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Front View of DeLancey crippled B-17Nuthampstead October 15, 1944 |
The pilot, Lt. Lawrence M. deLancey, 25, was from Corvallis, Oregon, and the navigator, 2nd Lt. Raymond J. LeDoux, was from Mt. Angel, Oregon. I suspect the Oregon connection is why Posthip Scott latched onto this.
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| Nuthampstead airbase is on the left, Walcheren Island, a waypoint, is in the center, and Cologne, the target, is on the right. Cologne is 300 miles from Nuthampstead. Walcheren isn't an island anymore. |
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| You can still see where the runway was at Nuthhampstead. |
Word of the day: The togglier was responsible for arming and dropping the bombs in lieu of a bombardier. As the war progressed, the bombing formations would drop when the lead aircraft dropped, and the need for skilled bombardiers decreased.
P.S. Curiously, Wikipedia claims all of the bombing of Cologne was done by the RAF, none by the USA.
2 comments:
Given that it still flew in that condition, says something about how BAD the aerodynamics of the undamaged plane must have been, for this damage to make little difference ;-)
They were still learning to fly. I remember reading how fighter aircraft couldn't accompany bombers all the way to Germany until they got the P-51, and it's only 300 miles! That's a pitifully short distance today.
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