Recorded memoir of Violes Flanary (MC 376/224)
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Recorded memoir of Violes Flanary

1


MC 376/224


1 audio cassette (BASF Ferris Extra I 90)

nd [c 1985]


93rd Bomb Group


Violes Flanary


An address at the start of the recording has been redacted (0mn 5s to 0mn 12s).

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Description
[00:00-05:00] Summarizes his service and joining Army Air Force, April 1941. Comments on training in Florida and Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado. Mentions hearing news of attack on Pearl Harbour, December, 1941. Continues about training including gunnery school, Las Vegas, Nevada and Barksdale Field, Louisiana. Quotes from unidentified poem about joining the army. Mentions his crew's name, 'Eager Beaver,' submarine patron in the Gulf of Mexico and their bombardiers. [05:00-10:00] Bombardiers continued and comments on journey to England via Newfoundland, Canada and Prestwick, Scotland. Describes arrival and facilities at Alconbury [Cambridgeshire] and meeting English people in Cambridge. Mentions Group's first mission, 9 October 1942, Lille, France and other missions to France, November 1942. [10:00-15:00] Missions to France continued. Comments on crew changes, including transfer of Richard Baker (navigator) and his replacement, James ?Latinay. Describes leaving for Oran, Africa, desert living conditions and missions flown between 8-14 December 1942. Describes trip to Oran and transfer to airstrip in Libyan desert, including living conditions, visiting Cairo and missions flown, December 1942. [15:00-20:00] Lists missions flown between 27 December 1942 and 20 February 1943 to targets including Messina, Sicily, and Naples, Italy. Remarks on returning to England, 24 February 1943. [20:00-25:00] Lists missions flown from Hardwick [Norfolk] including to Rouen, France, 28 March; Rotterdam [Netherlands] 31 March 1943 and Bordeaux, France, 17 May 1943. Describes visits to London and Cambridge. Comments on Hardwick aribase, watching an air raid on Norwich, meeting local girls, low level flight practice, June [? 1943] and reassignment as a gunnery instructor to new crews. [25:00-30:00] Comments on his girlfriend and describes his return to the United States. Remarks on post-war correspondence with Ian ?Shuttleworth about a B-24 crash in Scotland and visiting England in 1983 with his wife. Anecdote about bicycles taken by GIs and dumped in a lake to avoid the military police. Names his crew: Frank ?Ranheart (pilot); Richard B. Archer (co-pilor); Richard Baker (navigator); James ?Latinay (replacement navigator) and Robert L ? [30:00-35:00] Crew continued: B.A. Martin (engineer); L.E. Scott (replacement engineer); ?Rose (radio operator); R.G. Thacker and Charles Frost (waist-gunners); R. Grisham (gunner) and himself (tail-gunner). Recorded on side A only.