P-47N "2 Big and too Heavy/Short Shorter", 333rd FS/318st FG

[Frank Olynyk]

The information on your father was useful, and quickly went into my database. I was traveling at the beginning of the month, and am still catching up with things.

Well, I tried to post a description of short snorter bills, and challenge coins, but Internet Explorer froze. Rather than repeat all of it, I would just suggest googling on "short snorter" and "challenge coin". I know there are a lot of websites that make and sell challenge coins.

Frank.

[wduerschmidt]

Some more information on 2 BIG and too HEAVY. I was recently contacted by a person that had done extensive research on the decals. He had been trying to contact my father since around 1993 or so but to no avail. We recently got in contact with each other and he mentioned that the name for the plane may have come from the fact that my father was a stocky individual and some of the other members of the squadron used to kid him that he was to big to fly those fighters. There may be some truth to that as I can recall from my childhood that my mother had mentioned something along those lines. There may even be a photo of the ground crew trying to "pry" him out of the cockpit with 2 X 4's after he had returned from a mission. Another explanation may be that on these VLR (very long range) missions of 7 - 9 hours that the pilots were so cramped up by the time they got back that they needed to be helped out of the cockpits by the ground crews. If I come across any more information along those lines, I will post it here. Later.

[wduerschmidt]

A follow up on the 318th Fighter Group that Wayne Duerschmidt was with for about 2 1/2 years and flew 2 Big and Too Heavy. I was recently contacted by an individual that makes DVD's of various WW 2 outfits. He just completed one on the 318th Fighter Group and has done many more on other outfits. He uses film footage taken during the war and edits it to make a DVD that chronicles that outfits war history. I purchased the one on the 318th and found it very informative. He has a web-site at:
www.victoryfilms.us You can check out his web-site to see if there is anything there of interest to you and can contact him from there. Definitely worth the look.