Preview of Denver and Wyoming Trip

The writer has returned to his computer.

Son Matt (20), son-in-law Cody Davis (25) and myself (old) traveled 1,300+ miles since Friday, and saw most of southern Wyoming and a piece of Colorado as well. We visited my son's home town and also Medicine Bow, the town where we lived for four years in the eighties.

I will give a full report tomorrow, broken down into several categories. Norris King's story is so amazing and unknown that I plan to write up it and submit it to several aviation history and World War Two magazines.

For now, I submit a couple of photos from the trip, with only minor commentary.

Matt Morris (left, in Sosa jersey) and Cody Davis (right, in white shirt) enjoy the Colorado Rockies/Chicago Cubs game on Sunday, August 12 at Coors Field, Denver, Colorado.

We saw a game on Saturday evening and another on Sunday. Sunday's game was a hot one, with temperatures over 100 degrees.

Second, the highlight of the trip for me was meeting with Norris King and his lovely wife Marilyn, who live in Arvada, Colorado. Norris's 15th Air Force B-17 was shot down in 1943 by Swiss anti-aircraft fire. The day his plane went down, 13 Americans were killed in Switzerland. On Norris's plane, only three of the crew of ten survived. Norris shared his experiences and we had a great visit. The photo today shows Norris with a piece of his plane, which he was given upon his return to Switzerland fifty years after the war. It is in a shadow-box in his den. Norris spent time as a Swiss internee before escaping from Switzerland later in the war, joining up with the French underground, and making his way back to Allied lines. Though he is 82, he looks younger than me. For Norris's story, see my book 'Untold Valor' pages 177-182.

Norris King and a piece of his B-17, a 99th BG B-17 named 'Sugarfoot' that was shot down by Swiss anti-aircraft, killing all but three members of the crew on October 1, 1943.

Marilyn King, Norris King, and Rob Morris at the King home, Arvada, Colorado, Sunday August 12, 2007.

More tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Wyoming/Colorado Road Trip

Starting tomorrow, I will be off-line for a few days. My son Matt, my son-in-law Cody, and I are driving down to Denver tomorrow to catch a pair of Chicago Cubs/Colorado Rockies games.

An old photograph of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, circa 1917. This is pretty much how it looked when we lived there, as well, right down to the water tower.

This will be a sentimental trip for us. In 1985, I was hired for my first teaching job in the small town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming (population roughly 700). This was in an oil and uranium mining area of southeastern Wyoming. I absolutely loved my job there, and I fell in love with the rugged beauty of the high plains. Unfortunately, my wife Geri did not like being sixty miles from the nearest larger town. We were sixty miles from Laramie to the east, ninety miles from Casper to the north, and sixty miles from Rawlins to the west. We moved there when my oldest daughter was two weeks old. In 1987, my son Matt was born in Rawlins. We moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1989 and have been here ever since. I'm preparing to enter my 23rd year as a teacher. Medicine Bow was my first four years, and I learned a lot there.

The Virginian Hotel, at one time the tallest building between St. Louis and California on the railroad. It is named for the title character in Owen Wister's famous novel, 'The Virginian'. We may stay here tomorrow night.

We'll drive to Medicine Bow tomorrow, possibly spend the night there, either at the Virginian Hotel or at a nearby BLM campground. The Virginian Hotel is named for the famous Owen Wister novel of the same name. Wister's novel is considered the first great western novel, and he based it in Medicine Bow. In the 1950's, there was a popular television series called 'The Virginian', also based in Medicine Bow.

The next day we'll drive on to Denver. We'll see a game Saturday night and again on Sunday. Also during our Denver stay, I will be visiting Norris King and his wife Marilyn in Arvada, a Denver suburb. Norris was a gunner on a B-17 that was shot down by Swiss anti-aircraft during World War Two, killing seven of the ten men on board. For those who have the Potomac version of my book, Untold Valor, Norris' story is told in detail on pages 177-182.

From the Swiss Internees' Website, here is the info on Norris's crew condensed from the MACR:

B - 17 # 42 - 30126 " Sugarfoot "

Pilot - Lt. Burton English

Attacked by LW Fighters , Badly damaged , on Fire.

Pilot , Copilot , Nav , BB and TG either Killed or Wounded.

As A/C was going down , it crossed Swiss Border and Swiss began Shooting.

A/C exploded

- 3 Crewmen bailed out and Interned. Sgt. Marion Pratt , Sgt. Norris King , Sgt. Joseph Carroll

The remains of Norris's plane 'Sugarfoot', in Switzerland. Norris has a piece of the plane at his home in Colorado, given to him years after the war by the man who shot the plane down.

