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  #21  
Old 10th August 2017, 07:06
Col Bruggy Col Bruggy is online now
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Frank,

Firstly, might I take the the opportunity to thank you for signing and dedicating my copy of 5: USAAF ETO whilst you were in Melbourne a few years ago (attending a Sci-Fi convention, I believe). When I returned to Hyland's Bookshop to pick up the book you had already left - so, a belated Thank You!

I, and quite a few others, would be quite prepared to take up a subscription, with partial pre-payment, to assist in production costs for any reprints.
With firm orders, it might just shorten the wait time.

Col.
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  #22  
Old 12th August 2017, 22:57
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Good evening,

I nearly finished working through the cool OSPREY volume "Wildcat Aces of World War 1" from which I learned that the Wildcat produced more Medal of Honor recipients (8) than any other single-engined plane of the US forces. Does that mean some multi-engined plane produced more ? The B-17 ? The P-38 ?

Have a nice Sunday,

Michael
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  #23  
Old 13th August 2017, 04:51
PMoz99 PMoz99 is offline
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Thanks for that tidbit Michael.

I only had 7 in my lists, so I checked the book and followed up - the eighth is Henry T Elrod who was not an ace and whose fighting time spanned only 12 days on Wake Island. He shot down 2 a/c, sunk a destroyer (his bombs hit the depth charges), carried out strafing attacks, and when all the squadron's a/c on the island were destroyed, he organised the ground defences, repulsing repeated enemy attacks. He was mortally wounded while protecting his men who were getting ammo for a gun emplacement.

Not detracting in any way from his courageous and exceptional acts, this one is possibly more appropriately characterised as a MO recipient who also flew the F4F.

Cheers
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  #24  
Old 13th August 2017, 23:03
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Good evening Peter,

and did any multi-engined type produce more Medal of Honor recipients ?

Cheers,

Michael
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  #25  
Old 14th August 2017, 02:53
PMoz99 PMoz99 is offline
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Haven't got that far yet Michael. I went through the MO recipients' list only a couple of weeks ago and noticed quite a few bomber crews, but I wasn't focussing on them at the time so didn't take notes. Maybe one of my next projects. It's a long list, though, and if they were Marine Corps or Navy it doesn't tell you if they were ground or air forces. I would think the majority would be in the Army Air Force.
Best I can do at the moment is Bong and McGuire in P-38s.
Cheers
Peter
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  #26  
Old 14th August 2017, 14:53
PMoz99 PMoz99 is offline
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

You got me going on this so I had a quick look through the list, focusing on Army Air Force - the result is not surprising. I hope I didn't miss any.

B-17 - 16
B-24 - 9

5 MoHs were given to B-24 crew after the Ploesti raid. 2 were given to 2 members of the crew of the same B-17 in the same mission.

Many of the feats were quite amazing, but check out John C Morgan, co-pilot of a B-17F - a cut and paste from Wiki -

Morgan's experience began as his group formation neared the German coast. The B-17, nicknamed Ruthie II, was attacked by a large number of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters and had part of its oxygen system to the gunners' positions in the rear of the aircraft knocked out. The first burst of fire also smashed the cockpit's windshield, damaged the interphone, and split open the skull of pilot Lt. Robert Campbell. The pilot's upper body slumped over his control wheel, causing it to start out of control. F/O Morgan seized the controls on his side and by sheer strength pulled the plane back into formation.

The disabled pilot continued to try to wrest the controls away from Morgan and smashed at the co-pilot with his fists, knocking some teeth loose and blackening both his eyes. Meanwhile, the top turret gunner was also seriously injured when a 20 mm shell tore off his left arm at the shoulder. He fell out of the turret position, and was found by the navigator bleeding to death. The navigator bailed the gunner out of the aircraft in a successful effort to save his life.

Unknown to Morgan, the waist, tail and radio gunners became unconscious from lack of oxygen and were threatened with death by anoxia. Morgan, unable to call for assistance because of the damaged interphone, had to decide whether to turn back immediately or try to fly all the way to the target and back within the protection of the formation. He also had to decide whether or not to subject Campbell to anoxia by cutting off his oxygen to disable him. In spite of wild efforts by the fatally wounded pilot to seize the controls, Morgan chose to complete the mission and not cut off his pilot's oxygen supply.

For two hours he held position in the formation - flying with one hand, fighting off the pilot with the other. At length the navigator entered the flight deck and relieved the situation. The navigator and bombardier secured the dying pilot in the nose compartment of the airplane. F/O Morgan's B-17 reached the target at Hanover and successfully dropped its bombs. With all his fuel gauges reading empty, Morgan landed the bomber at RAF Foulsham. Lt. Campbell died an hour and half later, and the five surviving gunners recovered from various degrees of frostbite. The B-17 was declared damaged beyond economical repair and never flew again.

Talk about total chaos.

Cheers
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  #27  
Old 14th August 2017, 20:38
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Wow, that's just like a horror movie...
Thanks for checking and posting.

As a mothertongue speaker, can you tell me what Martlet means ?
I cannot find the word in any English dictionary.

Michael
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  #28  
Old 14th August 2017, 22:48
kaki3152 kaki3152 is online now
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

A mythical bird, usually portrayed without legs
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  #29  
Old 15th August 2017, 13:31
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Good morning,

I found it at wikipedia: Merlette, a German word that was unknown to me before.

Kind regards,

Michael
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  #30  
Old 12th April 2023, 10:33
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Re: Wildcat (Grumman F4F/General Motors FM-1) victories

Quote:
Originally Posted by PMoz99 View Post
You got me going on this so I had a quick look through the list, focusing on Army Air Force - the result is not surprising. I hope I didn't miss any.

B-17 - 16
B-24 - 9

5 MoHs were given to B-24 crew after the Ploesti raid. 2 were given to 2 members of the crew of the same B-17 in the same mission.
In 2019 Mr Tillman showed me a breakdown of aircraft whose aircrew received lots of Medals of Honor:

B-17 17
B-24/PB4Y 9
Hueys 9 or 10
F4F 8
F4U 4
DH-4 4
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