They shall grow not old As we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them . . Nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, And in the morning, We will remember them!-- Lawrence Binyon
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Dangerous Dan, Part Two . . .
The second part of Dangerous Dan ... again, from a wonderful site I found years ago ...
Some of you may remember the first piece on Dangerous Dan, and some of you may not have even gone back that far and picked that one piece of history from my ramblings two years ago.
But if you do remember, or did check it out, I'd like to write the second part of that story now.
Back during WWII groups like the 379th were scattered all over England and the skies of Europe. What I wrote in that first piece came from the memories of two men. One who happened to see Dangerous Dan get hit and one who had a vested interest in her, it was his plane. By that I mean he was crew chief.
I've not researched beyond what these men told me, mainly because they were actually there. However, I'm always picking up something different, looking through archives and old photos when I can and I found something quite amazing the other day and I still don't really know how to react.
I was going through a box of stuff. A box that hadn't moved in ten years. A box of clippings and photos from an estate. Just stirring around junk on a Saturday looking for something, anything on a green front lawn in North Carolina. A lawn with a big sign that read "Tag Sale".
And what I found amounts to nothing less than remarkable and really shrinks this world another size down and leaves me wondering what to make of it all. Coincidence, fate, some deeper meaning. But enough, this is simply part two...
the story
As I leafed through that box I began to come across things from the war. One yellowed newspaper clipping caught my eye, "Gunner Flies Bomber Home". Fastened to the back by a rusty paper clip was the photo below. Nothing less than the 379th's B-17 #229891, Dangerous Dan.
The article stated that Dangerous Dan was on her first mission to Wilhelmshaven. The pilot and copilot were wounded when a 20mm shell exploded in the cockpit taking them both out of action, the top turret gunner flew her home.
Being a war time article there wasn't anymore detail and it was just a small article, not even front page material. I couldn't tell what paper it came from but it was on page 5.
The article didn't say where Dangerous Dan landed so I guess Suffolk is as good a place as any. From the photo it looks like a farmer's field.
The photo with the first piece is not Dangerous Dan, just another B-17 that shared the same ending, but in the photo I found there is no mistaking the name on that bullet riddled B-17.
As for the crew, they all made it home (at least from that mission) though the pilot and copilot were seriously injured. And there may have been a Lt. Davis, but not on this trip. The pilot was Lt. William T. Jones, and that famous turret gunner was Sgt. Clifford Erickson.
I don't fault the pilot that saw Dangerous Dan get hit and fall from formation for getting it wrong. I'm amazed he remembered that one plane at all, and he was still right about the target and the date. And I don't fault the crew chief either, hell, he only had the plane for one mission. Hardly enough time to get to know the crew, but I could see how the name would stick in his mind. The only one he had for just one mission.
What Dangerous Dan wants with me I don't know.
goodnight 4.7.00
(source)
But if you do remember, or did check it out, I'd like to write the second part of that story now.
Back during WWII groups like the 379th were scattered all over England and the skies of Europe. What I wrote in that first piece came from the memories of two men. One who happened to see Dangerous Dan get hit and one who had a vested interest in her, it was his plane. By that I mean he was crew chief.
I've not researched beyond what these men told me, mainly because they were actually there. However, I'm always picking up something different, looking through archives and old photos when I can and I found something quite amazing the other day and I still don't really know how to react.
I was going through a box of stuff. A box that hadn't moved in ten years. A box of clippings and photos from an estate. Just stirring around junk on a Saturday looking for something, anything on a green front lawn in North Carolina. A lawn with a big sign that read "Tag Sale".
And what I found amounts to nothing less than remarkable and really shrinks this world another size down and leaves me wondering what to make of it all. Coincidence, fate, some deeper meaning. But enough, this is simply part two...
the story
As I leafed through that box I began to come across things from the war. One yellowed newspaper clipping caught my eye, "Gunner Flies Bomber Home". Fastened to the back by a rusty paper clip was the photo below. Nothing less than the 379th's B-17 #229891, Dangerous Dan.
The article stated that Dangerous Dan was on her first mission to Wilhelmshaven. The pilot and copilot were wounded when a 20mm shell exploded in the cockpit taking them both out of action, the top turret gunner flew her home.
Being a war time article there wasn't anymore detail and it was just a small article, not even front page material. I couldn't tell what paper it came from but it was on page 5.
The article didn't say where Dangerous Dan landed so I guess Suffolk is as good a place as any. From the photo it looks like a farmer's field.
The photo with the first piece is not Dangerous Dan, just another B-17 that shared the same ending, but in the photo I found there is no mistaking the name on that bullet riddled B-17.
As for the crew, they all made it home (at least from that mission) though the pilot and copilot were seriously injured. And there may have been a Lt. Davis, but not on this trip. The pilot was Lt. William T. Jones, and that famous turret gunner was Sgt. Clifford Erickson.
I don't fault the pilot that saw Dangerous Dan get hit and fall from formation for getting it wrong. I'm amazed he remembered that one plane at all, and he was still right about the target and the date. And I don't fault the crew chief either, hell, he only had the plane for one mission. Hardly enough time to get to know the crew, but I could see how the name would stick in his mind. The only one he had for just one mission.
What Dangerous Dan wants with me I don't know.
goodnight 4.7.00
(source)
Dangerous Dan ...
I came across this piece years ago. The author has a wonderful website; so directly from his website . . .
"Dangerous Dan" That was the planes name. Today in the span of an hour I helped a man find out two things. What happened to his plane, and what happened to his friends father.
