"Merry Christmas from the 356th Fighter Squadron's armorer Peter Wilson"

"Merry Christmas from the 356th Fighter Squadron's armorer Peter Wilson" - A Christmas card made and sent back to his family during December 1944. Merry Christmas to all the followers and families of those who served in the 354th Fighter Group!!!!

LINK TO MORE 354th PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK

Here is a link to more photos of the 354th on our Facebook page:

Post by Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group.

CHUCK HAWLEY PHOTOS FROM WWII

I just found these in my collection today.

These are a few screengrabs from Chuck Hawley's war time home movies. They include his P-51 "Sandy II" and Chuck and his beautiful bride.


Thanks for your service, Charles!

 

GQ AIRPLANES SIGHTED

I just found this clip on youtube that has some GQ airplanes towards the end of the clip ---

Recent French Newspaper Article

I just received this French Newspaper article about the recent 70th anniversary of the death of my relative 1st Lt. William R. Perkins, a fighter pilot from Grand Rapids, MI.

It tells about Bill's unfortunate death on June 13, 1944. He was shot down and KIA while on a mission over Northern France.

My thanks to John Torchio, a fellow WWII researcher, for passing on my info and photos for use in the article!

The article mentions our video project and also gives out this blog's web address.

I used GOOGLE TRANSLATE to translate this news article. It may not be the perfect translation, but I believe it is very close:

DISCOVERED:

Only Ed(on the right), the older brother of Bill (above), had the chance to return home. A DVD will come out, based on notes taken by Bill in a small notebook, who dreamed of being a writer.

70 years ago , the tragic death of young American Lt. Perkins.

On 13 June 1944, William Perkins, was flying his P-51 Mustang.

Age 23-year-old from Grand Rapids, state of Michigan (USA), a LT. in US Air Force, the young man left for a mission to Rennes, accompanied by three of his planes escapdron.

This day of June, around 6 am, the visibility is good and the weather clement.

Seeing a German column, the four planes descend to strafe.

One will fall at a place called the Mesnil-Rave.

Why, a highly experienced pilot, did he crash into the pole and power line and struck head-farm bakery and part of the house down the "Rave Mesnil," before crashing into the plant apple a hundred meters away?

Was it a response of enemies on the ground?

After many researches John Torchio, who grew up in the town, passionate history of the Second World War, announces the hypothesis "

"In these days of the landing, the pilots were very solicited. Could be a bad appreciation due to persistent fatigue"

Civilians happen on the scene.

Charles Simonson, a former camardes Bill, came in 1997 to unveil a plaque in memory of the dead monumnet the friend gone too soon.

A website created by Jon Teboe, his nephew, came in 2009 to fly over the scene and meet the last witnesses of the time, recounts the life of this hero of the shadow falls to Our Damepde Cenilly, so far of his native land.

Lt Perkins, after having been interred at the cemetery two months of the commune, based in American military land in St. James

A MESSAGE FROM CHUCK HAWLEY THAT MADE ME HAPPY

One of the cool things about today's technology is being able to communicate directly with the members of the 354th Fighter Group on Facebook. I am friends with a few of the guys and their families on Facebook.

I just found this post from Charles Hawley, a fighter pilot from the 354th. It made me happy to read it again.

And what a unique adventure it has been to interview and create the videos to give these guys the credit they deserve!

(You know you can find hours of our video segments on youtube - where they have reached over 100,000 views!)

I am glad these guys are getting a chance to see that people still care about what they achieved in the 1940s!

All the best to you , Chuck Hawley!

CAPTAIN JACK G. ROWLETT - 354th Fighter Group Flight Officer

A few days ago, Donna Murray Rowlett sent us this photo of her father-in-law taken in Northern France in 1944. His is Captain Jack G. Rowlett and he recently celebrated his 93rd birthday on June 6, 2014.

This is what Donna wrote about his service:

"He was honorably discharged as Captain in the 9th Air Force in 1/46. He trained on many planes including: A-20,24,31 - B-25,34 - DB-7 and continued flying until his early 70's. From what I can tell, from his military records, he was in the 310th and 406th bomb squadrons and was transferred to the 354th during the Normandy invasion and was a flight control officer. We asked him on his birthday, June 6, where he was on D-day 70 years ago. He said, "We were on the coast in Britain freezing our butts off and Eisenhower wouldn't let us light a fire because the German's would see us and kill us! "


She also sent us this neat photo of his uniform coats and and army issued flight jacket.

Jack became a doctor after the war. He along with the other doctor in his practice  delivered close to 4000 babies during their careers!

Happy Birthday, Jack! And thanks for your service!


Here is a newspaper clipping:

 

(thanks to Donna Murray Rowlett for letting us post these photographs)












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IMDB has posted more photos of our documentaries

I have added a few new photos to our IMDB pages.



Our new movie poster for HEROES OF THE 354th FIGHTER GROUP is now displayed at

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1437912064/tt3379272

I also added a photo of 1st Lt. William R. Perkins on the ANGEL FROM HELL page at

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1421134848/nm1270345?ref_=nm_phs_md_2

Our Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group Page on Facebook

We also have a page on facebook devoted to The Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group.


While I try to put the same info and photos on both this blog and the facebook page, sometimes I am not completely successful. So if you are on facebook and want to "friend" us, please do!

354th Army film footage featured on MSNBC and HISTORY CHANNEL

On Daniel Carrizales' 354th site, he has two links to an MSNBC story that ran about a combat photographer who shot some film that featured the 354th Fighter Group. He also had a reel of gun camera footage from the planes that the 354th flew.

