Originally Posted by
rolling20
Tanker, IIRC the B52 was and maybe still is able to use an electric frying pan. There is reference to the actor Brigadier James Stewart accompanying a crew on a 13 hour sortie over Nam and the crew using one to supplement their rations. Apparently it was the tail gunners job to get the rations, bacon,eggs, cheese and bread.
If I may have your indulgence..
"Stewart's family on both sides had deep military roots, as both grandfathers had fought in the
Civil War,
[9] and his father had served during both the
Spanish–American War and
World War I. Stewart considered his father to be the biggest influence on his life, so it was not surprising that, when another war came, he too was willing to serve. Members of his family had previously been in the infantry, but Stewart chose to become a flier.
[30]
An early interest in flying led Stewart to gain his
private pilot certificate in 1935 and
commercial pilot license in 1938. He often flew cross-country to visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks.
[12] Nearly two years before the December 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor, Stewart had accumulated over 400 hours of flying time.
[31]
Considered a highly proficient pilot, he entered a cross-country race as a co-pilot in 1939.
[32] Stewart, along with musician/composer
Hoagy Carmichael, saw the need for trained war pilots, and joined with other Hollywood celebrities to invest in
Thunderbird Field, a pilot-training school built and operated by
Southwest Airways in
Glendale, Arizona. This airfield became part of the
United States Army Air Forces training establishment and trained more than 10,000 pilots during World War II.
[33]
In October 1940, Stewart was drafted into the
United States Army but was rejected for failing to meet the weight requirements for his height for new recruits—Stewart was 5 pounds (2.3 kg) under the standard. To get up to 143 pounds (65 kg), he sought out the help of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's muscle man and trainer Don Loomis, who was noted for his ability to help people gain or lose weight in his studio gymnasium. Stewart subsequently attempted to enlist in the
Air Corps, but still came in underweight, although he persuaded the enlistment officer to run new tests, this time passing the weigh-in,
[34]
[N 2]with the result that Stewart enlisted and was inducted in the Army on March 22, 1941. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in
World War II.
[1]
Stewart enlisted as a private
[12]
[35] but applied for an Air Corps commission and
Service Pilot rating as both a college graduate and a licensed commercial pilot. Soon to be 33, he was almost six years beyond the maximum age restriction for Aviation Cadet training, the normal path of commissioning for pilots, navigators and bombardiers. The now-obsolete auxiliary pilot ratings (Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot and Service Pilot) differed from the Aviation Cadet Program in that a higher maximum age limit and corrected vision were allowed upon initial entry. Stewart received his commission as a second lieutenant on January 1, 1942,
[36] shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, while a corporal at
Moffett Field, California. He received his Service Pilot rating at that time, under the
Service Pilot program established in March 1942 for experienced former civilian pilots. Although Service Pilots were normally restricted to noncombat flying, they were permitted to fly overseas on cargo and utility transports, typically with Air Transport, Ferry or Troop Carrier Commands. Under the regulations of the period, a Service Pilot could obtain an unrestricted Pilot rating after one year of USAAF service on flying status, provided he met certain flight experience requirements and passed an evaluation board, and some did in fact go on to combat flying assignments.
[37] Stewart's first assignment was an appearance at a
March of Dimes rally in Washington, D.C., but Stewart wanted assignment to an operational unit rather than serving as a recruiting symbol. He applied for and was granted advanced training on multi-engine aircraft. Stewart was posted to nearby
Mather Field to instruct in both single- and twin-engine aircraft.
[35]
[38]
James Stewart in
Winning Your Wings (1942)Public appearances by Stewart were limited engagements scheduled by the Army Air Forces. "Stewart appeared several times on network radio with
Edgar Bergenand
Charlie McCarthy. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he performed with
Orson Welles,
Edward G. Robinson,
Walter Huston and
Lionel Barrymore in an all-network radio program called
We Hold These Truths, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights."
[39] In early 1942, Stewart was asked to appear in a film to help recruit the 100,000 airmen the USAAF anticipated it would need to win the war. The USAAF's
First Motion Picture Unit shot scenes of Lieutenant Stewart in his
pilot's flight jacket and recorded his voice for narration. The short recruitment film
Winning Your Wings appeared in movie theaters nationwide beginning in late May and was very successful, resulting in 150,000 new recruits.
[40]
[41]
Stewart was concerned that his expertise and celebrity status would relegate him to instructor duties "behind the lines".
[42] His fears were confirmed when, after his promotion to first lieutenant on July 7, 1942,
[43] he was stationed from August to December 1942 at
Kirtland Army Airfield in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, piloting
AT-11 Kansans used in training bombardiers. He was transferred to
Hobbs Army Airfield, New Mexico, for three months of transition training in the four-engine
B-17 Flying Fortress, then sent to the Combat Crew Processing Center in
Salt Lake City, where he expected to be assigned to a combat unit. Instead, he was assigned in early 1943 to an operational training unit, the
29th Bombardment Group at
Gowen Field,
Boise, Idaho, as an instructor.
