Research Trip to England

Framlingham Castle, near one of the 95th's early bases, later to become home to the 390th.

New developments in my attempt to get school district approval for my research trip to England, mostly good.

Worst-case scenario is that I would put off the trip until school let out for the summer. The 95th Association has indicated this will not be a problem. Best-case scenario--the district decides to let me go and not forfeit my salary. We won't know until January 23.

The old 95th runway at Horham.

Aerial view of the city of Horham, near the 95th's base in East Anglia.

The trip to the 95th Reunion in Tucson will not be a problem at all.

Stained glass window in the church in Grafton Underwood.

My next order of business for England is to make contacts with the East Anglian towns where the 95th was based, and get an advert in the papers there asking for memories from townspeople who were alive at the time the 95th was there. That way I can line up interviews ahead of time.

95th Bomb Group & District 91

I met with the superintendent of schools today to ask for permission to miss roughly two weeks of school to conduct research for the 95th Bomb Group's new history. Instead of getting the go-ahead, I need to wait till January 23, after he and the school board make a decision.

It's possible I will have to take out a loan to pay my own salary while I am gone. This despite the fact that I have missed only a few days in my eighteen years with the district and accumulated 160 sick days never used.

The picture shows Idaho Falls, with the Snake River and the Mormon Temple.

More on the Russian P-39

My friend Partha wrote to dispute my comment that Russian pilots did well against the German Luftwaffe. He writes:

Your stories about "the recovery of the ill fated Airacobra from the Russian lake were both interesting to read. Even after so many years, how all the details about the ferrying of this particular aircraft just going by the serial number, could be collected, is very interesting.

Your observation that 'several outstanding Russian pilots flying the P 39 were able to rack up massive kills against the Germans flying superior aircraft' seems to be your imagination. As far as I know, the Germans simply dominated the skies of the East and particularly the Jagdgeschwaders such as Erich Hartmann's were able to wipe out entire Russian air fleets. Compared to these sky knights, only a few, i.e. very few Russians such as Ivan Kozhedub could do some damage to the Luftwaffe. In fact, even on his last combat sortie, Hartmann could claim at least four victories, and some of his victims were flying American birds."

Thanks for the comments, Partha. I have added photos of both Erich Hartmann and Ivan Kashedub to today's post as well.

Hartmann had 356 victories in the war. A good site to read more about Erich Hartmann is: http://www.acepilots.com/misc_hartmann.html. His victories are listed at http://www.luftwaffe.cz/hartmann.html

Kazhedub had 62 victories in the war, and was the top ace of the Russian Air Force. An excellent biography and victory list for this Russian ace is found at this link: http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/kozedub/kozedub.htm

Frank Irgang's 'Etched in Purple' now Available for Pre-Order

Okay, I know I talk about this book a lot. But there's a reason. It is, in my opinion, simply the best memoir to come out of World War Two in Europe. I noted today that Amazon.com is guaranteeing a pre-order price of only $12.21. The book comes out in early March.

To the right is the original dust jacket of the first pressing of this book back from 1949. I am the proud owner of two of this edition, both signed by the author. The story of how this book came to be re-published is an amazing one. Ten years or more ago, I was shopping in thrift store here in Idaho Falls and came across this book. I noticed it was a WWII memoir by a young infantryman published back in the late forties, and since I am a WWII buff, I bought it. The book absolutely blew me out of the water. Using my sleuthing skills, I tracked Frank down. He was teaching in San Diego. I asked Frank if I could send him the book to get signed. He said sure. When I got it back, he'd even included the original dust jacket. Some years later, I found a second copy at a reasonable price on Amazon. Normally, the first edition runs well over a hundred dollars.

Ever since, I have been plugging this book. It was my goal to see this classic book re-published because I felt that it was an absolute shame that it was out of print. A number of years later, after I'd published my first book, I had the opportunity to recommend the book to my publisher. They read it and agreed whole-heartedly that this book was a classic that needed to be re-published. And now, nearly 58 years after its initial publication, Frank's book is once again available, and at a price much lower than a hundred to two hundred dollars.

Buy it and read it. You will not be disappointed. I guarantee that. To the right is a photo of the cover of the new Potomac edition, due out in early March.

Order from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Etched-Purple-One-Soldiers-Europe/dp/1597972045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199554654&sr=1-1

Or order from Potomac here: http://www.potomacbooksinc.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=180789

Also recommended, Frank's other books. Check them out at his website: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/firgang/index.html

Another P-39 Airacobra Story

My friend Maurice Rockett, who flew in the 95th BG as a B-17 bombardier, emailed me after reading the article about the hard-partying Russian pilots who flew the P-39s over to Russia after the U.S. decided not to use the plane. Maurice writes:

"Rob, in your blog, you addressed the problem of Russian pilots flying while into their cups. As I remember when working in Stratford, CT, at Vought-Sikorsky, there was a group of Russian pilots flying out of Bridgeport (as I recall). They often took off without warming-up only to plunge into Bridgeport Bay. End of story with you can call a 'bloop.'"

I wonder how many Russian air accidents during the war were a result of 'FUI'--'Flying under the Influence'?

It should be mentioned that there were many outstanding Russian pilots during the war, using the P-39 to rack up massive kills on superior German aircraft.

