THE HIDDEN HEROES AFTER-WAR MEMORIAL AT TALLY HO FARM WINKFIELD SL4 4RZ ENGLAND
"Civilisation is helping each other: people to people, nation to nation"


 
Why we should give thanks for archivists, informateers and I-witnesses
 
  Thanks and tributes to all those who help share
stories connected across time and space

WELCOME & BASICS

     CONTENTS 

    LOCATION

    NEWS 

     TALKS  

CONTACT 

 

HAPPY LANDINGS CLUB
 

BEFRIENDING FLY2HELP & ROSIE
THE RIVETER CHARTER HIGH

 

CHAMPIONS AT TALLY HO FARM

        2014 TIME CAPSULE

OUR B17's CREW

    TCAAP IN MINNESOTA

    ROSIES IN LONG BEACH 

    INFORMATEERS

    

SCHWEINFURT RECONCILED 1943-2014

USAAF MEMORIALS IN UK

RETURNERS HOME

   BLACK THURSDAY

DETECTORISTS  

 

BOMBEE'S EYE VIEW

     SCHOOLS CITIZENSHIP STUDIES

DIGGING UP INFORMATION FOR THANKSGIVING FIELD took many forms.  Some was on-line, some by e-mail, some on Kindle, some in books, some face-to-face, some by Facebook.

It's been possible to find and follow-up lots of information quickly. And we ought to pay tribute to those who responded. A frequent comment from them was to say thanks for reaching out to them.

A vast treasure came to light.

In particular I've been greatly helped by:
- The Bracknell Forest Library at Whitegrove
- The Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association website
- The 92nd Bomb Group Memorial Association website
- Bob Disher and his tribute page to uncle Jack on Fold3
- Facebook Groups for the 407th Bomb Squadron and the 92nd
  Bomb Group

If you're interested, there's an enormous stock of information, articles and books on the 8th Air Force in Europe - including the big museum in Savannah GA.  In the UK, the big one is the American Air Museum at Duxford in Cambridgeshire - but with quite a few smaller ones and local memorials (for example at Podington).
 
   
  The Whitegrove treasure trove of eye-witnesses
  When I put out an appeal to local libraries, the first to respond was Huw Lewis at Whitegrove, on the north side of Bracknell. He runs a Reminiscence Group each month, and knew that a couple of members had eye-witness accounts to share.

So I went to Winkfield Lane and met Sid & Liz Mitchell. They were on the spot.

Both were at primary school at the time - Sid at Warfield (now housing a Montessori school) and Liz at Cranbourne (still there).

Sid was walking home through Maiden's Green when he saw the B17 coming up low from the direction of Bracknell. He thought it was on fire - though it's possible the pilot put on the landing lights to warn anyone at RAF Winkfield a mile ahead. The plane got over the tower of St Mary's Church, and disappeared from view. But Sid heard a bang, and saw the glow as the plane caught fire and heard the bangs as ammunition went off.

He got home to Hope Farm in Winkfield Lane, just to the west of the airfield. On the opposite side of the road were the quarters for the 50 or so RAF personnel stationed there. (It was a small auxiliary airfield controlled by Fairoaks to the south). As the blackout was in operation, after helping sort out the crew and douse the flames of the B17, the airmen came back stumbling and mumbling using a fairly limited vocabulary which Sid, at 10, did not recognise or understand.

Further north, not far from what was the the Tally Ho pub on the corner with Crouch Lane, Liz saw the fire and heard the bangs.

Later, I had a cheery morning with the Group, and at this unearthed Gladys the Riveter.  Good biscuits too.


Huw Lewis with the the group at Whitegrove.
On the right is Eve, who sister Moira rang in with her personal viewpoint to the east of the airfield.
She remembers the plane circling for a while, before going in.
She also went across the fields a couple of days later.
The wreckage was still there.


Sid & Liz Mitchell
   
  The mighty 92nd USAAF-USAF Memorial Association
     
 

Found within a few minutes of Googling "Winkfield B17 Schweinfurt", the Association website proved to be a gold-mine of information.

The Association is a tribute to the units in what was originally the 92nd Bombardment Group in 1942, but which went through a series of changes of function and bases over many years. A key person is the Association Historian Greg Alexander, who's also a keen collector of militaria, as you can see from this rakish photo!


Our B17 was quickly found in an amazing document - the official report for the whole of Mission 115 to Schweinfurt of 14 October 1943, compiled and sent to USAAF HQ at High Wycombe.

 

For example, early on it says:

  • “A/c no. 171 piloted by 2 Lt. F. W. Wolfe crash-landed near Ship Lake at 1854 hours out of gas. No one injured in crashing. Crew has been interrogated.

  • A/c no. 351 piloted by 1 Lt. R. W. Lyng tried to land at 1824 hours at Swink Field low on gas. Hit mound at end of field, ground-looped and burned up. Crew all safe and has been interrogated.”

