This is the
John Bybee
B-24 Liberator Research
Home Page
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Click on Pictures Below for Much Larger
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The
Pistol Packin Mama B-17 and it's Crew |
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764
Bomber Squadron B-24 Liberators |
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Robert Galvan 461st Bomb Group B-24 Liberator |
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B-24 Liberator
#66 15th Air Force |
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Jack Cody, Mission 151 Odertal Germany B-24 Liberator |
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William Zumsteg Airplane Crash B-24 Liberator |
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The Peace Maker B-24 Liberator #41 |
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B-24 Liberator "I Walk Alone" in World War 2 |
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B-24 Liberator "Judy R" WW2 |
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The Last B-24 Liberator Made in Tulsa, Tulsamerican |
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One More Mission, A Journey From Childhood to War |
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Willow Run, B-24 Liberator Production Plant |
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Polish Air Force B-24 Liberator |
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German Top Secret Rocket Program |
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Arab Israeli War 1948
John Augarten Pilot |
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B-47 Stratojet "Ajax 18" |
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Cold War, 25th Bomber Squadron, The Executioners |
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Bob LaFara B-24 Liberators at Iwo Jima, Saipan, Oahu,
Kwajalein.
My World War II Experiences in the Pacific |
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Click Here to watch the Free U.S. Air Force
Blues, A great recruiting video showing many aircraft of the 50's and 60's |
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B-24
Liberator Movies
B-24
Liberator Aviation Art
B-24 Liberator Models
B-24
Liberator Books |
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Click Here's the Liberator model that started it
all with me and military aviation history research. John Bybee.
Jeff,
Click Here's the Liberator that started it all with me
and military
aviation history. I would guess around 1954/1955 the old
man stopped for a beer at some bar in
Canton, IL. I locked onto the completed model of "Buffalo
Bill" atop a TV and I was hooked.
Ciao.
John
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Oct 2001, Springfield, IL. L to
R: Paul Beard, John Bybee,
Norma "Joy" (Ford) Beard.
Norma was six months old when her father
1Lt. Eugene P. Ford was killed
aboard the "Tulsamerican"
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The
gent on the right is Gene Vandament
an Army and college buddy. |
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I'm 60. Retired from the
BNSF RR out of Beardstown Aug 1. 36 years service, worked in
Burlington, IA, and West Quincy, MO for short periods the rest in
Beardstown. A grizzled old conductor once told me, "kid when you
retire, you'll find you'll just have more time to see the doctor." I
thought he was nuts--well I hit a speed bump after retiring--found out I
had
prostrate cancer. Had the cryotherapy surgery done in Galesburg
on 9 Sept and I feel super and they tell me I'm doing super. |
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Ya,
B-24s are one of my favorites. My nickname is
Col. Liftgap. Found an
article that
WWII Soviet pilots claimed the B-24 had a "liftgap" as the mains
retracted into the wheel wells and would quit flying. Folks thought I
was nuts until I found the article. |
Hi Jeff,
Left you a Phone message. I am thrilled and stunned that you are so close and
have such an interest in
military aviation. Yes, I will call
Ben Kidder. The
"Tulsamerican"
was a Ford KD kit and the last B-24 built at Douglas Tulsa.
Kevin Gray a Tulsa lawyer is one of the brass hats at the
Tulsa Air & Space Museum
and they would love to bring back all or part of that aircraft to Tulsa. The
pilot, Flight Engineer and Navigator all died in the crash.
The
TulsaAmerican was 765 lead and was hit by
FW-190A-8s of the II JG300 just before the IP in
CZ. They made Split, Yugo on 2 engines and tried for Vis. Last 2 engines ran
out of gas and the Lib rolled over into the Adriatic from a 100 feet.
A-4, Falklands--tell me more when you get a chance!
I worked with the IWM on a B-47E story. I've attached
a draft. Capt. Galvan was 767 deputy lead on
17 Dec 44 mission. Shot up and made a forced landing, POW and KIA 26
June 1956 in B-47E at Smoky Hill
AFB, KS.
Nobuko worked at a department store in Koza,
Okinawa, while I was stationed at Henko, Okinawa 1968-1970, of course I
didn't know her then.
Gerry Landry
who retired from the Cal Tech
subsonic wind tunnel, his
cousin Russel Landry was the nav.
Ciao.
