==========================
Memories of WWII Pilots
& Crews
Interview with Dr Thomas Tredici regarding his WWII experiences. Place of interview: Brooks City-Base, TX where Dr Tredici still works in the Department of Opthamology
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Like most of the boys there, you could go to college but you had to do your stint in the steel mill.
In the early days of the War, the fall of 1942, the draft was set up for 21 year olds and above. As the War progressed, they had to change the rules to accept 18 year olds to compensate for the heavy losses in Europe. With that change, I applied for the Army Air Corps with aspirations to be a pilot. Even then, the AAC still required a written test. Thank goodness for good old Manessan High school because according to the Sergeant who administered the test, I did well. Despite this, he said to go home and wait until you hear from us. Well, having passed the test, I went home and spent a very happy Christmas with my family, all of who were quite proud.
Around mid January, I received a letter instructing me to report for duty at the post office! The letter said don�t bring anything besides your shaving kit. I went to Pittsburgh and boarded a train bound for Florida, or so I thought. Having a good grasp of geography (again gleaned from good old Manessan) I realized we were not heading south but west! Apparently, the trains took whatever route was available. One night we stopped in the Kansas City rail yard. The next morning I was awakened to the sound of mooing, so I looked outside and saw we were parked next to a cattle train in the rail yard!
Finally we headed south towards Florida. I remember standing outside between the cars as we passed through a great swamp. The track was raised about 6 feet above the swamp and you could see nothing but swamp as far as you could see. This was early February 1943.
Our destination was Miami Beach. The training was designed to have a steady supply of guys ready to go whenever the openings came up, rather than do the training as the boys showed up. When we got there we found out they had no barracks of any kind. What they had a lot of were hotels, so we actually stayed in a hotel for our 8-week stay in Miami. The cadets were also in hotels, but the OCS candidates stayed in better hotels. During this time, we learned that Clark Gable was training in Miami so we went in search of him, but we quickly found out he was out of our reach.
One thing we did was to destroy a premiere golf course. This was due to the very thin soil underlain by sand, so with thousands of men marching all the time, we made minced meat of the grass and we ended up marching in sand.
Surprisingly, there was really not much to do but train and stay in the hotel. Another clever idea response to the shortage of housing was the College training detachment. There was very low enrollment in colleges due to the war. Mostly women and guys rated �4F�, which was not desirable. As a result, they had the space and the classrooms, which was just what the AAC needed. I went to Whittenberg in Ohio and was assigned to a large house that had been a fraternity house. We did a lot of PT (physical training), but no sports were allowed. At the time, being 19, none of us understood why we could not participate in sports. Looking back, it is clear that they did it to prevent injuries that might have an impact on a pilot�s ability to fly in adverse conditions of combat. Anyway, this arrangement really was pretty neat because it was just like going to college, but on an accelerated schedule. We studied math, geography, and a lot of meteorology, which was to become very important to us as pilots. I stayed about four months but before I could take my finals, my orders arrived and I was sent to �Classification� center. This was set up (San Antonio for Eastern Training Command) and Santa Anna California for the West) to give thorough medical and psychological examinations to determine if you were fit to receive training to be a pilot. One test was a 78 rpm phonograph record (if anyone does not know what this is, ask your parents!) with a small opening, about a ��. They would rotate the record at varying speeds and see if you could follow the hole and insert a probe at the appropriate time to contact a probe behind the record. After all was said and done, the testing resulted in a high percentage of accurate projections as to who would complete pilot training successfully; the actual percentage was over 95% accurate! When it was all said and done, they would classify you as a pilot, navigator, or flight engineer, according to your results on the test, hence the name �Classification� Center.
Having passed my classification, I went to Ryan Aeronautical School. This was a private flying school to teach basic flying skills. They had a Ryan PT-22 as their primary trainer. The PT-22 was a low wing monoplane with reinforcing struts above and below the wing. This was originally designed to be a racer; these versions were modified to an open two-place cockpit. It was quite maneuverable, but they changed the engine from an inverted in-line engine to an air-cooled rotary engine. Except for being underpowered, you could do aerobatics quite easily. It was also very durable, and almost impossible to damage. One interesting fact was you could predict when a stall would occur by listening to the sound the wire struts made as they vibrated.
We flew in a simulator for instrument flying.
