Wings of our Fathers

A few years ago I started a small project to construct a framed display featuring our fathers’ crew picture in the center, surrounded by an example of a WWII vintage wing that each of our fathers would have worn on their uniforms. I had Dad’s wings and with a little study could determine what wings your fathers would have worn—there were 5 different wings worn by members of an average combat crew.

That early interest introduced me to an amazing collecting activity that I had never before considered. A resource such as eBay brings the ability to find almost anything at a reasonable price for the patient. As a life-long collector of first one thing or another, I was inexorably drawn into this collecting activity way beyond what I had anticipated and have since written a collector’s guide for other newbie collectors. There is a huge problem with fakes and undisclosed restrikes that plague wings collectors. It was dealing with this problem that I hoped to help new collectors avoid becoming fleeced and discouraged. I thought our fathers’ service deserved more respect than it appeared to be getting from others.

The wings, as you likely know, were very significant to our fathers. Pictured is a variety of the wings, some form of which, our fathers undoubtedly wore when they donned their dress uniforms. Most likely they did not wear them while they were dressed in their flight gear for a mission.

Most of these period wings were made from sterling...silver was plentiful during the war, while most other metals were not. As a result, we are left with a beautiful piece of a remarkable legacy that is no longer made in the same manner. Today's Air Force wings are mostly made from a plated zinc pot metal. Hope you still have your Dad's.

WWII Air Force Movies

This is a quick post to record some of the very best films and documentaries I’ve found to help explain and understand the experience our fathers had during their time in the Army Air Force. Of course, there are plenty of books, articles, and online postings from which to learn, but if you are like I am, a good visual presentation is easier to digest .

I have not gone to the trouble to formally list the details of these films…you can use Google to find additional information.

1. Command Decision. An outstanding film released in 1948 that depicts the pressures of commanding early WWII daylight bombing raids over occupied Europe. Outstanding filming and acting. Clark Gable (flew some 1943 missions as an aerial gunner with the 351st BG).

2. Twelve O’Clock High. Another outstanding 1949 film that depicts the difficulties of command and the extraordinary dangers of early WWII daylight bombing. Outstanding filming and acting. Gregory Peck. Note: These first two films were highly regarded by our fathers who would have been very critical of anything that smacked of excessive drama and exaggeration. Some of the actors themselves were contemporaries of those who participated in WWII.

3. The War Lover. A 1962 film that contains some of the best aerial footage ever filmed. This story is a bit dramatic, but is one of the first and best to have told its story from the perspective of the airmen flying the missions. Stars Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner, both of whom were too young to have served during WWII.

4. The Battle of Britain. A 1969 film made by English producers and boasting a superb cast that was intended to have been the definitive story of the very early WWII air war from the British perspective. Has some dramatics, but in general is the best of its kind and serves to round out an understanding of what was going on in Europe a few years before our fathers got involved.

5. The Memphis Belle. A 1990 film that my father said was pretty realistic, at least with respect to the air combat footage. There isn’t much history to learn from this film, but what I at first did not like about it, turned out to be one of the most illuminating facts I have encountered while pondering Dad’s service. At first, I didn’t like the youth and high emotion depicted by the (too young) actors as the earlier films I had seen at various times for most of my life. But the truth was that our fathers were just kids when they flew their missions…not at all unlike the kids depicted in this film. However, Dad did say the they did not crumble into high emotion when things got rough…he said, “when we were on a mission, we were all business.”

6. The Color of War. This is a circa. 2001, 5-disc set that is very inexpensive and worth the price just to get the one disc containing the “Air War” program. Superbly written, it draws on quotations from outstanding writers who, themselves were WWII veterans—Manchester & Jones, among them. The film also is perhaps the first to show clips of the WWII air war in color. An outstanding resource.

7. All the Fine Young Men. Produced and first broadcast by NBC about 1983, it was one of the first documentary programs to focus on the flight crews. It is occasionally broadcast on A&E channel. Our fathers liked this program and it featured a number of first person interviews with AAF flight crewmen who were then just beginning to retire from their jobs.

8. Start Engines Plus 50-Years. Produced and released in 1992, this film features lengthy interviews with a number of retired generals, who were themselves young pilots and Group commanders during WWII. A real treat to hear them tell their own stories just before age began to catch up with them.

There are a lot of other fine war movies, but these are the films that focus on the Eighth Army Air Force of our fathers.

Clermont - 30 April 1944

Lt. Hamp Morrison's crew aboard "Tail Wind" at 18,000'; crew's mission #18; 447th mission #57. My father is aboard at his station in the nose flying as Morrison's navigator. Dad never saw this picture...it was obtained recently from another airman's son who had a large number of official Army photographs taken by a photographer assigned to fly with a group from a nearby base. The two groups were flying in combined formations that day, hence this photo was taken and located quite by chance 65-years later.

This aircraft was shot down about 6-months later, 2 November 1944 on a mission to Merseberg. Lt. Robert E. Johnson was the pilot in command that day; 8 were taken POW, 1 was KIA.

Augsburg - 16 March 1944

Lt. Hamp Morrison's crew aboard "Rowdy Rebel" at 19,000'; crew's mission #6; 447th mission #34.

This aircraft was shot down about 7-weeks later, 29 April 1944 on a mission to Berlin. Lt. Hayden Hughes was pilot in command that day; all aboard except one gunner, were KIA.