Ain't life grand?
Anyhoo...Blogger CW Swanson, over at the perfectly named blog Daily Timewaster, posted this picture.
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| Source (AKA the blogpost I'm referring to) |
And... because flying and Fighters and WWII, it caught my attention.
Turns out this wasn't a run of the mill P-47 (not that there are ANY run of the mill P-47s), instead this was a P-47 out of a Rescue Squadron. Specifically the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron.
Now, I'm sure our resident WWII expert, El Sargento de la fuerza aérea muy viejo, can wax
So I "ducked" on to the internet and found this site, which had a nice synopsis of the squadron. Essentially, while the RAF had an air rescue capability from the start of the war, the 8th Air Force did not. With the daylight bombing campaign in full swing and losses mounting, the error of their ways became apparent. On May 8 1944, a conference was held where it was decided to rectify that situation.
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| Source |
With the support of Col Hub Zemke, the commander of the 56th Fighter Group in the 65 Fighter wing (that took quite a bit of digging to ensure that was the relationship), the squadron was outfitted with flyable P-47s that were no longer certified for combat. Doing so allowed the squadron to fly its first operational mission within a week of the conference.
To put that last sentence in perspective, it took almost 20 years for the F-35 to become operational. My how times have changed.
Back on target, juvat ! On Target, aye, El Sargento de la fuerza aérea muy viejo!
The way it worked was when a raid was launched, the squadron would launch formations of two that would escort the bombers to the English Channel. Each formation would orbit there until the bombers returned, being replaced by new formations as fuel dictated. Bombers who were intending to ditch or in danger thereof would be closely escorted on return. Once the damaged aircraft and/or crew were in the water, the fighters would drop a raft and radio the crew's location to the rescue boats. The P-47s were also loaded with flares which could be dropped to assist in locating the crews.
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| The box-like stores on the wings are the rafts. Because of weight limitations, the belly tank is smaller than on other P-47s and behind it is mounted the flare dispensers. The Red, White and Blue stripes were applied to identify the plane as Rescue. Source |
Later in the war, the squadron was also outfitted with OA-10 Catalinas which increased their rescue capability.
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| Apart from the lack of US Navy anywhere on the aircraft I don't see a difference, but this is an OA-10A. Source |
The 5th ERS flew a total of 3616 sorties and rescued 938 crewmen. 91 P-47s and 2 OA-10s were lost in the accomplishment of that mission.
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| 5th ERS Logo Source |
*Why post early? Mrs J has (had) a travel agent certification course in Galveston. Given the no-notice storm that may affect travel, I thought I'd rather be better safe than sorry.
Hey, nice jugs.
ReplyDeleteYes...They are! ;-)
DeleteAnd they actually *can* be used as flotation devices.
DeleteNot going there, my Friend, I'm not going there.
Deletea bear beat me to it. Nice to see P-47s, vs C-47s, getting some recognition. A good workhorse, kinda the Hurricane of the AAF to the -51. Though variants of the P-47 flew faster, farther and higher than any silly old mustang.
DeleteYes...Well...Early Bird gets the worm. Or something!
DeleteConsidering that bombing of continental Europe started in late January 1943, wonder how many aircrew were lost by the time that conference was held sixteen months later? Bureaucracy can grind slow at times. Never knew there was an outfit like the 5th ERS, thanks for adding to my knowledge of WWII aviation juvat. There are some interesting photos at that site.
ReplyDeleteWell, the "Bombers will always get through" mentality was problematic. Air forces in both the Pacific and Mediterranean had rescue systems, but then they were flying over much more water than the 8th and were PBY based. I think the extent of losses the 8th was taking surprised them and therefore were unprepared.
DeleteI also think this was a pretty good system. The "jugs" could stay with the bombers, stay airborne for a long period of time and working in tandem could keep the crew in sight while also steering the rescue boats. I don't know if they still had guns on them (there was a weight problem they had to deal with), but if so they could defend the crews if necessary.
As I said, I think it was a pretty good solution for the situation.
Among the things you don't want to hear are, "Man overboard. This is not a drill."
ReplyDeleteThe sailors can be confident that the ship will turn around and do whatever it can to find the person in the water, but ditching or bailing out in a lonely ocean isn't what I want to do.
I saw that Catalina at the museum, but I didn't know the full history.
Good post.
a bear. Well done.
And the turn rate and radius of anything much larger than a ski boat makes finding the little person in the big ocean problematic. I tried not to think of that possibility while flying in Korea and Okinawa.
DeleteThus the relatively modern invention, once the jets came out, of rescue radios, really good strobes and aviation versions of EPIRBs.
DeleteBeen watching a bunch of Apollo-related documentaries on the boob-tube, and Mrs. Andrew asked why when the capsules hit the water, a bunch of what looked like dye came out with the flotation collars. She just assumed a small capsule wold be easy to see in a large sea. But she figured it out by the time she finished asking the question. Smart gal. Water, even some rivers, is too big and often too choppy to allow small objects to be seen or to see.
I had forgot about the dye. My Squadron at Moody had a WSO who'd jumped out over the gulf. It was said that he was pretty yellow green for quite a while there after. I'll have to review the archives to see if I've already told the story. Because of two happy endings it was pretty funny
DeleteSupposedly the dye was also a shark repellent or something. Not something I would really want to check out. Except, well, maybe with some of my enemies.
