My Dad spent a couple years in New Guinea as an airframe mechanic during WWII working on busted up bombers and general maintenance. He also did extra duty as the company forager bringing in game meat as a respite from mutton. I was an adult the first time I saw him eat a lamb chop. Even then I could tell by his expression that he didn't like it due to the memories it brought back.
My father was there too. Navigating a B-24. He brought back some interesting souvenirs from New Guinea. Bamboo bow and arrows with primitive iron arrowheads, Jap sword, other Jap items. I enjoyed the stories. I miss him greatly.
About twenty years ago I met a man who had been a mechanic on P-38s in PNG. After the war he built the largest BMW dealership in the U.S. He sold the company and retired as a multi-millionaire. One clause in the selling contract was he gets a new car every year for free and with all the bells and whistles. Anyway, he sure had some real good stories about his time in WWII.
He lit up when I mentioned the gunships they built in unauthorized field modifications. (Puff the Magic Dragon, Sparky, et al, are permutations of what they started in PNG.) The AC-130 Spectre is a direct descendant. The parachute bomb also was an invention in PNG.
What necessitated the parachute bomb was a flight of B-25s would make low level bomb runs but the following aircraft would get torn up by shrapnel. So some mechanics came up with the solution. Some of those B-25s bristled with as many as twelve pilot controlled .50s calibers. They also tried mounting rockets on field-fashioned wing pods but they were burning the ailerons off the wing. I have a book written by one of the mechanics who was there. He tells of all kinds of field mods they tried. Not many were successful but given the amount that are still in use today you'd think they must have been hard pressed to try anything. And they were! The japs were a tough enemy.
The story of Fred Hargesheimer also is very interesting. He was a pilot flying out of PNG. 'He fell from the sky and into their hearts.' Shot down, at great risk a native tribe hid him from the japs. He never forgot their kindness and repaid them after the war. He also met the jap pilot who shot him down and finally got the answer to a question that bugged him for many years.
My Dad spent a couple years in New Guinea as an airframe mechanic during WWII working on busted up bombers and general maintenance. He also did extra duty as the company forager bringing in game meat as a respite from mutton. I was an adult the first time I saw him eat a lamb chop. Even then I could tell by his expression that he didn't like it due to the memories it brought back.
ReplyDeleteNemo
My father was there too. Navigating a B-24. He brought back some interesting souvenirs from New Guinea. Bamboo bow and arrows with primitive iron arrowheads, Jap sword, other Jap items. I enjoyed the stories. I miss him greatly.
ReplyDeleteAbout twenty years ago I met a man who had been a mechanic on P-38s in PNG. After the war he built the largest BMW dealership in the U.S. He sold the company and retired as a multi-millionaire. One clause in the selling contract was he gets a new car every year for free and with all the bells and whistles. Anyway, he sure had some real good stories about his time in WWII.
ReplyDeleteHe lit up when I mentioned the gunships they built in unauthorized field modifications. (Puff the Magic Dragon, Sparky, et al, are permutations of what they started in PNG.) The AC-130 Spectre is a direct descendant. The parachute bomb also was an invention in PNG.
What necessitated the parachute bomb was a flight of B-25s would make low level bomb runs but the following aircraft would get torn up by shrapnel. So some mechanics came up with the solution. Some of those B-25s bristled with as many as twelve pilot controlled .50s calibers. They also tried mounting rockets on field-fashioned wing pods but they were burning the ailerons off the wing. I have a book written by one of the mechanics who was there. He tells of all kinds of field mods they tried. Not many were successful but given the amount that are still in use today you'd think they must have been hard pressed to try anything. And they were! The japs were a tough enemy.
Rick
The story of Fred Hargesheimer also is very interesting. He was a pilot flying out of PNG. 'He fell from the sky and into their hearts.' Shot down, at great risk a native tribe hid him from the japs. He never forgot their kindness and repaid them after the war. He also met the jap pilot who shot him down and finally got the answer to a question that bugged him for many years.
ReplyDeleteRick