RE: Bob Brulle
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05/14/2008 11:53:30 PM
Greetings to All:
I published the notes below on the Model Hangar Forum. I needed to share them with you also. How timely that this thread has come up.
Jim O'Neil, P-51 LVR [Fla. license plate], Fort Myers, Fla.
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Look what took place in Fort Myers, Florida, Monday afternoon. I attended a public showing of the History Channel’s Dogfights: Y-29 (which most of us saw). About 50 or so were in attendance. Mr. Brulle lives in the retirement community of Cypress Cove. What a delightful, energetic, and really smart man-pilot-teacher he is! I bought his book (published by Smithsonian), filled with details of his becoming a pilot and his arrival in France, assigned to the 366th FG, in July 1944. You saw him on TV, digitally imaged in his [borrowed] P-47 razorback. How lucky we are to be able to talk and visit with these great “heroes” who were “just doing their job.”
As “Punchy” Powell says, “Blue Skies.”
*****
Local guy on History Channel
WWII pilot in middle of dogfight
By Judd Cribbs
Story Created: May 12, 2008 at 5:46 PM EDT Story Updated: May 12, 2008 at 6:19 PM EDT
Bob Brulle is an unassuming man and you might never guess he was a pilot in the middle of one of the most epic dogfights of World War II.
Flying a sturdy P-47, which Bob calls a "tank plane," he grazed the ground to help support troops. "We used to fly so low, people on the second floor would be looking down on us as we roared through the streets."
Around the time of the Battle of the Bulge, he and his fellow pilots took on sixty Luftwaffe airplanes in a dogfight directly over their airfield. The History Channel recently aired a documentary on the dogfight, interviewing Bob and describing his role in the battle. The show described the air fight as pivotal in the eventual defeat of the Luftwaffe.
Bob shrugs when asked about how he feels about all this. "I just want to make sure people know my buddies did all this too. I was not the only one. I'm just the only one out of the eight P-47s who is still alive."
Bob has a written book about his adventures titled "Angels Zero.” The title refers to the low altitude at which he regularly flew. He flew 70 missions and when asked about any close calls, he says, "Every mission was a close call. Gee whiz!"
Find this article at: http://www.winknews.com/features/cribb/18871579.html If you go to this site, for the next few days, you can see the short interview done for WINK-TV.