Never seen before in public - 8mm WW2 footage of the 325th Fighter Group
 

Never seen before in public - 8mm WW2 footage of the 325th Fighter Group

The following footage was filmed by Flight Surgeon Lt. Col. Morris Grayson, MD, who served with the 325th Fighter Group
"The Checkertail Clan" during WW2.

The film was last viewed at some point before 1971 by his friends and family and soon after they were placed in a drawer at the family home and lay there, undisturbed, effectively forgotten.

Morris Grayson passed away in 1971.

In 2015 his son Fred Grayson found the films and then transferred the footage to video and sent it to me to use if required for the third and final part of my Checkertails films, which I subsequently did.

Where the footage is over-exposed I have done my best to recover any detail that may exist and so apologies in advance if the following video isn't perfect for everyone watching it.

The first few clips are the only known footage that survives from their time in North Africa where they flew P-40's

I have put the video into sections starting with footage captured on and around the bases and finishing with footage captured in various locations where Morris took his camera during
his time away from the base.

Sadly there is no documentation with the footage and as such most of the individuals and events shown are unknown, as are the locations where they were filmed.

For the first time since 1971 this film is now available to view , this time not just by close friends but all who wish to view it.

This is "The Lost Film of the Checkertail Clan"

https://youtu.be/RJ5LzU1zF3g

Re: Never seen before in public - 8mm WW2 footage of the 325th Fighter Group
 

Thanks for that, it's a very interesting film.

Despite the absence of documentation, at least some scenes can be located. There's a Luftwaffe graveyard at 36:30 with an Hs 129, a Ju 88 and numerous Ju 52 (El Aouina, Tunisia). I guess that most of the scenes with palm trees will be Tunisia as well. In addition there's footage of the eruption of Vesuvius (March 1944), the Vittorio Emanuele monument in Rome (June 1944 or later) and a parade in Paris as well as the Place de la Concorde (August 1944 or later).

Re: Never seen before in public - 8mm WW2 footage of the 325th Fighter Group
 

Thanks very much for this footage .Indeed some of it covers Tunisia and some at Lesina whereby Gen.Strother and Gen.Twining can be seen . I did id two pilots ...rest unknown

BR
Alex K

The Lost images of Ross A. Taylor Crew Chief and Photographer of the Checkertail Clan
 

The Lost images of Ross A. Taylor Crew Chief and Photographer with the Checkertail Clan - a film he made with some of them

Sadly no-one knows where the family of Ross A. Taylor is now but somewhere out there is a huge archive of Checkertail images and negatives waiting to be discovered. Ross was last known to reside at 222 Joyce Road, Scott Depot, WV 25530 but since he passed away there is no known location of his family or wife Mary Lou.

He created this footage with just a small selection of the images he had, I hope one day that the family will be found and
maybe the archive made available for everyone to share the history of "The Checkertail Clan"

Very much appreciate any help in finding his family and maybe the lost archive of images.

Cheers, Neil

https://youtu.be/wC63hKF_NkM

Re: Never seen before in public - 8mm WW2 footage of the 325th Fighter Group
 

Here is the rest of the footage I have been able to gather in the last 10-years of researching the 325th FG. A lot of this has never been seen before, much of it from the P-47 era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM40...=youtu.be&t=1s