The Second World War, the famous 44th ‘Vampire” fight Squadron of the 13th Air Force, Far from home, One P-38 Pilot flying missions in the Solomons & Philippines during 1944-1945. Retired Col. Mitchell lived the adventure, the air combat, and the reality!

Col. Mitchell recently sat down with our Flightline Fabrications Living History Project to share his story of flying the P-38 Lightning , Phis comfirmed victory and 1 probable victory, and the stories that went along with WWII.

Strap on your parachute, complete your pre-flight checklist, and get ready to take off, because these P-38 Lightning Pilot stories are AWESOME!  Thank you Mr. Mitchell for taking the time to preserve your history!

If you missed PART ONE , PART TWO, or PART THREE, You will not want to miss any more of Col. Mitchell’s interview!

PART FOUR of Four: P-38 Pilot Col. Robert Mitchell Interview

 Flightline Fabrications expresses its gratitude to the P-38 National Association for their partnership in making these interviews possible.

If you would like to leave comments,
please click the “Comments” link below.

Do you or someone you know have first hand memories of this or any other historic event, whether you served in the military or as a civilian, Flightline Fabrications Living History Project want to hear from you.  Please contact our Living History Project with your remembrances.  History should NEVER be forgotten.  Your memories are important and should be retained and shared. 

 Flightline Fabrications

Tri-Cities News: rbrown@bristolnews.com

Powers, a Dickenson County native, died earlier this week (June 17) at age 86 following a battle with cancer.

Bravery – and dignity – was a constant, running thread in the life of “Shifty” Powers, both during and after his life as an Army sharpshooter in the actual “Band of Brothers.”

During the war, he fought brutal battles against the German army across France and Belgium.

After the war, Powers served as an eloquent representative for the men he fought with: At one point during the “Band of Brothers” mini-series, he appeared on camera to talk in moving, humane fashion about his grim but necessary task during the war – killing the enemy.

Flightline Fabrications offers our condolences to the Powers Family, a true hero and great Amercian has passed.

The Second World War, the famous 44th ‘Vampire” fight Squadron of the 13th Air Force, Far from home, One P-38 Pilot flying missions in the Solomons & Philippines during 1944-1945. Retired Col. Mitchell lived the adventure, the air combat, and the reality!

Col. Mitchell recently sat down with our Flightline Fabrications Living History Project to share his story of flying the P-38 Lightning , Phis comfirmed victory and 1 probable victory, and the stories that went along with WWII.

Strap on your parachute, complete your pre-flight checklist, and get ready to take off, because these P-38 Lightning Pilot stories are AWESOME!  Thank you Mr. Mitchell for taking the time to preserve your history!

If you missed PART ONE & PART TWO, You will not want to miss any more of Col. Mitchell’s interview!

PART THREE of Four: P-38 Pilot Col. Robert Mitchell Interview

Flightline Fabrications wishes to express its gratitude to the P-38 National Association for their partnership in making these interviews possible.

If you would like to leave comments,
please click the “Comments” link below.

Do you or someone you know have first hand memories of this or any other historic event, whether you served in the military or as a civilian, Flightline Fabrications Living History Project want to hear from you.  Please contact our Living History Project with your remembrances.  History should NEVER be forgotten.  Your memories are important and should be retained and shared. 

 Flightline Fabrications

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed retired USAAF P-38 Lightning  Pilot Robert Mitchell. Bob was generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project™ and tell us about his life as a P-38 Lightning  Pilot during WWII with the famous 44th “Vampire” FS of the 13th Air Force.Flying in the Solomons & Philippines during 1944-1945 Col. Mitchell scored 1 victory and 1 probable victory.

Strap on your parachute, complete your pre-flight checklist, and get ready to take off, because these P-38 Lightning Pilot stories are AWESOME!  Thank you Mr. Mitchell for taking the time to preserve your history!

If you missed PART ONE , You will not want to miss any more of Col. Mitchell’s interview!

PART TWO of Four: P-38 Pilot Col. Robert Mitchell Interview

 Flightline Fabrications wishes to express its gratitude to the P-38 National Association for their partnership in making these interviews possible.

If you would like to leave comments,
please click the “Comments” link below.

Do you or someone you know have first hand memories of this or any other historic event, whether you served in the military or as a civilian, Flightline Fabrications Living History Project want to hear from you.  Please contact our Living History Project with your remembrances.  History should NEVER be forgotten.  Your memories are important and should be retained and shared. 

