I liked the F-19 better than the F-117 too. Though the F-19 existed only through the imaginations of Microprose. I built the model that came with it.
I built that one too. I always chose the F-19 over the 117 in the game. Loved that game.
I liked the F-19 better than the F-117 too. Though the F-19 existed only through the imaginations of Microprose. I built the model that came with it.
I built that one too. I always chose the F-19 over the 117 in the game. Loved that game.
Obama hates Americans and what America stands for. He's the paradigm of the toxic left.
This scene completely ad-libbed by Will Farrell after the part where Mark told him he didn't like him and thought he was a fake cop. He wasn't even supposed to answer.
And Mark Wahlberg had to sit there and react - and then he ad-libbed tossing the coffee on Will Smith. Then will Smith reacted to that.
I watched that whole thing wondering when Will Smith was going to enter the scene.
Disappointed.
Speaking of Will Ferrell...
From the odd corner of the intardnet, Björk explains how a TV works...
Can't trust those poets.
Win95 is the best.
I can't even imagine what that must have been like for those very young guys.
I mean, what an ordeal. All that time fighting for your lives. At least the German fighters were in and out pretty quickly . Those bomber guys had to be up for 8 hours running that gauntlet. I can't imagine the stress, fear and utter exhaustion they must have experienced.
Dreadful
My Father In Law flew that one with the 303rd Bomb Wing. Hell’s Angels.
He was on that mission?
Yep.
That's incredible. Did you ever get his story? What was his experience in that?
He didn't talk to me about his missions very much. He was a Squadron and later Wing Instructor Gunner and as such wasn't on a crew. He filled in for sick/lame/lazy/drunk kids on some missions. On some missions he flew tailgunner for the lead aircraft in the group. That was as much for observing/reporting the formation status to the lead pilot as well as the tailgunner job. Both things pretty important for keeping the formation together.
He was actually not listed as crew on a lot of missions he flew. He always went out making the rounds as the gunners prepped the aircraft right before the mission. Helped guys mount the guns, put in the firing pins, load ammo, etc. Lots of new kids, so help was needed
He'd be out there and some guys would still be puking drunk from getting their courage up the night before and he'd just take the mission for them. He flew as tailgunner and waist gunner usually. Top turret was the flight engineer and he wasn't rated for that. He was a small guy and could probably be crammed into the ball but he was NOT getting in there. He figured it was a death trap and it was. Radio room and nose had their own specialized jobs as well as gunning so he didn't do those either.
He said some guys got out to the plane and just lost their nerve. Flying was purely a volunteer operation and if one day you decided you couldn't do it anymore, that was accepted. They took you off flying status and found you another job in the wing. So, a tough mission would come up. a gunner would decide his number was going to be up and just take himself off status. My FIL flew some of those missions too.
As for Schwienfurt, the whole thing was tough. The weather for departure sucked, rain and clouds which upped the possibility of mid-airs on climbout. He said the fighters showed up as they entered over France and were around most of the way to target and back to the French coast. He said watching your fighter escorts turn back really turned up the stress. The 303rd was lucky in positioning. They were in the middle of the third wing. Most fighter attacks focused on the lead and trailing squadrons in a wing. The 303rd had two aircraft combat losses out of the 60. Pretty amazing stat. So while his stress level was pretty high throughout, his aircraft didn't really get into the nasty thick of it.
Here's the 303rd Mission Report for that raid. 078.pdf (303rdbg.com)
Here's his picture when he first got to England. He was older than most, college grad, married, passed the Bar and was a lawyer. Enlisted, not drafted. Turned down commissions in the Navy and the Army Air Force. Great skeet shooter, so they made him a gunnery instructor at Kingman, AZ. Totally safe place to ride out the war. He kept asking and badgering for a combat assignment; he got one, the 303rd BW as Squadron Gunnery Instructor for the 359BS. Later moved up to wing in the same slot.
Here he is on the Lead Crew for the Hitzacker raid.
Lead Crew Hamburg
Other missions he's listed but with no pic: #296 St. Vith, #303 Paderborn, #332 Essen, #348 Bremen. He told me he totaled 35 missions but most of them he wasn't on the crew manifest. Just replacing people that couldn't or wouldn't go. He was a very mentally tough guy. Made some tough choices when he could have walked Easy Street.