New Miniseries

GMascelli

GMascelli

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Tom Hanks is once again teaming with HBO in a miniseries about World War II.

This time around, Hanks and Steven Spielberg-who previously delivered the likes of 2001′s “Band of Brothers” and 2010′s “The Pacific” to the channel-will create a miniseries that will focus on the Air Force, according to the hollywood reporter. The article states that the series will “explore the aerial wars through the eyes of enlisted men of the Eighth Air Force — known as the men of the Mighty Eighth.”

The series will be based on Donald L. Miller’s nonfiction book “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany.”
 
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The "Mighty 8th" was not air force, it was the Army Air Corps.

Evidently people don't know "Corps" is pronounced "core" . The "P" is silent. :rolleyes:
 
Geico266 said:
The "Mighty 8th" was not air force, it was the Army Air Corps.

Evidently people don't know "Corps" is pronounced "core" . The "P" is silent. :rolleyes:
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And evidently some people don't know that the Army Air Corps changed to the Army Air Force shortly after the US entry into the war.

Mighty Eighth was Army Air Force, never Army Air Corps.
 
Re:8 New Miniseries

8th Army Air Force was formed in January of 1942 as a unit. The US Army Air Force was fromed in June of 1941 even though the US Army Air Corps still existed. The USAAC still existed but ceased to function administratively after March of 1942 and wasn't disbanded until September of 1947. The 8th AF still exists and is headquartered at Barksdale AFB, LA.

The series should be worth watching if they are anywhere close to being as good as "Band Of Brothers" or "The Pacific". I'm looking forward to it.
 
Geico266 said:
The "Mighty 8th" was not air force, it was the Army Air Corps.

Evidently people don't know "Corps" is pronounced "core" . The "P" is silent. :rolleyes:
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Perhaps you should visit the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Savannah.
 
Geico266 said:
The "Mighty 8th" was not air force, it was the Army Air Corps.

Evidently people don't know "Corps" is pronounced "core" . The "P" is silent. :rolleyes:
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Only some people who occupy oval offices struggle with that, along with how many states are in the Union.
 
I think this is a story long over due to be told.

Just for kicks, do yourselves a service and google SSgt Benjamin F. Warmer III
 
Frank Browne said:
I think this is a story long over due to be told. Just for kicks, do yourselves a service and google SSgt Benjamin F. Warmer III
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Great read.......

WWII GUNNER ACE of the USAAF credited with shoot down of 9 enemy aircraft.

SSgt. Warmer enlisted and went through basic training at Sheppard Field, Texas in 1942. Then, he attended Gunnery School at Lowry Field, Colorado. In early 1943, he became the right waist gunner on the ten-man, B-17F crew of 2nd Lt. J. H. Drake. The crew was assigned to the 348th Bomb Squadron of the 99th Bomb Group. Theirs was one of 35 crews that flew the South Atlantic route to Marrakech, Morocco, in early March 1943.

The crew flew their first combat on a seven-hour mission to Lake Bizerte on May 3. The mission was not a propitious beginning for a fifty-mission combat tour. For openers, they became lost and, when their Fortress ran out of gas, the crew parachuted into the blackness of a desert night. Ben Warmer and his crew were lucky. They bailed out not many miles from their home base at Navarin, Algeria, and soon made their way home.

On 27 August 1943, SSgt Benjamin F. Warmer was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Lt. General Carl A. Spaatz. The general also awarded him the title of "Ace" for shooting down seven German Bf 109s on a single mission. He received the award for action over Sicily in a B-17 for the 5 July 1943 bombing attack of the headquarters of the Luftwaffe Air Division III (German-Italian airbase) at Gerbini, Sicily. He flew the same mission the following day. The B-17 was flown by 2nd Lt. Flake Casto, aircraft number 42-29857. This had been mission #18. He subsequently shot down two more aircraft.

He served as an gunnery instructor in North Africa for a short time following his last mission. He had survived 50 combat missions.

