primary target was Hiroshima. for daylight visual bombing. That was the bomb. Up to then, the bomber was Through the summer of 1945, the the news that a group of airmen on Tin- identified by side number 82 stenciled Japanese home islands were reeling from ian had been awaiting. Special Bombing on its aft fuselage, but it had not been massive firebomb attacks by B-29s flying Mission No. 13 was on. given a name. Tibbets sent for a painter, from Guam, Tinian, and Saipan in the Shortly after noon, the weapon that who printed “Enola Gay”—Tibbets’ Marianas chain. Despite the certainty would be used was removed from a mother’s name—in neat block letters of defeat, Japan refused to surrender secure assembly hut at North Field below the cockpit window on the left and the war dragged on with mounting on Tinian, covered with a tarpaulin, side of the nose. -
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Part of the Pacific War, World War II Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right) Date August 6 and August 9, 1945 Location Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan Result Allied victory Belligerents United States Japan United Kingdom Commanders and leaders William S. Parsons Shunroku Hata Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. Units involved Manhattan District: Second General Army: 50 U.S., 2 British Hiroshima: 40,000 509th Composite Group: 1,770 Nagasaki: 9,000 U.S. Casualties and losses 90,000–166,000 killed in Hiroshima 20 U.S., Dutch, British 39,000–80,000 killed in prisoners of war killed Nagasaki Total: 129,000–246,000+ killed v 1 t e Pacific War Central Pacific Hawaii Marshalls-Gilberts raids Doolittle Raid Coral Sea Midway RY Solomons Gilberts and Marshalls Marianas and Palau Volcano and Ryukyu Carolines Southeast Asia Indochina (1940) Franco-Thai War Thailand Dutch East Indies Malaya Hong Kong Burma (1941–42) Singapore Burma (1942–43) Burma (1944) Burma (1944–45) Indochina (1945) Malacca Strait Tiderace Zipper Indian Ocean (1940–45) Strategic bombing (1944– 45) Southwest Pacific Philippines 1941–42 Dutch East Indies 1941–42 Portuguese Timor Australia New Guinea 2 Philippines 1944–45 Borneo 1945 North America Aleutian Islands Attack on Pearl Harbor Operation K Ellwood Estevan Point Lighthouse Fort Stevens Lookout Air Raids Fire balloon Project Hula Japan Air raids Mariana Islands Volcano & Ryukyu Is Tokyo Starvation Naval bombardments Yokosuka Sagami Bay Kure Downfall Hiroshima & Nagasaki Kurils Japanese surrender Manchuria Manchuria (1945) Sakhalin Kuril Islands Shumshu Second Sino-Japanese War In August 1945, during the final stage of the Second World War, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 No. 72 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was particularly meaningful for me and for dered. Almost one out of every six Jews called to order by the Speaker pro tem- my constituents as so many Holocaust who were killed during the Holocaust pore (Mr. MITCHELL). survivors call our south Florida com- were killed at Auschwitz. f munity home. Today, Auschwitz serves as a stark I have had both the honor and the reminder of the sins of the past, of the DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO privilege to come to know many sur- evil, of the indifference of mankind, TEMPORE vivors over the years and be able to but it also serves as an educational op- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- call them my friends. You know, you portunity, an opportunity to bear wit- fore the House the following commu- can only learn so much about the Holo- ness. nication from the Speaker: caust from history books because the As Elie Wiesel said at the dedication WASHINGTON, DC, human toll, that is told by survivors. ceremony of our United States Holo- April 27, 2017. What is truly eye opening and what caust Memorial Museum in 1993: ‘‘For I hereby appoint the Honorable PAUL really brings things into perspective is the dead and the living, we must bear MITCHELL to act as Speaker pro tempore on sitting down with survivors or family witness.’’ this day. -
The B-29 Superfortress
