SOUTH PACIFIC - THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A DAME
Mrs Roosevelt conducted a South Pacific Tour during the period of September 13-18th 1943. Guadalcanal was included in the itinerary. By then she had been travelling non-stop for a month, had lost 30lbs in weight and was becoming exhausted - So What ? She just carried on..........
Image by 'John' VPB-104PB4YSquadron website. Mrs Roosevelt wears her Red Cross Uniform.
I hope you don't mind as it's not really Bovingdon but Mrs Roosevelt made an impression on me.
THE WHITE HOUSE
While I was tapping away on my last epic I was writing about VIP B17s being flown out from Bovingdon to Maison Blanche in Algeria. You will have to forgive me here when I say that in my Mind (what is left of it ) at that time I imagined a fine White House surrounded by gardens, orchards heavy with fruit overlooking the sparkling, warm Mediterranean........
Alas nothing could be further from the truth..........
Wikimedia
Maison Blanche Airfield Algiers. Captured by elements of the British and American Armies from The Vichy French 8th November 1942.
Quoting from Gen Kemp McLaughlin's book on his B17's arrival at Maison Blanche from Bovingdon and Gibraltar on 9th November 1942
'We arrived in mid-afternoon to find the airport under Allied control but jammed with fighter, bomber and transport airplanes. The field was very muddy and when we attempted to taxi to our designated parking area we promptly became mired to the wheel hubs. Someone found a farm tractor and towed us to our parking spot, where we were again stuck deep in the mud'.
While looking at images at Maison Blanche I came across this:
American Air Museum in Britain.
Now who would parade his troops just after a cloudburst ?
American Air Museum In Britain
27 Dec 1942. Lt Col Elliott Roosevelt receiving The DFC from General Jimmy Doolittle for the outstanding services performed by Roosevelt's Third Reconnaisance Group in the African Campaign.
Someone is going to have to step through a puddle sooner or later. Have you seen that ole' B17 in the background ? That's Stinky who in a couple of weeks' time will visit Ireland while attempting to return to Bovingdon. I'll give a link to Stinky to save you having to wade way back through this thread.
RAF Bovingdon - 1960s
Image Asisbiz
Maison Blanche June 1943.
SET IN STONE
Image WW2 Irishaviation.com.
Rocks were painted white and embedded in concrete. This particular example Marker 77 Horn Head, County Donegal.
As if to emphasize their neutrality in 1943 The Republic of Ireland placed markers at coastal locations to warn foreign aircraft off. They would not have been introduced in time to assist the passage of Stinky who was lost and running out of fuel. Stinky eventually force-landed in the grounds of the Agricultural College near Athenry in County Galway on 5th January 1943. If you have the time to listen, Gen McLaughlin who was Stinky's 2nd pilot and based at Bovingdon in the early days of the 92nd BG and the 1/11th CCRC recorded an extensive interview which is well worth visiting. He died in 2019 aged 101 years.
https://www.ww2online.org/view/james...#first-mission
Eisenhower's Pilot Larry Hansen's return to Bovingdon from North Africa was slightly fraught. To quote from his book 'What it was like flying for 'Ike'
'In December 1943 General Eisenhower was selected to command all allied forces in Europe. I had the responsibility of getting the complete office staff from Africa to England and having his staff in England ready to operate when he arrived. Elliott Roosevelt asked me if he could borrow my navigator to make a special flight to England and so, naturally, since he was a full Colonel and also the son of the President of The United States, I had to give in. However I took my remaining crew with a borrowed navigator, Lt Webber and departed for England by the way of Marrakech, French Morocco. This day I will always remember as it was New Year's Day 1944. We departed with the B17 completely filled with office equipment and 17 passengers. Enroute we had engine trouble and continued on three engines. We checked our position periodically as best we could. However after some nine or ten hours from North Africa over the sea, the navigator frankly admitted to us that he was not sure where we were. This was a sad thing to hear after all those hours of flight. Dick Underwood (2nd Pilot) and I immediately began to navigate ourselves. Most of the radio signals we received were false German signals used to lure us to German positions in order that they could shoot us down or attract fighters.
During this hectic period a WAC, Sue ........had a call from Mother Nature and came up to the cockpit to whisper in my ear. She asked what she should do about this situation. I told her to use the relief tube in the bomb bay. Naturally, after a short period of time, she came back up to the cockpit and told me she could not use "that thing as it was too small and male oriented." The only answer I could think of was that my outer helmet at that time must serve a dual purpose. As the weather started to improve, we noticed on the horizon a large formation of clouds to the west and to the east far up ahead and knowing something about weather I elected to head for the large formation to the west. As is well known, land creates clouds because of reflected heat from the sun during daylight and that formation of clouds was the surface of the earth to head for. Prior to our departure we were briefed that, should we come over Ireland, there would be large numbers laid out on the ground to enable aircraft to locate their position and stay away from Ireland. We had this in mind, of course, and were hoping we would see such a thing. After a short while we came upon a very large rock sticking out of the water. We continued on, remembering however, that if we had to ditch our airplane, we would want to land it on the water near this rock. We soon came across land and discovered it to be southern Ireland as we spotted a large number 16. We knew our exact location and flew on to the base that had been expecting us in Southern England. We soon had the fourth engine fixed and flew on to our base on the north side of London (Bovingdon).'
Larry Henson's Landfall. Marker 16. Hook Head, County Wexford. The lighthouse here is one of the oldest operating lighthouses in the world. Link follows:
https://coastmonkey.ie/world-war-two...-head-wexford/
RED - Stinky near Athenry
YELLOW - Marker 16 Hook Head
ORANGE LOWER - Portreath
ORANGE UPPER - St Mawgan
BLUE - Bovingdon
Portreath and later St Mawgan had special despatch units (Both RAF and USAAF ) for movements to Gibraltar and North Africa during the period of Operation Torch. Both were large busy airfields. Portreath still exists today, unused apart from a Remote Radar Head. St Mawgan remains in civil use - perhaps now better known as Newquay.
Histories available here:
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/ar...lace/portreath
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/ar...lace/st-mawgan
Portreath Airfield 1944.
Photo Rossographer Geograph.
Much interest is shown in Ireland today in locating and restoring these unusual relics from The Second World War.