John
12-9-2008
Hi Jeff,
Very glad to hear from you. You did a super job with the content and
presentation of your website. How in the world did I miss the fact that you are
in Bushnell?? I've been to your website several times and your data has helped
me solve the mystery of the
Jesse Pettey's 461, Sq #52 and 451 B-24G #42-78436
"Shady
Lady" which went MIA at 1320hrs, 18 Dec 1944 near the center of the
Nagykanizsa Oil Triangle in
southwestern
Hungary. Have done research for a book on the Sunday
17 December 1944 mission flown by the 49th BW to Odertal, Germany (Kozle,
Poland). The 485th BG on the return leg from this mission alleges
that they had six B-24s damaged by SAMS at 1414hrs @ 12,000 feet @ 46-33N
16-30E. The "Shady Lady" went MIA in the same general area. The 2nd BG
(B-17) recounts they were attacked by
Rheintochter SAMS over
Wiener Neustadt in late Dec 1944. I can send you links to a my blog
on same. I've been fortunate to have 3 articles published in AIR CLASSICS.
This spring I did an article on the 31 March 1931 TWA/Rockne crash for
Randy
Reynolds' TWA / Jack Frye website.
Currently,
Gary Hyatt of the Davis-Monthan
website has asked if I would be a guest editor and do the
Fokker page for the
website and Dave Powers
of the PanAm LOGBOOK magazine desires
that I do a piece on TWA.Do you
follow the history of Camp Ellis? YES, I would love to have your
insights and help for online publishing if I ever get the Odertal book done.
I belong to the informal SPG (Same Page Gang) and we think we have found a
prop blade and wheel off the 461st B-24J
"Tulsamerican" lost off Hvar on 17
Dec 1944. Have attached a photo. Looking forward to your
response.
Ciao.
John
Look at John Bybee's Home Page
When Angels Fall, by John Bybee
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8-7-2008 Greetings Jesse,
I am doing ongoing research on the Sunday 17 December
1944 mission to Odertal
(Kozle,
Poland) and Hughes G. gave me your new email address. I read very great
interest you article about your book ONE MORE MISSION and the Goia Sgt/Painter
that was selling
Shady Lady nose art off a stencil. Is it possible that you flew #13,
42-51336 to >Italy, this
aircraft lost 24 Aug 1944 at Pesaro with Lt. John R. Wren hr.'s crew?
Shady Lady #52,B-24G-16-NT, 42-78436 shows going to 451st on 24 November 1944
and went MIA on 18 Dec 1944 with 451/727,
2Lt. John D. Holland Jr. commanding. #52 went MIA in the center of the
Nagykanizsa (Hungary) Oil Triangle. This was the same area that the 485th
claimed they had six B-24s damaged by Nazi SAMs on 17 Dec 1944. Let me dig out
my notes on Holland etc. Sincerely,
John D. Bybee
Vermont, IL
Jess
Something's amiss big time since you flew 42-78436 over
to Italy. You recall any extra electronic equipment like in RCM / ECM / ELINT mode?
John
John, I was a pilot concerned with getting that big box-car fully
loaded off the ground, saying the correct prayers while under fire from the
Germans, and controlling a crash - called a landing. We had bales of chaff
to be thrown out the waist openings. We had no other electronic equipment
on the Shady Lady or on any other aircraft I flew. I think I would remember
any electronic intelligence devices.Your research has been a revelation for me, although I have not spent
a lot of time worrying about what happened to the
Shady Lady. I was informed, probably by rumor, that she had been
shot down and I accepted the information because about 50% were lost. Many
years later I found on our website the same serial number for an airplane
that a Lt. Wren piloted over
Persaro and was MIA. Much later I stumbled
across a photo of someone stenciling a Shady Lady in the 451st. I naturally
assumed that someone was stenciling many aircraft with the same stencil,
which I though was humorous. Now you uncover, with convincing evidence,
that the aircraft was transferred from the 461 to the 451 in November and
was later MIA. Since I was not consulted or asked for my permission to
transfer the Shady Lady by the top command, I will accept your account of
"The rest of the Story" of the Shady Lady.
Jess |
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Click
Here for North Pole Global Warming
Click Here's another Book
Review about a B-24 Pilot in WW2, Jessie Pettey,
One More Mission, A Journey from Childhood to War.
Click Here to go to the
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