|
Allied and Soviet Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the Air Forces of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Guys:
I recall from reading something as a child (we're talking probably OVER 35 years ago) a couple of unusual events that took place: A in a badly battered bomb group one of the crewmen was reading a magazine & came across a propaganda ad, showing a smiling, confident air gunner blazing away merrily at a swarm of German fighters with the quote on the ad: 'So, who's afraid of the Big Bad Wulf(as in Focke Wulf, of course)"; he was so upset by this he tore off the ad & took it around his group and EVERY flying member signed a note saying, in big bold capital letters: "WE ARE!!" and they sent it back to the magazine company; Another: New gunner in a 'heavy'; his first time in combat he see German fighters closing on them & he calls out something like 'fighters coming in fast!'--rather excitedly of course & he forgets to use the 'clock position' giving the direction they're coming from; the pilot asks, "what time?" & the gunner replies "NOW!!" SO....does anyone know the 'source' of these stories? It's definitely not part of my more modern reading material & I never found it in any of books by Roger Freeman; TIA NickM |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Interesting ... I too remember reading that first story back in my school days in the 60s. I checked the books I have from then but couldn't find it any of them. I'll check around some more and let you know what I find ...
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Quote:
NickM |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Funny, he is one I was going to check - there is an old copy of "Black Thursday" (which I read in high school) at my mom's house that I am going to look at today. I also read a book called "Air War Against Hitler's Germany" back then, and I'm going to check that too.
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Some may have also come from Caidin's book, "Flying Fortress". Although many of us cut our teeth on his early works, he is now pretty thoroughly discredited. Too bad, because as a writer, he was good: just a lousy researcher and placed good stories over truth for the sake of selling books.
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
I wasn't able to see the books today, but plan to next weekend - I'll let you know if I find anything. I read Caidin's Flying Forts about 10 years ago, but I recall the Big Bad Wulf story from my youth; I'll scan through FF to see if he mentioned it there too.
|
#7
|
||||
|
||||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
True or not these stories are funny and emphasize the atmosphere of the days. After all, they might have happened.
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
I was finally able to track down one version of the “Big Bad Wulf” story: Martin Caidin’s Black Thursday, copyright 1960, Ballantine Books paperback edition, (cover painting shows a wounded crewmember being carried away from a B-17 on a stretcher; weird pumpkin-color sky background), no source cited; pp 76 - 77:
“During the height of the period of disastrous missions over the Reich, an American aircraft firm, following the policy that Americans are better than anybody else, sponsored probably the most ill-received advertisement of the war. The advertisement was full page, and it showed a grinning gunner peering through the sights of a .50-caliber machine gun as he poured tracers into a swarm of Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters. Beneath the heroic painting was the caption: 'Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wulf?' One pilot who saw the page immediately tore it from the magazine and pinned it to his group’s bulletin board. Beneath the page went a long scroll of paper with a red-ink headline that shouted: “WE ARE!” Every combat officer in the group signed the scroll, and the group commander’s name was at the top of the list. They mailed it to the manufacturer with their blessings.” |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Ah...so it WAS Martin Caidin...I'd sworn him off decades ago...no wonder I never saw that quote again!
NickM |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
Re: Source of some 'apocryphal' 8th AF stories..
Nick - the quote and incident of signing was real Re "Who's afraid of the Fock Wulf"
Tex McCrary wrote about it in First of the Many published in 1944. He didn't name the group because of wartime censorship but he spent a lot of time around the 91st, 94th, the 305th and 100th BG so the probabbility is high(er) that he picked it up in one of those groups.. it preceeded Caiden by a looooooong time. If you have not read this one - I HIGHLY recommend it as a penetrating insight/human interest stories about the 8th in the early to late 1943 timeframe Regards, Bill |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
What was an ATF in 8th Air Force in 1944? | Larry | Allied and Soviet Air Forces | 5 | 5th May 2007 17:31 |
Bf109G-3 List | batura | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 12 | 1st March 2007 23:33 |
KG and SchG pilot Stories in Eastern Front | Stormovik | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 2 | 16th February 2006 14:19 |
October 8th, 1943 - Attack on Bremen | Jochen Prien | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 4 | 20th July 2005 22:52 |
8th AAF Transport Groups | Alex Smart | Allied and Soviet Air Forces | 2 | 23rd April 2005 02:11 |