Daily Earl Millers - pls don't clutter up

[Shane]

October 30

1942:  
I flew an AT-6 for 45 minutes of ground gunnery practice.  This
was my last flight at Eglin Field.  The class returned to Spence
Field, Moultree, Georgia.

1946:  
I flew a P-51D on a maintenance test flight for 40 minutes.


October 31
1944:  I flew a P-47D for 3:00 hours on a dive bombing and
strafing mission in the Milan area.

earl

[Shane]

November 1

1942:
I was in Advance Pilot Training School at Spence Field, Moultree,
Georgia - only three flights (nine days) away from getting my
pilot's wings.

1943:
I was with the 345th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group
at Reghaia Airfield, 25 miles east of Algiers in North
Africa.  Our primary mission was air defense, especially
against enemy air attacks against Allied ship convoys. I did not
fly on this day.

1944:
I was with the 345th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group at
Tarquinia Airfield, near Civitavecchia, Italy.  Our mission
was air defense, scramble alert, convoy patrols, CAP over
mine sweepers working along the advancing front line and
anti-recce patrols over the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Tarquinia
Airfield was a "liberated" wheat field that turned into a
sea of mud each time it rained.  On this day I flew a P-47D on a
dive bombing and strafing mission in the Bologna area.  My flight
time was 2:15 hours.


November 2

I did no flying on this date during the WW II years.


November 3

1942:
This was my first flight at Spence Field after returning from
gunnery practice at Eglin Field.  I flew an AT-6 for 1:50 hours.

earl

[Shane]

1943:
I flew a P-39N for 1:30 hours.  I don't know what type of mission
it was.

 earl
 
>Beer run!
>Pasha

No, dang it!  There was no beer at the airstrip.  The closest
thing to refreshments was the British NAFA Wagon. As I recall, it
was British and far outshone the Red Cross at providing comfort
for us pilots.  However, no beer.

earl

[Shane]

November 5

1942
I flew an AT-6 for 1:50 hours.

1944:
I flew a P-47D on a dive bombing and strafing mission in the
Parma area.  My flight time was 2:25 hours.


November 6

1942.  
This was my last flight in Advanced Flight Training at Spence
Field, Moultree, Georgia.  I flew an AT-6 for 50 minutes.

1944:
I flew a P-47D on a dive bombing and strafing mission in the
Modena area.  My flight time was 2:40 hours.

November 7

1944:
I flew a P-47D on a dive bombing and strafing mission in the
Bologna area.  My flight time was 2:15 hours.

earl

[Guppy35]

I'm slipping a bit in adding photos.

Here's Earl's Silver Star Citation earned in a Jug

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

There will be mention at times in Earl's daily logbook of his flights in his squadron's Hurricane.

It was a war weary Hurricane II obtained from the RAF.  Each of the three squadrons of the 350th FG had one that was modified to two seat configuration by the ground crews.

Here's Earl in the front seat of the 345th FG Devilhawks two seat Hurricane

Dan/Slack

[Shane]

November 9

I did no flying on this date during the WW II years.

November 10

1944:
I flew two flights in a P-47D.  One was a dive bombing and
strafing mission at Bologna for 2:35 hours.  The other was slow
time for one hour.

November 11

1944:
I flew a P-47D on a dive bombing and strafing mission in the
Cremona area.  My flight time was 2:30 hours.


November 12

1943:
The squadron moved from Reghaia Airfield, Algeria to Alghero
Airfield, Sardinia.  Still suffering from malaria, I departed
Reghaia Airfield in a P-39N, flew convoy patrol for 1:20 hours
and landed the aircraft at Alghero Airfield.  My total flight
time was 3:10 hours.

1944:
I flew a P-47D on a dive bombing and strafing mission in the
Parma area.  My flight time was 3:00 hours.

2nd Lt. Garwin C. Pape of the 345th Fighter Squadron, 350th
Fighter Group was killed.  First reports were that when he pulled
up from a strafing pass on a vehicle and he ran into a church
steeple at San Caterine in northern Italy.  A subsequent report
from a Mr. Ferdinando D'Amico of Italy states, "All that I
learned is that probably Pape didn't really hit the steeple, but
maneuvered abruptly to avoid it (he probably noticed its presence
at the very last second) and lost control of his plane, crashing
on the ground. The cart of gypsies apparently escaped  untouched
from the whole matter..."

Here is the part of Mr. D'Amico's letter that pertains to Pape:

In the meantime I have further news for you about another of your
KIA mates: this time I'm speaking of 2nd Lt. Garwin C. Pape,
crashed on 12 November 1944 reportedly after having hit a church
steeple while trying to strafe a horse drawn carriage (they
turned out to be gypsies!). The church was that of S. Caterina,
but the village's name is Diolo di Soragna (Parma).
I was contacted last year by a local amateur researcher who was
searching about that episode, not knowing who was the Allied
pilot crashed and I was able to help him retracing that it was
Pape's fatal accident...!

The enclosures are two photographs of the wing ammo panel of
Pape's P-47 still preserved in the church... hope you will enjoy
these further mementos of your unit's history.
Warmest wishes
Ferdinando






November 13

I did not fly on this date during the WW II years.


earl

[Shane]

November 14

I did not fly on this date during the WW II years.