 Flightline Fabrications

“The sheer improbability of this victory is part of what makes D-Day so memorable,” Obama said.

The president spoke under a sunny sky at the American Cemetery on cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach and other landings sites where American, British and Canadian soldiers established a beachhead 65 years ago under the withering fire of Nazi troops awaiting the Allies’ cross-channel gamble.

Normandy’s cliffs, still pocked with gun emplacements and other remnants of the war, including the white headstones of thousands of buried American troops, provided sure footing for a new U.S. commander in chief. Obama noted that the site has been visited by many U.S. presidents and predicted that “Long after our time on this Earth has passed, one word will still bring forth the pride and awe of men and women who will never meet the heroes who sit before us: D-Day.”

Some 215,000 Allied soldiers, and roughly as many Germans, were killed or wounded during D-Day and the ensuing nearly three months it took to secure the Allied capture of Normandy, a battle that helped free France from Nazi control.

Obama said the lessons of that pivotal effort are eternal.

“Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget — what we must not forget — is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century,” he said.

Joined by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama stopped first at the gray granite visitors center and then at an overlook where the leaders talked at length with two D-Day veterans waiting at the top of the once-bloody bluffs.

Obama visited an American battlefield museum with his wife, Michelle, laid a wreath in honor of the fallen, greeted U.S. military members and mingled with uniformed World War II veterans.

Speaking at a time when he is directing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — both of which have lasted longer than the U.S. involvement in World War II — Obama described in stark terms the harsh conditions the Allied invaders faced at Normandy. He noted that in many ways the seaborne invasion plan went awry, leaving the assaulting forces vulnerable to Nazi guns in their path.

“When the ships landed here at Omaha, an unimaginable hell rained down on the men inside,” he said. “Many never made it out of the boats.”

But the Allies prevailed, gathering strength for a breakout from Normandy in July that opened a path toward Paris and eventually took the Allies all the way to Germany and victory over the Nazis. Obama paid tribute to the Allies — the British, the Canadian, the French as well as the Russians, “who sustained some of the war’s heaviest casualties on the Eastern front.”

“At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary,” Obama said. “They fought out of a simple sense of duty — a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had fought and bled for over two centuries.”

Obama noted that his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, arrived at Normandy six weeks after D-Day and marched across France in Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s army. Attending with Obama was his great uncle, Charles Payne, who was part of the first American division to reach and liberate a Nazi concentration camp that Obama and his great uncle visited in Germany on Friday.

This D-Day anniversary assumed special significance because veterans of the battle are reaching their 80s and 90s and their numbers are dwindling. One American veteran, Jim Norene, who fought with the 101st Airborne Division, came back for Saturday’s ceremony, but died in his sleep Friday night.

“Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep,” the president said. “Jim was gravely ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return. But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.”

Obama spoke after a private meeting with Sarkozy in this Normandy city before the leaders commemorated the D-Day invasion that cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.

“This day marks not only the triumph of freedom, but it also marks how the trans-Atlantic alliance has allowed for extraordinary prosperity and security on both sides of the Atlantic,” Obama said.

After the ceremony, Obama and his wife, Michelle, returned to Paris to reunite with their daughters, Sasha and Malia, for a family evening in the City of Light. They planned sightseeing on Sunday before Obama returns to Washington from his trip, which also took him to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The first lady and the girls planned to remain in France until at least Monday.

“It has been a long time since any of us boys have seen a woman, so we are writing to you in hopes that you’ll help us out of our situation,” Cpl. Frank Gizych lamented in a letter posted from the fog-shrouded Aleutian Islands. “Since we know that it’s impossible to see a woman in the flesh, we would appreciate it very much if you could send us a photo of yourself.”

It was July 1944, and America was at war. From bases and battlefields in Europe and on Pacific islands, troops were sending streams of letters to their favorite actresses in Hollywood, asking for pinup photos and commenting on life on the front lines.

