5. Too many Air Corps pilots

Stories from my love of airplanesBy Fred Burlingame, Jr. Next stop was Childress Army Air Field, Childress, TX where we were training to fly student Bombardier Cadets, but I came up on orders to Keesler Field, Biloxi, MS for B-24 Co-pilot School. You should try Biloxi in August with no air conditioning some time. While I hated it going in, I came out with a genuine liking for the B-24 and was sent to FT.Worth Army Air Field, Ft. Worth, TX for B-24 Transition and became a B-24 Aircraft Commander (First Pilot). We finished B-24 School December 10, 1945 and they didn’t know what to do with us.

Because of the extremely high loss rate in Europe in the early part of WWII, the Army Air Corps recruited large numbers of aircrew and trained 100,000 pilots. The P-51 with its long range escort capability cut the bomber losses and decimated the Luftwaffe’s ability to fight. German losses were devastating. After the War, a German fighter pilot was visiting with me in Lock Haven in the 1970's. He told me the Germans only had six fighters in commission at his Luftwaffe air base near the War's end -- and the Allies were coming with a 1,000 plane raid. He said the Airfield Commander said, “There they come. Go up and stop them”.

At the end of May we were rushed to Randolph Field at San Antonio, TX to undergo B-29 Crew training. Because of my low time, about 400 Hours, I was a Co-pilot. We finished B-29 transition and went to Davis-Monthan Field at Tucson, AZ for phase training. We were flying our last mission at phase training when we received a message to fly to landing weight and return to base. That was VJ Day and we never flew again. At that time I had 472 Hours Total time and 280 Hours were in 4-engine aircraft. I had been in service for 34 months and while I was very glad to see the war end, I was extremely disappointed to have never gotten to combat.

We were told we could stay in service for a period of 6 months unless relieved earlier at the convenience of the government, but I failed to see any promise in that and elected to get out.

I accepted a commission in the reserves and was assigned to Troop Carrier Squadrons at Greater Pittsburgh Airport. We went on two weeks active duty at Greenville, SC and I got some instrument stick time in a C-82. It flew a lot like a B-24. My unit was called to active duty for Korea, but I had never been able to get scheduled for check out in the C-46 and I wasn’t allowed to go.

Next ...