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Started By
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re: WWII Hypothetical - 8th Air Force crew member or foot soldier
Posted on 3/30/19 at 7:51 pm to upgrayedd
Posted on 3/30/19 at 7:51 pm to upgrayedd
quote:
Infantry
8th had horrendous casualties
Mmmmmm...yeah, but the living conditions in between missions (including lots of single French women) would balance out the risk, IMO.
frick living in freezing mud waiting to get bombed or shot 24/7.
The Mighty 8th?
Yes, please.
Tailgunner, if ya got it.
2
Posted on 3/30/19 at 7:53 pm to LongueCarabine
Dad was in the 351st @ Thorpe Abbott. Small world.
I found the cemetery where several of his crew mates who died that day are buried in the Netherlands. It’s a goal of mine to make it over there and pay my respects.
He told me about how the 262’s were too fast for their turrets to track.
I found the cemetery where several of his crew mates who died that day are buried in the Netherlands. It’s a goal of mine to make it over there and pay my respects.
He told me about how the 262’s were too fast for their turrets to track.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 7:55 pm to 19
quote:
Tailgunner, if ya got it.
Compartment was too small to wear your parachute. You had to hope you had time to put it on if you got hit.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 7:58 pm to Kcprogguitar
If the P-51D had been developed and mass-produced 9 months earlier, the casualty rate for the 8th would have been quartered, if not halfed.
It had the altitude, range, guns, and agility to protect those big bombers better than any other escort craft.
It had the altitude, range, guns, and agility to protect those big bombers better than any other escort craft.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:00 pm to Kcprogguitar
My uncle got in after D-Day, sometime in July 44. Still, after his missions were done, he spent several months in a "rest area" before eventually coming home.
He didn't talk much about his service, I'm sure he saw some horrible things.
He didn't talk much about his service, I'm sure he saw some horrible things.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:01 pm to Jim Rockford
quote:
Compartment was too small to wear your parachute. You had to hope you had time to put it on if you got hit.
I thought that was the belly-turret.
No matter...if any Bf109G-10s showed up with them pneumatic hammers, they'd shred me and the parachute quickly.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:06 pm to Armytiger87
Ground pounder, all day.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:10 pm to Kcprogguitar
quote:
I found the cemetery where several of his crew mates who died that day are buried in the Netherlands. It’s a goal of mine to make it over there and pay my respects.
My paw paw fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I plan to make it to the Ardennes in the next few years. I want to take my daughter. Luckily she was able to know him until she was 9 or so.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:27 pm to stelly1025
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:29 pm to fallguy_1978
Wow I was just going to post my family's Bulge story. My grandpa was in the 101st. Fate saved my arse...they screwed up a hernia operation so he didn't jump into the Bulge. His unit took massive casualties and he didn't talk about it much. I think he lived the next 64 years with the guilt of not being there with his unit. Whenever I brought it up he quickly changed the topic of racism perpetrated by the unit while training. After getting shipped home he was married within 2 years to my grandma with one of those who made it out being his best man.
As for the question at hand... Before the first boots hit water in Normandy I think the advanced paratroopers the night before had it the worst. Flying in packed aircraft with pilots who didn't stick out their mission, it would have sucked to be spread all over the place scavenging for a weapon. It amazes me how much those few guys did with so little to help kill the artillery fire from inland to Omaha.
As for the question at hand... Before the first boots hit water in Normandy I think the advanced paratroopers the night before had it the worst. Flying in packed aircraft with pilots who didn't stick out their mission, it would have sucked to be spread all over the place scavenging for a weapon. It amazes me how much those few guys did with so little to help kill the artillery fire from inland to Omaha.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 8:37 pm to GeauxxxTigers23
quote:
17 guys took some heavy losses but they were banging the British girls in between missions while their men were walking across Europe.
Now the 8th just bangs fatties in Bossier between training sorties.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 9:27 pm to Kcprogguitar
I can’t recall the group. I will have to look it up. I think he flew out of Ipswich, England. The tail emblem was square K and the name of his plane was Little Angel.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 9:33 pm to 777Tiger
quote:P-38 baw.
fighters, baw
This post was edited on 3/30/19 at 9:34 pm
Posted on 3/30/19 at 9:56 pm to 19
quote:
frick living in freezing mud waiting to get bombed or shot 24/7.
Same here. I'd rather go out in fiery wreckage a few hours after wining up some french whore than starve with foot rot for 2 years and end up bleeding out after getting gutshot in some god forsaken field somewhere in West Germany.
Posted on 3/30/19 at 10:18 pm to Armytiger87
Banging broads and getting 3 hots and a cot or freezing my balls off for a month in the Ardennes? Hmm...
Posted on 3/30/19 at 10:43 pm to LongueCarabine
quote:
He flew with the 384th Bomb Group out of Grafton Underwood.
Mine was 385th BG out of Great Ashfield. Flew his 35 missions between May and August ‘44.
Edit: Correction...he finished his 35 in October ‘44.
This post was edited on 3/31/19 at 10:55 am
Posted on 3/30/19 at 11:56 pm to Armytiger87
When your mission is over for the day you go back to a fairly homey base in England.
If you die, you generally die quickly.
I’ll take the Army Air Corps slot. I’m not much of an infantryman.
If you die, you generally die quickly.
I’ll take the Army Air Corps slot. I’m not much of an infantryman.
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