Mae West and the 445th Bombardment Group
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มี.ค. 2021
- The self inflated life preserver called the "Mae West" saved countless lives during the Second World War, and continues in service today. A vest sent by a viewer illustrates both the history of the life saving equipment, and the experience of the pilot who owned it.
Special thanks to James Powell.
Dedicated to Robert Powell Jr.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #WWII
"we sent 40 planes out , and got 4 back" .... Damn ... That's sobering .. there's a reason they call them the greatest generation .
More aircrew personell were killed in WW2 than infantry.
cool name. don't leave your laptop laying around for any reason in public now. ;)
@@shawnr771 more merchant marine were killed than any military branch's total--and got no recognition nor survivor benefits for it until decades after their deaths--the US merchant marine and the Liberty class ships literally saved GB and much of EU. sad.
That's actually better than the total overall losses suffered by US bombers in Europe. Was the deadliest job in the war. Everyone knew their odds of survival were zero. But most of them went up and flew anyways. Some were even lucky enough to walk away too. Very few.
@@em1osmurf those boats were death traps. If you sneezed aboard one they'd break in half. Welding was not a mature technology when they were built. They pumped out three boats every two days over the course of the war. Was the greatest manufacturing run in human history.
A big Thank You to James Powell for forwarding this item to THG so that the rest of us could learn its history.
I was just about to type that . Thank you for that and an even Bigger Thank You to J.Powell .
Cheers
I completely agree with this sentiment. This might be my favorite THG I've seen just because of the personal connection that spawned it.
Agreed. It must have been very difficult to give up such a treasure. Words can not express how much I appreciate him for that very kind gesture. Just like I appreciate the History Guy and his family. Stay safe folks.
Robert Powell Jr., thank you for serving our country !!!
Yes mr Powell thank you 🙏
My father was a WW2 pilot who passed away in 2019 at the age of 98. Thank you for bringing up the survivor statistics. He often said he was one of the few lucky ones who saw the end of the war.
My father's liffe was saved by a Mae West when they were shot down near Norway while patroling for U-Boats in 1943. He was rescued by an allied submarine in the area. Dad was the only survivor from his TBF crew that day.
That's incredible! We appreciate your father's service so we can have the nation and freedom we have today. Too often I take it all for granted.
I'll bet he was pilot.
@@stephenjacks8196 Dad was the turret gunner on a TBM/TBF Avenger for 237 missions in the north Atlantic during the Second World War.
@@Georgefforbes54 did they ditch or did they hit the silk?
@@dhardy6654 They ditched .
"I'm not crying, you're crying!"
Dang, that diary quote at the end after all of this, it hits you right there. Other vets understand that all too well.
Ain't it so.
It hit me right in the feels. OIF/OEF vet here.
I believe, that they all were affected psychologically, and were haunted their entire lives. The man that taught me how to fly back in "86," told me what it was like flying an Army Air Corps, Piper L-4, as he searched for enemy armor during the battle of the bulge. The low scud running, (there are hills in them clouds) was scarier than being shot at. He was so low, he came home sporting some small arms fire holes in his bird. R.I.P. Captain Don McCann....
I am a fan and had no idea that my wife's father Robert Powell was in this and that her brother James watched you also.
Watching this episode reminds me of a letter my father write his father at the end of the WWII. He was a tail gunner on a B24. After the end of hostilities his crew took their ground crew on a tour of the sites they had bombed. He went into great detail into the cities and the nature of what was important at each one. They flew at around 300 ft so the guys could get a good look at where their plane had been. One of the best parts to me was them watching lines of people walking on the roads, be said the Germans walked with their heads down, but the "free people"waved at them. If you're interested I'll send you a copy of the letter and some more details of his service, it's pretty interesting
My Dad did the same thing ... the RAF called it a 'Cooks Tour' .. he said the Ruhr was absolutely flattened.