Almost all of that mail, which studios usually answered with a glossy shot showing the star in a saucy pose, has been lost. But the actress Donna Reed, later famous for her roles as Mary Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the middle-class housewife Donna Stone on “The Donna Reed Show,” saved some of the correspondence she received. After nearly 65 years in a shoebox inside an old trunk long stored in the garage of her home in Beverly Hills, Calif., the letters have finally been read and made public by the actress’s children. Reed died in 1986 at age 64.   MORE…

Letters and photos sent to actress Donna Reed from soldiers during World War II are displayed for a photograph in the home of Mary Owen, her daughter, in New York on May 1, 2009. Reed saved some of the correspondence she received. (Librado Romero/The New York Times)

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed retired USAAF P-38 Lightning  Pilot Robert Mitchell. Bob was generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project™ and tell us about his life as a P-38 Lightning  Pilot during WWII with the famous 44th “Vampire” FS of the 13th Air Force.Flying in the Solomons & Philippines during 1944-1945 Col. Mitchell scored 1 victory and 1 probable victory.

Strap on your parachute, complete your pre-flight checklist, and get ready to take off, because these P-38 Lightning Pilot stories are AWESOME!

PART ONE of Four: P-38 Pilot Col. Robert Mitchell Interview 

Flightline Fabrications wishes to express its gratitude to the P-38 National Association for their partnership in making these interviews possible.

If you would like to leave comments,
please click the “Comments” link below.

Do you or someone you know have first hand memories of this or any other historic event, whether you served in the military or as a civilian, Flightline Fabrications Living History Project want to hear from you.  Please contact our Living History Project with your remembrances.  History should NEVER be forgotten.  Your memories are important and should be retained and shared. 

 Flightline Fabrications

For many young American boys and girls, playing with Plastic Army Men has almost been a rite of passage. Playing with these Plastic Army Men equipped with a variety of weapons, mostly from World War II to the Vietnam era has occupied many a young boys imagination for hours if not days at a time.  Imagining these rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, pistols, grenades, flame throwers, mortars, and bazookas taking out the bad guys!  

Now from Flightline Fabrications you can customize your car, truck, boat, plane, or just about any thing with the 2″ vinyl stickers of Plastic Army Men!

“What’s on your window?”

Flightline Fabrications

On Sunday, May 3, 2009, the intrepid P-51c Mustang “Red Tail Project” rebuild team was in Wahpeton, ND for a very special workday with the folks at Tri-State Aviation: mating the fuselage of the P-51c Mustang with the wings.  Read Full Article

The P-51c Mustang “Red Tail Project” is dedicated to telling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the World War II fighter group composed of African-American pilots and support personnel who fought discrimination and prejudice in order to serve their country.

The P-51c Mustang “Red Tail Project” is part of the Commemorative Air Force.

Flightline Fabrications

Flying over 2,200 miles unescorted, this B-17 Flying Fortress participated in America’s first mission in New Guinea. Over Rabaul, the crew elected to go around for second run after a malfunction. Intercepted by fighters, the B-17 Flying Fortress force landed in a swamp in northern New Guinea.  Now nicknamed “Swamp Ghost“  this bomber has come to be known around the world.  Check out www.theswampghost.com for great details, news, & information about the rescue of this ghost!

Flightline Fabrications

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning introduced a new dimension to American fighters during WWII – a second engine. Designed by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, an engineer at Lockheed, the P-38 Lightning represented one of the most radical departures from the traditional American Fighter ever seen during WWII.  With an unconventional airframe, design, power, and armament, the twin tailed fighter design simply worked.  Equipped with four .50 cal machine guns, plus a 20mm cannon, the P-38 Lightning had enough firepower to sink a ship… and some did!  The concentrated center nose mounted guns eliminated the need for propeller synchronization and was deadly when pointed in the direction of the enemy.

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed three retired P-38 Lightning Pilots and all three were generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project and tell us about their combat stories and adventures during WWII. Over the next month Flightline Fabrications will publish each pilots story in 3 part segments, so strap on your parachute, and get ready to jump, because these P-38 Lightning Pilot stories are AWESOME! 

Col. Robert Mitchell served with the now famous 44th “Vampire” Fighter Squadron, 13th Air Force in the Solomons & Philippines during 1944-1945.  In air combat flying the P-38 Lightning, Col. Mitchell scored 1 victory and 1 probable victory.

William “Al” Bailey flew 60 photo recon missions in the P-38 Lightning with the 17th Photo Recon Squadron from Guadalcanal in 1943 and 52 missions with the 40th PRS in India during 1945.

John Taylor flew 63 missions in P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustangs with the 364th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force in England.  Those missions included 6 June 44, D-Day!

400 Miles per hour, four .50 cal machine guns, one 20mm cannon, and a young pilot… These P-38 Lightning stories are what you want to hear. 

