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AA: anti- aircraft guns; flak
Aircraft Identification: practice distinguishing between friendly and enemy airplanes, usually using silouhete cards
Air Medal: awarded for every five missions; the number was raised to six in April 44
Allies: collective term for the countries fighting against the Axis, consisting primarily of the U.S.A., the British Commonwealth, Russia and France, although late in the war Italy joined. In the linked picture are shown President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, French General Charles de Gaulle and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
A.T.C.: Air Transport Corps, a branch of the Army Air Corps which ferried ships from final assembly points to staging areas, or other noncombat destinations. The A.T.C had a lot of *female* pilots
Axis: collective term for the countries allied with Germany, primarily Italy and Japan though several Balkan countries also fought on that side
B-17: American heavy bomber, "Flying Fortress", most common US bomber in England. 'Hi Jinx' was a B-17E, 'Dear M.O.M.' was a B-17G. Pictured is the Fuddy Duddy, a ship from the same squadron (708th) as HT Sr was in and so has the same markings as his ships did.
B-24: American heavy bomber, "Liberator", see notes re: this ship in Mission Memories
B-25: American medium bomber; "Mitchell", units flying the B-25 were mostly based in Africa and Asia at the time of this diary
B4 and A3 bags: duffel bag and smaller personal posessions bag
Ball turret gunner: (NCO) fires the gun projecting from the belly of a bomber which protects its underside
Bombardier: (Officer) sits behind the Navigator; crewmember responsible for the ship's bombs; he takes control of the plane and flies it during the bomb run as he sights where to drop them
C-47: the Douglas Skytrain, AKA "Gooney Bird"; one of the more famous Allied airplanes of the War. A vary hardy plane with a good carrying capacity it was used extensively for transporting just about anything, anywhere. The civilian version of the plane is designated the DC-3.
Cadence or marching songs: Marching in step is easier when somebody calls out a rhythm or the marching troops sing together. In letters home (second part of the Introduction) Harley gives the lyrics to some of the marching songs they sang in training. Often a squad or company make up their own (usually quite ribald) words to a standard tune for a song to sing together in addition to the standard publicly presentable songs. Mademoiselle from Armentiers ("Hinky Pinky Parleyvoo...") and Battle Hymn of the Republic were two favorite tunes in WWII; in more recent wars there was the infamous Yellow Bird with a Yellow Bill.
Canteen: both the American and British Red Cross provided snacks and leisure- time diversions for Military personnel. They operated out of mobile snack wagons and from a fixed location on the base.
Clap, the: gonorrhea, a venereal disease; see 'Short Arm Inspection'.
Control tower; elevated vantage point for the ground personnel supervising an airfield's activities. Pictured is the control tower at Rattlesden
Crew check: in- flight roll call to be sure crew is ok
Crew Chief: (NCO) carried overall responsiblity for keeping the ship combat ready. Supervised the ship's ground crew of mechanics and other specialists who were usually EM's, and coordinated work performed by other parties.
Cockpit: Pilot and Copilot's station
Commander of the P.O.W.'s: an elected position among the POWs. He
acts as U.S. military authority, coordinates resistance attempts,
etc. As opposed to the POW camp commander, a German officer
Copilot:
(Officer) assists the pilot; sits in the right hand seat in the
cockpit; is trained to fly the plane if necessary but mostly performs
duties supporting the pilot's flying of the plane
Corsair: the Chance Vought F-4U; an American fighter (note: the designation had changed from 'pursuit' ship to 'fighter') which had distinctive 'inverted gull wings'. Although mostly used by the US Navy in the Pacific Theater, some were seen in Europe
C.Q.: Charge of Quarters, the Enlisted person on duty in a squadron area during the off hours; wakes crews for missions
Dear M.O.M: Crew #5's second ship, a G model, serial # 231724.
It was named after Marion O. Mc Gurer, the original navigator of Crew
#5 who was sent home after being wounded. It was in Dear M.O.M
that Crew #5 was shot down
Demo's : demolition bombs; bombs
which simply explode and demolish objects
DFC: Distinguished Flying Cross
Dill: Neal R. Dill, (#39554855), (3rd from right, front row) "our first tail gunner, who died March 3 on a mission to Berlin under unknown causes."