Sir I would love to see that letter. If possible can you send it to me. It would be an honour to have a copy of that letter with me.
(Reply to this comment for my email.)
Also props to the guy who invented the self-inflating life vest for letting royalties go. It was a real team effort.
Definitely a bro’ move right there.
Few people would do that today. These days everyone is out to make a buck first and foremost.
Like Salk didn't patent the Polio vaccine (or put the patent in the public domain).
@@rabbi120348 Would be nice for a lot of folks if our current crop of vaccine makers would do that.
I believe he said he released the patent after it was in use. While still admirable it was released after years of sales to the military. I am just pointing out he was paid, he still deserves our respect.
You definitely have a way of getting a guy choked up early in the morning.
So much dust in here..... yeah dust, that's it
Glad its not just me. Never knew I had dust allergies before.
One of, if not your best, and that is saying a whole lot!
Or late at night.
Or late at night in my case.
I worked offshore for my career, and we travelled to and from the rigs in helicopters. We wore self-inflatable vests on every flight. I wore them for years. Thank goodness I never had cause to use one of them, though there were a couple of close calls. Most, if not all, Safety Rules are written in blood, or even Life.
Thank you for the coverage of this, THG.
I hated flying to the rigs in the late 1970s. Most pilots were Viet Nam vets and took delight in scaring the crap out of the passengers. Taking off from the rig and nose diving towards the water was guaranteed to get a rise out of first time passengers. Ah, the good old days being “Oil Field trash “. I never voluntarily got in a helo after that!
@@bumpsproductions7064 I got that treatment a few times, too. I trusted the Vets with my Freedom, so trusting them to fly me wasn't a problem.
The sobering statistic is that the USAAF lost more men over Europe than the Marines did total in the Pacific. Unimaginable to think about today.
The USAAFs & US Army had more man power then the USMC had even during WWII.
@@stephanieperry1119 And many of them were support troops, while the Marines were mainly combat troops that were logistically supported by the navy.
In Europe we often forget the other front in the Pacific.
The Marines who returned alive after Japan surenderd were also so damn stubern to keep their mouths shut about what horrors they experienced overthere.
Luckily more and more of veteran stories emerge so we can learn from then.
I could argue that a Marine in a foxhole on a Japanese island was comparable to a tail/ballturret gunner on a B17 in German skies.
Confined place, lots of explosions all around you and no way to escape the shelling.
My father would bring that Mae West along on our vacations to Pelee Island in Lake Erie. I got a big kick out of wearing it in the water and working the inflation mechanism. What a kick to see that it’s still around and being cherished. Way to go James. What a great tribute to Lucky. Thank you History Guy. Lt. Powell was called Lucky because in 35 missions, no one EVER bled on his plane, much less got killed. His main plane was called The Count. Once Andy Rooney rode along as a reporter for Stars and Stripes. He was impressed at what a steady hand Lucky was at the controls. In those tight formation, collisions were commonplace. Rooney saw planes drifting unsteadily around him. Lucky kept his plane steady as a rock. His nickname and reputation meant crewmen were always willing to stand in on his plane when a substitute was needed.
His waist gunner would bring along broken appliance like toasters and radios and drop them from the plane over towns. He felt it would confuse German intelligence. Once he was having trouble getting his plane to trim properly. He climbed to the back of the plane to see what was going on. To his horror, the same waist gunner had a big pile of bricks that he was dropping over neighborhoods. He was trying to keep the German citizenry busy fixing their roofs. Lucky told him he had ten seconds to get rid of those bricks!
To James Powell. Thank you for your donation to the history guy and allowing him to share your father's story.
Mae West’s comment about the military was pure class. It was nice to see she didn’t yell out sexism and throw a fit, she embraced the name and was loved my many
It's called being an adult human rather than a petulant childish leftist nutter cultist . . .
Imagine the hostile backlash and lawsuits that would occur today if a piece of equipment were named in honor of a woman's bosom!
