Another Hero Goes Home

Sippican Cottage: My Father Asks For Nothing

A year or two ago there was an appearance of a B17, a B24, and a B25 at the Museum of Flight, at Boeing Field. Mrs. Drang and I took her father. The guy selling tickets to go on the planes took one look at my father in law and asked "Are you a WWII vet?" and he answered "Aren't we all?" I have some pics.

Now, since I was a little Drangling, the B25 Mitchell was my favorite WWII bomber--maybe I was intended t be a grunt, the sheer firepower of the B25H (4 .50s and a 75mm) and the solidnose B25J (8 .50s!) is The Stuff. Now that I'm a Seattleite, of course, the B17 is the Shiznit. But the B24 Liberator wins the stats battle--bombload, range, etc.

Mrs. Drang's father inspecting the B24, Witchcraft.

Mrs. Drang's dad was navy in WWII, split between subs, and sub tenders. His brothers were also on subs, the eldest staying in after the war for a full career. Both the older brothers were in the Navy before December 1941, and I never got it confirmed, but I am pretty sure one of them is "featured" during the slide show at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.



I loved this warning sign in the bomb-bay of the B24, Witchcraft.







Waist gunners' position, Witchcraft.









Looking aft towards the tail gunner position in Witchcraft from the waist gunners position.
IIRC, in the Pacific, it was common to only have one waist gunner.









Witchcraft was probably not covered with graffiti during the war, although there were several aircraft that were "autographed" by factory workers or other groups--school children, for instance.







At one time, this same B24 was painted in the colors of the famous Dragon And His Tail, which featured the most elaborate "nose art"--fuselage art, in this case--but it was hardly politcially correct, so...