D.N.I.F: Duties Not to Include Flying; temporary stand down for medical/ stress related reasons. A crew member might 'put himself on D.N.I.F' after a particularly traumatic mission. More often an individual was put on it by a superior, eg. the flight surgeon, for medical reasons
Echelon: a unit of command in a formation, often a group per echelon; three echelons flew in layers staggered back from low to high altitude in a standard box formation
EM: Enlisted Man/ Men, as opposed to Commissioned Officers, included the ranks of private, private first class, corporal, and the sergeant grades. See non com
E.T.O.: European Theater of Operations; the war effort in Europe, as distinct from "P.T.O.", the war effort in the Pacific, or "C-B-I", China- Burma- India.
E.W.T.: Eastern War Time
Feathered: eg., feathering the engine or prop; propeller turned flat, parallel to line of flight so the prop doesn't 'windmill' and there is minimal drag from the wind
F-4U: American fighter; see 'Corsair'
Flak: acronym for the German expression 'FLieger Abwehr Kannonen', anti- aircraft guns. [LARGE picture]
Flight Crew: the ship's crewmembers who flew on missions; as distinct from the ground crew who did not perform in-flight duties.
Flight Engineer: (NCO) maintains the function of the planes mechanisms while in flight; also mans the top turret gun
Flimsy: briefing information was printed on lightweight paper
which was very... flimsy
Frag- fragmentation, AKA
antipersonnel- bombs which scatter steel fragments; used against
concentrations of personnel
Fred: Fred T. Hawley, (#39106778), Sgt, (3rd from left, front row) "left waist gunner, also toggelier on some missions. English parentage, small body, good heart, but slow as molasses to get ready to go anywhere."
FW 190: Fokke Wulfe 190, German fighter, allegedly the best German plane against bomber formations
GCT: Greenwich Combat Time
G.F.U.: General F***-Up; a person who is a hell- raiser
G.I.: Government Issue or General Issue, when used for equipment (including soldiers themselves). Also, to clean, eg: a GI party, where everybody turns out to clean something. "Go GI the barracks", "Make it GI"
Ground echelon: the ground crew and other non- flight personnel
Group: 21 ships
Hi Jinx: Crew #5's first B 17, an F model, serial # 31145, Ship #231145. It was the ship the crew flew to England and flew missions in until 6 Feb 44 when Reed's crew took her on a mission and were shot down. Of note, the ship shown as the Hi Jinx in the crew picture shows a B-17G with its characteristic chin turret. The reason for the discrepancy is not known, though speculation abounds.
High echelon: the topmost of three layers in a standard box formation of aircraft
Horwell trainer: radio procedures simulator
Hudson: British or American light attack bomber, a Lockheed Electra fitted out for combat; often modified for Air/ Sea Rescue. Pictured is recon model; bombers had top gun turret behind wings
Hurricane: British fighter, "Hurri", created about the same time as the Spitfire. Their pilots spread the rumor that it was a 'killer plane', so tricky and vicious to fly that only the best, bravest pilots could handle it. In fact it was somewhat slower and less agile than the Spitfire but could take far more abuse
IFF: Identification Friend or Foe; a radio device which used signals emitted by other airplanes to identify them as Friend or Foe.
Ike Jacket: the "Wool Field Jacket, M-1944", a waist length Army semi-formal jacket of WWII popularized by General "Ike" Eisenhower
I.P.: Initial Point, where the bombers start flying straight and
level for the bombing run
Incindiaries- bombs that scatter
burning phosphorus; used to start fires
Ju 88: Junkers 88, German medium bomber
Kealer: Eugene A. Kealer, (#39250554) right waist gunner, (1st on left, front row) "fairly tall, from California, easy going."
Lancaster: British heavy bomber, nearly as popular with British civilians as the Spitfire
Laz: Richard L. Lazarus, (#O-668067) navigator, (2nd from right, back row) "well liked also."
Leading element: the front grouping of ships in any of the various shapes of formation
Liason radio: radio reciever for communication between the ship and its base; part of the bank of radio devices on B-17 shared between the navigator and R.O
Liberty, to go on: periodically crews were permitted enough time off in one period to be able to leave the base for Rest and Recuperation. Harley went on one liberty with Fred Hawley and visited Fred's family; on another the whole of Crew #5 went to London and stayed at the Imperial Hotel. See the outside and inside of Harley's registration card for that stay
Liberty Ship: a series of oceangoing cargo and troop carrying ships that were mass produced during WWII for convoy duty. After the war many soldiers, including HT Sr, returned home from Europe aboard a Liberty ship.
