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8th Air Force 60th anniversary
Mar. 16th, 2003 11:23 amThe social studies department completed its 8th Air Force 60th Anniversary Commemorative History Project. This would have nothing to do with me, except that as part of the celebration, they had a presentation that people from other departments were invited to.
So I got to hear Bill Lyons, an 8th Air Force P-51 fighter pilot, speak. It was an interesting talk, and he's a very good speaker. It was surprising to learn that he'd not spoken of his WWII experiences until 5 years ago...
He gave some of his own history, growing up in NYC during the Depression, moving every year (but always in the same school district) to get the one-month rebate on rent that was apparently standard in those times. School was more patriotic then; he sang a song his second grade teacher had taught them, complete with hand gestures (!).
After graduation, he enlisted as soon as he was legal. At first his parents hadn't been thrilled by the idea, but came around. He was one of the lucky ones who came back; more than 50% of the fliers in the 8th didn't. He flew 63 missions, escorting bombers over Germany. He gave details: I now know how to evade a German fighter plane on my tail, and what layers they wore, and the location of the five gas tanks and six machine guns. A gallon/minute flying, 5 gallons/minute while fighting... he described the planes as "flying gas tanks." No gas gauges, though, so they had to switch between external tanks every 15 minutes. They knew they'd run out of fuel in those tanks when the engine stopped; quick switch to another tank before crashing... They carried 20 seconds-worth of ammunition, for a flight that could be as short as 3 hours or as long as 8. (There were lots of math problems in this that I so totally couldn't put in our math books...) The tiny cockpits weren't pressurized, or heated, so they wore tons of layers in addition to parachutes, things like that, and there were air masks. Every pilot brought a head-and-shoulders photo with, just in case they had to go down in an enemy area and whatever resistance was able to reach them first, so they could make an instant fake ID. There was lots more detail, this is just what stuck in my head first. (Oh, and the vomit story, that enough people have heard in person that I'll not repeat it here).
I wish someone like this guy had come to speak at my school; history would've been so much more interesting...
So I got to hear Bill Lyons, an 8th Air Force P-51 fighter pilot, speak. It was an interesting talk, and he's a very good speaker. It was surprising to learn that he'd not spoken of his WWII experiences until 5 years ago...
He gave some of his own history, growing up in NYC during the Depression, moving every year (but always in the same school district) to get the one-month rebate on rent that was apparently standard in those times. School was more patriotic then; he sang a song his second grade teacher had taught them, complete with hand gestures (!).
After graduation, he enlisted as soon as he was legal. At first his parents hadn't been thrilled by the idea, but came around. He was one of the lucky ones who came back; more than 50% of the fliers in the 8th didn't. He flew 63 missions, escorting bombers over Germany. He gave details: I now know how to evade a German fighter plane on my tail, and what layers they wore, and the location of the five gas tanks and six machine guns. A gallon/minute flying, 5 gallons/minute while fighting... he described the planes as "flying gas tanks." No gas gauges, though, so they had to switch between external tanks every 15 minutes. They knew they'd run out of fuel in those tanks when the engine stopped; quick switch to another tank before crashing... They carried 20 seconds-worth of ammunition, for a flight that could be as short as 3 hours or as long as 8. (There were lots of math problems in this that I so totally couldn't put in our math books...) The tiny cockpits weren't pressurized, or heated, so they wore tons of layers in addition to parachutes, things like that, and there were air masks. Every pilot brought a head-and-shoulders photo with, just in case they had to go down in an enemy area and whatever resistance was able to reach them first, so they could make an instant fake ID. There was lots more detail, this is just what stuck in my head first. (Oh, and the vomit story, that enough people have heard in person that I'll not repeat it here).
I wish someone like this guy had come to speak at my school; history would've been so much more interesting...