65 Years Ago

I must apologize to my reader for the lack of recent content in this blog. It is due in no small part to The Day Job. Much as I love it, working 40+ hours a week and all that commuting at weekends does tend to erode the time available.

It occurred to me that having watched President Obama on the TV ay the 65th Annoversary of the D-Day landings, we are currently working through the 65th Anniversary of "Joplin Jalopy's" career on the 506th Bomb Squadron.

So, this is September 8 2009 - where was the "Jalopy" 65 years ago?

On September 5th (Norm Kiefer's history says September 8th) the Jalopy had completed her 10th mission. This was 8th Air Force Mission 605 and 44th Bomb Group Mission 217 to the Marshalling yards at Karlsruhe, Germany under the command of 1st Lieutenant Raymond G Kuecker and his crew. This was the Kuecker crew's only combat mission in the Jalopy although they were veterans from another B-24 Bomb Group.

The Kuecker crew listed in the 44th BGVA website is:

1st Lieutenant Raymond G.Kuecker - Pilot

1st Lieutenant Winthrop S. Chamberlain - Co-Pilot

1st Lieutenant Harold B. Waldorf - Bombardier

Flight Officer Chester L. Barefoot - Navigator

Sergeant Frank S. Perman - Nose Gunner/Togglier

Tech Sergeant Howard B. Lee - Engineer/Top Turret Gunner

Tech Sergeant J.W. Racer - Radio Operator/Gunner

Tech Sergeant James DeBoer - Right Waist Gunner

Staff Sergeant John Flynn - Left Waist Gunner

Staff Sergeant William M. Crowley - Tail Gunner

Norm Kiefer's report also says: "Ten 506th ships joined 26 other aircraft from the 44th. The Group flew lead for the 14th Combat Wing and 2nd Air Division. Bombing results were excellent"

Raymond G. Kuecker

From an article in the 492nd BG Website:

"The Kuecker Replacement Crew R-07 arrived at North Pickenham on 27 May 44. They came in short one crewman. The open spot was filled by S/Sgt Schreiber from the Gossett Crew 708. After going through some in-house training they were assigned to the 857th BS to replace the missing Arnett Crew 717 lost on 19 May 44.

They began flying combat missions on 4 Jun 44. To our knowledge they flew 22 mssions in all for the 492nd. Obviously there were some personnel changes made, reflected by their transfer order on 10 Aug 44 that sent them to the 44th BG"

A footnote - Raymond G. Kuecker survived the war and spent many years in the Show-Me State (Missouri). He died in 2005. Requiescat In Pace.

Hello Robert Jandreau

I got an email a couple of days ago from Robert Jandreau. He's the great nephew of Rudolph Jandreau - the Engineer/top turret gunner of the the Insley crew. George Insley and his crew (including Rudolph Jandreau) flew "Joplin Jalopy" on the August 30 1944 mission to Haute-Maisnil in France.

This is what I have on that mission, which is not much. All additions are welcome!

George R. Insley Captain Pilot
Frank J. Adams 1st Lieutenant Co-Pilot
Milton S. Feinstein 1st Lieutenant Navigator
Albert E. McCloud 1st Lieutenant Bombardier
Paul R. Kittle Tech Sergeant Radio Operator/Gunner
Rudolph R. Jandreau Tech Sergeant Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
Allan S. Deutsch Staff Sergeant Nose Gunner/Togglier
Frank B. Bata Staff Sergeant Right Waist Gunner
John S. Young Staff Sergeant Left Waist Gunner
Charles C. Peters Staff Sergeant Unknown
George Federlin Staff Sergeant Tail Gunner


UMS 8/30/44 A small formation of 44th ships - 10 aircraft plus the PFF lead by Capt. Earleywine and Deputy lead by Lt. Smith - attacked Haute Maisnil, France, a Military Installation. The target was bombed via PFF and with unobserved results. Meager inaccurate flak was the only resistance encountered and our losses were nil.

Pleased to meet you, Robert.

Three years and counting...

On 17 January 2006 I started this blog. At the time I'd just finished a contract and was looking around for a new gig (as they say) and the rest is history.

Nine months after starting I got a new gig and what a ride that's been. I ought to put a plug in for the Day Job - I wasn't then, but I am now IT Director at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology in Kansas City, Missouri. Maybe I've said that already in an earlier post. It's the kind of job that takes a LOT of time and means that on several days I'm so sick of the sight of computers that the last thing I want to do is turn my own machine on when I get home. However it has its benefits and at least I am still working. I have much to be thankful for - I have definitely said that before fairly recently.

