I Found It...I Found My Dad's B-17 Crew And Plane!

It took years, but I finally found his plane and I found his crew. I remember happening upon it years ago, but when I tried to find the information again...nothing.

It was the new HBO series, Masters of the Air that made me begin searching again. 

I came across the website: 100thbg.com. I did a search for my father's name and I got his crew and the planes they flew. I only have one picture of the plane and the crew and my dad wrote down who was in the picture. I tried search after search with the names--just their last names--and came up with nothing. Plus, my father said the plane was called "Hell From Heaven" (great name for a bomber...), but the plane was really named, "Heaven Sent" (good, but not as good...). 

On this site, I found every name of the crew, and every name of the planes they flew. Silly me--I thought they stayed with the same plane, a la Memphis Belle, but apparently not. They have my dad having flown on five planes. 

With the complete names, I did internet searches for everyone on the crew. They're all gone. I suspected as much. One lived in Ogden and it would have been a treat to be able to track him down before he passed and asked him about those missions, what it was like to be up there, and what my dad was like as a twenty-year old. 

Another surprise is a new photo including my father and the crew--it's the one at the top of this post. My dad's the tallest one, second from the left, back row.

This year is my father's 100th. In November it will be one-hundred years since he was born. The things he saw, the tough times he lived through...it's almost too much to comprehend. They really were an amazing generation.

I found my father's past, his history, and those with whom he served. It was a great day.