She was one classy broad,and I’m sure she would take that as a compliment.
I was at a millitaria show in Chickasha OK yesterday. I touched so many objects with so many stories yesterday. A set of pilot wings with a video of the radio operator talking of his war experience from a B-17 in a veterans's project video. Even bronze age artifacts from Europe. Most of the time you just see artifacts that come out of books, but yesterday was different, as if many of the objects had faces, names, and stories like this. It was real human experience first hand.
It was also of my own family experience as we visited the graves of my two aunts buried nearby who had died of measles from infected clothing of my great grandmother at the ages of one and a half and 3 weeks old. Great grandma had been tending another family with measles. She came home, got out of her clothes, and before she could stop her, found the toddler playing in the infected clothes before she could boil them. The two babies and my grandmother contracted measles. My grandparents could only afford one grave. First, my grandfather had to bury the infant all alone (my grandmother was too sick with measles). Eleven days later, he buried their toddler at the other end of the grave. I noticed that this cemetary was full of children. I surmised that the high attrition rate must have been due to the remoteness of that prairie in the early 20th century and no access to doctors. A very hard life. I think it was this tragedy that provoked my grandparents to leave their little homestead and head to Arizona. Theirs was a very hard life indeed, like so many others.
How awful to lose one's children that way. Give thanks for vaccines.
@@joanhoffman3702 Indeed! The average life expectancy back then was short, not because adults died early but because so many children died young. I've visited many old cemeteries and they're full of the graves of infants and small children.
Thank you to the Greatest Generation. My Grandfather was one of you. He served in the U.S. Army as a MP in World War II.
Wounded in Italy and thus was in England recuperating and did not make D-Day. Finished out the war Stateside taking German POW's to various POW Camps in the U.S.
Being an old paratrooper and an avid history buff is the reason I salute all of my brothers in arm and you history guy.
Add to the history of Mae Wests, a very small footnote: They were also used in the first few decades of SCUBA divers for flotation while at the surface. (I used one in the '70s). They were helpful not only for emergencies, but also simply for those times when you were tired of treading water while wearing all that other gear. They were replaced with the more sophisticated Buoyancy Compensating Devices (BCDs) that were designed for normal use having some air inside while submerged, as well as emergency used being fully inflated at the surface.
"It's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men." -- Mae West. There are slight variations of that.
The inventor who decided not to keep his patent is a hero as well. He might have made big money but decided to be noble. Uncle Sam may have just taken it too, so it may not have been noble, but I'd like to think it was.
During WW2 American manufacturers shared patents and technologies with each other without any profit or royalties with only one goal in mind, to win the war via production and manufacturing.
Thank you for another warm, heartfelt history lesson Lance. You did that man's story a great justice.
It’s amazing how much the Naval survival vest has grown over the years. They now include signal flare gun & flares, space blankets, fishing line & lurers, two small bottles of water, first aid kit, knife, flashlight, radio and hell I don’t remember the rest other than my 9mm with to clips of ammo! But there were a lot of items in my vest but they included two Co2 bottles plus the manual blowup tubes for each side of the bladders if the Co2 failed to inflate your vest.
My greatgrandfater told me about being in the water for days waiting for rescue while sharks were attacking the survivors. You can't be too prepared. I don't know what would have helped more than a faster rescue so the radio is the most valuable.
@@mikehunt6107 -we would carry large black plastic trash bags folded up in our survival suits just for that scenario. You would unfold the bag and slip your body into the bag in the water. It was proven the if you could keep your extremities from being displayed sharks wouldn’t bother you as much. Then there was the thought that you were lunch in a bag.. the sad part is we no longer have long range flying boats to rescue people. Helicopters can’t fly long ranges.
Salute to Robert W. Powell Jr.
Thank you for this bit of history that most certainly deserves to be remembered.
