Author Topic: Did you know... (Read 363 times)

midnight Target · « **on:** October 03, 2004, 08:52:58 PM »

That this guy...

(Mr. Wizard) Flew 56 missions in B-24's and was awarded the DFC and the Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters.

Leslie · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2004, 11:12:02 PM »

They don't make that kind anymore. During my summer job when I was 16, my boss showed me a picture of himself and his B-24 crew standing in front of their B-24 bomber. Bill Knapp was a tail gunner and shot down twice in B-24s. He went on the Ploesti oil field raids.

He gave me my first dog, a six week old Cocker Spaniel/Dachshund mix. I could hold it in one hand.

I will never forget Bill. He said people can do many things to hurt you in this world, but an education is one thing no one can ever take away from you.

I miss him very much. Thanks MT.

~~Les~~

JB73 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2004, 12:00:25 AM »

MR wizzard!! loved that show.

<~~> to him.. taught me to make a bomb LOL~~

RTSigma · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2004, 01:14:30 AM »

I learned how to make once piece of paper large enough to jump through.

Oh and fashion. Mainly fashion.

Thrawn · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2004, 04:46:48 AM »

I'll be damned.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0378532/bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Wizard

SunTracker · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2004, 05:17:16 AM »

I think hes still alive. I used to watch that show before school in the early 90s. I think I will write him a letter.

SirLoin · « **Reply #6 on:** October 04, 2004, 05:39:48 AM »

There was a guy that belonged to my R/C flying club who passed away in the spring(I had no idea he was a Lancaster pilot)..A really nice gent who was an expert on getting engines to run right knowing all the tricks and tweaks.

I'll never forget when I took off my 1/6 scale F4U on it's maiden flight..It was way outta trim and it was obvious I was having difficulty keeping it in the air..He walks over and calmed me down and talked me into trimming it out...It was a hot plane and after it got trimmed it flew straight but I could still barely handle it...and then the engine cut during a mid alt high speed pass...The guy literaly(and calmly) talked me down to a beautiful dead stik landing in front of a big crowd.

Same day not much later..he pulls out a 1/6 SpitIX(20 years old plane with never a crash) and it rolls on takeoff and crashes into several large irrepairable peices..."Ya know,I must be a old fart now..that's the first time I have EVER forgotton to do a range check"..He had probs with radio the day before and didn't fly it.

He laughed and so did the large crowd.

His name was Donald William Field..He piloted Lancasters and flew 48 sorties over enemy terrain for the RAF..His Lancaster had to be replaced 11 times cause of damage..He lost several crew members over the years of combat,with himself being badly wounded once.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross...If anyone deserved it,it was him.

I just wish I had known he was a Lanc pilot...I woulda asked him a lot of dumb questions for sure...but I heard later he didn't like to talk about it...more into R/C engines than war stories.

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2004, 09:07:41 AM »

One of the nicest guys I ever met flew SBD's. He got shot down at Midway.

He sat almost through the whole thing on the wing of his airplane in the water.