It was quickly obvious that #171 had come down at Shiplake, a village on the Thames a few miles north of Reading.

 

And Swink Field was RAF Winkfield. (American air bases in the USA were usually named Fields, but in England all save one took the RAF station or local name).

 

Further down the report was the full transcript of the report given by the crew of our B17 #351 at debriefing - probably in the middle of the night when they'd been recovered to Podington. It lists the crew names, full details of the mission.

 

Elsewhere in the site, I found a newsletter with an account of what happened with the B17 that landed at Shiplake. This was in a personal account written up by the navigator, Milton Cohen, presumably in quiet a few days later. It starts with him being woken up at 2.30am on the morning of Bloody Thursday, and is his first-hand account of the rest of the day - down to this finale.

 

 

MIA meant Missing in Action - in March 1945, shortly before the end of the war in Europe.

 

What was remarkable now was having two fine sources of information or viewpoints: the terse impersonal debriefing transcript for our #351 into Winkfield; and the airman's eye view in Milton Cohen's write up, colouring in the outline.

 




The crucial crew list on the website.
Note that other than HL Smith, the names are unusual - which suggested that searching for them or their families would not be a daunting task.

Lyng, Stebbins, Pfleger, Waranicha, Barbato and Hultquist survived their your - and WW2.
Disher was listed KIA in March 1945.
Only Rabney, Bootwell and Smith are unaccounted for -
so far!





92nd Bomb Group Newsletter
with the story of the Shiplake B17


   
  SSMA Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association
 

The SSMA have been very enthusiastic supporters of Thanksgiving Field, and will be providing seating for weary visitors at the site by way of remembrance for all exhausted crews on Black Thursday.

 

Particular thanks go to Director of Education Sue Moyer (left)

 

Thirty years after the Second Schweinfurt Raid, some of the survivors from the Mighty 8th Air Force, including Colonel Budd Peaslee, S/Sgt Phillip Taylor and 1st Lt William Allen, decided to form an organization to commemorate their fallen comrades-in-arms.

 

They called it the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association, Inc. (SSMA)giving it direct connection to the second air raid on Schweinfurt.

 

Initially, the full members of this association were all veterans of the 8th Air Force who flew on Mission 115. Every year the members, and their families and friends, meet in a different city in the United States around the 14th of October to honor their dead fellow airmen. Eventually, they were joined by Germans from Schweinfurt, and from this united interest developed the suggestion of a joint memorial remembering this mission.

 

You can see details of this at our page on how Schweinfurt treasures foes becoming friends.

 

The SSMA has its next reunion is on 11-14 September 2014, at Colorado Springs.  The programme includes a visit to the US Air Force Academy and the Garden of the Gods - and a slideshow about Thanksgiving Field!





The SSMA German American Memorial
at Spitalsee-Bunker
in Schweinfurt


SSMA PIN AND RAF AIRCREW BUTTON
WHICH WILL BE BURIED TOGETHER
IN THE TALLY HO HOARD AT
THANKSGIVING FIELD



   
  Bob Disher's tribute to Uncle Jack on FOLD3
  FOLD3 is an on-line site carrying details of millions of US servicepeople, many as tributes by family members.

Bob Disher set up one for his Uncle Jack, who was the ballgunner on our Winkfield B17 #3351Z.

He felt that it was important to have on record something of the heroism, dedication and spisit of generosity shown by Jack's generation. You can find the Fold3 here.

It includes official papers relating to his final mission on 18 March 1945, when he was killed in action.

There's further information and details about Jack at our page on the #3351Z crew.

By chance, Bob lives in Denver, where #3351Z was delivered to the USAAF in May 1943. As you can see, he's a keen Denver Broncos fan - so needs a lot of the hope and resilience shown by his uncle.

Jack would have acclaimed Bob and his wife Colleen,
who helped carry the flag onto the field before tens of thousands of people in honor breast of breast cancer awareness.



 

  Facebook Groups
  There are numerous Facebook pages about USAAF Eight Air Force units - including for the 407th Bomb Squadron, and UK and USA versions for the 92nd Bomb Group.

They are packed with contacts and personal details of crew members, planes and other information.
     
 
 
 

WELCOME & BASICS

CONTENTS 

LOCATION

NEWS 

TALKS  

CONTACT 

 

HAPPY LANDINGS CLUB
 

BEFRIENDING FLY2HELP & ROSIE
THE RIVETER CHARTER HIGH

 

CHAMPIONS AT TALLY HO FARM

2014 TIME CAPSULE

OUR B17's CREW

TCAAP IN MINNESOTA

ROSIES IN LONG BEACH

INFORMATEERS

    

SCHWEINFURT RECONCILED 1943-2014

USAAF MEMORIALS IN UK

RETURNERS HOME

BLACK THURSDAY

DETECTORISTS