[35] He was promoted to captain on July 9, 1943,
[43]and appointed a squadron commander.
[38] To Stewart, now 35, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable, and he had no clear plans for the future. However, a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for immediate action, because what he dreaded most was "the hope-shattering spectre of a dead end".
[44] Stewart appealed to his commander, 30-year-old Lt. Col. Walter E. Arnold Jr., who understood his situation and recommended Stewart to the commander of the
445th Bombardment Group, a
B-24 Liberator unit that had just completed initial training at Gowen Field and gone on to final training at
Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa.
[45]
[N 3]
Major Jimmy Stewart in 1943In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bomb Group as operations officer of the
703d Bombardment Squadron, but after three weeks became its commander. On October 12, 1943, judged ready to go overseas, the 445th Bomb Group staged to
Lincoln Army Airfield, Nebraska. Flying individually, the aircraft first flew to
Morrison Army Airfield, Florida, and then on the circuitous
Southern Route along the coasts of South America and Africa to
RAF Tibenham,
Norfolk,
England. After several weeks of training missions, in which Stewart flew with most of his combat crews, the group flew its first combat mission on December 13, 1943, to bomb the
U-boat facilities at
Kiel,
Germany, followed three days later by a mission to
Bremen. Stewart led the high squadron of the group formation on the first mission, and the entire group on the second.
[47] Following a mission to
Ludwigshafen, Germany, on January 7, 1944, Stewart was promoted to major.
[47]
[N 4] Stewart was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for actions as deputy commander of the
2nd Combat Bombardment Wing on the first day of "
Big Week" operations in February and flew two other missions that week.
[49]
On March 22, 1944, Stewart flew his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on
Berlin. On March 30, 1944, he was sent to
RAF Old Buckenham to become group operations officer of the
453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had just lost both its commander and operations officer on missions.
[50] To inspire the unit, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on several missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. As a staff officer, Stewart was assigned to the 453rd "for the duration" and thus not subject to a quota of missions of a combat tour. He nevertheless assigned himself as a combat crewman on the group's missions until his promotion to lieutenant colonel on June 3
[43] and reassignment on July 1, 1944, to the 2nd Bomb Wing, assigned as
executive officer to Brigadier General Edward J. Timberlake. His official tally of mission credits while assigned to the 445th and 453rd Bomb Groups was 20 sorties.
Stewart continued to go on missions uncredited, flying with the
pathfinder squadron of the
389th Bombardment Group, with his two former groups and with groups of the
20th Combat Bomb Wing.
[51] He received a second award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the French
Croix de Guerre. He also was awarded the
Air Medal with three
oak leaf clusters.
Stewart served in a number of staff positions in the 2nd and 20th Bomb Wings between July 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945.
[43]
[52] Less than two months later, on May 10, he succeeded to command briefly the 2nd Bomb Wing, a position he held until June 15, 1945.
[53] Stewart was one of the few Americans to ever rise from private to colonel in only four years during the Second World War.
[12]
[35]
At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the
court-martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty for having
accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurichthe previous March—the first instance of U.S. personnel being tried for an attack on a neutral country. The court acquitted the defendants.
[54]
Stewart returned to the United States aboard
RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in New York City on 31 August 1945.
[55]
Stewart continued to play a role in the Army Air Forces Reserve following World War II and the new
United States Air Force Reserve after the official establishment of the
Air Force as an independent service in 1947.
Stewart received permanent promotion to colonel in 1953 and served as Air Force Reserve commander of
Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia, the present day
Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
[43]
[56] He was also one of the 12 founders and a charter member of the
Air Force Association in October 1945. Stewart rarely spoke about his wartime service, but did appear in January 1974 in an episode of the TV series
The World At War, "Whirlwind: Bombing Germany (September 1939 – April 1944)", commenting on the
disastrous mission of October 14, 1943, against
Schweinfurt, Germany. At his request, he was identified only as "James Stewart, Squadron Commander" in the documentary.
[57]
[58]
On July 23, 1959, Stewart was promoted to
brigadier general. During his active duty periods, he remained current as a pilot of
Convair B-36 Peacemaker,
Boeing B-47 Stratojet and
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress intercontinental bombers of the
Strategic Air Command.
[59] On February 20, 1966, Brigadier General Stewart flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on an
Arc Light bombing mission during the
Vietnam War. He refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation, as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve.
Stewart, however, often did his part in publicizing and promoting military service in general and the United States Air Force in particular. In 1963, for example, as part of the plot in an episode of the popular television
sitcom My Three Sons, Stewart appeared as himself in his brigadier-general's uniform to address high-school students about the importance of science in society and about the many accomplishments of the select group of so-called "eggheads" being educated at the
United States Air Force Academy in
Colorado Springs.
[60] Five years later, after 27 years of service, Stewart officially retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.
[61] Stewart received a number of awards during his military service and upon his retirement was also awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. On May 23, 1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded Stewart the Presidential Medal of Freedom and promoted him to Major General on the Retired List.
[62]