Historical flight challenge

Arguably the finest fighter aircraft of World War II.
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joe bob
Senior Airman
Posts: 167
Joined: 25 Oct 2010, 15:28

Historical flight challenge

Post by joe bob »

I was reading Norman "Bud" Fortier's account of his war time experiences flying P-47s and P-51s with the 355th FG from Steeple Morden.
One flight in January of 1945 caught my eye as a flight simulator challenge.
Bud was wingman on a flight of two with Lee "Mendy" Mendenhall in the lead.
They were to fly a top secret "Hand Delivered Only" document from England to General Eaker's Headquarters in Naples Italy.
This was an administrative flight since the fighting had moved on to Germany by this time.
As usual the weather in Europe made things much more difficult than it should have been.

They took off with full internal fuel and 2x 108 gallon external tanks.
Over Paris Mendy's fuselage tank develops a leak, soaking him in fuel.
Despite the time honored tradition of mechanical trouble over cities with good nightlife, the emergency is real and they spend the night at Orly airfield in Paris.
The next day the drop tanks have been removed since the compressed paper was not meant to hold fuel for any length of time. Mendy's fuselage tank is not repaired just drained.

After a long delay for bad weather they set course for Naples the next afternoon, but as they cross the coast into the Med Mendy says he doesn't think he can quite make Naples and starts calling for a steer to Cannes or Nice because of the Wx. Bud has the extra 85 Gallons in the fuselage tank but he doesn't have the package.
Unable to raise anyone on the radio for a steer to Cannes, they get a Frenchman who guides them to Bastia Airbase in Northern Corsica. Because of the late start, it is night by the time they get fuel so they spend the night there. The next day they deliver the package, which as it turns out is 5 days late by the time it gets there. A duplicate of the document beat them there by courier.

After an A## chewing and a tour of the sights in Naples, they depart for England via Paris. Since there are many surplus pilots at this stage of the war they think they can be spared for legitimate night stopover in Paris.
Not to be though, Mendy decides to stay under the weather and as the ceiling lowers, so do they. They end up dodging mountains in the Alps which burns up their fuel.
With the horrible weather Mendy ends up making a belly landing in Southern France and Bud diverts for a radar guided approach to a 9th Air Force temporary PSP airstrip in Northern France.
Quite a ride for an Admin hop!

One thing that Mr Fortier's book really drives home is the number of casualties due to non combat causes.
Not only weather but things like problems with the oxygen system, mid air collisions and the like killed many more men that you might think.

Another interesting thing I had never thought about, since long distance high altitude flights were not the norm before this, the jet stream was something new to them and early on they lost several P-47s due to fuel starvation and had the rest of the Group staggering back to divert fields due to this misunderstood element.
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robert41
Senior Master Sergeant
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Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 20:42
Location: WI USA

Re: Historical flight challenge

Post by robert41 »

Good piece of history. There were many non combat accidents/incidents that we never hear about.

ruccsito
Airman Basic
Posts: 1
Joined: 25 May 2015, 17:12

Re: Historical flight challenge

Post by ruccsito »

Hi!

I wanted to ask you, what book is that? I've been looking for a nice historical book of wwii aviation, so I could use your recommendation.

Thanks!

joe bob
Senior Airman
Posts: 167
Joined: 25 Oct 2010, 15:28

Re: Historical flight challenge

Post by joe bob »

It is An Ace of the Eighth by Norman "Bud" Fortier.

He is an ace and did become one of the Groups veteran pilots but he was not a "big wheel" in the theater which is one thing I like about the book.
I think you get an idea of the average experience of a pilot who goes from cadet to a major at 23.

My favorite scene from the book is when one of his squadron mates has a stuck mic on an escort mission.
It was the pilot in questions habit to carry on his inner monologue out loud to himself.
So over the radio every one is hearing him say stuff like "I hope the bombers know where we are at because I have no idea."
When one of other pilots pulls up beside him to try and let him know he is blocking the freq, all they get is "I wonder what his #### problem is, what does he think he is doing"
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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Historical flight challenge

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing. Its interesting some of the stories like this that have come out after the war. And perhaps not too surprising given the amount of young kids given charge of some pretty awesome kit!

thanks,
Lewis
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