PERSONAL HISTORIES
Personal histories of those young Oregonians who fought for our country in the brutal air wars. Be there in a P-38 with Rex Barber, alone in the sky over Bougainville as he zeroes in on the bomber carrying Japanese Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Be there with Ruth Bates in the dusty uproar of camp life as she followed her bomber pilot husband through combat training. Different times, a different world, different people ...
SOUTHERN OREGON WARBIRDS
About Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upcoming Meetings
VOLUME 1: CREWS OF THE BIG BOMBERS -- Introduction
B-17 FLYING FORTRESS
Ralph Bates, Bob Cotterell, Gary Dahl, Chuck Potter
Don Hughes, Bill Moon
Jim Fourtner, Jerry Straughan, Bill Young
Ruth Bates, Betty Potter
B-24 LIBERATOR
Roy
Darby, George Insley, Leonard Kinsel, Norman Nutt
Leon Salveson, Don Toye
Don Kay, Lloyd Randolph
Bill Correll, Frank Fanger, Stephen Lawnicki
Bob Black
B-29 SUPERFORT
Don Harmon, Dick Klingenberg, Les Long
Don Kay, Lyle Nelson
Lyle Dickinson, Wally Hunnicutt
Rich Porter
VOLUME 2: FIGHTER, ATTACK AND SUPPORT AIRCRAFT
Rex Barber
Mason Armstrong, Maury Beck, Don Daggitt, William Longhurst
Floyd Henderson, Leo Kraft, George Marsh, Vic Nunenkamp
Clint Atherton, Russ DeGroat, Al Koleno, Frank Varnum
Vern Black, Frank Dittmer, Robert Dove, Ralph Wiley
Joseph Brumbach, Robert Burns, Joseph Longo, Leland Svarverud
VOLUME 3: POST-WORLD WAR II
Joe Brumbach, Mike Danielle, Owen Dykema, Patrick Hazel
Chuck Aeillo, James Feldkamp, Herb Hobi, Chuck Potter
Wynne Day, Perry Dodge, Lacey Hinther, Tom O'Neill
History of the Southern Oregon Warbirds
All of the stories shown in Volume 1 are contained in a paperback book entitled "Crews of the Big Bombers". Those stories shown in Volume 2 are contained in a paperback book entitled "Warbird History Part II". Those stories shown in Volume 3, concerning post-WWII aircraft are contained in a paperback book entitled,"Warbirds History Part III". Some of the Owen Dykema stories in Volume 3 are contained in a paperback book entitled "Letters from the Bird Barge". For further information and/or purchase of either of these books please click on:
CLOSURE
This ends a six-year effort to record the histories of those daring young men of Southern Oregon who served their country in a time of massive growth of aviation as the premier weapon of war. Many of these Warbirds, with nine other equally young and scared men, packed into those very first tiny aluminum cylinders known as B-17s. They then flew at 30,000 feet in temperatures 40-60 degrees below zero, with no pressurization and no heat but their electric suits, over an extremely hostile landscape. The flack rattled on that thin aluminum skin and the fighters roared in from all sides. Those that made it back might catch some quick chow and a few hours sleep and then pack back into those little aluminum cans and go at it again -- and again -- and again --
Most of these stories were not so dramatic. Most were written by the men themselves. However, some were still so traumatized they had not been able to tell their story even to their family. In such cases Owen Dykema and Terry Waddington interviewed, with tape recorder, and wrote up their stories. For such men the process represented something like a lifetime catharsis, finally getting the story of the most influential period in their lives on paper, for their children and grandchildren to read and appreciate.
The interviewing was done by Owen Dykema and Terry Waddington, frequently supported by others more familiar with the specific aircraft or war zone. The writing was done exclusively, and perhaps equally, by Dykema and Waddington. Final editorial Judgement lay with Dykema, in his role not only as Chief Historian but as President of the associated publishing company.
It has been a long hard road -- but rich, full, amd meaningful. If you have learned to appreciate the real men of military aviation even a little more, then our job was successful. Good reading!
Owen W. Dykema, Chief Historian
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