|
IPTC: Caption
|
The crew of Consolidated B-24L Liberator "Hell Hen" of the 8th Air Force grin after their return from the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) at Bradley Field on May 22, 1945. The first aircraft, a B-24 Liberator named "Bar V" piloted by First Lieutenant Harold Gordon Kretchmar (1923-2007), landed at 1142 Hours. Sixty-five bombers, B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators carrying 275 officers and 800 enlisted men (including former prisoners of war), landed by 2033 Hours. They flew from bases in England and France to Iceland and Labrador before landing at Bradley. Starting that day, some 3,500 aircraft and over 40,000 men returned to the United States by air by August 30, 1945, to Bradley, the designated field for returning aircraft from the 8th and 15th Air Forces. After a thirty-day furlough, they were scheduled to be trained in Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations, but for many the end of the Pacific War cancelled their transition to that bomber and they were discharged. Kretchmar started training in B-29s at Roswell Field, New Mexico the day the Japanese Emperor announced the surrender. Most of the planes returned to Bradley were flown to scrapping yards around the country and recycled.
|
IPTC: Copyright Notice
|
Caption ©2007 MFA Productions LLC
Image in the Public Domain
|