Limey luey: American (or just HT's?) nickname for an English Leftenant (Lieutenant)
Link trainers: early flight simulators for pilots; in limited use in ETO at time of diary
Luftwaffe: German Air Force. Besides fighting the air war, they were also tasked with maintaining the German P.O.W. camps which held Allied flyers
Mac: Charles H. McHugh, (#6682143) flight engineer, (2nd from right, front row) probably one of H.T.'s role models, definitely his closest companion in the time they were in the P.O.W. camp
Mae West: inflatable life vest; gave the wearer a distinctive figure
Mamlock "HEM": Henry E Mamlock, (#O-751171) Copilot, (2nd from left, back row) "who came to our crew with not much experience, but as the time went on, seemed to do a good job of flying, even landing the plane after several months of flying."
McGurer: Marian O McGurer, (#O-739484) (1st on right, back row) "the first bombadier we had, one of the officers who was a favorite of us enlisted men. He was injured, got shrapnel in the knee and was sent home." Crew 5's (HT's crew) second ship 'Dear MOM' was named for him
M.D.: M.D. Harris (initials only for his first name) (# unk), (2nd from left, front row) "ball turret gunner, from Texas, never brushed his teeth, but had perfect teeth, since the area he came from had water high in fluorides. Hill billy type. Competent, loved to be in the ball turret, which was very scary for me. With so much of nothing below you, I used to hope the ball turret wouldn't fall off."
Me 109: Messerschmitt 109, earliest and most common German fighter, faster than the Spitfire but less manuverable
Me 110: German light bomber similar to British Mosquito but with metal skin
Me 262: German fighter, the first jet fighter in the world
Milk run: an easy mission, usually of short duration with little or no enemy opposition
M.O. settings: master oscillator, the primary frequency controller for the on- board radio equipment
Mosquito: twin engine British light bomber, skin usually made of plywood; very fast, often used for reconnaissance
"Naafi": canteen operated by the British Red Cross
Navigator: (Officer) calculates and plots the plane's course; also tended a machine gun and in B17-G's fired the electronically controlled chin turret
N.C.O.: Non- commissioned Officer; see Non com
Nissen hut: prefabricated building of different sizes, made of corrugated tin over a cement floor and shaped like a longitudinal half of a cylinder. Quick and easy to build, used for practically every function from barracks to motor pools. The size used for barracks housed four aircrews
Nobal raid: a relatively short, relatively easy mission, ie: "No balls required". Frequently the targets were merely numbered ("Nobal target #X") rather than using a location name. According to one source they were usually the V-1 launch pads on the coast of France. Also, from Feb '44 on, they were only counted as 1/2 mission. Nobal raids were usually "milk runs" though not all milk runs were Nobal raids
Non com: non comissioned officers, ranks from buck Sergeant through Sergeant Major. A senior sub-group of E.M.
Oak Leaf Cluster: a small pin to add to the ribbon of a medal indicating a repeat award of the medal
Occupation currency: In an effort to prevent black marketeering the Army issued substitute American money which was the "official" currency for trade between military and civilians. This money was usually held in little confidence by both parties, and real US Dollars were the preferred medium of exchange
Orderly room: the CQ works out of the orderly room, usually in the same building with the C.O. and other administrative offices
P-38: American fighter, "Lightning", distinctive design of twin tail booms, first of the long range fighters; was better than most other US pursuits at high altitudes until the Mustang was introduced
P-47: American fighter, "Thunderbolt", also called "flying milk jug", looked like a huge engine with wings and cockpit stuck on. Was briefly the equal of the Me 109 until the Germans upgraded their armament
P-51: American fighter, "Mustang", widely considered the best of the American pursuit ships, capable of giving bombers long range, high altitude protection on extended missions
Pathfinder/ PFF ships: bombers (usually B-17's) equipped with early radar devices intended to increase accuracy of bombing through cloud cover. The H2X radar was an American version of British technology named H2S, a device which showed the topological contours of the ground beneath the ship so that, in theory, the target could be found even through total overcast. In fact, the electronics were experimental even while the devices were used on missions, so failures were frequent and bombing results were often poor or disasterous
PBY: Catalina PBY series, American Air/ Sea Rescue flying boat
P,CP,N + RO: H. T's abbreviation for 'pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and radio operator', the usual skeleton crew for ferrying flights
"Pedo tube": actually, 'pitot tube', an air intake tube for various instruments on an airplane
Permanent Party: the military personnel permanently assigned to a
training post, who do not move on when the training is completed like
the trainees do; e.g, the cooks, instructors, camp Command
staff
Pilot: (Officer) flies the
plane, sits in the left hand seat in the cockpit; commander of the
crew in flight and on the ground
P.O.E.: point or port of embarkation ie. the place one leaves a country
Prefabricated steel runway: steel 'planks' which can be hooked together on ends and sides. They are transported to a site and hooked together to form a firm surface to land airplanes on when there wasn't time or equipment to build a regular runway. The linked picture shows part of a fence made of these strips. Note the long edges have both hooks and holes for adjacent planks to link to, the ends have only hooks on one end and holes on the other. There may be different sizes; these particular ones have a working surface (excluding the hooks) 10 ft long by 16 inches wide
"Pulled the props thro": in large airplane engines the fluids pool after it sits for a while and it won't start unless the fluids are pumped back where they belong. This is accomplished by manually turning the propellers
P.W. or POW: Prisoner of War
Pursuit ship: early WWII designation for a fighter plane, hence the designation 'P', as in 'P-38', 'P-47', etc.
