Subject: WWII-L Digest - 27 Apr 1993 to 28 Apr 1993

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1993 00:00:40 -0400

There are 8 messages totalling 298 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. USAAF 28 APR 43
  2. Amelia Earhart (2)
  3. NORWAY AND WAR
  4. ELECTRONIC BOOK FLYER
  5. Query: Book about Ferry Pilots (2)
  6. Publications

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 07:07:58 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: USAAF 28 APR 43

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
WEDNESDAY, 28 APRIL 1943
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/wwii/usaaf

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force)
    In Burma, 9 B-25's pound the docks at Monywa; 10 others attack river
traffic in the Katha vicinity.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force)
    In China, about 20 Japanese medium bombers and a like number of
fighters attack airfields at Kunming. High winds prevent bombing accuracy
and little damage is done to the airfield. Several Chinese villagers near
the field are killed. Defending P-40's shoot down 10 aircraft.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Ninth Air Force)
    In Italy, B-24's attack the harbor at Naples and the ferry slip at
Messina. Gunners claim 5 fighters destroyed.
    In Tunisia, P-40's escort bombers and attack troops in the battle area
N of Enfidaville.

  WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Northwest African Air Force)
    In Tunisia, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-25's and
P-38's attack 2 vessels off NE Tunisia in the Straits of Sicily. Other
B-25's hit Tunis shipping while B-26's bomb the landing grounds at
Mabouban and Mabtouha. Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF)
aircraft bomb concentrations near Saint-Cyprien and Ksar Tyr, shipping off
Tunis, and numerous positions and vehicles along the Tunisian battleline
and surrounding areas as the US 9th Infantry Division continues W astride
the Sedjenane River and the 1st and 34th Infantry Divisions continue to
face fierce opposition S of Jefna in Sidi Meftah area.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force)
  In the Solomons, 3 B-24's continue snooper missions over Bougainville,
bombing the airfield at Kahili.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force)
  In New Guinea, B-25's attack 2 vessels NNW of Dobo. Single B-17's hit
buildings N of Finschhafen Airfield, Wilwilan village, and targets of
opportunity along the coast of NE New Guinea from the Nankina River to
Mur.
  HQ 380th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and it's 528th, 529th, 530th and
531st Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy) arrive in Australia from the U.S.
Group HQ, and the 528th and 530th Squadrons are based at Fenton; the 529th
and 531st are at Manbulloo. The group is assigned to the Fifth Air Force
but will be attached to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) until Jan
45. One of it's primary missions is the training of RAAF crews in
operating the B-24. The group will fly it's first mission on 21 May 43.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop      |  Those who have long enjoyed such privileges |
|  Bellcore           |  as we enjoy forget in time that men have    |
|  Piscataway, NJ     |  died to win them.     FDR                   |
|  USA                |  [email-masked]                        |
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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 09:43:30 CDT
From:    "Robert J. Granvin" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart

> In 1938, a British survey party visited the island, they
> discovered the skeleton of a woman with "shoes of the American kind,
> size nine narrow."  This was the size shoe discovered by Gillespie in
> 1991 *and* was the same size that Amelia wore.  The article doesn't
> mention if the British buried the body or what.  I would think that
> much of the controversy would be settled one way or another if the
> skeleton was found!

The story is that the team brought the skeleton onboard the ship which
they had chartered.  However, the crew (superstious as some are),
considered a skeleton (and moreso, a _woman's_ skeleton [nee, body])
was a curse and bad luck.

The rest of the story is that some bad luck onboard was blamed on the
body and the crew forcibly confiscated the remains and threw them
overboard, along with everything else that was packaged with them
successfully destroying any proof or evidence the team had uncovered.

How much of that is legend, fact or fantasy is unknown, of course.
Certainly some of it has been "exaggerated."  Questions abound whether
the team actually _found_ anything, but wanted notoriety or whether
the story is in fact true.

--
Robert J. Granvin                                    Southern Minnesota Wing
[email-masked]                                       Confederate Air Force
  You know you've made a gear-up landing when it takes full power to taxi.

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 21:31:49 +0200
From:    JOHN AUSLAND <[email-masked]>
Subject: NORWAY AND WAR

  Oslo, April 23.
  Reply to Donald R. Newcomb, who sent the following:
  I do know that many Norwegian-Americans volunteered
to train for the liberation of Norway. My understanding of the
reason that Norway was not re-invaded is that the King was the
guest of the Roosevelts and he did not want to make things
worse in Norway by any more bombing, etc. than necessary.
Particularly in the South.
  COMMENT: Norwegian Army forces trained in Scotland.  They were not
used to invade Norway because it was not necessary.  As a part of
the deception operation related to Overlord, there were a number
of resistance operations in Norway.  Hitler evidently feared an
invasion of Norway and hence kept more troops here than was necessary.
(This was fortunate for us, because if some of these had been in
Normandy it would have been much tougher there.)