We'll be returning to Idaho on Monday. I'll make sure to post a story about Norris King and also photos of the baseball game and of Medicine Bow.

Coors Field, Denver, Colorado. Home of the Colorado Rockies. We will be sitting for both games in the 'Rockpile', which are the cheapest seats in the stadium, directly to the center of the photo, behind the pine trees.

Coors Field, Denver. A new stadium with a disinctly vintage feel to it.

I miss Medicine Bow a great deal. If it had been up to me, I'd still be there. It will be a day full of memories tomorrow as we stay there.

Incredible World War Two Aircraft: Fi-156 Fieseler Storch

The war had many amazing aircraft, but perhaps one that is often overlooked is Germany's Fi-156 Fieseler Storch (Stork). With a maximum speed of just over 100 mph, this plane was light and could take off and land on a dime. It was used in the daring rescue of Benito Musolini during the war, and was primarily an aerial recon aircraft.

The Storch was a fabric-covered STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) aircraft that held a crew of three. First flown in 1936, the Storch needed only 200 feet of runway to take off (that's 60 meters for you Europeans) and only 66 feet (20 meters) to land.

Variations were created for special conditions. A desert model had extra sand filters, an ambulance version could carry one stretcher, and an enlarged version could seat five.

A Storch carrying German commander Gen. Erwin Rommel flies over a Panzer column

A Fieseler Storch was the last dogfight victim of the western front.

Pilot Duanes Francies and his observer, Lieutenant William Martin, of the 5th US Army Division, were flying aerial recon in their Piper Cub when they spotted a Storch circling below them. Francies and Martin fired on the Storch with ther Colt .45 pistols, and the plane spiraled to the ground!

After a short gun battle, Francies and his observer took the two Germans into custody. Lt. Martin was awarded the Air Medal for his part in the fight, but Francies would have to wait until the story was reported in Cornelius Ryan's book "The Last Battle," to finally be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The USAF was 22 years late. Apart from being the last Luftwaffe plane lost in the west, this Storch was also the only enemy plane downed by pistol fire during the war.

Basic facts about the Storch:

One 240-hp Argus 8-cylinder inverted V piston engine

Only weighed 2,050 pounds empty

Maximum speed 109 mph

Cruising speed 81 mph

Ceiling: 15,090 feet

Range: 239 miles

Armament: one rear-facing 7.93 mm machine gun

Number built: 2,900+

World War Two Glider Pilots--A Rare Breed

American and Allied glider pilots did much to help win the war in Europe. Their fragile planes, towed behind C-47s or other powered aircraft, were responsible for putting large numbers of infantry troops on the ground during major assaults. Pulled behind their tow-planes, these pilots often found themselves released early or off-course, often under fire, and had to put down wherever they could find an open space. Landings were dangerous and frequently fatal.

This Horsa glider crashed in France on D-Day, killing its pilot and passengers.

The following is quoted from the website of the World War Two Glider Pilots' Assocation (website at http://www.ww2gp.org/index.htm)

This is an excellent website and you could easily spend a few hours here learning about the bravery of the glider crews.

"American glider pilots, along with airborne forces, spearheaded all the major invasions, landing behind enemy lines in their unarmed gliders in Sicily, Normandy, Southern France, Holland, Bastogne, Rhine Crossing, Luzon in the Philippines, and Burma.

Gee....sounds like fun to me! Where do I sign up?

One veteran American glider pilot painted a vivid picture of the stark terror they experienced. "Imagine", he said, "flying a motorless, fabric-covered CG-4A glider, violently bouncing and jerking on a 11/16 inch thick nylon rope 350 feet back of the C-47 tow plane. You see the nervous glider infantrymen behind you, some vomiting, many in prayer, as you hedge-hop along at tree-top level instinctively jumping up in your seat every time you hear bullets and flak tearing through the glider. You try not to think about the explosives aboard. It's like flying a stick of dynamite through the gates of Hell."

A Waco glider underway, its tow-line visible to the left.

After D-Day, Allied forces attempted to recover as many of the gliders as they could. Here, a C-47 snatches the first glider to be picked up in France and returned for future use.

A museum mock-up of the interior of a Waco glider.

There were only about 6,000 American military glider pilots, all volunteers. They proudly wore the silver wings with the letter "G" superimposed on them. The brash, high-spirited pilots were not a bit bashful about letting everyone know that the "G" stood for "Guts".

