During my time in the Army, I had 2 stations. The first, I was assigned to and the 2nd, I requested a transfer.
My first station was a radar station on a hill overlooking Ramstein AFB, near Landstuhl. You have probably heard of Landstuhl from time to time, as it contains the Army’s – if not main hospital in Europe, certainly one of the top hospitals.
in WW2, but its pilots loved it – considering it to be a flying tank. Of course, I’m talking about the P-47 Thunderbolt.
I’ve just come across a fantastic video – on order from General Hap Arnold it was shot in color during the closing months of WW2 in the ETO with the 362nd Fighter Group.
Coupled with the color film are interviews with former squadron members many years later, on what it was like in those days.
A few things I learned:
I don’t know how they did it, but check out this 1957 film of the Air Force F-86s. It only has a 2:08 duration, but what scenes. Someone on the Facebook group wondered if Paul Mantz filmed this.
Dunno.
Update 12-27-2018 – From the Vimeo Site:
JET PILOT (1957) produced by Howard Hughes was shot between 1949-1951. Beautiful aerial cinematography in this Cold War film. The US Air Force allowed the use of: F-86 / B-36B / F-94A / EB50A / T-33A and the Bell X-1 that first broke the sound barrier. Shot on Kodak’s first color negative film 5247.
Filed under Air Force, Best of Neptunus Lex, by lex, Carroll "Lex" LeFon, Carroll LeFon, Lex, Navy, USAF
When I arrived at Wurtsmith AFB on December 8, 1978, I remember expecting a crack bomber unit embodying steely-eyed discipline, Spanish Inquisition-level devotion to regulations, and a certain sunglasses-silk-scarf-and-grin panache that would indeed tell you that you were an elite, entrusted with the Nation’s Survival In It’s Darkest Hour.
By lex, on July 27th, 2010
Meet ARM 1/c Oliver Rasmussen, native of Wisconsin, who lived off the land in Hokkaido, Japan after his plane crashed during an air strike:
