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Actual Shadow, The
2nd Bomb Division, 8th Air Force

Rated 3.4 (5 Votes)

 

Direct link to this page:
https://aafcollection.info/items/list.php?item=000200

Authors:

Contributors:

Published: circa 1944

"This booklet is published for all members of a combat crew and is intended to make the crew as a whole..."Safety Conscious."

"The photographs are of actual accidents to 2nd Division aircraft and are presented as grim reminders of the destruction that carelessness and loose thinking can cause."

The photo in the center of page 18 is a 492nd plane, Lt. Elmer Pitsenbarger pilot. The description also matches the incident on August 6th, 1944 when a Lt. Fleming's plane slipped in under them on landing. Two were killed on Pitsenbarger's plane and 9 on Fleming's. The latter was flying only their second mission.


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Item: 000200

Viewed: 1812 times

Comments: 3 (see below)

Categories:

  • Bombardment
  • Crash
  • Eighth Air Force

Class/Unit Number:

  • 2nd Bomb: 2nd Bomb Division
  • 8th AF: 8th Air Force

Special Features:

  • Annotated - Includes handwritten notes or descriptions

Locations:

  • England; UK

Contributors:

  • Kelsy McMillan of 389th Bombardment Group Memorial Exhibition Museum

Repositories:

Related Items:

  • 000467: Combat Crew Manual
    XX Bomber Command, APO 493

Added: December 15, 2009

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Army Air Forces Collection, "Actual Shadow, The: 2nd Bomb Division, 8th Air Force" (item 000200), AAF Collection, https://AAFCollection.info/items/list.php?item=000200 (accessed 28 March 2024).

000200-01-00.pdf Flying safety booklet for combat air crews.

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35 pages; PDF (.pdf)
Original item: Booklet
Viewed: 1812 times

Comments (Add a Comment)

[1] Lee Parmeter (15-Dec-2009 12:14 PM)

Very interesting the way our pilots WEREN'T trained very well during WWII. In the modern arena this would have never happened. Pushing pilots out the front door as soon as one is at the front door was the war time scenerio. At least we have more control now.

Nice old book. Lee Parmeter USAF retired Biloxi, Ms

[2] Scott A Fitzpatrick (23-Jan-2013 05:42 PM)

My Dad was the Aircraft Commander on a B-24J (399thBG) and had a propeller runaway forcing him to crash-land. He was considered a "highly experienced" pilot with 652 hours total time and had been out of pilot training for a year when the accident took place. MANY, MANY crews were killed in training because of inexperience, poor supervision and youthful exuberance.

[3] John Martin (09-Jan-2021 05:25 PM)

Interesting old book, but pretty simplistic. Keep in mind that landing an airplane is the most dangerous aspect of flying, and these front end crews were just a couple of years removed from being able to drive a Ford model T. Plus, our need for more and more pilots meant if he could take off and land he was deemed "qualified."

John J. Martin, Retired USAF, Kansas City, Mo.

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Curator: Mike Voisin

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Army Air Forces Collection Item 000200 is licensed by Mike Voisin under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revised: January 11, 2023
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