American glider pilots were scheduled for "Operation Eclipse", the Allied airborne offensive planned to capture Berlin. But, the glory went, through political default, to Russian ground forces. They were spared an invasion of Japan when the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima.
They suffered heavy casualties and their ranks have thinned through the years until now only about 1,400 are banded together in The National World War II Gliders Pilots Association with its headquarters at 21 Phyllis Road, Freehold NJ 07728. They are a vanishing breed. There will be no future generations of American military glider pilots. The Defense Department ended the military glider pilot program in 1952.

World War II Glider Pilots; none had ever been before and probably none will ever be again; a hybrid breed like jackasses with no need to reproduce themselves; definitely one of a kind understood only by themselves and some completely beyond understanding. A few more years and military glider pilots will be an extinct species remembered by few. But they did exist and were involved in some mighty important and exciting military actions in WWII. "

A salute to the brave glider crews of World War Two, and thank you for doing the tough job.

Sports Break--Barry Bonds Breaks Home Run Record

A swing for the ages. Last night, Barry Bonds broke the home run record with this swing.

Last night, Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record in San Francisco.

In hitting his landmark homer against the Washington Nationals, the 43-year-old San Francisco Giants slugger eclipsed the record held by Hank Aaron for the past 33 years.

The home-run record is one of the greatest achievements among the many records of America's national pastime.

For the past several years, Bonds has been the center of a raging controversy about the use of power-enhancing steroids. He has denied using them, but other athletes who have played on his team have testified under oath that he did. Critics point to the fact that Bonds' body grew unnaturally later in his career. His hat size went up, and so did his foot size, long after grown men are done growing.

A before and after side-by-side comparison of Barry Bonds taken early in his career and recently.

Another photo of Barry Bonds earlier in his career (above), and, (below), more recently.

Whether he did or not, Bonds is the new home run king, though his record will likely always have an asterix next to it until the steroid charges are disproved.

Neither the commisioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, or the previous home run king, Henry 'Hank' Aaron, were in attendance when Bonds slugged #756.

I remember watching Hank Aaron hit the home run that put him past the great Babe Ruth. It was an exciting moment. Aaron had to endure hate mail and death threats from racists who didn't want a black man to break Ruth's record. Aaron was a gentleman of true class. The fact that he was not on hand when Bonds broke his record is perhaps his quiet way of casting his own doubts on the validity of the new record.

Henry 'Hank' Aaron, former home run king.

The Sultan of Swat--the Bambino--Babe Ruth, who some believe will always be the king.

In any case, records are made to be broken. 756 is a lot of home runs, but there is one young player, Alex Rodriguez on the New York Yankees, who has a good shot at toppling Bonds in ten years or so, if he can stay healthy.

In a cartoon critical of Bonds, this artist has shown Bonds literally growing over the years.

Congratulations, Barry. In America, you are innocent until proven guilty. You are, for now, the king of the dingers.

Readers, please comment on this post by giving your opinion. What do you think of Bonds and his record?

WWII Aircraft: View from the Cockpit

Ever wondered what the cockpits of the great fighters and bombers of WWII looked like? Today, the blog takes you on a tour of some of the European air war's most famous aircraft.
Enjoy!

P-38 Lightning fighter (USA)

Hawker Hurricane Fighter (British)

Spitfire Fighter (British)

P-51 Mustang fighter (USA)

P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter (USA)

Fw-190 fighter (German)

Lancaster bomber (British)

B-24 Liberator bomber (USA)

Me-109 (German fighter)

B-17 Flying Fortress Cockpit, heavily modifed with up-to-date avionics. (USA)



I had to throw this one in for sentimental reasons. This is the cockpit of the Cessna 150. I learned how to fly in this plane in 1978. It has about as much in common with the other planes as a Volkswagen Bug has with a Formula racing car.

More on Military Vehicle Restoration

Writing hard on my novel today. The men are on the infamous 'long march' across Austria and Germany, one of the great stories of WWII and one of the least known.

At break-time, I went and surfed around on the HMVF website some more. (See previous post). What a fun hobby these military vehicle restorers have! It looks like it would be an expensive one, but as one hobbiest wrote in a posting 'who knew being skint would be so much fun?'.

I'm going to post a couple photos I thought were particularly interesting. Some of these vehicles must have started out in a scrap heap somewhere, and the amount of time and effort needed to restore them has got to be monumental.

I am unsure whose vehicle this GMC is; however, I'm sure somebody from the Forum will respond to this blog entry with more info so I can credit the builder fully.

Before, and....

After.