Clik here to view.
1st Lt. Rex Wilkinson bombed Ploiesti oil refineries and almost lost his B-24...
1st Lt. Rex Wilkinson flew a shiny, silver B-24 “Liberator” bomber he named “Alberta K,” for his wife, from a base at Stornara, Italy on 51 combat missions in 1944 as part of the 745th Squadron, 456...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lt. Bruno Virgili and Lulubelle Gaehner got ‘hitched’ before he flew off to...
Before flying off to war in North African in the spring of 1942 during World War II, Bruno Virgili married Lulubelle Gaehner. It wasn’t easy. He was a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps stationed in Long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arcadia flying-bomb basis for WW II German ‘Buzz Bomb’
The devastating German V-1 rockets that rained terror and death down on the inhabitants of London in World War II, during the ‘Blitz,’ had their birth in Arcadia, Fla. An old black and white picture...
View ArticleClik here to view.
B-17 pilot Ernest Erickson wrote about a bombing raid on Berlin during WW II
Ernest Erickson flew a “Flying Fortress,” four-engine bomber dubbed “Lili of the Lamplight,” from a base near Ipswich, England on 35 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe in 1943 and ’44 during...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old note brings former airman and Englishman together again
More than 60 years after a former B-17 bomber mechanic wrote a goodbye note to a 9-year-old English boy during a going-away party for Americans near the close of World War II, the two wore once again...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pvt. Sherfick used his 1903 Springfield to shoot at Pearl Harbor attackers
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, Pvt. Stan Sherfick of Punta Gorda, Fla. was playing catch with a buddy at Haleiwa Field on the north side of Oahu Island, where...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sgt. Buster Yates stopped Nazi spy ring during World War II
Retired Staff Sgt. Buster Yates decided to volunteer for the U.S. Army Air Corps before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, launching the United States into World War II. “I was playing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Former B-17 pilot recalls dangerous missions near end of WWII – Combat flight...
By the time Capt. Bill Haase reached England and the 8th Air Force during the last half of World War II, he was an experienced aviator with 15 months under his belt flying new bombardiers on practice...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Elbert Bishop and crew of ‘Betty-J’ watched mushroom cloud rise over Nagasaki
It was their last mission aboard “Betty-J,” a B-24 four-engine bomber named for the pilot, Jack Bates’ wife, that Elbert Bishop of Paradise Park, east of Punta Gorda, remembers most. The crew was part...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sgt. Dick Samuelson of Tangerine Woods kept B-24s flying over Germany
Dick Samuelson of Tangerine Woods in Englewood, Fla. admits “I was no big war hero.” He joined the Army Air Corps during the last 18 months of World War II after graduating from high school in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fred Davis of Englewood served in Europe during WW II and 2 tours in Vietnam
Fred Davis of Englewood, Fal. graduated from high school in 1942 and immediately signed up for the Army Air Corps during the middle of World War II. “I went in the Army Air Corp and never took basic. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tuskegee Airman tells his tale – Dr. Yenwith Whitney flew 34 missions over...
World War II was the most segregated war the United States ever fought, according Dr. Yenwith Whitney, a former Tuskegee Airman from Sarasota, Fla. “Many commanders didn’t want blacks doing anything...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Capt. Stanley Ackerman led “Marauder” bombers on mission to destroy Po River...
The target: A major bridge over the Po River near Pavia in northern Italy used by the Germans in World War II to move men and equipment south to the front line. The mission: 50 B-26 “Marauder,”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Three WWII warriors return to China for memorial dedicationin in CBI Theatre
Time changes all things, three World War II soldiers learned when they revisited China with their wives last month. [May 2000] The senior warriors from Charlotte County, Fla. were part of a group of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lt. Floyd Coffield bombed German oil refineries at Ploesti during World War II
Floyd Coffield underwent his baptism of fire on a bombing raid over Ploesti, Romania, flying a B-24 “Liberator” four-engine bomber on May 18, 1944. Some 600 B-24s and B-17 “Flying Fortresses” bombed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sgt. John Adams kept secret electronics going aboard B-24 for Office of...
Sgt. John Adams had a top secret security clearance in the Army Air Corps because he worked for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was in charge of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shot down over Germany – Ed Dostie of Englewood survived 690 days, mostly in...
He was on his fourth mission over Germany in a B-17 bomber called “Sky Wolf” when his luck ran out. It was June 13, 1943, their target: the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven, a major North Sea port. Ed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young aviation cadet writes to mom from Arcadia, Fla. in 1918 near end of WW I
I was recently given copies of 14 letters from a young flying cadet named “Clarence” taking “Pursuit Training” at Carlstrom Field, just south of Arcadia, Fla. in the fall of 1918. He sent the letters...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Guinea cannibals eye Air Corps Sgt. Francis Drab for Sunday dinner
Sgt. Francis Drab of Venice, Fla. was a member of the 5th Air Force stationed in the Pacific during World War II. He has a war story that almost rivals James Mitchner’s “Tales of the South Pacific.”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cliff Hill recalls ‘Rebel Devil’ was a miracle fighter plane
Clifford Hill, a former resident of Englewood, who now lives in Venice, Fla, flew a P-47 Thunderbolt and later a P-51 Mustang fighter plane in Europe during World War II. He was a member of the 318th...
View Article
