I'm putting up with winter as best I can given the circumstances we are all living with right now. Since there is still much salt and sand on the roads, the Z stays put in the garage. So, I decided to build another model plane.

This one is the Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero fighter, one of the best performing fighters of WWII. It was fast, nimble and deadly, but had poor protective armor and tended to burst into flames when hit. They did not have the self-sealing tanks or armor that most of the U.S. fighters had but could out turn and out maneuver just about any other plane the allies could put up against it.

This is the first Tamiya kit I've ever built and I was impressed by the details and fitment of all the parts. Anyway, it was a fun project, now on to the F4U Corsair.

Hope all is well with you Z folks. Stay Safe!

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Love it!

I probably told you the story about my old Gun Guru, Major Fred Houser, USMC (Ret), who flew the Corsair against the Zero during WWII. Fred quit college in 1942, just 6 months shy of his degree during the opening year of the war, became a Marine infantryman and fought in the Guadalcanal jungle with a Thompson SMG to capture and secure Henderson Field. That was the first US airstrip of the Pacific Theater. He had a dozen stories about that, but when the US planes began using the airstrip he had helped win, he decided he needed to get out of the jungle and into an airplane.

Claiming his 3.5yrs of college to accept a commission, he found himself flying the Corsair out of the very same airstrip he had taken away from the Japanese just a year earlier. He had even more stories about that phase of his career.

I hung out at his gunshop a lot, cleaning firearms and listening to his war stories. I built accurate scale models of the Zero and Corsair and hung them from his ceiling in combat poses. They were still hanging there when I left town to come to CT years later. Those Tamiya kits are scary-accurate. Wonderful things if you don't cover them with glue thumb prints.

Are you ready to sell me your sit-down first-person raceway game yet?

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1970 240Z

Nice work John! That's a cool looking plane.

My grandfathers were both in the Air corps during WWII, one was a gunner on a B17, the other was a medic in a paratrooper/glider regiment, I'm forgetting the number now. When he flew it was ona C-17 skytrain.

Jay

The gliders had one of the highest attrition rates of any unit in the US Army during the war. Your Medic was surely kept very busy.

Which theater did your B-17 gunner fly in? I worked at OF Mossberg with a B-17 ball gunner veteran who was the only person in the history of the bird to ever change a .50BMG barrel while in-flight.

I have personally flown (ridden) on a C-117/C-47 skytrain ("DC-3") and sort of fell in love with it. Large, low and slow, it seemed indestructible (it wasn't). The *CRYSTAL* radio had slots for 3 channels!
I still want to own one of those when I grow up.

Here's a great shot to add emphasis to your stories ~ a skytrain towing a glider!

My great uncle Kenny was a co-pilot on a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber which had been stripped of all guns, bombs, and most crew. It was assigned photo recon missions over the Japanese-occupied coast of China. He was shot down, crashed at sea and not recovered; he's the only member of our family who was actually KIA during WWII (on the American side, anyway). All others were WIA but they all came home.

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1970 240Z

Frank. If, and when, you do grow up I think that you should aspire to be the United States official "go-to-guy" of historical facts and trivia.

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Thank you Frank. First, for correcting me.... The skytrains were C47s, not C-17. Yes, my grandpa said he got very lucky being assigned medic duty. It was, as he described it "dumb luck". He had worked in a hospital for a summer job, as a janitor. The recruiter saw that and said you were worked in a hospital? We need medics, that's what you'll be doing!

My grandfather on the B17 was a waist gunner, and shot many planes down in his day. He served in Europe. They flew 11 missions I believe before participating in the "Black Thursday" bombing raid on Schweinfurt Germany. My grandpa's plane carried the bombsight (1 of 3) and so it was critical they hit their target. Naturally the AA fire was concentrated heavily on their plane. They were hit three different times, twice before hitting their target. The third hit caught the plane on fire forcing the crew to bail out. They were taken prisoner immediately when they hit the ground. He was a prisoner in Stalag 17B in Austria for over 2 years before being released.

