Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: World War II US Marines Pilot -- a Worthwhile Remembrance

  1. #1
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default World War II US Marines Pilot -- a Worthwhile Remembrance

    Hi all

    Not by me but in a literary magazine that I edit here in Baltimore, Loch Raven Review. A fine essay by local writer Caryn Coyle about her father, a World War II dive bomber pilot now elderly and in failing health:

    "Airplanes" by Caryn Coyle

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  2. #2
    Pablo42 pablo42's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Wallasey
    Posts
    2,650
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Nice one Chris. She tells a good story.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Bernie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    U.S.A.
    Posts
    79

    Default

    Reminds me of an incident back in the 90's. I was locking my car in downtown Kissimmee Fl. My car had the vanity plate 'SCOUSE". An older Gent stopped and we got talking, he was from Liverpool but living in Ellesmere Port. He told me he had to do some flying hours every year to keep his pilots license current. This year he decided to give himself a treat and do it at Kissimmee Warbirds Museum. They fly WW2 planes which are mostly trainer but they do have a Mustang trainer, that is what he wanted to fly. He had been a Spitfire pilot in WW2 and told them that at the flying school atatched to the museum, they said he could go up but had to be accompanied by an instructor, he said when he told the instructor his story, he laughed his head off, he was only 25 years old.
    When the smoke has cleared and the bullets cease.another soldier rests in peace. The politicians who caused the fight, rest at home no danger in sight

  4. #4
    Senior Member GNASHER's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Barking up the wrong tree
    Posts
    316

    Default

    Went to Duxford,its an old USAF base, a few years ago and saw the roll of honour for the flight crews.I was shocked to see the age of some of them.To see how many lost their lives just from that base was so sad.Heroes the lot of them.

  5. #5
    Senior Member az_gila's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona, USA
    Posts
    603

    Smile Duxford is certainly...

    Quote Originally Posted by GNASHER View Post
    Went to Duxford,its an old USAF base, a few years ago and saw the roll of honour for the flight crews.I was shocked to see the age of some of them.To see how many lost their lives just from that base was so sad.Heroes the lot of them.
    ...worth a visit - but it was mostly a RAF base with only the US Army Air Force using it as a fighter base in 1943 and 1944.

    Duxford is a now a part of the Imperial War Museum, and the American Air Museum is located on the same property. This is the USAF museum -



    ...and is where you saw the memorial to the US 8th Air Force crews lost.

    I enjoyed the tour around the Imperial War Museum restoration facility, which had many Spitfires in various phases of rebuild.

  6. #6
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Thanks for your posts, gang. It is important not to forget the heroism of these young men who put their lives on the line, with many of them being lost in action.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  7. #7
    Pablo42 pablo42's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Wallasey
    Posts
    2,650
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Sadly they still are Chris. I'm always amazed at the names. They are always the same.

    Each one a dream lost...

  8. #8
    Senior Member dazza's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Third rock
    Posts
    1,131
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default

    Great article Chris, thanks!

    I can also highly recommend a visit to Duxford Air Museum, posted earlier. Some of the planes are taken out on a daily basis. There's an old passenger plane with corregated sides [almost like an early 2CV car] that you can pay to go up in for a few loops around the air field.

  9. #9
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dazza View Post
    Great article Chris, thanks!

    I can also highly recommend a visit to Duxford Air Museum, posted earlier. Some of the planes are taken out on a daily basis. There's an old passenger plane with corregated sides [almost like an early 2CV car] that you can pay to go up in for a few loops around the air field.
    Thanks, Dazza. It was a pleasure some years ago to go to the same Smithsonian Air and Space Museum described in Caryn's essay, just a few streets from me as I write, with my mother's cousin, Kenneth W. Matchett and his wife. He was trained as an RAF fighter pilot in Texas and was able to see the World War II craft he knew.

    C
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  10. #10
    Pablo42 pablo42's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Wallasey
    Posts
    2,650
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    Thanks, Dazza. It was a pleasure some years ago to the same Smithsonian Air and Space Museum described in Caryn's essay, just a few streets from me as I write, with my mother's cousin, Kenneth W. Matchett and his wife. He was trained as an RAF fighter pilot in Texas and was able to see the World War II craft he knew.



    C
    There's lots of them old birds flying all over Africa and South America. Been up in more than a few. Scary and noisey they are...

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •