september 2019 AH 5SEND LETTERS TO
Aviation History Editor, HistoryNet
1919 Gallows Road, Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182-
703-771-
OR EMAIL TO [email protected]> Sure, they are: (back row,
from left) Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer
Hesling, Lt. Cmdr. Paige
Blok, Commander Stacy
Uttecht, Commander Leslie
Mintz and Lt. Cmdr. Danielle
Thiriot; (front row, from left)
Lieutenants Christy Talisse,
Kelly Harris, Emily Rixey and
Amanda Lee.MERCURY MIXUP
Congrats on another great
issue [July] with diverse, in-
teresting subjects. I did note
one error in “Flight Test.” In
question 3 of “Happy Moon
Landings,” answer D is incor-
rect, as no Mercury astronaut
ever commanded a space
shuttle. John Young did
command the shuttle, but he
was selected in 1962 as part
of the first group of Gemini
astronauts, and made his
first flight in Gemini 3 with
Gus Grissom. However, an
original Mercury astronaut
did serve as a shuttle pay-
load specialist in 1998. John
Glenn was 77 when he flew
into space for his second
and final flight.
Joseph J. Brescia
Hopewell Junction, N.Y.CARPETBAGGERS
Kudos to Don Hollway for his
great overview of Carpet-
bagger operations during
World War II [July]. For
further information about
the Carpetbaggers, your
readers might be interest-
ed in a 2014 book titled
A Drop in the Night, by
Royce A. Fulmer, with TheaRademacher. Fulmer was a
flight engineer on one of the
B-24Ds operating out of Har-
rington, England. The book
is a first-person account of
Carpetbagger operations.
I had the honor of meeting
Fulmer several times at
his home in Topeka, Kan.,
before he passed (about two
years ago), as I was building
a 1/72nd-scale model of
the interior of a B-24D for
illustrations in his book. As
an aside, Fulmer was also a
teenage bootlegger before
he entered the service, and
after WWII remained in what
became the U.S. Air Force,
and had some great stories
to tell about that also. The
book is a great read!
Bill Eggering
Laclede, Mo.FIRST LEND-LEASE
LIBERATORThe first Lend-Lease Con-
solidated B-24 Liberator
for the Royal Air Force was
delivered to Scotland on
April 9, 1941, not in July
1941 as stated in the July
issue’s “Aviators.” My airmail
collection includes a cover
[above] carried on that trip,
canceled on March 31 at
New York before departure
and on April 11 at London
for the pilot’s return trip on
another aircraft. It representsthe earliest U.S. “bomb-
er pouch” mail of World
War II. The July 1941 flight
on a modified B-24 (later
designated C-87 Liberator
Express) inaugurated the
U.S. Army Air Corps Ferrying
Command’s air transport
service from Bolling Field in
Washington, D.C., via Mon-
treal and Gander Lake, New-
foundland, to Ayr, Scotland,
and back, carrying urgent
passengers, cargo and mail
in both directions about six
times per month until frigid
weather conditions prevent-
ed North Atlantic flights
after mid-October.
Ken Lawrence
Spring Mills, Pa.X-1 ENGINEER
It was enjoyable to read
Mark Carlson’s article
“Dropping the Orange
Beast” mentioning U.S. Air
Force engineer Jack Ridley
in the May issue. My father,
USAF Major Merwin Kanter,
worked for Colonel Ridley on
family-accompanied tours in
Tokyo, Japan. I was 9 years
old when they were both
killed on March 12, 1957,
when their Douglas VC-47A
crashed into Mt. Shirouma in
Japan. Also killed were crew
members Staff Sgt. Charles
E. Carter and Tech. Sgt. Nor-
man J. Landry. The flight was
planned to be a roundabout
from Tokyo to Hamamatsu
Air Base southwest of Tokyo.
Ridley was copilot and my
father was pilot. On the
second leg of the flight they
turned westerly from Niigata
and encountered a very
strong right crosswind from
the north. Apparently they
didn’t take the left drift into
account and were unknow-ingly blown off course to the
south and into Mt. Shirouma.
My father and Colonel
Ridley had a strong influence
on me. I joined the USAF in
the summer of 1969 and got
my wings at Randolph AFB
in 1970. I flew C-141A Star-
lifters stationed at McChord
AFB from 1970-1974. I flew
all over the Pacific, includ-
ing in the vicinity of that
darn mountain. As an aside,
Ridley’s real first name was
“Jackie” and his nickname
was “Jack.”
Ron Kanter
Telluride, Colo.MURDER IN MEXICO
Regarding the fabric that
was removed from the plane
with the two airmen’s mes-
sages, mentioned in “A Turn
For the Worse” and “Aero
Artifact” [March], where is
this fabric now?
Toby Shields
Liverpool, N.Y.Author Craig Thorson
responds: Both sections of
the DH-4 fuselage ended up
in the collection of aviation
enthusiast Mary E. “Mother”
Tusch at her home near the
campus of UC Berkeley. One
of the DH-4 pilots, Frederick
Waterhouse, had visited her
home and signed her wall-
paper, along with hundreds
of other aviators. The name
of the other pilot, Cecil
Connolly, was added on
his behalf by his father. As
Tusch’s entire collection of
early-aviation artifacts was
donated to the Smithsonian
Institution in 1948 through
the assistance of her son-
in-law, Paul Garber, I would
imagine they still exist in
their archives.Mailbag
MISSING WOMAN
FORMATION
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Loved the “Brief-
ing” story and
picture [right] on
P. 6, July issue, but
please can we have
the names of the
wonderful women
in the photo? >
Nan Williams
West Hollywood,
Calif.