QDM/QTF procedures: QDM stands for "Direction to Steer"; QTF stands for "[unk at present]"
RAF: Royal Air Force (British)
RCAF: Royal Canadian Air Force
Ration card: Troops were issued ration cards which entitled them to get 'luxuries' like candy, cigarettes, liquor, etc. The pictured ration card was the one Harley was issued and used up to the time he was shot down
Radio operator/ Gunner: (NCO) maintains and operates the ship's radio equipment; responsible for obtaining navigational signals, maintaining communication with ground bases and other planes; also fires a single .50 cal gun out the top of the middle of the ship
R.O.'s- HT's abbreviation for radio operators
ROG: Radio
Operator/ Gunner. Radio Operators manned a single .50 cal
machine gun mounted in the ceiling of the radio room
Rudy: (first name unk) Rudisil, the Crew Chief for Crew #5 (# unk), (1st on right, front row)
S-2: Squadron level Military Security
Short Arm Inspection: slang for the brief medical exam of one's 'short arm', looking for signs of venereal disease. As distinct from a 'small arms' inspection, of one's pistol or rifle.
Showdown inspection: inspection held before a soldier or a crew left one post when reassigned to another, to ensure that all issued equipment was present
Spitfire: British fighter, "Spit", one of the first modern monoplane fighters. Fast, responsive, extremely maneuverable, it caught the imagination and attention of the Press and the British public at the expense of the Hurricane's reputation
Splashers: rotating radio beacons around which planes flew as they joined up in their formations prior to leaving friendly air space on a mission
Statement of Charges: deduction from one's paycheck for several different reasons, including damage to government or civillian property
Stringers: longitudinal supports in the fuselage of an airplane; in linked picture (the waistgunners) they can be seen above the gunners' heads running the length of the plane with control lines between them
Sweat in a ship, to: to wait by the control tower for the return of a ship. Usually a very tense activity
Tailgunner: (NCO) Gunner covering the rear of the plane
Toggelier: an NCO who acted in a limited capacity as bombardier, throwing the switch (toggle) to release bombs on cue from the bomber ahead
T.O, and R: H. T.'s abbreviation for take off, and return
Tokyo tanks: extra fuel tanks in the tips of B- 17 wings for added
fuel capacity. Only used on longer flights because of the extra
weight involved. So named because the extra fuel would 'let our
Boys bomb Tokyo'
Tuck, Harley H.
(#19192992): (4th from right, front row)
radio operator/ gunner, diary author
T.W.G.: Thomas W Gillleran, (#O-746325) Pilot, (1st on left, back row) "good leader, happy go lucky, a little reckless, but very skilled pilot in emergencies."
V-1: Officially designated the FZG-76, nicknamed the "Doodlebug", AKA "Buzzbomb"; the first of a series of "Vengeance Weapons" developed by the Nazis in the last years of the War in an attempt to regain their earlier dominant position. These rocket launching sites, located on the coast of France and Holland, were the objects of most of the 447th's Nobal raids.
V-2: The first modern, vertically launched supersonic rocket with liquid fuel and an internal guidance system. They were developed for use against England but Nazi plans called for them later to be launched against the US across the Atlantic Ocean.
Waist gunners: (NCO) the two crewmen who manned the machine guns mounted on either side of the fuselage between the wings and tail.
Wellington: British medium bomber approximately equivalent in capabilities to the American B-26
Wiggi: Wigdowitz, (# unk; joined crew after crew photo) the second bombadier, "who was a good man too."
Wing: 3 groups
Worley: (first name, number unknown; also joined crew after crew photo) Crew#5's tail gunner after Dill, from mid Mar 44
W/T procedure:
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