To understand you'll have to go back with me to 12.22.43, once more to the skies over Europe. Why do we keep going there? Everyday the men who were there grow older and with age, the memories begin to come back over a lifetime. They are a bridge spanning the time between youth and the period just before death, from a time when we can't see the end to a time where it is always with us. And these men with their memories have as many questions as I do. Sometimes, we need each others help.
Like today.
Background. My mother calls me with the number of a gentleman who has been trying to reach me. Says he has some things I may be interested in. I call out of curiousity. The man was with the 8th Airforce, 379th Bomb Group, 524th Squadron. We chatted it up for awhile and then he asked his question.
I'm 27. I was born 26 years after the conflict ended. Hundreds, indeed thousands of bombers were built during WWII. The 379th lost over 140 herself. And I was supposed to have heard of one? Sure, names like Sad Sack, Sentimental Journey, Strawberry Bitch, Patches, Memphis Belle, they all mean something, but never, in all my reading had I heard of Dangerous Dan and it didn't surprise me.
"No. Was she yours?"
"A fellow asked me about her awhile back, wanted to know if I knew anybody who could tell him about her crew or what happened to her, I was just hoping you'd heard. His father was on board"
Isn't that something, a fellow who was there hoping I'd heard about a plane that dissapeared 28 years before I was born.
I logged on. Checked some records and found a pilot from the 379th, 524th who was alive and had an email address. He had heard of Dangerous Dan. He knew the serial number and the pilot and the day the plane was lost. 12.22.43. It was on a raid to an aircraft plant in Germany and crash landed in Suffolk, England. The plane was salvaged (which means scrapped for parts) and the crew...well lets just say they almost made it home.
"Lt. Davis was flying you say?"
The web can make time and distance shrink. Like those memories that come flooding back to the old, it can bridge a gap, and for that we must be thankful...and careful.
goodnight 10.8.98
"Dangerous Dan" That was the planes name. Today in the span of an hour I helped a man find out two things. What happened to his plane, and what happened to his friends father.
To understand you'll have to go back with me to 12.22.43, once more to the skies over Europe. Why do we keep going there? Everyday the men who were there grow older and with age, the memories begin to come back over a lifetime. They are a bridge spanning the time between youth and the period just before death, from a time when we can't see the end to a time where it is always with us. And these men with their memories have as many questions as I do. Sometimes, we need each others help.
Like today.
Background. My mother calls me with the number of a gentleman who has been trying to reach me. Says he has some things I may be interested in. I call out of curiousity. The man was with the 8th Airforce, 379th Bomb Group, 524th Squadron. We chatted it up for awhile and then he asked his question.
"You ever heard of 'Dangerous Dan'?"
I'm 27. I was born 26 years after the conflict ended. Hundreds, indeed thousands of bombers were built during WWII. The 379th lost over 140 herself. And I was supposed to have heard of one? Sure, names like Sad Sack, Sentimental Journey, Strawberry Bitch, Patches, Memphis Belle, they all mean something, but never, in all my reading had I heard of Dangerous Dan and it didn't surprise me.
"No. Was she yours?"
"One of 'em, but it was so long ago and we lost so many..." His voice seemed to fade on the other end of the line for a moment.
"A fellow asked me about her awhile back, wanted to know if I knew anybody who could tell him about her crew or what happened to her, I was just hoping you'd heard. His father was on board"
Isn't that something, a fellow who was there hoping I'd heard about a plane that dissapeared 28 years before I was born.
I logged on. Checked some records and found a pilot from the 379th, 524th who was alive and had an email address. He had heard of Dangerous Dan. He knew the serial number and the pilot and the day the plane was lost. 12.22.43. It was on a raid to an aircraft plant in Germany and crash landed in Suffolk, England. The plane was salvaged (which means scrapped for parts) and the crew...well lets just say they almost made it home.
I called the man back and gave him the info. It started coming back to him.
"Yeah, that winter in England we got moved around a lot, things happened so fast. We lost a lot of planes and I remember Dangerous Dan, being assigned to the plane, but it wasn't around long after I got it. Now I remember that day, she didn't make it back...no, I remember they sent a salvage party on the 24th down to Suffolk. I didn't go, I had to get another plane combat ready...it took a long time to get one ready you know."
"Yeah, that winter in England we got moved around a lot, things happened so fast. We lost a lot of planes and I remember Dangerous Dan, being assigned to the plane, but it wasn't around long after I got it. Now I remember that day, she didn't make it back...no, I remember they sent a salvage party on the 24th down to Suffolk. I didn't go, I had to get another plane combat ready...it took a long time to get one ready you know."
"Lt. Davis was flying you say?"
"Yeah."
"I remember him too, funny guy, but he played it straight. He should've made it back. A lot of them almost did. You know we had one plane that had one wing in the water and one on land...they made it. You couldn't get too caught up though, we were young and all."
And so one more plane from the 524th can rest in peace. One more family can finally know what happened to there husband, father. Not that they were lost over Europe, but how, when. What the temperature was like that day. What the grass smelled like. What shade of blue the sky was. They can talk to someone who last saw the plane as it made the coast of England for the last time and talk to the fellow who worked on her before she lifted off that last time. Not because of me. I'm a thread, a middle man.
And so one more plane from the 524th can rest in peace. One more family can finally know what happened to there husband, father. Not that they were lost over Europe, but how, when. What the temperature was like that day. What the grass smelled like. What shade of blue the sky was. They can talk to someone who last saw the plane as it made the coast of England for the last time and talk to the fellow who worked on her before she lifted off that last time. Not because of me. I'm a thread, a middle man.
The web can make time and distance shrink. Like those memories that come flooding back to the old, it can bridge a gap, and for that we must be thankful...and careful.
goodnight 10.8.98
(Source)
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