Supposedly,
Bomber training began in Pecos Texas. I will never forget the smell of rotting cantelopes when we went into town. We discovered that the staked rail cars were filled with cantaloupes, but they were not in cartons, but stacked on top of each other. As a result, the fruit on the bottom was crushed which dripped juice all over. The smell and the flies were awful, especially in that heat.
Our training was done in a Cessna UC78; a twin engine built especially for the AAC. We flew with 5 on board, the instructor and 4 trainees. Surprisingly, it was built of wood! We ended up calling it the �Bamboo Bomber�. The AAC ended up replacing it as the glue could not stand the high temperatures during the day and the cold at night. It was 120 in the day and 45 at night. Even so, I never saw any crashes. May 1944
We flew all over west Texas. You could see the McDonald observatory from 200 miles! The shies were absolutely clear so you could always get your bearings by looking for that dome. At night it was a different story. With the blackout, the only lights we could see were the cowboy fires and the �light line� used by the airlines for navigating. These rotating beacons were placed every 10 miles in the flight line from major cities along which the airlines flew. You could see as many as 4 or 5 beacons at one time so you could find your way using the beacons.
Another navigation aid was a beacon. (No details on this. If any WWII pilots read this, I would love to hear from you so I can add some details!)
After this training we went to Yuma Ariz. for B17 training. We also formed up as a crew for the first time and trained as a crew for here on. Training included all the crew and practice bombs; emergency evacuation drills (for bailouts) and many, many take-offs and landings. Take-0ffs were done at Max power with full �loads� to simulate what we would have to do when loaded with fuel, bombs, and ammunition. Bombing practice used sand bags with powder to mark the place it hit.
We got orders to go to Lincoln Nebraska to get our own B17 and fly to Europe! But when we arrived in Lincoln, there was a revision and we were told we were not getting a plane, so we stayed in a camp waiting for orders. It was November 1943 and it was cold! The only place that was warm on the base was the showers. We lived in tarpaper shacks with one pot-bellied stove for heat. So we waited until told to board a train for Fort Tawton Mass (near Boston) to be issued our flying gear (including a 45 cal pistol which we never had until then.)
From there, we boarded the IL de France, which was a luxury liner making some of its last runs. We had about 10,000 troops on board from all branches. All I ate for 5 days was Butternut cookies. During our crossing, which we made totally alone and unescorted, I barely slept due to the constant drumming of the engines (this ship was quite fast, but old and made lots of noise). The ship zigzagged the entire way which slowed the crossing considerably. Our landing was at Glasgow Scotland. I still remember the pitch of the trains in England.
We were promptly moved to our base Glatton Field where I was assigned to the 457th BG-Heavy, 751st Squadron, 1st Bomb Division. There were 12 planes in our squadron. Many times our entire squadron would fly, especially when there were 1,000 plane missions. These squadrons flew in formations, typically low at about 28,000 feet, medium at 30,000 feet and high at 32,000. If you were assigned to the high group, you were above the flak, which was the safest place to be.
My first mission was in November 1944, and my last mission was early May 1945. I got one break for about 10 days and went to a �flak house� near London. This was a mansion that the AAC was allowed to use as a place for R&R for the bomber crews. It had everything from huge grounds with stables, archery range, bicycles, good food, and a bath tub! Plus they had a staff waiting on us. I remember hearing the V-2 rockets fly over us as they descended on London; it was an unmistakable sound.
Interestingly enough, we did not have fighter escorts the entire way on our longer missions to places like Poland. When they were running low on fuel, I could see their extra fuel tanks tumbling off and we knew they were leaving.
I completed 18 missions before the War ended in May. Remember that we had to fly 25 missions to complete a tour, but with a loss rate of 4% per mission, it was nearly impossible to complete an entire tour.
While flying as �lead co-pilot� I flew with crews other than my own on three missions. (The �Lead co-pilot� flew with new crews to break them in.) After three of these missions, I gladly returned to my own crew. I can tell you that not all crews were the same, and I was never comfortable except with my own crew that I trained with and knew well.
Glatton Field
457th BG (Heavy), 1st Bomb Div, 8th AF.
4 Squadrons, I was in the 751st
12 planes in our squadron,
We typically flew our entire Bomb Group, especially when we were part of 1,000 plane missions.
