Warbirds - Tales From Above

Today we honor the boys that instantly became men when they chose to falsify their birth certificates in order to fight in our stead.  In this research I also stumble upon a B-24 event that will hopefully never be forgotten.   LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!!!! Email...

They kept them in the air.... LINKS and REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!!!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Master Sgt. Ernie Barber - 392nd Bomb Group - B24.net Staff Sgt. William Dowling - 392nd Bomb Group - B24.net

A P-61 crashed on the side of Mount Cyclops in 1945.  2nd Lt. Southfield gives us a good story about how that happened.  76 years later, the corroded Black Widow is sitting in Pennsylvania.  It isn't airworthy..... yet...... LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!!! Email Me...

Those tiny white-caps are bigger than your yellow dot on the water. LINKS and REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!!!!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Pacificwrecks.com - TBD-1 Devastator, Bureau Number 0335 - Tail 6-T-6 Harold Frederick Dixon - Findagrave.com Louis Zamperini -...

This one is not often talked about, especially in the United States.  It was never as popular as the Normandy invasion has become, but it proved to be just as important to the success of D-Day.  Ground invasion aside, there was quite an air battle raging overhead. LINKS and REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive B...

Ed Freeman and Bruce Crandall volunteer to plow into Landing Zone X-ray fourteen times, and under intense enemy fire, all to rescue stranded cavalry. LINKS and REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Purple Heart Foundation - Vietnam War Hero - The...

Jimmy Stewart.  He failed more times than you can count.  But nobody counts the failures. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Elephant Journal - Why Top Gun Has One of the Best Scenes You'll Ever See - By Kevin Macku DenofGeek - Jimmy...

This week we talk about a phenomenon during WW2 that nobody could ever seem to explain.  Did the entire 415th Night Fighter Group go crazy???  Was what they saw real?  I'll let you be the judge. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Off...

Unlike the sports icons we see today, Nile Kinnick was one of the most humble athletes and one of the most dedicated patriots this country has ever seen.  I even track down a few relatives that have some stories of their own.  They share their gratitude about how the blood that runs in their veins has ultimately changed their lives for the better. LINKS and REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate to...

This is a big one.  It took a lot of heavy research to tie all of this together.  4 months-worth, in fact.  Little friends were battling over Mayen, Germany during one of the biggest European Theater Operations of the war.  And the neat part is, my Uncle was right there in the thick of it. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate...

Today we focus on a B-17 crew that sure did love their beer.  Enough to paint their love for it on the nose of their bird. LINKS & REFERENCES  Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com B17FlyingFortress.de - High Life 100thBombGroup.com - Joseph C. Harper Molson...

It happened whether we want to think about it or not.  Today, I share a few stories where sabotage reared it's ugly head during WW2, along with one man that helped to solve a long-standing design flaw with the B-24 that would cause every man on board to instantly perish. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Rec...

This week we remember the men that helped to keep the crew whole so that they could get off the ground.  Commonly referred to as "floaters", they would fill-in when a crew member was sick.  Some didn't have to.... but they did anyway. REFERENCES and LINKS Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!!...

Many on social media would have you believe that a B-17 can land without a tail.  They would like you to think that a commonly circulated photo of an airborne Fortress with the tail missing succeeded in landing with zero casualties.  This is far from the truth, and if we're not careful we will misremember their real story over time.  Today, we remember the men that sacrificed their lives in this c...

Twelve brave souls aboard a PB4Y-2 Privateer perish in the sea outside Singapore on June 1st, 1945.  Hear the story of their sacrifice along with one remaining Liberator that was forced crawl home over 1000 miles with zero air-support. REFERENCES and LINKS Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!...

Frank Speer is making a strafing run inches above the ground.  This one run will make his next several months very challenging. REFERENCES & LINKS Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com The Morning Call - "I Could Feel the Bullets Hitting my Plane" American Air...

Eino Alve and his mighty crew of Shack Rabbits plow through 35 missions.  How they did it, of course, is their own unique and nail-biting story. REFERENCES & LINKS Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com The Airway Beacon - Wikipedia Remembrances of the Shack Ra...

One of the best dogfighters we ever saw.  Regarding Mustang drivers, some might even say he was THE best. REFERENCES & LINKS Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com Preddy Memorial Foundation Wings God Gave My Soul - By Joseph W. Noah George Preddy - Top Musta...

The real story of The All American..... without all the embellishments.  We don't need it dressed up with comic book characters and unicorns.  The real story is heroic enough on its own. LINKS AND REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com The Hour Has...

Turns out our family has ANOTHER bird out there that escaped the chopping block over 75 years ago.  It's hidden.  But we found it. LINKS AND REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com AAIR - Aviation Archeology - PBY Aircraft Airframe History List - 59...

The accident board determined the absolute cause of the crash.  But we dig deep on this one, and pose a long-shot theory that there COULD have been another cause. LINKS & REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com Hutchison News - February 17th, 1950 - L...

They were the first, and everyone forgot them..... LINKS & REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com The Sad Fate of a Remarkable B-24 - Joseph Connor American Air Museum in Britain - 4123728 The Forgotten Bomber that Broke the Memphis Belle's Record Fi...

They don't build them like they used to.... and I'm not talking about airplanes. LINKS AND REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me:   dan@talesfromabove.com The Story of Maloney's Pony - First Fighter Wing Association Paying Tribute to a Legend - Vic Johnson Strafing, The Mo...

The unselfish act of P-51 pilot, Billie Harris, finally gains recognition 62 years after giving his life in occupied France. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com Joyce Ann Ashley - 354th Fighter Group Tribute - Billie D. Harris 354th Figh...

Join me as we go on an English pub crawl with the WW2 Airmen of RAF Biggin Hill. LINKS and REFERENCES Feeling Generous?  Donate today to help keep the show going! Donate Through Venmo Donate Through PayPal Receive BONUS EPISODES through PATREON!! Email Me: dan@talesfromabove.com Biggin on the Bump - Bob Ogley Spitfire Crash - Kings Arms - Aviation Safety Network The Queen's Head - Four Square City...