Hi, Tom.

Sir, My father flew nightfighters during WW2 in the European theater,
(Beaufighters, then P-61's)

Soo, he was in the 415th or 422nd NFS, stationed in the Med and later
England/Belgium...? There is a small organization for P-61 crews that he may
already know about. If not, I can put you/him in touch with the guys.

though I'm not familiar with either of those
books,I wonder if they could shed some light on his service to our country.

You have to buy a book called "Queen of the Midnight Skies", about early US
nightfighter efforts, particularly in the theater of war that your dad
experienced. Although the book is skewed toward the P-61 (*Badly*), the
authors interviewed dozens of survivors and give a great insider's view of the
US entry into this new field of combat.

I've got a few medals but have no idea what he did to deserve them.

We can find out - sure about that.

I'm not
even sure what they are, one says DFC or something like that on the back,
the other is a silver star and two purple hearts. (I know what the Hearts
are for, duh!) Is there any way that you know of where I could "actually"
find out. He's been gone for over thirty years and I always wondered what he
did to get them. Sorry if this comes off a little lame but I saw the
nightfighter thread and got interested...

Not lame at all - this is what most of us are "here" for.

BTW- As an xPanAm crew chief, you're completely correct, not the engine is
"way better", though I've seen a few that did just that.

As a sidelight to the other thread (Extremis Intercomm), the worst thing I
heard on the radio out at sea was an A-7 gent announcing to the world, "I'm
passing through 3,000 feet and I'm in a #$^$#ing GLIDER!"

My advice is to ALWAYS bring a second engine - you never know when it will
become your *only* engine.

Pleasure to meet you, Tom. Hope we can help you.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine.