I am looking for any information I can get about my grandfather, Lt. Charles A. Weniger.  He was in the Aleutians 44-45, I think.  He was a pilot and I have found records of him flying 42-41157, although I believe he flew other aircraft.  There is one aircraft in particular that he called "The Black Widow", which I believe was a B-24D. I'm not sure if that was a nickname he had for the plane or the official name. 

I am looking for any information at all that I can find about him... If anyone knew him, knows anything about the aircraft he flew... anything at all!

Thanks!

In the 44-45 time period there were only 2 Bomb Squadrons stationed in the Aleutians, the 77th flying B-25's and the 404th flying B-24's.  My father was the Communications Officer for the 77th.  I have a lot of info on his squadron, but little on the 404.  I found no record of a B-24 with a serial number 42-41157, but there was one with the number 42-41152 that was assigned to the 404.  This plane was lost in the Aleutians on 1-23-45 (MACR 11780).  Perhaps this was the aircraft that you reference.  The 404 was known as the "Pink Elephants" due to the pinkish desert sand color of their  bombers which were originally destined for desert warfare, but hurriedly diverted to the defense of Alaska.  The war-birds website has some good photo's of the 404 and some of its airplanes.  There are several other good sites on this unit that can be readily found by running a goggle search on the 28th Composite Group.  But the information that you seek will only be found in the official archives.
 
http://www.web-birds.com/11th/28th/28th.htm

B-24 42-41157 "FLASH"  did fly with the 404th BS, 28th BG.

Stephan




[image]local://upfiles/2386/051FD53811CE4D8BB8002BE7AB876094.jpg[/image]

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Here is a better pic of "FLASH" in the foreground.





[image]local://upfiles/2386/217E598638684CE691E6AFF0CD151A97.jpg[/image]

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Rattle,
Those are great pictures!  "Flash" is looking a bit battle weary and beat up.  There seems to be so little info and interest in the Aleution War, it is good to see your post.
Thanks, Ed

The Aleutians were miserable duty from those who were there.  THe weather was rotten, cold, dreary, windy.  The missions were largely harrassment of remote Japanese bases and frequently the weather made them impossible to complete.  There was the double danger the base would be obscured on return and no place to land.  Off duty time was crushingly boring.  No place to go and as one vet told me, if you didn't drink or play cards you were left with nothing to do.

The Aleutions have been called the land of the 50 mph fog.  The weather was awful, but my father said the worst part was the boredom, loneliness, and often suicidal missions.  He arrived in June of 43, just after the fall of Attu.  The Kiska campaign kept them busy through August, and then they began the runs to the Japanese Kurile Islands.  It was a 10 hour, 1400+ mile round trip.  Trouble was the normal range of the B-25 was 1350 miles.  Even with the addition of extra tanks and the lightening of the bomb loads, they barely had enough gas to complete the mission.  Daddy said they would sometimes lose half of the planes on a mission due to getting lost in the fog and running out of gas. 
 
According to official reports on September 12th, 1943 they launched 12 B-25s, accompnied by 8 B-24s on a mission.  One of the B-25s aborted, and 19 planes completed the mission to Paramushiru.  Four planes were shot down and destroyed, 7 were crippled and landed in Russia, and 6 others just "failed to return."  The 77th history published in the unit's newsletter in November 1943, says that they lost 7 planes and crews on this mission, including the Squadron Commander.
 
But as you said, they drank a lot.  The Army provided them with a steady ration of whiskey and beer, and they often flew in extra supplies.  After they settled into the base at Casco Cove on Attu Island in 1944, they built an officers club.  That helped their moral a lot.  Daddy said you could buy anything you wanted from the Navy for a bottle of whiskey.  They bought a bulldozer, two huts, miscellaneous supplies, and a flatbed truck for 2 quarts of whiskey.  My father was an architect and was put in charge of the club construction.  It was very nice and well equiped when finished. They flew in nurses from all the bases in the area for a big party with real live women.  A good time was had by all.
 
Ed

Alaskan fauna could cause some thrills also, besides the weather.  A pilot I used to fly with in the CAF told me he was flying 2nd seat in a C-47 delivering supplies somewhere up there, during the summer. As they approached the improvised landing strip, they noted what appeared to be a rather large, dark rain-cloud covering about 1/2 the strip.  Just as they touched down, he put his hand on the wiper control in case there was a lot of rain. Upon entering the " cloud ", it turned out to be a swarm of large mosquitos, which proceeded to cover the windscreen, ( he was glad he had the wiper ready to go ) clog the air intakes, and generally made a complete mess.

SHAEF1944 American Veterans Museum

I've seen a bunch of pictures and read a few accounts of my grandfather of bad weather playing a part in many of his missions.  I've also seen a few pictures of him and his crew having a good time at Christmas parties and the like.  I've also seen pictures of his sleeping quarters... surrounded by nothing but snow!  Seems like quite a place to be for a year or two. 

Thanks to everyone!  I love hearing about anything and everything that happened up there.