Recently came across a photo of a Lt Col Harold Whiteman talking with Richard Sulzbach in front of his plane. Sulzbach is trying to explain why he flew thru some trees, was Whiteman with the 350th, dates? service number? I ask because he led the 58th FG replacement pilots off the USS Ranger on its 4th P-40 delivery to the 33rd FG, Feb 43.

Thanks for any help
Rob

http://www.geocities.com/raf_112_sqdn/

Lt. Col.Whiteman was from the 22 TAC ,12th AF and flew couple of missions with the 346 FS,From "The Memory is still Fresh" book.
Keith might add more.
Latter in the first part of May 1945 (after the war) Capt. Sulzback wanted to fly a ME-109 and called Whiteman to see if he can and were he can find one but he never did find one that was airworthy,unless he did later on.
Rick

Thanks Rick; In the meantime I also recieved this from his son "He was assigned to XXII Tac Ops for 12AF at HQ in Florence, Italy. He flew with the 350th Fighter Group on at least 20 occasions with the 346th fighter squadron.  He was leading the element at the time of the above mishap"

Thanks
Rob

the comment about captain sulzbach contacting lt/col whiteman about wanting to fly a messerschmitt bf-109 , where does that comment come from? is that just speculation as well as the comment about the number of mission/sorties flown with the 346th fs ? lt/col whiteman flew seventeen (17) missions that i can find a specific reference for and that number is limited only by the spotty references to pilot names participating in missions by the c.o. filing the report. that may be that the requirement for including specific information changed from time to time, i don't know. the dor's available on keith vizcarra's blog regretable are an incomplete record. the reason that i'm wondering about the messerschmitt comment is that lt. dow and major dow had a repaired and airworthy messerschmitt bf-109k that they were flying out of the 350th's base at pisa,italy where the 346th f.s was also based as part of the 350th. thanks, get back to me. best wishes, hal whiteman (harold J. whiteman II) son of lt/col harold whiteman. 

Hi,That was from the book "The Memory is still Fresh" on page 223.
Sorry my camera is not working.Maybe someone else will post this page.
This was in the first couple of weeks after the war.The Dow brothers Bf-109K I think was latter because Hugh Dow's was in a POW camp the very last part of the war and in May I think he was not with the 350 FG yet.
I'm sure someone else will correct me on this.
Your dad is in the book a total of 3 times with the first two pages stating he flew missions on March 19,24,26,29 1945.Last page is 223.
Rick

the problem is that you are relying on the book---if you were to go keith vizcarra's 350th blog site and access the dor's(daily operations reports) you will find many more dates when my father flew with the 346th fighter group. as i stated the squadron's and group's dor's sadly do not always reflect the pilots that flew a particular mission/sortie. i would be inclined to believe that my father would have flown with more than just one squadron of the 350th fighter group, sadly the record is incomplete. the requirement for indicating the pilots flying the mission must have changed from time to time. assuming someone's recollections  are correct without historical records is a dangerous road to go down. i will always try to find official records when available, then rely on recollections in the absence of the former. hope you understand the sensitivity to characterizing someone casually. best wishes, hal whiteman.

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AND THESE TWO...
Keith

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the problem is that you are relying upon a book that is someone's recollection. if you go to keith vizcarra's 350th blog site and access the dor's(daily operations reports) for the squadron and group as a whole, you will find these official after-action reports with many more missions flown by lt/col whiteman. sadly the records are incomplete and do not always reflect the name of any of the pilots participating in that mission/sortie. the requirements for including particular information must have changed from time to time.  the other point i would make is that i can not believe my father would have flown with only one squadron of the 350th. sadly once again with incomplete records that can't be proven.  finding historical records(the daily operations reports) should always be preferable to relying on someone's memory. i'll take the recollection if that's all that's available---but, from my own personal military experience i know that's a dangerous road to go down. hope you understand the sensitivity to comments about my father's service experience. best wishes,hal whiteman.

You are correct in I was relying on the book because I was trying to state what was in the book(only) about your father.
I'm sure he flew ,like other pilots, more missions than what is in the book.
If you have his Flight Log that may help you .
If not it will be hard to find the facts.
With the 350FG guys on this board you will have a very good chance to find this information.
Regards
Rick

Dear Hal,
I don't see any missions that your dad flew with the 345th FS. I have another data base offline which I can search pilots listed on the 345th mission reports. Unlike the 346th DORs, I have only 25 pages which have "No Pilots Listed" in the 345th records during the P-47 years. I have yet to enter the data from the other squadrons in the same searchable format. Eventually I will get there. Tom is working on the 347th DORs for me.
 So checking the pages one by one is the way to go for now. But after you search the 346th, I would skip the 345th and look at the 347th. It is actually more likely that your father would have flown only with one squadron rather than all four but if he had flown with the others it would likely be the 347th. I checked the 1BFS as well since it too is searchable. No listing of your father there. But If you happen to know of any flights your father  had with them, this too would be helpful. There are just a few missing American pilots for those missions.  If you have created a list of missions you know your father flew with the 350th, especially if you found them in a source outside of the DORs I have posted, I would greatly appreciate that information, along with the source of the information (His log book?, XXII TAC documents?, MACRs etc.)
Thanks.
Keith

thanks. i'm still looking for a picture that my father had and i misplaced of him piloting a captured focke-wulf fw-190. the aircraft was captured by the 79th fighter group and operated by the 85th fighter squadron "the flying skulls". the aircraft was red overall with a yellow cowling and fuselage band, as well as yellow wings with red wing-tips. the tail had the same yellow with red tips for the horizontal stabilizer with a red ,white and blue rudder for vertical stabilizer. the u.s national roundels were on both wings top and bottom as well as sides of fuselage. i have found only one version of this photo and it is published newsprint and can not be enlarged without distortion. would greatly appreciate any help. the photo was taken from an aircraft flying in formation slightly ahead and above. thanks much, hal whiteman.  p.s. i'm also looking for any information concerning the fighter tactics center in morroco in1943 at berechid I and berechid II. they flew bell p-39 airacobras, curtis p-40's, lockheed p-38's and a mark of supermarine spitfire. after bringing 75 p-40L's of the 58th fighter group to north africa on cv-4 ranger,he commanded this school.

by the way thank you for posting the pages from the book---i'll have get a copy and read it. that was an interesting story by lt. sulzbach going to agerman airfield after the war to fly a german airplane. my father once told me a similar story about taking a couple of jeep loads of pilots up into the brenner pass to search for souvenir german pistols with nothing but german troops(mainly waffen-ss) and only german feldpolizei to keep them in line. he had the same after thoughts( "am i nuts?"). anyway---thank you both. best wishes,hal whiteman.