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 21:32:05 +0200
From:    JOHN AUSLAND <[email-masked]>
Subject: ELECTRONIC BOOK FLYER

  Oslo, April 28.  In view of the requests for flyers for my book
and the fact that I can now handle VISA card charges, I thought I
would try my hand at making up an electronic flyer.  Here it is:

ELECTRONIC FLYER FOR JOHN C. AUSLAND, LETTERS HOME: A WAR MEMOIR

  BACKGROUND
  This book started out as a collection of letters the author wrote home
from Europe during World War II. As his work progressed, he began to
wonder why some of the events in which he was involved had happened.
This curiosity led first to reading and then to research, which brought
him in the end to the National Archives in Washington, DC. As a result,
he learned some things about the way in which the European campaign
was conduct2 that he was glad he did not know at the time. He will
share these with you.

  CONTENTS
  After recounting the landing of the 4th Division on Utah Beach on June
6, 1944 and the capture of Cherbourg, the book returns to the training
in England which helped make Operation Overlord a success. The author
then traces his slow progress across Europe to south of Munich. In
between, there was the breakout from the bridgehead, the liberation of
Paris, the hell of the Hrtgen Forest, the battle of the bulge, two
engagements in the Schnee Eifel Mountains, and the final offensive on
the east side of the Rhine.

  AUTHOR
  The author is a former American diplomat, living in Norway. Since
retiring, he has written four books about foreign policy and military
matters, as well as numerous articles in the International Herald
Tribune.

  TESTIMONIALS
  John Ausland served in my battalion for three years and was one of the
finest officers I have known. Joel F. Thomason, Col., US Army, Ret.

  In this book, John Ausland examines his war experiences against his work
with military matters as a civilian. When his innovative presentation is
added, the reader has a rare reading opportunity. Trygve Ramberg,
Publisher, Scandinavian University Press

  PRODUCTION
  Soft cover, in A4 (11.75 X 8.25 inches) format, with 164 pages, 20
pictures, most of them taken during the war, and 7 maps. Produced with
an AST 386SX computer and a Hewlett-Packard laser printer, using the
Ventura Publisher desktop publishing program.

  PRICE
  $25 plus shipping.  In Europe, surface mail is $5 and airmail $10.
Outside Europe, surface mail is $10 and airmail $17.

  HOW TO GET
  You can buy this book with a dollar check drawn on an American bank.
My mailing address is: John C. Ausland, Sondreveien 4 Entry 2, 0378
Oslo, Norway.

  Or you can use a Visa card.  In this case, I would need
your card number and expiry date.  If you wish to order by EMAIL, you
should send a message to one of the following addresses:
  Internet: [email-masked]     Compuserve: 73240,2704

  There are other ways of paying, depending on where you are and
what your options are. We could discuss these by EMAIL.

  Any comments, suggestions, or questions?

  Regards, John Ausland

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 13:25:00 PST
From:    Stephen Fox <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Query: Book about Ferry Pilots

Lydia,

SILVERFOX here.  A retired faculty here at HSU just published her
memoir of ferry piloting.  Her name in Kay Gott.  I don't have
the title handy, but I believe the book is brand new.  I've been
meaning to get a copy, when I get a MINUTE to breathe!
ex
********************************************
*       Steve Fox                          *
*       History Department                 *
*       Humboldt State University          *
*       Arcata, CA  95521                  *
*       (707) 826-4788                     *
*       [email-masked]              *
********************************************

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 17:07:37 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Query: Book about Ferry Pilots

Lydia: I just did a check in First Search, and came up with about nine books
written since 1990 about the WASPs.  I began searching under the subject
heading Women Air Pilots -- United States, but was able to find the better
heading of Women's Air Service Pilots -- United States.

                                Good Luck.
                                Richard Kaplan
                                [email-masked]

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Date:    Wed, 28 Apr 1993 17:32:05 -0400
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart

No facts here, but I finished a mediocre paperback two weeks ago which begins
with an aide-de-camp to Emperor Hirohito being ordered to give a sealed
packet to an American warship in isolated waters for delivery to FDR.  Along
the way to his rendezvous with a Kawanishi flying boat, he picks up two
Americans being held under maximum security in a Hiroshima prison.  The warship
he takes them to, with the packet, is the ... USS Arizona; the two Americans
are a man and a woman.

                                        Richard Kaplan
                                        [email-masked]

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Date:    Thu, 29 Apr 1993 09:15:54 AEST
From:    "Wilber Williams, Prentice Centre" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Publications

Jack McKillop writes -

>The following is a list of articles that appear in the Spring 1993 issue
>of the AAHS JOURNAL published by the American Aviation Historical Society
>that may be of interest to this group.

Jack, can you tell me who to contact about this? And costs, to places like
Australia?

Thanks,
Wilber.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Wilber WILLIAMS                            [email-masked]      |
|Prentice Centre                            Telephone : +61 7 365 4232   |
|The University of Queensland               Facsimile : +61 7 365 4477   |
|Brisbane Qld 4072  AUSTRALIA                                            |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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End of WWII-L Digest - 27 Apr 1993 to 28 Apr 1993
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