So here we are, three years after starting this blog. What a time I've had. I've met some wonderful people and heard some stories which make me certain that the story of the 'Jalopy' needs to be told for a variety of reasons. There are always new items that can be added and I hope that I can do the subject matter justice when the time comes to get it all written up. I think it's fair to say that now I know a lot more about the story I've realized just how much I don't know. But here's to th enext three years.

December Surprise

I received an email today from author Nick Veronico, who is researching surplus B-24s and their use as memorials and teaching tools. Other history buffs will no doubt recognize Nick's name and anyone with a smidgin of librarian training will be running to WorldCat to see what he's written - and he has several titles to his credit. I checked and I have at least one of his titles on my shelves and have read him several times in FlyPast. I see on Amazon.com that B-52 Stratofortress at War is due out in June 2009 and is available for pre-order.

Anyway I'm pleased to say we have made contact and I look forward to exchanging information.

The Passing of a Veteran

A brief note to mark the passing of a Veteran who was special to me - My Dad. Roy Smith (1922-2008), RAF fighter pilot in training who was waiting to be shipped out for the push back into Burma and the invasion of Japan when the war ended. Fortunately he returned to England and met a woman whom he married and who became my Mother. Mum passed away in 2005. My sister and I miss them. My beloved sister has had her share of personal tragedy having lost her husband (my Brother-in-Law John - a great bloke) at the end of 2007.

I'm going to be off - line for a few days while I go and attend to family business but the email account will remain open as always.

I'm looking forward to doing more 'Jalopy' blogging in 2009. In the meantime - we look back and remember with thanks all the veterans like my Dad who stepped up and did something because it was the right thing to do.

So we start bidding farewell to 2008

My apologies to the readership for the stalled condition of the blog again. It's that time of year where the Day Job has been intruding. I don't know if my friend Phil O'Hare in Joplin reads this blog but I'd like to apologize specifically to him for failing to provide him with some interview questions for an interview he's still willing to do for me. Maybe I should post them here and now!

Anyone from the Joplin area reading this blog who can remember or has information on any of the following

1. What Joplin was like in World War II?
2. What the War Bond Drives were like?
3. How many and if possible what airplanes were named for Joplin at that time? (I can think of three but apparently there were more)
4. Any memories of "Joplin Jalopy" returning to Joplin in August 1946
5. Do you remember Frank C. Wallower Jr. (1907-1966) who was the Jalopy's last Pilot - in that he flew the plane from Altus, OK to Joplin as a member of the Joplin Civil Air Patrol

is more than welcome to drop me a line at the address somewhere in the upper right portion of the blog (it's not a link - this is a spam prevention measure) and let me know - I'd be happy to talk to you.

Media Coverage of "Sentimental Journey" in Joplin

The local media covered "Sentimental Journey" and its visit to Joplin.
This is one of John Hacker's pictures of "Sentimental Journey" over Joplin. Kudos and thanks to the Carthage Press for making their content available under a Creative Commons license.

Here's John Hacker's Story about "Sentimental Journey" in the Carthage Press
http://www.carthagepress.com/homepage/x256657242

Taking a Sentimental Journey

Question - you're a certified airplane nut and you receive information that a beautifully restored B-17 is going to be within 5 miles of your current location - what do you do?

Well, yes - naturally I went to the airport this afternoon to see if "Sentimental Journey" had arrived. It had. It was a beautiful day - although a little on the warm side (91 degrees is a little warm) but she just looked gorgeous.


More Information about "Sentimental Journey" is available from the Website of the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force

It was a very weird feeling walking through the old terminal building at Joplin Regional Airport now minus all the TSA security stuff, and to walk straight out onto the tarmac and look at this big beautiful hunk of aluminum gleaming in the sunlight. It was also unnerving that there were only a few people there - look at the picture. I was anticipating lines a mile long to get a tour of the ship.

We noticed as we left there was a corporate cruiser (private jet) parked in front of the old terminal too, and the crew from that were just walking back to the B-17 to have a look.

Susan took some pretty terrific pictures which are in her flickr photostream (and yes, she has given me permission to use them).

The bloke in the blue shirt on the left of the picture has some significance. Clue - It's not me.

Hacker and Smith

And who should I find looking over the plane, asking questions and generally acting like a top newshound? the bloke in the blue shirt, John Hacker - that's who. I'm glad he still looks something like one of his editorial pictures in Joplin Daily. :-)

Anyway we exchanged a few friendly words and agreed to keep in touch. Here's the proof that we met. He's a nice guy, is John. I expect all kinds of loonies walk up to him and say "You're John Hacker, I'm [insert name here] " and he still manages to sound like he knows who you are and he's been thinking about you. He certainly did that with me. :-) I will keep a look-out for the Carthage Press article which should be out in the next couple of days.