My father was a WWII Vet. and sadly, I know next to nothing of his service. He never spoke of it and when asked, he would respectfully decline any invitation to tell of his experiences . I've been told that he was in the Medical corps and was honorably discharged from the United States Army in 1945, although I have no corroboration for that information. Interestingly, his brother served in the Canadian Army during the war but I know even less about him. History That Deserves to be Remembered and The History Guy gives me some ( admittedly slim) connection to my dad. You tell the stories of other brave men and women who were thrown into an impossible situation, and rose heroically to defend freedom no matter the sacrifice or the cost. My dad's been gone for 39 years now, never having told me a single story of that time. I'm truly sorry for that... I never miss an episode. Many thanks to The History Guy!!
The 445th Bombardment Group was reorganized several times following WW2 and its lineage is currently preserved by the 445th Operations Group, an Air Force Reserve unit flying C-17 heavy airlift aircraft from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
So at this rate the pertanant question has to be...
Where is THG museum going to be located?
And I assume each exhibit will have the corresponding TH-cam video?
I am hoping that we have many years still to go to make those arrangements.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel
Make sure the building is fire and flood protected unlike some previous designs.
@@shawnr771 Well, if there's a flood, at least I know which exhibit I'm going to. 😂
@@cpt.awesome7281 The lifeboat exhibit.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel That just means you have plenty of time to plan.
Seriously, with videos for many of the exhibits, this could be one of the greatest small museums ever!
and so many tales were lost without a telling due to the angry hunger of the war that ate those same men. Thanks for this telling HG and the Powell family
The heated flight suits had wires and were plugged into the bomber’s electricity, but the pajamas probably evened out the heat.
Actually, if your odds of returning are 97%, then 0.97 * 0.97 for 35 times is 0.34. That means about one third of these crews would complete 35 missions.
Another fun fact, the Ford Willow Run factory was turning out a B-24 bomber each hour, so 36 bombers lost would be replaced in a day and a half if Willow Run had been the only B-24 factory.
Some bomber squadrons had a 100% mortality rate. We lose the last of these veterans every day. THG reminds us that these veterans were not just a number. I remain humbled and thankful.
I'm sure many lives were saved by the Mae West Vest.
Surprised they didn't shorten it to Mae Vest.
"Concrete" Charlie Bednarik was a gunner on a B-24 during WWII. He would become a two-way player for the Philadelphia Eagles football team, he played on both offense and defensive squads. He got the nickname "Concrete" from his manner of play in the NFL.
I wore one for the first half of my career as a U.S. Navy aircrew photographer. It was a reassuring piece of equipment that, thankfully, I never had to use.
Powerful story!! Thanks for sharing it with us! I'm a disabled US Army Veteran myself and worked for the VA before I joined in the late 80's. I met some really good men and women while working there as well as a few veterans from several conflicts they served in.. I met a WWI veteran once in my late teens when I took a cigarette break.. After meeting the man and he sharing with me how he survived a gas attack in the trenches, I quit smoking shortly afterward and never touched another in over 35years.. The things we can learn if we just take the time to listen.
As a former member of the RCAF I want to reiterate that Lt W. Powell is a post member of the GREATEST generation to have or EVER will exist.
I struggle daily from my service. I only truly "survive" the darkest days remembering those men and women of this generation doing as I am but with LESS support and achieving greater success.
Thank you Sir!
The U.S. Rubber Company, maker of these vests, is still in business. These days, it's known as Uniroyal.
When I first learned to scuba dive back in 1971, the modern ‘buoyancy compensator’ hadn’t been invented so we used old Mae West life jackets. I still have mine down in the basement. They were - and are - a good piece of gear. Thanks for this walk down memory lane.
My great Grandmother was named Mae West, she was a lively woman who carried a gun in her purse well into her 80's. She was around 21 when WWII began. I love your channel and all the information you share, thank you for bringing history to live on the regular basis.
It's so cool that you know the personal history of that particular "Mae West".