Flights were layered in upper, mid, and lower levels. If you were in the upper level, you were reasonably safe since the AA fire did not generally reach up to 32,000 feet.
Refueling routes flown (not mid air) on our longer missions. We would fly into Poland or Czechoslovakia then land at a field controlled by the Air Force, refuel, and fly back to Glatton.
We had Fighter escorts but they did not stay with us on our longer missions. You could see the P-51�s glistening in the sky around us, and while they were there, we never had any German fighters attack. Then as the fighters ran low of gas, they would drop their belly tanks and we knew they were leaving soon.
During my tour, German fighters were a lessor threat than the flak, which was enough. I came upon the conclusion that the Germans would throw up intense flak directly in our path as we approached the drop point, roughly in an area equal to one square mile. They filled the sky and we had no choice but to fly right into it to reach the target. Neither the Germans nor our own fighters would ever fly into that; but we had to do it to accomplish the mission.
After the War, we re-fitted our B17 by putting plywood decking over the bomb bays, then loaded up with our personal gear (our 10-man crew) along with 10 other flyers. We flew in stages so we could refuel in Scotland, in Iceland, in Blue E West 1 Greenland, then we landed in Chickopee Falls Connecticut where we left the plane. I got orders for B29 training, but before going to training I got leave for 1 month in June. On my return from leave, I went to Sioux Falls Army Airfield in South Dakota and waited for my orders. Before any orders arrived, I heard about the atomic bombs and the War in Japan ended, thank God. The biggest problem then was what to do with all the people at the base.
I have thought about �heroes� and decided that the real heroes of the war were the ones who did their job every day. Somebody had to get the job done in a steady, reliable fashion or we would never finish. The little things could really become big. For instance, if a ground crew member did not check tires properly, there could be a flat tire on takeoff, which resulted in a huge fire.
(Ghost) �What would you like the younger generations to remember or learn about WWII?�
In WWII I saw the country come together as never before or since. Like oxen pulling a plow; if they were facing opposite directions, the field would never get plowed. But pulling together, the job got done in good time. I think WWII was the pinnacle of our Country working together, and I am glad I was part of it.
Today much is made of the term �diversity�. Well we had people from many backgrounds, Italian, Polish, Jewish, but when they time came to get the job done, we were all Americans on the same team.
If we are going to get anywhere, we have to remember that lesson.
(Ghost) : Where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked?
Dr. Tredici: I was in my back yard.
(Ghost) What is your best memory?
I didn�t do much other than do my job.
(Looked at his record recently ???)
(More to come�
When you compare the reaction to Pearl Harber to 911; where is the outrage now like there was then?
I will have to think that over. After PH, we had the outrage. Now after 911 the difference I see is that we can�t identify the enemy; there is no uniform or country to direct our anger towards. Also, almost every family was personally involved. The draft was in force so all young men were eligible. Now, we have a volunteer army and most of us have no family members serving overseas. Also, everyone exerienced the
Dad visited me by saving his �stamps� so he could make the 180 mile trip. (If you ask �What stamps?� it was rationing of all kinds; gas, tires, and food.
After Sioux Falls, I was sent to Randolph Field.
After the War, I went on to become an Opthamologist. I continue to work today (2004! (editor�s emphasis)) for the Air Force in San Antonio, TX. During my career, our team helped 150 pilots to retain their flying status through the use of new technologies to maintain their vision. I have written papers on what we have done for older fliers; we have salvaged many, many pilots who would otherwise have been grounded from flying. It might have been as simple as contact lenses. As technology grew, we used intra-ocular lenses with a nearly 100% success rate. Our capabilities allowed these pilots to fly in every aircraft and in every situation, including combat. Given that each pilot received $4,000,000 in training, we saved the Air Force $600,000,000. Consider that Brooks AFB was built for about $60,000,000. I am quite proud of our accomplishments, nor would I change anything about my life.
Why were you spared?
I would have to say so I could provide the services I have done for pilots.
Christmas 1945 I was back at home with my family; boy was my Mother happy!
I have lots of other stories��..
THANK YOU for visiting. PLEASE ask any veteran you know if they will share a memory
with you. If you wish, we then ask you to share the story with us and our visitors. Your
memories will become part of this Tribute and a part of recorded history!
Click BUTTON at left to return to our Table Of Contents