The Atomic Bombings of Japan John Paul Jones hoists the Stars and Stripes It was an unfathomable decision to make. The president of the On the morning of 6 August 1945, seven B-29’s took off from 1777 on Ranger, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. United States, Harry S. Truman, was presented with a way to North Field and made their way towards to Hiroshima. An air possibly end the war in the Pacific which would have dire raid siren blasted at 0605 over the city, before an all clear 1863 The Battle of Gettysburg. consequences for thousands or even millions of people. What followed at 0719. At 0815, MAJ Thomas Ferebee released Little U.S. Army establishes the first organized air was worse was that if he chose the lesser of the two evils, it Boy from the Enola Gay’s bomb bay. Forty-four seconds later, 1907 fo r c e . could not guarantee that the war in the Pacific would come to the bomb detonated 1,900 feet above the city of Hiroshima over an end. The problem was how to bring about the unconditional the Shima Surgical Clinic. With the first bomb deployed and all A firestorm erupts in Hamburg, Germany after 1943 Allied airstrikes. surrender of Imperial Japan, and the options were to strike with aircraft safely accounted for, the U.S. ratcheted up it’s rhetoric an atomic weapon or to begin setting the stage for a massive on unconditional Japanese surrender and prepared for a second 1950 First contact of the Korean War occurs. -
Zoom Meetings, the Manhattan Project a Film, Titled “The Moment in Time the Manhattan Thursday Luncheons, - Project,” Was Shown at the Meeting of August 3Rd
WINGS NEWS Volume 7 Number 09 Established May 2014 September 1, 2020 Ed Reynolds Publisher Email Wings News at [email protected] Ed Reynolds Editor Settling into the COVID-19 norm Wings Over Wendy’s The Moment in Time: Monday Zoom meetings, The Manhattan Project A film, titled “The Moment in Time The Manhattan Thursday luncheons, - Project,” was shown at the meeting of August 3rd. The film follows the creation of the atomic bomb in the United we still see each other States. Passing each other shopping, at the hospital, at a In the late 1930s and early 1940s, atomic energy had stoplight, or on the sidewalk, we are settling into a new been discovered and studied in Germany. Due to Hitler’s normal lifestyle, still staying in touch on Zoom and phone nature and desire for war, there was fear that the newly calls. Many members meet for dinners practicing social discovered atomic energy would be used to create a very distancing. The important thing is we are still there to powerful explosive for the Nazis. This idea came from Leo support each other in this unusual time. We care, friends for Szilard, a refugee physicist, who informed President the remaining years of our life. Franklin Roosevelt about this possibility. It was known that if Germany developed this bomb, Hitler would win the war. The U.S. government went to work, creating the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was solely August 2020 dedicated to researching atomic bombs. General Leslie Groves was appointed as the head of this project. Development carried on, with lots of help coming from Meetings Robert Oppenheimer. -
A Concise History of the US Air Force
A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force Stephen L. McFarland Air Force History and Museums Program 1997 Contents The Genesis of American Air Power ..................... 1 Trial and Error in World War I .......................... 4 Interwar Doctrine. Organization. and Technology ........... 11 World War II-Global Conflict ......................... 21 Air Power in the Nuclear Age .......................... 40 Limited War in Korea ................................ 45 The “New Look” Air Force ............................ 51 Flexible Response and Vietnam ......................... 57 The Cold War Concluded ............................. 69 Air Power Triumphant-The Gulf War ...................75 TheFuture ........................................ 81 Suggested Readings ................................. 83 iii They shall mount up with wings as eagles. -Isaiah 40:31 The Genesis of American Air Power Americans took to the skies at an early date. Benjamin Franklin considered the possibility of using balloons in warfare in 1783, only days after the first successful hot-air balloon flights in France. John Sherburne, frustrated by the Army’s ineffectiveness during the Seminole War of 1840, proposed using balloons for observation above the wilderness that hid the adversary. John Wise, dismayed by the prospects of a long and costly siege of Veracruz during the Mexican War, suggested using bal- loons in 1846 for bombing defending forces, three years before Austria actually did so against Venice. John LaMountain and Thaddeus Lowe successfully launched manned reconnaissance balloons in support of Union operations during the American Civil War. In late June 1861 Lowe’s map of Confederate positions in Falls Church, Virginia, was the first significant contribution of manned flight to American warfare, although the Union lost the battle at Bull Run in July. The map allowed Lowe to report after the battle that the Confederates were not advancing on Washington.