A big thank you to Mr. Powell's father and family, for his service! (They all serve). I am so very sorry for the loss of your precious brother, also. Robert, I am sure, would have loved this. Kudos to THG, for doing a great job on the life preserver, and the late Mae West, and the inventor who gave up his patent. They truly were the greatest generation.
Thank you James Powell for sharing. Salute to your father!
Thank you for another great episode. My father was a B-24 pilot in the 445th, 702nd. He never had to use his “Mae West”. I just watched your episode on the German 88. My father had may run ins with flak to the point where he said there were holes in the plane you could climb out after landing. A testament to the B-24 is that it always brought them back. 👍
Wonderful! Thank you. Though Americans, we lived in the UK for much of the 2010's. My wife and I use to like to take Mondays (my day-off, as a minister) and tour any number of English country villages within an hours drive of our home. On U.S. Memorial Day in 2014 we happened to be visiting Lavenham in Sudbury. While touring the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, though not really focused on the fact that it was Memorial Day in the US, I did notice that there was an American flag hung in the right rear corner of the sanctuary. Interested as to why, I found below the flag a plague; "To the men of the 487th bomb group (H) lost in action 1944-1945." In 185 missions over the course of one year from this one base in Sudbury England this bomb group lost 233 men. It humbled me to know that these men are no forgotten by the people of a small English town whose lives they owe to the selfless sacrifice of those young men.
We will remember those who served and kept us informed. History is the great may west of memory and hopefully of repeating past mistakes.
My father flew B-25 bombers during WWII. He wore a Mae West on many missions. He survived the war - and NEVER talked about it. Thanks, History Guy.
Thank you THG and many thanks to the Powell family. U.S.A.!
Another fine THG example of an item being "history that deserves to be remembered" as it relates to real life and the real people it served. A tip o' the hat to the Powell family. Tonight I will toast Mr. James Powell of the 445th Bombardment Group.
Thank you to the Powell’s especially their father, the pilot, who was indeed part of America’s Greatest Generation!
As a professional trucker, you might find this interesting. The large rounded convex mirrors in front of buses are called 'Dolly Partons.'
My thanks to Robert Powell. ...And to James Powell for thinking to send you this life jacket. I enjoyed the episode.
I wear the modern version of a Mae West while boating and while working underway for the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. Inflatable PFDs are still saving lots of lives.
TH-cam needs better emojiis than just a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down"... this one definitely deserves a "heart".
🥰😍😘. and real heart🫀
I had a a family member named John Ennis who worked on and died in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, and I also had a family member named Walter Ennis who was a English Turkish bath attendant on the RMS Titanic where he died in the sinking
Awesome episode. Many thanks to those who have served, are serving and will serve. God bless you all.
Thank you for this amazing video! Love the channel, my parents and I have been subs since 2018, from Alaska.
To James Powell, thank you for sharing your fathers Mae West and his amazing story, may God bless him and your family, I am the grandson and nephew of three heroes, My paternal Grandpa was a Corpsman in Korea and Vietnam and my mom's step-father was a tanker in Vietnam, my uncle Jake is a EOD tech during Iraqi freedom and prior until he retired in 2012. God bless all you Veterans!
My condolences to Mr.Powell's family, sorry for the loss of your brother. Lord, please be with his family and with all those we have lost. *Sending lots of love to all of you who read this!*
Thank you for the lesson.
Thank you Mr. Powell for your donation and for allowing your family history to be shared.
So much history in one Mae West.
There's only a handful of channels that get an automatic thumbs up. 👍 😎 This is one.
HG: That was a really nice tribute episode. As usual, this is probably the only way you can get me to learn about history. I'm not sure if times have changed and teachers are better at this, but you should give instructions on teaching history. That would make school life so much better. Thanks for another great episode 👍😃
The problem for teaching history in school is that they tend to leave out all the controversial things, which coincidentally is where most of the history happens.
The red flashing light attached to naval life jackets were the idea of the future Admiral Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy. Or so I was taught in Nuclear Power School....