John Hacker writes again...

My reader of long-standing will remember John Hacker of the Joplin Daily, which ceased a while back. They covered the anniversary story back in August 2006.

Well, John's now working for The Carthage Press and he happened to write an article, which caught my eye and confirmed something one of our friends mentioned on Sunday.

Flying Museum to visit Joplin Regional Airport

"Sentimental Journey" came to Joplin today (and may stay for a couple of days, depending on the state of Hurricane Gustav's remnants) to publicize the opening of the new terminal at Joplin Airport.

Looking through some of the other press reports and remembering what Chris Wiseman from the Museum Complex said to me, it looks as if at least one picture of "Joplin Jalopy" will be displayed in the airport. I look forward to seeing this.

Karma, Kismet and probably something else that begins with "K"

I don't expect to find two Jalopy developments in 24 hours. But there I was riffling through the posts on AAF.com when I saw a reference to an Album on Ebay and a note that it included a reference to the 44th Bomb Group. Time to open a new browser tab.

It gets better. The album appears to be the operational record of someone who flew 30 missions of his ETO tour with none other than Lt John Titter. And of course my trembling scroll-mouse finger took me down to August 1944 and there are two missions mentioned as having been flown in #535 "-C" (as she would have been then). Also shown are the strike / target photos of La Perth and Saarbrucken. There is no mention of the flak damage the "Jalopy" took on August 9th 1944 but I wouldn't expect that. This in itself is all pretty staggering.

The album contains a few items of general interest, including some shots of Shipdham and London, and various B-24s in the 44th BG. There are a couple of picture of 506th BS B-24s whose individual aircraft letters look tantalizingly like "O" - but there's not enough detail.

Sadly I don't think my $350 or however much it ends up costing will be winging its way to Italy, where the item seems to be located. But it's nice to have seen it.

Trip to Joplin

On Thursday night I received an e-mail from Joplin (good start!) from Chris Wiseman, who is the curator of the Joplin Museum Complex (even better!) making contact with some general enquiries about the "Jalopy". He says he's thinking about an exhibit centered on the Jalopy some time next year.

I can report that this morning I paid Chris a visit at the museum complex and we spent a couple of hours chatting about the Jalopy and its sojourn in Joplin. We talked about some of the local personalities who have been in touch with me and fortunately Chris has kept track of some of them.

I was fortunate enough to look at a couple (three or four) of the Murwin Mosler collection negatives of the Jalopy's arrival in August 1946 which are hitherto (and actually still) unpublished. There may be even more as John Hacker's 2006 interview with Brad Belk (Executive Director of the Complex) indicated - and time (and the JMC's effort) may reveal them. Chris mentioned that the museum is employing an intern to catalog the Mosler archive, which will be something of a massive task as there are 100,000 images in the collection from Mosler's 60-year career in photography.

There are a couple of views of the starboard side of the plane which showed some details I was expecting, namely that the squadron code letters and the AAF serial number are still there - the black group stripe at the top of the starboard vertical stabiliser shows very definite sings of abrasion. There are also some interestingly bright spots around the rudder pintles which may be an indication of some preparatory work before the plane was flown to Joplin. I don't really know. The picture also confirmed that the 'star and bar' national markings had been stripped off the skin and wings. This was also the case with "Thunbderbird" when it was flown from Altus to Flandreau, SD.

One detail which I must have looked at several times in other pictures and which jumped out at me today was the individual aircraft letter painted on the nose just underneath the nose turret. On looking at the Mosler picture closely the letter is very clearly a "C" not an "O" - so when the aircraft letter was changed from "bar-C" to "bar-O" in October 1944 someone simply didn't alter the letter on the nose. Of course it's possible that there was some degree of abrasion or damage, but I think it's more likely that someone forgot, or no-one bothered to change the letter.

Anyway, just at the point when I was feeling the effects of the Day Job again, Chris managed to revive my interest in the project and has given it, and me, a considerable boost. I was glad I was able to supply him with one or two details (crew operation and target spreadsheet, for example) and lay the 63 mission myth to rest.

We talked about some of the people we know around Joplin and how maybe making a small push once again might shake a few memories loose. I'm all in favor.

Thanks again Chris.

"Jalopy" in the Joplin Globe

Joplin, Missouri is celebrating its 135th Anniversary, having been founded in 1873

Apparently there was a mention of the "Jalopy" in the Joplin Globe today. I couldn't see it in the online version but I am assured there was some kind of side-bar quiz, one of the questions being how many missions did she fly. And it also seems the answer as given was 63. Apparently no-one read Andy Ostmeyer's 2006 article.