Upon returning to the States, "Headquarters Fourth Air Force, in San Francisco, assigned Warmer to a command theatrical production unit called 'Bonds Away!' The group's mission was to tour industrial plants promoting increased war production and Savings Bond sales." He later, in 1944, was given a commission as a second lieutenant. He was a guest lecturer at the Advanced Gunnery School in Tonopah, Nevada. He was discharged in July 1945.

He became a successful businessman following the war, retiring in Southern California. He died from a massive heart attack December 6, 1977. His ashes are interred at Bellevue Cemetery (Section E, lot 74) Ontario, California.
 
"The Mighty Eighth compiled an impressive record in the war. This achievement, however, carried a high price. The 8th AF suffered one-half of the U.S. Army Air Forces’ casualties in World War II (47,000-plus casualties with more than 26,000 deaths). The Eighth’s personnel also earned 17 Medals of Honor, 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, 850 Silver Stars, 7,000 Purple Hearts 46,000 Air Medals. Many more uncounted awards were presented to the 8th AF veterans after the war. There were 261 fighter aces and 305 gunner aces in the Eighth in World War II; 31 of those fighter aces exceeded 15 or more aircraft kills."

WOW! :eek:

http://mightyeighth.org/about-us/history-of-the-mighty-eighth-air-force/
 
I'm really looking forward to this.
 
aviatingfool said:
...The Eighth’s personnel also earned 17 Medals of Honor...http://mightyeighth.org/about-us/history-of-the-mighty-eighth-air-force/
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Here is just one of them. This is regarding a man by the name of Maynard Smith in his very first mission!


Medal of Honor Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. The aircraft of which Sgt. Smith was a gunner was subjected to intense enemy antiaircraft fire and determined fighter aircraft attacks while returning from a mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe on 1 May 1943. The aircraft was hit several times by antiaircraft fire and cannon shells of the fighter aircraft, 2 of the crew were seriously wounded, the aircraft's oxygen system shot out, and several vital control cables severed when intense fires were ignited simultaneously in the radio compartment and waist sections. The situation became so acute that 3 of the crew bailed out into the comparative safety of the sea. Sgt. Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately. The escaping oxygen fanned the fire to such intense heat that the ammunition in the radio compartment began to explode, the radio, gun mount, and camera were melted, and the compartment completely gutted. Sgt. Smith threw the exploding ammunition overboard, fought the fire until all the firefighting aids were exhausted, manned the workable guns until the enemy fighters were driven away, further administered first aid to his wounded comrade, and then by wrapping himself in protecting cloth, completely extinguished the fire by hand. This soldier's gallantry in action, undaunted bravery, and loyalty to his aircraft and fellow crewmembers, without regard for his own personal safety, is an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.
 
Frank Browne said:
Here is just one of them. This is regarding a man by the name of Maynard Smith in his very first mission!


Medal of Honor Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. The aircraft of which Sgt. Smith was a gunner was subjected to intense enemy antiaircraft fire and determined fighter aircraft attacks while returning from a mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe on 1 May 1943. The aircraft was hit several times by antiaircraft fire and cannon shells of the fighter aircraft, 2 of the crew were seriously wounded, the aircraft's oxygen system shot out, and several vital control cables severed when intense fires were ignited simultaneously in the radio compartment and waist sections. The situation became so acute that 3 of the crew bailed out into the comparative safety of the sea. Sgt. Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately. The escaping oxygen fanned the fire to such intense heat that the ammunition in the radio compartment began to explode, the radio, gun mount, and camera were melted, and the compartment completely gutted. Sgt. Smith threw the exploding ammunition overboard, fought the fire until all the firefighting aids were exhausted, manned the workable guns until the enemy fighters were driven away, further administered first aid to his wounded comrade, and then by wrapping himself in protecting cloth, completely extinguished the fire by hand. This soldier's gallantry in action, undaunted bravery, and loyalty to his aircraft and fellow crewmembers, without regard for his own personal safety, is an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.
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One hell of a first day on the job!
 
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