Lone Sentry Blog » news

Pilot Flew Goering to Captivity

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:03:58 +0000

Associated Press has published an interview with Mayhew “Bo” Foster, the U.S. pilot who flew Nazi leader Hermann Goering to the 7th Army’s headquarters for interrogation in a Piper artillery spotter plane: Pilot Recalls Nazi Leader’s Capture.

It was May 9, 1945, the day after World War II ended in Europe. Goering, Foster and officers from the Army’s 36th Infantry Division gathered on an airstrip outside Kitzbuhel, Austria, to transport the war prisoner back to Germany in a two-man reconnaissance plane….

Goering, 52, had surrendered to the U.S. Army’s 36th Infantry Division the day before, and was now being delivered to Foster for transport….

The main problem, Foster said, was getting the two of them off the ground. Goering weighed 300-plus pounds, and the nimble, lightweight Piper L4 that Foster piloted in his artillery spotting missions wouldn’t support both him and Goering.

They’d have to upgrade to an L5, a slightly larger aircraft Foster hadn’t flown in years….

There was just a single jeep at the airstrip to meet the arriving flight. Foster rode with Goering to the gates of the 7th Army Headquarters and formally turned him over to the intelligence officer without ceremony.

B-17 “Chuckie” Moves to Military Aviation Museum

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:32:57 +0000

The B-17 Flying Fortress “Chuckie” is moving from the Vintage Flying Museum in Fort Worth, Texas to the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The B-17 “Chuckie” was used for cropdusting until 1979. Owned by Chuckie Hospers, the B-17 was purchased by Don Anklin for permanent display at the Military Aviation Museum. The museum plans on sending the aircraft to American Aero in Florida for restoration work after which the B-17 returns to the museum.

See: Rare WWII Bomber Finds New Home in Virginia Beach

New WWII Dragon Kits

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:11:12 +0000

Three new WWII model kit announcements from Dragon for release in December 2010:

1/35th Gebirgspioniere, Metaxas Line 1941 (4 Figures Set) — DRA6538
1/35th M4 (105) Howitzer Tank — DRA6548
1/350th U.S.S. Chevalier DD-805, 1945, Gearing Class Destroyer — DRA1046

Allied-Axis Photo Journal No. 25

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:06:10 +0000

The latest issue of Ampersand Publishing’s reference magazine Allied-Axis: The Photo Journal of the Second World War has been announced. This issue of Allied-Axis will cover the 40mm Gun Motor Carriage M19, Panther Ausf. A, General Electric 60″ Searchlight, SdKfz 222 Armored Car, Ford Bomb Truck, and Ford Fordor Staff Car.

NY Divers Discover Lost WWII-era Shells from USS Bennington

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:16:09 +0000

Aircraft Carrier USS Bennington (CV-20) in Oct. 1944

Divers in New York have found over 1,500 live naval ammunition shells in the waters under the Verrazano Bridge in New York. The WWII-era copper shells are believed to have fallen overboard during an accident offloading ammunition from the aircraft carrier USS Bennington over 65 years ago. Some of the shells now lay only 20 feet below the water. If the ammunition is still live, the shells could be dangerous if disturbed by passing ships or construction activities.

More information on the USS Bennington from Wikipedia:

USS Bennington (CV-20) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington (Vermont). Bennington was commissioned in August 1944, and served in several of the later campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an Antisubmarine Aircraft Carrier (CVS). In her second career, she spent most of her time in the Pacific, earning five battle stars for action during the Vietnam War. She served as the recovery ship for the Apollo 4 space mission. She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold for scrap in 1994.

Allied-Axis: The Photo Journal of WWII

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:27:40 +0000

Recent issues of Ampersand Publishing’s reference magazine Allied-Axis: The Photo Journal of the Second World War:

	Issue 21 Studebaker US6 trucks; SdKfz 7, 8-ton halftrack; SdKfz 10/4 flak; Corbitt & White trucks
	Issue 22 M15/M15A1 halftrack multiple gun motor carriage; Scheinwerfer 150-cm searchlight; 57-mm antitank gun; Universal carrier; M10 ammunition trailer; U.S. rations
	Issue 23 M4A3E2 Jumbo tank; SdKfz 7, 8-ton halftrack; U.S. snow tractors; Armored utility car M20; SPA/Fiat prime mover; 6-ton bridge erector truck
	Issue 24 .50-Caliber multiple gun carriage M55; Cannone de 90/53 on Autocarro Pesante Lancia; 75mm Pack Howitzer; Japanese Type 95 tank; 105mm Howitzer M2A1; sFH 18 15-cm howitzer

SB2C Helldiver Recovered from California Lake

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:34:36 +0000

Divers and salvage crews have successfully raised a WW2 SB2C Helldiver dive bomber from the bottom of a California lake where it crashed in 1945. Now that the plane is free from the mud on the lake bottom, the salvage team will next move the Helldiver to shore. The warplane is expected to be disassembled and send to Florida for restoration and display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.

The SB2C Helldiver crashed in May 1945 when the engine failed during a training flight. The pilot E.D. Frazar and gunner Joseph Metz survived the ditching safely.

NBC San Diego: Helldiver Is Up From the Deep

70th Anniversary of Battle of Britain

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:23:12 +0000

Britain honored the Royal Air Force on the anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a flyover of London by WWII Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft. The flyover marked 70 years since the critical aerial Battle of Britain when the badly outnumbered British planes fought off the German Luftwaffe. The actor Robert Hardy read from the famous speech by Winston Churchill praising the RAF pilots with the line “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.

BBC: Winston Churchill’s Battle of Britain ‘Few’ Remembered

The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All our hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day…

WWII Bomb Explodes in Göttingen

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:01:50 +0000

A WWII bomb exploded in the German city of Göttingen while being disarmed by a bomb disposal team, killing three and seriously injuring two other members of the bomb disposal team. Göttingen experienced a number of Allied bombing attacks during WWII, but the majority of the town was not heavily damaged.

Oldest WWII Medal of Honor Recipient Dies

Lone_Sentry_Admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:40:57 +0000

John W. Finn with his wife Alice Finn after formal presentation of the Medal of Honor. (U.S. Navy Photograph.)

Navy Lt. John W. Finn, who received the Medal of Honor for bravery during the raid on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 died May 27 in Chula Vista, Calif. Lt. Finn at age 100 was the oldest surviving recipient of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest honor for valor. Lt. Finn manned a machine gun at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station in an exposed position and fired for over two hours at Japanese aircraft despite multiple wounds.

The original Medal of Honor citation for Lt. Finn reads:

For extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kanoehe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lieutenant Finn promptly secured and manned a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machine-gun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first-aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Lt. Finn was formally presented the Medal of Honor in Sept. 1942, by Admiral Chester Nimitz on board the carrier USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor.