I am looking for any info of my father (B-17 Bombardier Floyd R.Blair) from the 5th bomb group, 72sq. 18th bomb wing. He was awarded the Silver Star for sinking a ship at the Battle of Midway. I am looking for any B-17's that flew this bombing run. Such as specific aircfaft serial numbers or nose art of the aircraft.

Two books cover the B-17s in the Pacific......"Fortress Against the Sun" by Gene Eric Salecker, and "B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War", by Martin Bowman.

Martin Bowman's book has illustrations of the Nose Art on several B-17s.

Eric Salexker's book has several notations on Midway.

You should be able to find both books at Barnes and Noble books or Amazon to name a couple....go to www.google.com and look for both books..there are many sources of books.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

I am the webmaster for a site dedicated to bombardiers. I looked for data on your father with no luck. At a minimum I can usually find the bombardier school and class he attended. Can you provide any other information? Rank, serial #, etc? Do you have the citation and what does it say?

The link to my site is below.

Dave

Link to: Bombardiers of WWII Website

New email address as of Feb 2006: hfhmsite@comcast.net

I believe your fathers plane sunk a
a Japanese ship at Midway.However the
"The Battle Of Midway"was a Naval
Battle between Carrier Aircraft of
the US and Japanese Navies.A B-17
would not have lasted long in that battle.The AAF was probably there before and after.I believe durring
the sea battle,carrier based
US Marines bombed and strafed Midway.

Yunch DE-Gunners Mate

Here is a website that lists contact information for the 72nd Bomb Squadron Association:

http://www.5thbomberbarons.com/html/72ndbs.html

Here is a Navy website that has an information on the Army Air Force's involvement in the Battle of Midway:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq81-9.htm

Here is a website that has the combat chronology of Army Air Force for the month of June 1942, the Battle of Midway was June 4 to 7:

http://www.usaaf.net/chron/42/jun42.htm

Hope these links help.

Anne

Proud Sister of a US Submariner

Proud Granddaughter of Sgt. Raymond R. Liguori, Airplane Armorer, 33rd Fighter Group

In my earlier post, I mentioned the book The Flying Fortress Unints of the Pacific War,by Martin Bowman....on page 43 is a drawing of "Old Baldy" 41-24455 and on page 65 is a picture of the crew of "Old Baldy" with Lt Fred Blair, Bombardier.

The drawings of other B-17s that also participated are shown on pp 33-45 and nose art is shown on pp 46-48. "Old Baldy" is shown on p 48.

The book is published by Osprey Publishing and carries a date of 2003.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

Yunch...I think you should also read the book "The Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War" by Martin Bowman...the B-17s DID participate in the Battle of Midway.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

My apologies to Mr Blairs son.That
was a screw up,"BIG TIME".Wont have
to get the book Jim,Anne set me
strait.Thanks to you both.

Yunch

It is interesting to see the different perspectives that are given of the same event - depends on your background. My father-in-law was an Air Corps B-17 gunner at Midway. His account (taken from his diary and written immediately after the battle) is as follows:

"Fleet of 60 Jap ships was sighted by the Navy patrol bomber and alarm given. Main force of fleet sunk by Army B-26's and <B-17's> during running battle. The Navy wasn't there. We won it by ourselves. Japs bombed Midway and leveled it while we were at sea. Japs lost about 30 ships. I flew up with Lt. Col. Waldron, Capt. Willis and Franklin, Lawrence and Sidler. We went out twice. First time out got a transport. They were gone the next time out. No Zeroes came within range of our guns. "

"No Japs around Midway June 6. The battle is over and we won. June 7 - Gen. Tinker and crew went down about 70 miles west of Midway during a storm. All were killed."

It's interesting to see that he thought the "Navy wasn't there" . . . that obviously is not true, just his opinion at that time.

Bill "Billy Bob" Stewart
Son-in-Law of SSgt Dave Miller (1919-68)
Aircraft Armorer/Aerial Gunner
5th BG 1940-43
484th BG 1944

To avoid further screw ups,I
researched 4 different books on
Midway.Yes your relative saw no USN
planes at Midway.The Navy because of location was further away.The
following quote as per said books.
"From Midway,Marine & Grd.fire,shot
down or damaged about one third of the
enemy planes at a cost of their own.
By contrast the Midway planes that attacked the Japanese carriers
suffered losses and failed to damage the strongly defended ships.

Yunch

I flew tail gun on Uncle Biff  41-2415 - Mid-May to Mid-June 42 out of Bellows.  Would like to communicate with you in greater detail