DeleteThanks for the education. I didn't know about the ERS either. So much detail in the history of WW2 gets painted over by the broad strokes of that campaign, or this emergency action.
ReplyDeleteThings like invasion stripes. As I remember, invasion stripes were based on the colors of the mockingbird...
Or the hedgerow plows on Shermans being invented by a sergeant. Turns out it was a Tennessee hillbilly that first proposed it, and the sergeant made it happen.
It isn't minutia, it's gold nuggets of history. Thanks for the nugget, Juvat.
My pleasure, STxAR. Those little nuggets are one of the main drawing points to the Nimitz museum. (Interviews of WWII veterans are recorded and available in kiosks by each exhibit). If you haven't stopped by, you should.
DeleteI too was ignorant of the ERS, my education continues!
ReplyDeleteNice post juvat.
Well played, a bear. Well played.
Thanks, Sarge. Mine also. Had an interesting weekend with lots of pictures for next week.
DeleteI don't know if they are available yet. Check out the histories of the Canadian air Force and it maritime rescue units, and bomber command. They had units all over Europe flying their version of the Catalina. All the way into Iceland and England for daily patrols. One unit was stationed in the Azores. My dad's unit was out of Newfoundland. Covered the northern shipping lanes, to Greenland to Iceland. Even their boats were known to have many fuel leaks, and only used marking flares if the other were in sight.
ReplyDeleteI will see what I can see. Thanks for the tip.
DeleteYes...I can see where flares and AvGas fumes could be a bit dicey.
Thanks for the interesting post, juvat. Always learn something here! I'll admit I haven't read the sources yet, will do so later, but I am curious as to the reason for the losses of 91 jugs and 2 Catalinas. If they are orbiting over the Channel after D-Day, were they still subject to incursions by the Luftwaffe? Were they mechanical failures since the jugs were 'reclaimed'? Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteAnd glad to see the commentariat's appreciation for puerile humor is still intact - nicely done, a bear, especially as a first comment!
That's an interesting question Tom. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say weather was probably a factor in many of them. Getting low under a ceiling or with no horizon can easily result in tying the low altitude flying record. Getting a little too close to an 88 on the southern side of the Channel could be a factor also. Then there's also the way the story was written. Verbatim it reads "90 One P-47 and two OA-10 Catalinas were lost during this period." So it could have been a paragraph number and only one was lost. I went with a pessimistic outlook in hopes of being pleasantly surprised.
DeleteI assume that those in charge assumed that the regular rescue launches and the relatively short distance over the Channel would make it easy to find and rescue those lost.
ReplyDeletePeople forget, unless they actually see first hand, how easy it is to lose things in large bodies of water. And also how rough the English Channel could get, and how quickly it could go from relatively calm to wicked mean. The Channel was always England's first line of defense.
"The Channel was always England's first line of defense." Well, that's true only in the last thousand years ( or so ). Before then, invaders from the continent were coming across the Channel and taking over the natives.
DeleteAn informative post that gives us much to think about, juvat.
Thanks for the post.
Paul L. Quandt
Beans, You're right about hard to see objects in the water. Especially if your viewpoint is essentially sea level, aka from a rescue launch. It doesn't take much of a wave to be higher than a raft or person's head thus blocking the view.
DeletePaul, yes those Normans and Vikings were a bit of an issue at times weren't they?
DeleteRomans too.
DeletePaul
Not to Sarge's Ancestors. Hadrian's wall was built to protect the Romans from the blue painted Picts, which I guess is some version of Gaelic meaning Scotch. Speaking thereof, I picked (see what I did there?) a nice bottle of Brucchlaidich for less than I paid for two glasses each at the Hotel this weekend. Twas a bit pricey there I'm afraid.
DeleteWalls work, if they're defended.
Delete😉
And don't if they're not. Isn't that surprising????
DeleteWell, probably not.
Re: Stopping invasions, well, let's see...
DeleteHenry VIII invaded with a bunch of French troops, too, back during that whole War of the Roses thingymabob. Poor Richard, probably one of the best kings England ever had, and he got stomped by the Tudors. Who were not the best royals England ever had.
But starting with the Elizabethan era, no victorious invasions have taken place westwardly across the English Channel. Stopped the Spanish, the French several times and flummoxed the Nazis. Of course, if the Nazis hadn't gotten involved on the Eastern Front, they might have had the troops and equipment to pull it off.
As to the Normans and Vikings, well, those two groups just followed the same thing that the Saxons did. And both (not the Saxons, bunch of knuckle-headed neo-barbarians...) left England richer and more powerful.
"...if the Nazis hadn't gotten involved on the Eastern Front, they might have had the troops and equipment to pull it off."
DeleteNo. One of the reasons the Germans turned back to the east was that they realized that they didn't have the navy or air force to pull off an invasion of the British Iles. Also they lacked the troop transports to move their army. England was not a Norway that could be captured by a few divisions.
Paul
Paul
"...Vikings..." "...left England richer and more powerful."
DeleteAndrew- Read what you wrote there. You are far too intelligent to have written such utter dreck.
Paul
Brave souls to do that in non-combat capable aircraft...
ReplyDeleteGreater Love.....
DeleteLearn something here every day. I too did not know that they used P-47's for ERS.
ReplyDeleteERS. Assisting membership in the Goldfish Club since---
Well, in this case 1944.
Delete