Flightline Fabrications wishes to express its gratitude to the P-38 National Association for their partnership in making these interviews possible.

If you would like to leave comments,
please click the “Comments” link below.

Do you or someone you know have first hand memories of this or any other historic event, whether you served in the military or as a civilian, Flightline Fabrications Living History Project want to hear from you.  Please contact our Living History Project with your remembrances.  History should NEVER be forgotten.  Your memories are important and should be retained and shared. 

 Flightline Fabrications

The very first enemy plane shot down during the Korean War was by a WWII F-51D Mustang! Throughout the Korean War many WWII aircraft distingushed themselves with their accomplishments. These propellor-driven airborne weapons were seen as obsolete, relics of an older era, but these feisty planes not only held their own against the jets of the Korean War era, they were Korean War heroes in their own right.

Over the course of the Korean War, however, it became obvious that the day of the piston-engined fighter was coming to a close and that the future would lie with the jet fighter.  The first operational jets were developed during World War II and saw combat in its final year (1945).   The German Me-262, developed by Messerschmitt was the only jet fighter to see actual combat during WWII.  The Americans were one of the first to begin using jet fighters post WWII, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (soon re-designated F-80) was the first jet fighter to see combat after WWII. 

Soon after the introduction of the F-80 Shooting Star, the F-86 Saber was introduced to combat the Mig 15, entering the swept wing fighter into the history books.  Propellor-driven aircraft went quietly into the night, but have never been forgotten!

Flightline Fabrications

The crew of the Maersk Alabama recaptured their ship from the pirates, but their captain remained in the hands of the Somalis.

“There’s four Somali pirates, and they’ve got our captain,” Ken Quinn said in a ship-to-shore phone interview.

Capt. Richard Phillips is being held in the Alabama’s 28-foot lifeboat after the pirates reneged on an agreement to exchange him for a captured pirate, Quinn said.  “We returned him (the pirate), but they didn’t return the captain,” he said. 

The hijackers forcefully boarded the Alabama early Wednesday, when it was about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia, a failed nation which has become a haven for pirates  who have now attacked over 160 merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

The dispatch of the USS Bainbridge to rescue Captain Murphy is an unusual example of historical justice.  The ship is named after Commodore William Bainbridge, a hero of the Barbary Pirates War who was himself held hostage twice.

Yamato, the lead ship of its class of battleships, was built at Kure, Japan.  By far one of the largest battleships ever built, even exceeding in size the U.S. Navy’s Montana Class.  The nine 460mm battery guns were the largest ever to go to sea, and the ships scale of armor protection was unserpassed by any other battleship.

Commissioned in December 1941, just after the start of the Pacific theater war, the Yamato was to serve as the flagship of Japan during WWII.  During 1942 the Battleship Yamato spent most of her time at Truk as part of the naval forces defending Japan’s Pacific bases.  The Yamato received light damage during the Leyte Gulf  battle and was sent home November 1944, fitted with anit-aircraft guns, and repaired. 

Assigned to take part in the suicidal “Ten-Go” Operation to support naval forces defending Okinawa, the Battleship Yamato was attacked by a massive U.S. force of military plane and sunk on 07 April 1945, 200 miles north of Okinawa.

Aviation Artist Ron Cole has created a Limited Edtion Print of the the Battleship Yamato on the morning of April 5, 1945.  This Limited Edition print depicts the Yamato discarding an observation plane prior to battle. This Art work is amazing and captures the true feelings the mighty Battleship generated.  

Print Available at: http://www.ozarkairfieldartworks.com/rcolebattleshipyamato.html

Flightline Fabrications

Thank you!

Rumor has is that Apollo Airborne wants to be on the OSI Rockstar Show. This surveillance photo was taken by security camers in the OSI Studio, time and date unknown.

Get your VIP Pass to Success! OSI Rockstars!  

Who is Apollo Airborne?

www.ApolloAirborne.com

Look for Apollo Airborne adventures & sightings from:

Flightline Fabrications

A $140 million Air Force F-22 Fighter Jet crashed Wed. March 25, 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California.  Test pilot David Cooley (49) died when the F-22 Fighter Jet crashed northeast of the base. Cooley was a 21 year veteran of the Air Force.  The F-22 Fighter Jet was assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron of Edwards’ 412th Test Wing.  The nature of the test mission was not known at the time of the crash.

Flightline Fabrications thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Cooley’s family and friends.