warhawk Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 First Raids For the Mighty Eighth is certainly an interesting topic to depict in a model. My question is - were USAAF roundels ever used by the 15th Bombardment Squadron on any operational missions? The crews were American, but on the other hand, they were flying under No. 226 Squadron RAF... img source: Warfare History Network Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Here's a photo, if the caption is correct: (well, on the linked page, that is) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/RAF_Grafton_Underwood I've just been reading "Air Force Spoken Here", a biography of Ira Eaker, and it claims that US stars were hurriedly painted on prior to the 4 July mission. I should probably find that in the text again to be sure. Now, I'm not sure I fully believe it, based on that evidence, but it is at least "evidence" of a sort... Wouldn't you think there might have been some press photographers there on 4 July? bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhawk Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 (edited) 48 minutes ago, gingerbob said: Now, I'm not sure I fully believe it, based on that evidence, but it is at least "evidence" of a sort... Thanks for the link. Neither am I sure, as the upper camouflage of the A-20 pictured looks as overall Olive Drab - pretty unlikely if they are ex-and-soon-to-be-again RAF Bostons. Also, the upper-to-lower cammo demarcation is straight - different from the photo from my previous post... Edited October 23, 2021 by warhawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 This painting shows RAF roundels: https://www.mightyeighth.org/mission_one/ I did find the part in the book about Eaker, and remembered accurately. (p.166, if anyone has the book) Now you've got me interested, so I'll do a bit more probing, but probably won't have anything to add for a day or two. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhawk Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) Found another photo at link below, which shows US roundels: https://www.historynet.com/july-4-1942-the-mighty-eighths-first-bombing-raid.htm Does not prove what roundels were used on the first mission, though. Now if we could just determine the individual numbers and serials of at least these four aircraft... 🍳 Edited October 27, 2021 by warhawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydhuey Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) The photo in warhawk's link are in the right scheme and the narrative said the 6 x US loaned Boston's had stars added, you can see where the fin flash is painted over and the individual letter under the cockpit also appears it could be painted over ,I will go thru the national archive and see if I can ID the 12 aircraft on the mission. Edited October 28, 2021 by Sydhuey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 @Sydhuey, don't bother- I've already done that. Sorry I haven't gotten back to this thread- I've been trying to stay away from my laptop the last couple of days, due to the usual neck/headache thing that happens when I've been looking down too much. I'll report back later today, but other than a couple of comments that the stars were hurriedly painted on, I've found no evidence to support that. bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 OK, here I am again, and with some contradictory "evidence": in "US Medium Bomber Units of World War 2" (Northwest Europe) by Jerry Scutts, he says: (p.7-8) Quote A theatre transfer of Boston IIIs from RAF stocks saw 23 machines re-marked with the white star of the USAAF, the American crews flying three further combat missions during the summer and autumn of 1942. Abbeville/Drucat airfield was attacked on 12 July [me: more detail below], again using British-marked Bostons. On that occasion the Bostons made their target approach at 8500ft in deference to the deadly low-altitude flak they had encountered before. All aircraft returned safely. Between the July raid and the next one to Le Havre on 5 September, the 15th BS prepared 17 of the ex-British Bostons, and the Eighth Air Force began combat operations in earnest. By the latter date, missions had been flown by B-17s, P-38s, and two AAF groups of Spitfires. On an unspecified date towards the end of their service, the Bostons apparently acquired the only identity markings they were to carry - a single aircraft letter on the vertical tail surfaces; otherwise they retained standard RAF camouflage and serial numbers. So, as I was going to report, 226 Squadron's ORB shows 6 American crews of 12 on 12 July, as they do for the 4 July mission. That's the last I noticed of the Americans within 226's records. I noticed a couple/few individual US personnel going on ops in June, and on 29 June Kegelman flew AL743 'L' with an all-AAF crew, being one of 12 on that op- and earning a special note in the ORB. (Kegelman/Bell/Cunningham/Golay) [Note that four of the six that were to be flown by US crews on 4 July also participated in this op with RAF crews.] On 4 July: [Note: some of the names are hard to make out. There are sources online etc that I can check against, so I'll amend the list later.] US crews: AL670 'D' Crabtree/Motowitz?/Davis/Lang AL677 'P' Loehl/Draper/Wright/Whitham (missing- only Draper survived to become a PoW) AL741 'V' Lynn/Grant/Murphy/Kramarewicz? (missing- all killed) AL746 'M' Odell?/Birleson?/Preston/Thompson AL750 'Z' Kegelman/Dorton/Cunningham/Golay (heavily damaged, but returned) Z2303 'J' Hawel/Donnelly/McGinnis/Andrews Only one of these six participated in the 12 July mission, again being flown by a US crew: AL670 'D' Jackson/Bell/Spellman/Evans 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhawk Posted October 29, 2021 Author Share Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) Thanks for taking the time to gather this info. Most useful. Does each tactical letter (between the hyphens) correspond to large recognition code letters often seen below the windscreen? img source: HistoryNet Also, the aircraft pictured in my first post seems to have an 'L' below the windscreen, (and possibly a 'K' immediately behind it, but over-painted)? On 10/23/2021 at 5:30 PM, warhawk said: img source: Warfare History Network Edited October 29, 2021 by warhawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydhuey Posted October 30, 2021 Share Posted October 30, 2021 there are two photo's in front of "L" with the US crew one each side of nose , "K" may have been a previous code , std markings on RAF Boston's in Europe were the 2 letter Sqn code fwd of the roundel on the Fuselage side and the individual aircraft code letter on the nose 88 RH 107 OM 226 MQ 342 OA 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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