@MikeHistorian
馃嚭馃嚫 As an aircraft mechanic, he was supposed to fix fighter planes.
Instead, he turned dozens of them into flying works of art. At RAF Debden, England, American pilots were even willing to pay him around 35 bucks to decorate their Thunderbolts and Mustangs!
Meet one of WWII's most remarkable nose art painters!
馃У1/6View quoted post on X
November 8, 1942. The Airborne's First Time.
Every young man has an idea of how his first time is going to go. Perfect timing, smooth execution, and everything happening just the way he planned.
Then the moment arrives. The timing is off, nothing goes where it's supposed to, and afterward there are a few things he'd probably rather not explain.
The Army's first combat jump had a little of that going on.
On the evening of November 7, 1942, 39 C-47s carrying 556 Paratroopers of 2/509 departed England for North Africa. Under LTC Edson Raff, their mission was to seize two airfields near Oran, Algeria, during Operation Torch.
Just six days earlier, these same Paratroopers had been designated 2/503. Now they were about to establish a legacy for the 509th and the Airborne.
It was an ambitious mission. More than a thousand miles, much of it flown at night, with two different plans depending on whether the Vichy French resisted the invasion.
The aircraft departed expecting a peaceful landing. The warning that the French would resist never reached them.
And that was just the beginning.
Bad weather scattered the formation over Spain. Navigation equipment was unfamiliar, radio communications were unreliable, and the homing beacons intended to guide the aircraft weren't much help.
By sunrise, the formation was scattered across hundreds of miles of North Africa.
One C-47 made it to Gibraltar, landing with empty fuel tanks. Three others ended up in Spanish Morocco, where their crews and Paratroopers were held prisoner for three months. Two more landed in French Morocco, where they were detained by Vichy authorities.
COL William Bentley, the officer commanding the air mission, actually landed to find out where he was before taking off again.
Meanwhile, dozens of C-47s were putting down on the Sebkra d'Oran, a dry salt lake near Oran. Others encountered French antiaircraft fire and fighter aircraft.
When Raff and other Paratroopers finally jumped, they were preparing to confront an approaching armored column. It turned out to be Americans advancing inland from the beaches.
And the airfields they had been sent to capture? Allied ground forces reached Tafaraoui first.
Some of the Paratroopers eventually arrived at their objective on trucks and a commandeered bus. Not exactly the arrival anyone had envisioned for America's first combat parachute operation.
Of course, this wasn't all harmless confusion. American Soldiers and aircrews were killed and wounded, and the dangers were very real.
But it's worth remembering just how new all of this was. The Army was attempting something it had never done before, using aircraft, equipment, tactics, and procedures that had never been tested together under combat conditions.
On November 8, 1942, despite everything that went wrong, the American Paratrooper made his combat debut.
The men of the 509th had opened a chapter in U.S. Army history that would lead to Sicily, Normandy, Holland, Tagaytay Ridge, and every American combat parachute operation that followed.
Like a young man's "first time", it might not have been nearly as good as he'd imagined. Some of it was awkward, some of it was embarrassing, and there were definitely things he'd do differently next time.
Fortunately, with experience, the Airborne got a whole lot better at it.
All the Way.View quoted post on X
The new film #JIMMY, in theaters now, explores the life and WWII service of film icon James Stewart. Listen as Senior Historian John Curatola, PhD, speaks to Stewart's daughter, Kelly Stewart Harcourt, an executive producer on the film: bit.ly/4itawhKView quoted post on X
The National WWII Museum presents 'Secret WWII,' an original podcast exploring wartime tales of espionage and intrigue鈥攁nd this season, we're delving into the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Watch or listen now wherever you get your podcasts. bit.ly/4z0kdcmView quoted post on X
