Hans O. Sandström skrev:Flygvänner,
Såg detta program idag på Discovery 14.00-15.00. Mycket sevärt och en del nytt man inte kände till om DC-3!!
Repriser lördagen den 30/1 16.00-17.00 och söndagen 31/1 14.00-15.00 på Discovery.
Ett litet tips och mycket sevärt!!
Hans SFF-Småland
PS.Har för närvarde kontakt med en pilot som flög denna B-36 för USAF. Detta på grund av släktforskning på min frus sida!DS.
Uttrycket 6 turning , 4 burning kom till i samband med denna 10-motoriga maskin:-). 70 meters spännvidd!! 384 st byggdes.
hourclub.jpg
Skådespelaren
James Maitland 'Jimmy' Stewart var inte bara en av Hollywoods bästa skådespelare någonsin. Han hade en framgångsrik karriär som flygare också under Andra världskriget men även efteråt. Så att se honom i en långfilm där denna B-36 förekommer var därför inte enbart 'på låtsas'. Han var en äkta flygare men ytterst blygsam med att skryta om sina insatser!
Citat från engelska Wikipedia:
On July 23, 1959, Stewart was promoted to brigadier general. During his active duty periods, he remained current as a pilot of Convair B-36 Peacemaker, Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress intercontinental bombers of the Strategic Air Command. On February 20, 1966, Brigadier General Stewart flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on an Arc Light bombing mission during the Vietnam War. He refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation, as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve. After 27 years of service, Stewart retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.
Jimmy Stewart är en av mina absoluta favoriter bland de amerikanska filmskådisarna. Han har medverkat i ett otal om Hollywoods mest berömda filmklassiker. Läs gärna mer om honom på engelska Wikipedia och då särskilt det långa men intressanta avsnittet om hans militära karriär.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart
Ett kortare citat från Wikipediaartikeln om hans flygtjänst under kriget:
In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bomb Group as operations officer of the 703d Bombardment Squadron, but after three weeks became its commander. On October 12, 1943, judged ready to go overseas, the 445th Bomb Group staged to Lincoln Army Airfield, Nebraska. Flying individually, the aircraft first flew to Morrison Army Airfield, Florida, and then on the circuitous Southern Route along the coasts of South America and Africa to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England. After several weeks of training missions, in which Stewart flew with most of his combat crews, the group flew its first combat mission on December 13, 1943, to bomb the U-boat facilities at Kiel, Germany, followed three days later by a mission to Bremen. Stewart led the high squadron of the group formation on the first mission, and the entire group on the second. Following a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, on January 7, 1944, Stewart was promoted to major. Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions as deputy commander of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing on the first day of "Big Week" operations in February and flew two other missions that week.
On March 22, 1944, Stewart flew his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on Berlin. On March 30, 1944, he was sent to RAF Old Buckenham to become group operations officer of the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had just lost both its commander and operations officer on missions. To inspire the unit, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on several missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. As a staff officer, Stewart was assigned to the 453rd "for the duration" and thus not subject to a quota of missions of a combat tour. He nevertheless assigned himself as a combat crewman on the group's missions until his promotion to lieutenant colonel on June 3 and reassignment on July 1, 1944, to the 2nd Bomb Wing, assigned as executive officer to Brigadier General Edward J. Timberlake. His official tally of mission credits while assigned to the 445th and 453rd Bomb Groups was 20 sorties.
Stewart continued to go on missions uncredited, flying with the pathfinder squadron of the 389th Bombardment Group, with his two former groups and with groups of the 20th Combat Bomb Wing. He received a second award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. Stewart served in a number of staff positions in the 2nd and 20th Bomb Wings between July 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945. On May 10, 1945, he succeeded to command of the 2nd Bomb Wing, a position he held until June 15. Stewart was one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.
Jimmy Stewart var en filmskådespelare och flygare som man verkligen skulle kunna ge epitetet att han var en människa gjord av 'the Right Stuff'!