His plane wore the name "Patches" because it was full of bullet holes from previous raids.

I saw a Mitchell B25 at an Air Show one time. Neat plane! Two engine bomber, good sounding thing.

This is a picture that was taken of Grandpa's plane just after it was hit the first time on that run. It was taken from another plane in the formation. Obviously the smoke trail is from his.

The CIA owned and flew B25 Mitchells as "corporate" transportation and "cargo" (opium) platforms all over Vietnam. They were plain-black, no markings or tail numbers, meaning they had been dropped from the registers and could not be traced if crashed. Bristling with guns, tho. I was really jealous.

Howie, no chance of that ever happening; I refuse to grow up (Peter Pan Syndrome)


Jay, you should acquaint yrslf with the amazing Christmas miracle story of B-17 "Ye Olde Pub". 2dLt Charlie Brown led a virgin aircrew in a virgin B-17F into their first battle over Bremen during Christmas week, 1943.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_B ... r_incident

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ye+olde+pub+b ... 8EkmyoG83Q

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1970 240Z

It's always great to get Frank's input on stuff.

I've always been fascinated by WWII. As a little kid, I remember waking up early on Saturday mornings to watch the "Big Picture", the Army's equivalent of the Navy's "Victory At Sea", also one of my favorites. I'm still glued to documentaries related to that war effort, "World War II in Color" for example.

My Pop served as an Army combat engineer in the war and was part of the D-Day campaign. He drove big Cat tractors and also worked some large cranes, clearing out sunken barges and ships the Germans had sunk in the port of Marseille France. He also did some demolition work and was injured by an exploding "booby trap" that the Germans had attached to a door that he opened in an unoccupied building. The explosion sent him and the door flying across the street, breaking his leg in two places. If it wasn't for the solid oak door staying together it could have been much worse.

Jay, your family's war history is most interesting. I happen to be finishing up another WWII book entitled "Big Week", by James Holland. Holland gives a detailed accounting of the major bombing efforts that your grandpa so bravely fought in. I strongly recommend you read this one if you hadn't already done so.

Good hearing from you. Hope to get together soon someday! Stay Safe!

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

We should all get together soon.

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1970 240Z

Frank,

Thanks for posting those links. That's an incredible story, amazing really. I sent my father the link to that one also. Stories like that restore my faith in humanity.

John,

I will definitely check that book out, thank you for suggesting it. It sounds like your family and Frank's, have equally interesting war history. Your Pop got extremely lucky that door was strong, and that the blast didn't kill him. Amazing. Obviously God had more in store for him, more for him to accomplish in his life. It's amazing to me to hear stories like that, to think about the things that people have experienced and survived in their lives.

Good hearing from you also! Yes, looking forward to being able to get together at some point. What a weird year this has been!

Jay,

The book will be on it's way to you as soon as I finish it, courtesy of the buddy that lent it to me who, after I told him the story of your grandpa, agreed it should go to you. He just finished reading my copy of "What We Inherit".

So enjoy. Just send me a PM with your address so I can send it to you.

Best Regards,

John

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Wow John! That is really nice of both of you.

Please tell your friend I said thank you!! I'm looking forward to reading it.

Sending you a PM now.

Jay

Jay, what was not mentioned in either version of the story, was the fact that on the occasion when Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler met again, dozens of decedents of all nine survivors of Ye Olde Pub gathered together to meet the German who had saved their relative. None of them would have been born if he had shot their ancestors down. Franz got to sit each Great-grandkid on his lap and learn their names and which of the aircrew they were related to.

He and Charlie became fast friends and great fishing buddies, spending their final two decades together alone on small boats, solving the world's problems and drowning worms.

They each died peacefully within a few short months of the other.

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1970 240Z

What an amazing story Frank. Thank you for sharing it, honestly the best I've heard in a long time.

Jay