mailbag
March 2016 AH 5Liberator Love
The story on the famous
Consolidated B-24 [“Un-
loved Liberator,” January]
was brilliant and well over-
due for a WWII bomber that
had to take the back seat in
publicity and photo shoots
to the famous Boeing B-17.
Why? Because the Liberator
was ugly, not sexy like the
B-17 was. I flew on C-47s,
C-54s and “Old Shaky,” the
C-124, and trained on B-25s.
None of them was sexy.
Thank you for the B-
article, and thanks to the
Collings Foundation for
keeping their Liberator fly-
ing, to be enjoyed and seen
by millions.
Thomas G. Casey
Manager
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders
I enjoyed Robert F. Dorr’s
article on the B-24. It should
be noted that the Privateer
SEND LETTERS TO
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I
enjoyed the article on the Arado Ar-234 [“Nazi
Blitz Bomber,” November]. It caused me to seek
out some old World War II photos my grand-
mother gave me, taken by her nephew Art
Merriman, who served in the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. His unit was right behind our lines, and
when the Army took a Luftwaffe airfield, they made
it usable again for the Army Air Forces. Looking at
the photos, I discovered among them an Arado
Ar-234 in a bombed-out hangar [above]. I believe it
is the prototype Ar-234 V6 (four BMW 003 engines).
I start reading your magazine as soon as it arrives;
keep the good articles coming..
Don Doherty
Livonia, Mich.variant soldiered on into the
21st century. One crashed in
2002 while performing fire-
fighting duties in Colorado.
Brian Hatoff
Oakland, Calif.Re your reference to the
silver B-24 being put on dis-
play in 1956 at Lackland Air
Force Base in San Antonio,
Texas: It was actually there
in 1954. I entered basic
training in October 1954,
and within the first week our
squadron marched past this
giant historical testament to
a bygone era.
Fred Beebe
Atlantic Beach, Fla.Mustang
Pilot Rescue
In the January issue, P. 26
“Tech Notes,” the items
identified in the B-24 illustra-
tion as bomb racks are tanks
for breathing oxygen.Also in that issue, the arti-
cle “Angels of Mercy,” spe-
cifically “Hitching a Ride,”
reminded me of a rescue
that my father told me
about. On August 18, 1944,
Captain Bert Marshall, 354th
Fighter Squadron, 355th
Fighter Group, was shot
down near the German bor-
der, crash-landing his P-51D
in a wheat field. Lieutenant
Royce Priest, of the same
squadron and group, landed
a quarter mile away in the
same field and successfully
picked up Marshall after
throwing out his parachute
and raft. Priest was awarded
the Distinguished Service
Cross for this action, report-
edly the first such successful
rescue of an American pilot
in the ETO.
I really like the new format.
John Grimmett
Pleasant Grove, Ala.overlooked
contribution
Your article about Colonel
Joe Jackson’s Medal of
Honor action [January]
would have been fine if you
had only covered that part
of the day’s work. You claim
that a “steady stream” of
Air Force C-123s and C-130s
carried out the evacuation.
The truth is that the total
number of evacuees was
nearly 1,800, including U.S.
Army, ARVN and civilians,
with well over half of them
taken out by Army Chinook
helicopters of the 178th
Assault Support Helicopter
Company (ASHC) “Boxcars,”
starting in early morning,
and not concluding until late
afternoon. The Air Forcelanded a total of six C-130s,
with two being shot down,
and the other four taking
out approxi mately 600 peo-
ple. Two C-123 sorties were
completed, taking out a to-
tal of 68, including the three
rescued by Colonel Jackson.
That leaves nearly 1,200 not
evacuated by the Air Force
but by Marine CH-46s, Army
Hueys and Army Chinooks.
The 178th Boxcar
Chinooks made 41 sorties
into Kham Duc, taking out
between 800 and 900 of
the evacu ees; two Chi-
nooks were shot down and
destroyed, although the
crews survived. When the
last Chinook left, the only
Ameri cans on the ground
were the three Air Force
men who got out on Jack-
son’s C-123.
Dean C. Nelson
Secretary
178th ASHC Boxcar AssociationArado Cockpit
Correction
On P. 28 of the November
issue, item no. 11 is labeled
as “oxygen hose.” However,
the German word Notab-
wurf (emergency jettison) on
the part suggests that this
is a handle to jettison the
cano py in an emergency,
which would also explain the
relative length of the item
(for increased manual lever-
age) in a cramped cockpit.
Martin Hoch
Weiterstadt, GermanyGood eye. The no. 11 label
should have been placed on
the black hose directly be-
hind the red canopy jettison
handle. –Ed.