PA.Dutchman
-
Total Posts
:
832
-
Reward points
:
745
- Joined: 12/05/2007
-
Status: offline
|
I was looking for the 42 Squadron and found this
-
06/16/2008 01:59:32 PM
I was looking for the 42 Squadron and found this which says it all. The 7 TH and the 42 Squadron who lost every B-17 they had left on February 1, 1943 along with all their crews.
My father was in the 42 Squadron and is in the book "Grey Geese Calling" during this time of the war. He is in the front row on Page 9 sitting in the front with the helmet at his feet. He is T.Sgt. Bud Heilman Seventh Air Force Combined Air Component Command (CACC) [As one of the four Numbered Air Forces in Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), Seventh Air Force (7 AF) has a distinguished heritage that is deeply rooted in the Pacific. Initially, 7 AF activated on 1 November 1940 as the Hawaiian Air Force. The fledgling 7 AF's involvement in World War II was best summed up by its air and ground views as "Just one damned island after another!" 7 AF fought the Japanese imperial might from Hawaii 2,000 miles southwest to the Gilberts, then 600 miles northwest to the Marshalls, 900 miles west to the Carolines, 600 miles northwest to the Marianas, 600 miles north to Iwo Jima, 1,000 miles west to Okinawa, always edging closer towards the center of Japanese power. A map story of the 7 AF would cover 3,000 miles north and south of Midway to Fiji, and 5,000 miles east and west from Pearl Harbor to the Ryukus. The saga of the 7 AF's aerial exploits across the Central Pacific has the "rags-to-riches" qualities of a Horatio Alger story. First the almost complete decimation of the Hawaiian Air Force (predecessor of the 7 AF) at Pearl Harbor, then its gradual build-up and vast oceanic search missions to keep the enemy at bay. Later, long-range heavy bomber attacks softened up strategic islands for amphibious invasions, with greater weight brought against the enemy perimeter defense by the advance of fighter and medium bombers. Finally, after constant consolidation of gains, 7 AF smashed at Japan directly from both Iwo Jima, as escort to the long-range strategic B-29s, and from Okinawa with the Far East Air Forces in the rocky Ryukus, right up to the surrender of Japan. The Seventh was the first air force to feel the enemy's weight and the first to take toll of the enemy. It flew longer to battle, used wider range of aircraft, and covered more territory than any land-based Air Force. It fought and bombed by day and night, flew distant reconnaissance missions, dropped every type of bomb and incendiary, sunk enemy shipping, mined enemy waters, and performed countless routine and special jobs. Its personnel served on isolated coral atolls, received scant recognition, and endured months of dreary monotony. By necessity, 7 AF was a precision-bombing unit. Its commander, Major General Willis Hale, summed up 7 AF's contribution by saying: "The target had to be directly hit. The difference of 40 feet one way or the other meant that bombs would either land on the lagoon on one side of the island or the ocean on the other. And we didn't fly 2,000 miles to kill fish."
<message edited by PA.Dutchman on 06/16/2008 02:01:05 PM >
Sincerely yours,
PA.Dutchman
Son of T/Sgt. Ray A. Heilman, JR.
11 TH Field Artillery 1937-1940
Schofield Barracks
7 TH AAC 11 BGH 42 Sq.1940-45
Hickam Survivor 12/7/1941
AAC Armorer (P) 911
P.U.Citation1942
|
|