Also, there is an interesting link discussing the Alaska-Russia Airacobra route at the following site: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1L7WuWZpzUmL-m29OyEZYbZSyr8TyXc-Y0Mp0cHRaspfkG9CqUISXX5oe3aYIC9RHVrRhSBt-O_zfe7SWW1A22-zfGSrfdSqDxsW3bK4rKOBCYyzgNza3WHUtcFSd8LNawreVBT0aL0/s400/alcan-hwy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html&h=254&w=400&sz=36&hl=en&start=19&um=1&tbnid=jTnUKnyuHQ85sM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dp-39%2Bairacobra%2Bcrash%2Brussian%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den

P-39 Airacobra Discovered in Russian Lake

The P-39 Airacobra rises from the Russian lake after 55 years.

My pilot friend Jay from Colorado sent me the following fascinating email and attachment. I quote:

"Rob,
A friend forwarded this story to me. It has a rather remarkable set of pictures that accompany the story and history of the plane.

Bib Hawkins, a friend of mine that lived in Craig (Colorado)was a ferry pilot for the P-39's from the Great Falls, Montana to Nome, Alaska. As I remember him telling me, 55 plus years ago, the WASP's would deliver the planes from the factory to Great Falls. This is probably correct as this plane was released for delivery in 1943. There was a shortage of male combat pilots so the WASP's filled in many roles including ferrying planes (up to Nome). He told me about the Russian pilots partying all night before they took off from Nome for Siberia. He often wondered how many made the completed flights."

Jay then added this linked story:

"Bell P-39 Airacobra recovered in Russia…These are some good pictures and history of the aircraft - very unusual for an aircraft lost for so long. This is a Bell P-39 that was recently recovered from a lake in Russia. The aircraft went down in WWII and the pilot's remains were still in the cockpit. Also in the cockpit was a can of lend lease cooked pork lard, onions, salt and spices - the lend lease version of SPAM? Note the U.S. insignias underlying the Russian Star painted over them. Interesting that the engine was behind the cockpit and the drive shaft to the propeller gearbox ran directly under the pilot and between his legs then through a collar on the bottom of the control stick. YIKES!

Here is a link to the recovery and history of the P-39: Click on each of the small photos to bring them up to size. http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/sheppard/p39/index.htm

To get the entired article and see all the photos, click on the above link. You will not be disappointed by this article and the photos accompanying it.

Thanks for another great story, Jay!

When I was writing Untold Valor, I interviewed a pilot by the name of Mozart Kaufman because he had been a Jewish airman who became a POW in Germany. Incidentally, he'd begun his flying career as a P-39 Airacobra pilot in the Aleutian Islands, fighting the Japanese, and later transfered to Europe. He loved the P-39 because of its raw power, but he said the plane scared him to death. It was unpredicable, and especially early on, it killed a lot of pilots before its glitches were ironed out. Read his account in Untold Valor. The plane nearly killed Mozart on occasion.

A well-preserved can of Lend-Lease pork rests on a piece of the aircraft.

The standard P39 cockpit with the very vertical instrument set out.
Not visible is the charging handles for the machine guns. At the bottom is the propeller extension shaft which goes under the pilots seat!

A Visit to a Mormon Temple

The new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple in Rexburg, Idaho, taken by me this evening.

This is an off-topic post, and if the subject doesn't interest you, please don't bother to read it.

One of my good friends from work, a fellow teacher, is a devout Mormon. Though I am a practicing Roman Catholic, I have Mormons and former Mormons in my family tree. Over the many years my friend and I have known each other, we've talked religion many times, always very amicably and without judging each other. It's been mutually rewarding and we find we have much more in common as Christians than we have differences. My friend invited me to go to the Open House for the new Temple in Rexburg, Idaho this evening after work. The Church released 180,000 reserved tickets to take the tour, and all have been taken. The tickets are free.

Mormon Temples are very sacred to believers, and once they open, the only people allowed inside are members of the Church who have what is called a Temple Recommend, meaning they meet the strictest rules of the Latter-day Saint faith. Before the formal opening of the Temple, however, an open house is held for a month or two and everyone--including non-Mormons-- is invited to take a tour.

There are around 125 temples in the world today in the LDS religion. Idaho Falls had one of the first ones, as this area is predominantly Mormon. Rexburg and the Upper Snake River Valley have been growing rapidly, and the church decided Rexburg needed its own temple. Ground was broken on it about two years ago. It formally opens next month.

Temples are important to the Mormon faith because it is there that the followers get married (sealed for eternity--one stays married in the afterlife), get baptized for their dead ancestors, and any number of other sacred ceremonies. When members enter the temple they must show their Temple Recommend, which they get from their bishop and which states that they are in good standing with the church. The member then must change out of street clothes into white garments. The rooms in the temple get progressively brighter as one walks upward to the Celestial Room, which is supposed to resemble Heaven. The Celestial Room in the Rexburg Temple has a giant chandelier in the middle that reflects every color of the spectrum. The temple is, indeed, an awe-inspiring place even for non-members such as myself.

Devout members to not smoke, drink, go to R-rated movies, or shop on Sunday. They also give a tithe of 10% of their income to the church. Like any dominant group, they can exclude non-LDS people from their circle of friends. I imagine outside of the Mormon heartland, they are often the ones who get excluded.

In the current presidential race, one of the candidates, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon. This has caused him to have the same types of problems that John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, faced in 1960 when he ran for president. So far, Mr. Romney has acquitted himself very well concerning his faith and how it would effect his role as commander-in-chief. One of his opponents, Mike Huckabee, has used Mr. Romney's Mormon faith against him. I find this to be a very low blow similar to tactics used to discredit John Kennedy in 1960.

In any case, it was an enjoyable and enlightening trip to the Rexburg Temple. I have added some photos I took tonight after we finished, and hope you enjoy them.

I didn't take this one, but it's an excellent shot.