November 15

I did not fly on this date during the WW II years.

November 16

1944:
I flew a P-47D to dive bomb a target at the front lines.  My
flight time was 1:50 hours.

November 17

1942:
My first flight at Cross City, Florida.  Flew an AT-6 for 30
minutes doing acrobatics.

1944:
I led a flight of P-47Ds on a dive bombing and strafing mission
in the Bologna area.  My flight time was 2:45 hours.  We
"attacked an enemy occupied area southeast of Bologna, and scored
at least two hits in the area before smoke from white phosphorus
bombs obscured the target."

(Quote is from the War Diary 345th Fighter Squadron)

November 18

1944:
I led a flight of P-47Ds to dive bomb a bridge on the Po River.
My flight time was 2:30 hours.  We "scored eight near misses on a
ferry and pontoon bridge at Ficorolo, and following the bombing
with a strafing flight which netted one locomotive and one
tender, one gas truck, 5 motor vehicles, and 2 trailers destroyed."

(Quote is from the War Diary 345th Fighter Squadron)

November 19

1942:
My first flight in a P-39.  I flew a P-39F for 40 minutes.

1944:
  I led a flight of P-47Ds on a dive bombing and strafing mission
in the Bologna area.  My flight time was 2:00 hours.
"Three missions were flown today before weather caused a
cancellation of further operations."  We "scored six near misses
which damaged the approach to a road bridge south of Bologna."

(Quotes are from the War Diary 345th Fighter Squadron)

I was promoted to the rank of Captain.

November 20

1942:
I flew a P-39D for 3:55 hours.  How many flights?  I would guess
that it was at least four flights.

1944:
I did not fly this day.
"Weather conditions forced the cancellation of all missions
except one, today, and that one was abortive as the pilots were
unable to reach their target in the heavy clouds."

(Quote is from the War Diary 345th Fighter Squadron)

1st Lt. Peter J. studmuffinan, 345th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter
Group, was ferrying a war-weary P-39  to the Naples depot when
the aircraft caught fire.  He attempted to reach an abandoned
airfield at Furbare, but was forced to ditch just off shore.
Friendly Italians swam to his rescue and he managed to reach
shore with minor cuts and bruises.  It was later ascertained by
the Italian locals that the airfield on which he tried to land
was well sown with mines left by the Germans.

earl
-----------------------------------
The de facto squadron historian, Keith Vizcarra, son of Gil
Vizcarra, a member of C Flight, sent me a CD a couple of years
ago of the squadron's daily reports which our Intelligence
Officer would prepare and forward to Group Headquarters.  I never
looked at them until +Tiff came down and installed the CD on my
hard drive for me.  homer's question spurred me on to take
another look at it and found it easier than I had thought.  So,
if it is ok with you people, I will include pertinent text from
the War Diary 345th Fighter Squadron in my Back Then posts, which
I will enclose with quotes.  I will always cite my logbook entry
also.

earl


when asked if it was "difficult to hit the target divebombing."[/i]

Yes, it was difficult for some pilots.  One learned how to become
accurate with practice.  That is why it was so important to be
able to dive bomb the same way each time - same altitude - same
angle of dive - same bomb release procedure.

I was able to find the daily operation report for November 16.
Only three missions were flown that day because of bad weather.
The one I led "scored six hits in a gun area and the target was
believed to be severely damaged."
When it looked like I had the right angle and aspect in relation
to the target.  I don't have the slightest idea at what altitude
I released at - wasn't important to me, besides, the altimeter
was on the instrument panel, not on the windscreen.  I know it
was below all the twinkling lights that we had to fly through.

Some targets are difficult to hit.  They may be to small.  The
weather may also be a factor.  Rail bridges are very difficult.
One drops in the direction of the bridge lengthwise.  Dropping
short or too long, the bombs miss the bridge, but may hit one of
the approaches, causing some damage.  From today's report, you
can see that three of the four aircraft hit the bridge
approaches.  Those were called (or miscalled) "near misses".  I
don't know where the bombs from the fourth aircraft landed.  I
wonder if they were my bombs - couldn't be - or could it be?

earl

whe asked if they knew where the front was, or was there a big dotted white line[/i]

We in the air had a good idea where the front lines were.
Intelligence maintained a situation map and we flew over the
front lines so much.  In this case, we didn't need to know where
it was because I am sure we were directed by Rover Joe at the
front lines.

earl

[cattb]

excised for copyright violation

[BaldEagl]

 

[Arlo]

 

[Ack-Ack]

Earl was a great guy, really enjoyed chatting with him in AW and on Big Week.  I think it's a good tribute that we have his P-47 skinned in the game. 

ack-ack

[Oldman731]

ONALASKA — Earl “Dutch” Miller, 95, died April 9, 2014,

Oh man, not what I needed to hear this night.

But thanks for posting this, we've been wondering about Earl.

What a great guy.

- oldman

[The Fugitive]

  Fair winds Earl.

[Hajo]

Hearing him speak at our AW con was an education and fun.  "Hell if we didn't have any holes in our 47s we felt like we weren't doing our job."

Earl, you did your job and then some.

God bless you and yours.