Here is the link to it:

http://www.354thpmfg.com/AlbertNewton_WWII.html




This is a link to another story about S/Sgt. Albert E. Newton, the US Army combat photographer who shot the WWII war footage of the 354th that NSNBC. This is on the History Channel's site.


http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/videos/war-photographer


I have been trying to get the higher resolution from the Library of Congress but have not been successful yet.

General F. Michael Rogers has passed away

I just heard from Tripp Alynn that 4 Star General F. Michael Rogers has passed on. He invited us into his home in 2006 to interview him about his military career that stated in the 354th FG. Rest in Peace.


Here are a few items from my collection.

1944 Press release

General Rogers(right) with his buddy Ken Dahlberg in 2007 Travis AFB

During out interview in 2006

A 1944 press photo

Ed Regis is far left; General Rogers is 2nd from right

General Rogers signing autographs - 2007 - Travis AFB

British Pathe Newsreel of the 354th FIghter Group

I posted this newsreel before in 2012 - but only recently British Pathe posted much better copies of their newsreels on their youtube channel.

Bill Davis and Lowell Brueland (and others) can be seen in this footage.







Although the Pathe site lists this as 1943 is is obviously 1944. Mainly because you can see the D-day stripes. Painted just days before June 6, 1944.


William Louie (an original 354th member) sent me an email about this :

 Hi Jon, I think these shots were taken at Lashhenden after D-day. Our planes still have the complete D-day stripes, and are operating with wing tanks in most of the scenes. I don't think we had many long range missions when we got over to A-2, in early July,'44.


It's great to get this first hand info from a man who was there! Thanks, Will.

More interesting pages - This time from the Decemeber 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE

A few more wonderful finds from the December 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE relating to the P-51 and the Army Air Corps.

I am not sure when this issue actually hit the news stands, but with the date of December 1943, this was probably one of the first magazines to have a photograph and info about the P-51.

From the December 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE. This may be one of the first photographs and information published in the American press about the P-51. It already mentions the Rolls-Royce engine!

From the December 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE. Notice this advertisement mentions "P-51 Mustang" as one of the US planes it powers.

 

From the December 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE. An ad for the "Greatest Team in the World."

Is this the V-1 rocket bomb? According to my historical papers, the first time the 354th encountered a V-1 bomb flying over was the night of June 12, 1944. From the December 1943 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE.

POPULAR SCIENCE - July 1944 Issue -

This is from the previous issue of POPULAR SCIENCE that I posted earlier. It is the teaser about the article I posted.

POPULAR SCIENCE AUGUST 1944 ARTICLE on THE 354th FIGHTER GROUP

I had never seen this article about the 354th Fighter Group until I bought this August 1944 issue of Popular Science.

It contained photos and info I had not seen before.

William Louie - shows us some color footage of himself from WWII

In 2007, William Louie showed us some film clips shot in 1945 that were included in a History Channel documentary called "The Color of War." They showed him painting some planes from the 356th Fighter Squadron. 

Hugh Gibson - Medic

Here is 2006 photo of Hugh Gibson (a medic with the 354th FG) and his wife.

Nathan Glick - Combat Artist

I just read that Nathan Glick passed away in October 2012. Rest in Peace. He was a kind man. He lived to be over 100. It was a pleasure meeting you, your wife and your daughter.

Sgt. Nathan Glick (right) draws Dick Turner

Nathan Glick's drawing

Nathan Glick's drawing of James Edwards

Other Glick drawings

Nathan Glick during our 2006 interview in Portland, OR

Nathan Glick during our 2006 interview in Portland, OR

ANGEL FROM HELL - COLOR NOSE ART

I want to thank Daniel Carrizales who runs the 354th's website (http://www.354thpmfg.com) for his help.



I only have three photos of my relative - William R. Perkins' P-51. They are all in black and white. Daniel offered to make a graphic IN COLOR of the nose art of "ANGEL FROM HELL."

Using this photo (and the description of it in Bill's diary), Dan did an amazing job! Thanks, Dan!

Our friend, William W. Louie - did the original painting on the plane in May of 1944.

A 1967 Oil Painting by William W. Louie

This is William W. Louie's 1967 oil painting based on a photograph he took during the war.

ANGEL FROM HELL - Movie Poster and info on IMDB.COM

Over the last few weeks, I have been able to get a lot of work done on our WWII documentaries. One of the things I have been able to do is get both the projects ("Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group" and "Angel From Hell-The Bill Perkins Story") listed on imdb.com, the Film and Television Industry's internet data base. This may help with getting distribution deals for both projects!

I still need to create a movie poster for "Heroes of the 354th Fighter Group" and add some production stills to the imdb.com pages. There is a lot more to finishing a documentary than most people think.

Once again, I need to thank William W. Louie. He painted Perk's P-51's nose art. Great job, Will!

Happy Birthday to William W. Louie

We met William W. Louie while researching the 354th Fighter Group for our documentaries. He was a sergeant in the 356th Fighter Squadron. One of his duties was painting the nose art on the planes. (He even painted my relative's nose art back in 1944!) William is featured in many of our youtube videos.

William became an architect after the war. He still paints and creates works of art!

I am privileged to be on his Christmas card mailing list. Every year for the last several years I have received the cards with his new paintings on them.

William is celebrating his 91st birthday tomorrow on January 18, 2014. Happy Birthday, William! Thanks for all you have done for us! All the best, my friend! (Thanks for letting me share your artwork on this blog - they make great screensavers and computer wallpaper!)

All of these paintings are © by William W. Louie.


Here is a video we made about William Louie and his artwork -