Robert W. Powell, Jr. passed on Pearl Harbor Day's 79th anniversary, December 7, 2020.
So did Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, who passed the same day.
R.I.P.
I don't know how I can get so emotional for someone I've never met in a place I've never been but when you tell the story I get that way every time.
Thank You for documenting these beautiful stories so we all have a chance to get emotional and remember to be grateful for what we have
Thanks! This is where it's the best history: it's tangible. A man's personal involvement and artifact.
Great way to honor one of our Hero’s! Thank for sharing
RIP Robert. We will always be grateful for your service.
Thank you Mr. Powell. Thanks to all of your family.
Such brave aviators!
I own a set of belongings that belonged to one of the pilots that flew as Jimmy Stewart's deputy lead on several missions, William Shank. It was a nice surprise seeing the 445th pop up on my notifications
Excellent, excellent story!
And Mr. Powell, thank you very much for your fathers service and personal sacrifice for all of us and this beautiful country! God bless him and you and thank you for sharing his story and memories with all of us as well! Take care, Frank from Philadelphia, PA.
Thank you, Mr. Robert Powell...and all the other soldiers who selflessly give of themselves in our military!
I’m from near Norwich, England and the amount of times nearby WW2 airbases get mentioned on this channel is crazy. Think there’s a memorial to the 445th bomber group there
I enjoyed hearing specific details on this Mae West along with the general history/knowledge that is standard on your channel. It's neat to have the actual relic accompanying its story. Thank you Powell family!
In the days of round parachutes, a line over malfunction, in which one or more of the suspension lines ends up on top of the canopy and more or less bisects it, was also known as a Mae West, as the canopy then resembled Miss West's figure.
Im very fortunate but also sad that this generation will be the last to know the men and woman who served humanity by doing their part in world war two. I am thankful to have met many veterans of the war and it makes these stories much more real and emotional.
Dad was a wireless op/air gunner in RAF Costal Command flying Liberators out of Northern Ireland.
He said the crews never bothered with dingy drill as it was well known that the Lib wouldn't ditch - weak roller shutter bomb bay doors, big glazed nose, thin Davies wing and a high stall speed.
Very sobeing knowing that to see an entry in his log book
'Attacked U-boat on surface, aircraft damaged, returned to base'.
My dad, though too young for WWII, was also a lover of history. He would have loved this channel
You mentioned the Goldfish Club, in the 90s I was friends with a former Lancaster tail gunner who was a double member of the Silkworm Club. How about a video on these various clubs like the Martin Baker tie club ect.
Wow... forget that this is history And planes which makes for an intersection of my passions and that I enjoy your episodes but this might be the best one yet. Thanx to you and the Powell family for this.
The greatest generation will live on through memories ĺike this. Thank you. Being born in Akron, would love to find out more about the airship. Keep up the good work.
Words fail to express my deep gratitude for the way you shared the history and story. Top notch, and well done History Guy! Also to the Powell family,; Thank you and blessings!
This episode almost brought me to tears
Thank you for the history you bring to life
I often share these with my grandsons
Joe Bartolotta
I absolutely love your work and the history I learn with each video. As I know the information you provide is accurate and well researched I have a topic I would like to see the definitive answer in one of your videos. I've read different things, I've heard it discussed several times myself from other people I served with in the US Navy, and even seen it represented in movies yet have no idea of the real story behind the "Kilroy Was Here" story from WW II. Any possibility of video? I realize it isn't A piece of history you can hold in your hands or display in a case, but as you always say, "It's history that deserves to be remembered". Thanks for all you do.
My father was in the navy once told me that bell bottoms could also be used as a flotation device by tying the pant leg ends and filling them with air.
I always wondered about those unusually styled dungarees.
My unit was often tasked with flying medium-level static line para-drops. The Parachute riggers kept complaining that the ramp was tearing up their gear. I asked my Bn S-4 to come up with something to place on the edges to alleviate the problem. A few days later a pair of pallet totes arrived and they were full to the top with unused 1945 Mfg Mae Wests. DRMO had more but all the Chinook units got wind of this and they were gone by the time we went back for more.
The maintainers riveted cut-up sections to the ramp and no more complaints.
Of course, I 'Liberated' several and still have them. :)
There is another "Mae West" term, used by paratroopers. When the canopy inflates after the paratrooper leaves the aircraft, he inspects it for proper function and canopy inflation. A "Mae West" in those terms, is a partial malfunction where the suspension lines divide the main canopy into two sections, like a gigantic brassiere; the name derives from the full bust of the actress. Technically, the malfunction is known as a "lineover", it increases the descent rate because the canopy isn't fully inflated.
Thank you for telling us this story, and thank young Mr. Powell for sharing the story with you. My dad was quite willing to speak of his experiences in the war because he had no traumatic experience. Therefore, all his stories were of various shenanigans and skirt chasing.
Both my parents and my partners father survived the dangerous world war in Europe in various ways. It was curious to me why they and their generation said so little about it to us. But now I remember again that it was just often too intense and painful to talk about. I'm thinking of all the people like Mr Powell who survived and the people they were remembering who did not. We really have a lot to thank them for. Peace is by far the greatest and most profound gift they gave us, we should value it more.
Special thanks to Robert Powell for the whole not letting the Nazis take over the world thing too.
Absolutely
They kept the Socialists out then; now we have homegrown ones acting the same...
Thank you, good sir. You do us an incalculable service
I recently read Eric Ratcliffe's book 'The Kassel Raid: 27th September 1944', telling the story of the raid by the 445th BG which proved to be so costly in men and aircraft lost. Knew nothing of the raid prior to reading this book, very informative and recommended.
The Mae West was also named for a parachute malfunction by airborne - when a suspension line inadvertently crossed your canopy, it appeared as a huge bra with two cups - hence as such.
Just wish I would of had a history teacher like you
I am always amazed by those men, who fought, and suffered in WW2. They came back and lived quietly as accountants, or engineers, or even plumbers. No fanfare or recognition, just the next thing to do. My Dad, and my uncles were such men.
Thanks for this one! My father flew with the 448th in 1943-44 out of station 146 in Seething, not far away.
As always another wonderful video! Thanks for not letting America’s history be forgotten.
Thank you Mr. Robert Powell for making my life possible.
Thank you for another great story. Blessings upon such a great - and generous - American family.
I had the pleasure of speaking to a gentleman by the name of Bob Maloney when i was in my early teens, he had been a WW2 Wingman. He talked about escorting bombers and the equipment they had to wear.
Per you mentioning some pilots wearing their pajamas under their uniform.
He mentioned that keeping warm was an issue and that they had a type of heated jacket that had a tendency to burn and because of that, he and several pilots avoided them.
Also, kind of a side comment.
I remember he showed me a picture of him and his airplane from WW2, I asked if there was a reason why it was misspelled (The Squirt) and he thought I was messing with him and he took it back, he couldn't believe that he and his wife had never noticed
At 5:48 That is Greg Boyington, Then Major USMC, VMF-214!!!! A legend in his own time. If you know a veteran of the Second World War, talk to them while you still can. Soon they will all leave the stage and we will only have what is written down and recorded.
Full video here: th-cam.com/video/tGlLwtqhUKE/w-d-xo.html
Beautiful story
Many thanks to the Powell family. As an old comic book I once owned concluded, “Make war no more”.
Love these stories were you talk about an item and then talk about the person that owned the copy you are presenting.
Thank you to the Powell family, and all the families who made a sacrifice for our beloved country. I was particularly struck by the entrepreneur who gave up his patten so that the U.S. could make the vest quickly during war time. We as a nation have a long history of all types of sacrifice, May God persevere us as that nation. Thank you history guy, once again