B-24’s in Normandy Part 1 of 6 through 6 of 6

P47 Thunderbolts were Made in Evansville, In and in Up state New York by Republic Aircraft.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f51_1312915970

    This is the one at the Petersen AFB Museum in Colorado Springs, Co.

The photos above were taken by me when I toured the Petersen AFB Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  This aircraft (type) was vital to the war effort and was made in my adopted home town of Evansville, IN at the Republic Aircraft factory that was there.  The building is still here and represents several generations of Evansvillians who have either worked at or know someone who worked at the plant site on US41 in “Stop Light City” USA.  The factory has been several different companies.  Republic Aircraft built the plant.  Shortly after the war it sold  to International Harvester, then became Chrysler, before being converted to the Whirlpool Corporation North American Refrigerator plant.  AS economics and times change the plant was closed by Whirlpool, in 2010 and operations moved south and west to Mexico and China.  Whirlpool however had a history in the war effort as well having several patents on machine guns and munitions at the Whirlpool Ordinance Operations. The local historians advise that the plant was painted blue and decorated above to look like regular land to fool enemy planes in case they ever made it this far inland.  The building is still here today in its same blue color partially empty but being leased out as an industrial park and warehouse.  The P-47 Thunderbolt is mentioned in these media presentations made during the height of the war.  Enjoy!

Part 2 Link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=31a_1312916055

We never know how our history shapes our future.  What comes around goes around.  Within this media presentation you will hear references to P-47 and you may also see photos of LST’s landing in Normandy on D-Day.  Evansville, IN is the home of the LST 357 that was rescued in the mid to late 1990’s from a beach head in the Mediterranean sea.  The reason Evansville was chosen as its home was because a large portion of the LST’s built were assembled here in Evansville and in a town in Illinois on the Northern Mississippi River.  The LST 357 was one of 10 prototypes that came from a shipyard in Philadelphia, but was given a Midwest home because of this towns war time heritage.

Part 3 Link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=888_1312916058

Imagine, never getting away from home and then as a young man or woman being thrust in to the middle of the D-Day carnage that took place in June of 1944.   Talk about culture shock.  These young people were brave but scared.  The unknown has a way of doing that to us.  Many never made it off the beach.  Some drowned trying to get to the beach some were maimed as they hit the sand.  Others made it through to save the world.  All of these soldiers were fighting to save the world but fate or karma  steps in and the rest is history.  As you look through some of the videos, consider what it mus have been like to be going towards that beach with flak and shells bursting around you and the gate beginning to fall and getting the first glimpse of the beachhead and seeing the German Wall of death as your buddies and you struggle to get to a safe place so you can return fire and work your way inland.  The men (and soldiers) around you taking hit after terrible hit and in the midst of this forces you to realize that you are the one that needs to make it to the edge of the bluff so you can take out the snipers and machine gunners that keep lobbing their steel death at you.  Boom! Kapow!  Argggh!  Gurgling wounded around you taking their last gasp of air.   It goes into a short chant or poem that you repeat and pray.

As the Bombs Burst.

A poem by Doug Gempel

5/28/2013

As we float in towards shore,

We realize, this, for sure,

That our time on this beach,

Is going to teach,

Men to pray,

And for this I say,

“My father in heaven,

Please save me from harm,

As I work to save

Humanity,

For thee I sing,

Please reduce our sting,

As the enemy hails bullets around us,

Protect our resolve,

To help us solve,

The battle we are in,

To save us from sin,

And protect those men

Again and again.

Amen!”

We near our thirst,

 as huge bombs burst,

within our ranks,

please accept our thanks,

for what you have done thus far,

please heal thy scar,

as I climb the bluff ahead,

This is enough said,

Till the next time I pray,

Keep me safe today,

 as I look for a better

tomorrow.

Part 4 Link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9c8_1312916062

Part 5 Link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=592_1312916065

Part 6 Link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3d7_1312916068

Thanks to www.liveleak.com for these links.  Static Photos of P-47 Thunderbolt were taken  in April 2012 at Petersen AFB Museum in Colorado Springs, Co. by Douglas Gempel, WWII Researcher.

What Was a B-24?

A typical B-24 was configured like the following (The B24-D is listed -other variations existed)

Specifications for late model B-24D:

• Four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 fourteen-cylinder radial engines, rated at 1200 horsepower.
• Performance: Maximum speed 303 mph at 25,000 feet.
• Service ceiling: 32,000 feet.
• Range: 2300 miles with 5000 pounds of bombs. Maximum range 3500 miles.
• Fuel capacity: 3614 US gallons.
• Dimensions: Wingspan 110 feet 0 inches, length 66 feet 4 inches, height 17 feet 11 inches, wing area 1048 square feet.
• Weights: 32,605 pounds empty, 55,000 pounds gross, Maximum take-off weight 64,000 pounds.
• Armament: Bomb bay could accommodate up to eight 1600-pound bombs.
• The late model “D”s included eleven .50 caliber machine guns: three in the nose, two in the belly turret, two in a tail turret, two in a dorsal turret (just aft of the cockpit), and two in the waist.