Subject: For Fliers Only... Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ...I Shall Fear No Evil ... For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing. (sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena, Japan). You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3. (Paul F. Crickmore - test pilot)

An officer never complains. An officer never explains. And an officer never allows himself to be put on the defensive. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Shortly after Pearl Harbor when I was in High School our class was approached by two.groups looking to recruit us into their services. One was the Army Air Corps and the other was the Navy V-12. Both services took simiiar approaches. They never tried to tell us on how good their services would be...

Colin Powell was once outraged by elites who “wrangle slots in Reserve and Guard units.� Now he defends George Bush, who wrangled himself into a Guard unit. By John Greeley In his autobiography, Colin Powel is truly revealed as a man of honor. Certainly his military career provides us an...

How about we fix it so that in case of national emergency the guard goes FIRST before the regular troops. Great idea huh? Think we would still get everyone flocking to the National Guard in that case? I know Bush would have been first in line to join up.. Right? Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th...

"Posterity: You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." John Quincy Adams Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

To have had the ability to end the war and not having done so, would have been the greatest war crime of all. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

On this day in 1944 German units had St. Vith under fire. They were delayed until the 21st. thereby slowing their advance and contributing to their defeat. American losses were heavy. Lest we forget. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26...

SHOULD YOU OPEN FIRE? Easy question right? Are you sure? Let's take a case in point. You are sitting in the top turret of a bomber. You spot a formation of fighters coming toward you. They are clearly the P-51 fighter escort you have been waiting for. "About time they showed up", you are...

Sehr geehrte Kunden, es gibt wieder einige Neuerscheinungen auf dem Büchermarkt,außerdem ist es ab sofort möglich Modelle der Firma Kopro,siehe Anhang,zu bestellen. KG 200 The Luftwaffe`s most Secret Unit /Thomas & Ketley 192 Seiten,200 Fotos,16 Farbseiten 45,50 Euro

I remember during the war in England there was a joke that went around. The best time and place to tell it was in an English pub with lots of RAF around. The joke went like this: Eveything in England is smaller. The cars are smaller. The trains are smaller. The rooms are smaller The houses are...

What then? The war in central Europe (ETO) could have gotten our full resouces, D Day would have been a year earlier and the war would have been over a lot sooner, German troops in No. Africa and the MTO would have simply been isolated and would died on the vine. Why not? Regards,

Which ones. And why? Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Sehr verehrte Kunden,Dear Sirs Neue Bücher / New Books Classic Publication Messerschmitt Me 163 Vol.2 /Ransom & Cammann 224 Seiten,300 Fotos,20 Farbprofile 53,80 Euro Red Stars Vol.12 Antonov`s Turboprop Twins AN-24,26,30,32

The common wisdom in WW II was that tail gunners and bombardiers suffered the highest casualties among bomber aircrews. Anyone have any actual statistics on aircrew casualties by position in USAAC bombers? Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II...

Strafing as if in a Dream It was a rare mission for us. Marauders were never meant to be thrown around at low level at high speed. And this was a low-level mission. We were to bomb a military target in a small city. Then we were to go down on the deck and strafe. It was the first strafing mission...

Subject: Long-range Spitfires and daylight Bomber Command raids (was: #1 From: Guy Alcala We're talking heavies, Art. Longer missions than the mediums, much more time (sometimes three hours or more) spent over defended territory, at alitude on The...

FORMATIONS, BOMB RUNS AND RADIUS OF ACTION Formation flying burned fuel. Lots of fuel. And the tighter the formation the the more fuel burned. And the further back you were in the formation the more fuel burned. Look at it this way. The lead plane set throttles for the desired IAS and pretty...

If I met two soldiers, one had the Bronze Star but no CIB or battle stars, the other had the Combat Infantry Badge but no Bronze Star, I would immediaetly give the higher respect to the man with the CIB. Men who have been in battle vvould always have higher place of honor than those who have never...

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IN MARAUDERS When we were all in cadet school at Big Spring, what we talked about most was what type of aircraft we would be assigned to; B-17, B-24, B-25, A-20 or the grand prize of all; the fast, hot B-26 Martin Marauder. As the term went on and we approached graduation...