1st Lt. Bert A. Betts was a U.S. B-24 Liberator bomber pilot in World War II who flew 30 combat missions out of England over enemy occupied Europe. This is his warrior story, told in his words. From the break out of war, to his training, to his combat, to his last two combat missions on D-Day, to his experiences after combat but before war's end, this video documents his war time experience, and is an example of the many civilians who became warriors with the U.S. 8th Air Force and throughout the service. Nearly 200 pictures and maps complement his words to paint a picture of what it was like to go from college freshman to combat pilot. You can click the full screen button in the lower right corner for full screen mode, or click the YouTube button if you wish to watch directly on YouTube.
Music credits:
"Achilles" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Second Coming" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Both licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Scene Breakdown:
Time Scene
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:52 War Breaks Out
0:01:33 Medical Detour: Double Hernia
0:02:30 Santa Ana Army Air Base
0:03:20 Weekends at Home
0:04:14 Training and Classification
0:04:55 Medical Detour: Measles
0:05:48 Primary Training (Ryan Field, CA) (Feb. 1943)
0:08:55 Basic Flight Training (War Eagle Field, CA) (May 1943)
0:11:40 Single or Twin Engine?
0:12:06 Advanced Flight Training (Fort Sumner, NM)
0:13:57 From Cadet to Officer (Sept. 1943)
0:14:31 Towards an Assignment
0:15:49 Fate of Ft. Sumner Graduates
0:16:23 B-24s and a Crew
0:17:45 458th BG to Tonopah, NV to train in B-24s
0:20:08 Crew 76 picks up “their” plane: 432 (Jan. 1944)
0:21:48 Starting off to unknown combat destination (Jan. 1944)
0:25:04 Arrival at Horsham St. Faith Airfield (Feb. 1944)
0:27:12 Combat! (Mar. 1944)
0:30:18 Combat Conditions
0:33:36 Combat Mission #7: Biarritz, France (Mar. 27, 1944)
0:34:20 Running Short on Gas
0:35:18 Fighters and Flak
0:39:04 Types of targets, types of bombing
0:39:38 The Saga of Plane 432
0:41:48 Pilots Trading Off
0:43:41 Trips to Town and Hungry, Hungry
0:45:18 Combat Mission #13: Mannheim, Germany (Apr. 1944)
0:46:11 Plane and Equipment Modifications
0:48:52 Combat Mission #15: Berlin, Germany in the Tail Turret
0:50:35 7 Day Leave to Bournemouth
0:52:18 Individual Planes Flown
0:53:08 Combat Mission #28 to Bourges, France (June 4, 1944)
0:57:38 Done with Combat?
0:58:10 Combat: No Aborts
0:59:08 Flying the Group Assembly (Formation) Aircraft
1:00:55 Return to the U.S. (July 1944) and Stateside Service
1:09:58 Summary of Betts’ life after World War II
1:10:49 End Credits