Volume 28, Number 2
September, 2019
World War II Bomber Pilot Speaks to 8th of MN
Dr. John A. Clark, Senior Life Member of the Yankee Air Museum; Life Member, 100th Bomb Group
Association and Life Member, Eighth Air Force Historical Association introduced himself at an 8th of MN
Wednesday luncheon earlier this year.
John Clark, a B-17G pilot/co-pilot in the 418th Bomb
Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group, completed 32 missions
over Germany. He flew the bulk of them in the depths of the
wet and cold winter of 1944-45. He described instrument
flying as “something you’re doing with the aircraft that was
unique and important, to get this big device [bomber]
through impenetrable fog or night…and bring it down to the
ground.”
Figure 1: Dr. John Clark, B-17 pilot/co-pilot with
wife Marie, a member of WASP.
Dr. Clark is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, having retired in
1988 after 32 years on the University of Michigan faculty. After the war he served as a pilot with the 107th
Bomb Squadron, Michigan Air National Guard, 1946-1948. His WWII memoir, An Eighth Air Force
Combat Diary, was published in 2001.
For over 50 years Dr. Clark has been an engineering consultant in the fields of Energy and Thermal Processes.
But at the 8th luncheon, he talked about crash landing in a Belgian swamp after running out of fuel. Other stories
he told provided a realistic account of aerial combat in the brutal air war over Europe, describing his
experiences as a WWII combat pilot with some humor as well. A few of these stories and Dr. Clarks luncheon
remarks are told in more detail inside this issue.
Luncheons are Wednesday, 11:15 AM
K of C Hall, Bloomington, MN.
See our website: www.8thmn.org
Eighth Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota
Officers & Directors as of January 1, 2019
President Vice President Treasurer John Ahaus
Steve Marks Dick Hill (179th FS) Gary Birchem 10548 Penn Ave., S
5121 Gorgas Ave. 934 Woody Lane 28790 Ivywood TRL Bloomington, MN 55431
Edina, MN 55424 Coon Rapids, MN 55448 Chisago City, MN 55013 (612) 720-8307
(952) 926-0148 (763) 755-3559 (651) 257-1550 [email protected]
(952)-797-2783 [email protected] almostaranch02@
[email protected] frontier.com Vince Parker
Dick Kaminski 38 Moonlight Bay
Marv Jansma 6633 Xerxes Ave S Gene Kretchmer Stillwater, MN 55082
14721 Denmark Ct Minneapolis, MN 55423 11206 Virginia Rd. (651) 439-8679
Apple Valley, MN 55124 (612) 869-5978 Bloomington, MN 55438
(952) 423-1260 (952) 943-3988
Dennis Pheiffer James Rasmussen Lawrence Sagstetter
8324 Thomas Ave 18273 Fillmore St., NE 4035 Victoria St N #313
Bloomington, MN 55431 Cedar, MN 55011 Shoreview, MN 55126
218-349-3306 (763)-434-3654 [email protected]
Past Presidents
Frank Frison (447th BG) William Herbert (96th BG) Earl B. Joswick (95th BG) Ed Kueppers (AM)
James Keefe (95th BG) Dave Dahlberg (487th BG)
Don Zupan (379th BG) Richard Postier (96th BG) Harold Rutka (34th BG) Don Kent (401st BG)
Don Bruns (379th BG) Larry Bachman (392nd BG)
Newsletter prepared and edited by Lawrence Sagstetter, 4035 Victoria St N #313, Shoreview, MN 55126.
Phone: 651-776-7434, Email: [email protected].
“Deterrence through strength; global strike on demand.”
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8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
Dr. John is a former professor of
President’s Report mechanical engineering at the University
of Michigan. He also happens to have
By Steve Marks been a B-17 pilot/co-pilot in WWII. John
came to our luncheon with a lot of stories.
Special thank you to Kevin Callahan and Sue He is very articulate and knows a lot of
details of airplanes he flew and of his
Rucker for supplying many of the photos and many missions.
biographical information in this issue. Kevin is John Clark had the other 40-45 luncheon
diligent in keeping our archival website up to attendees fascinated at hearing his
date with video, photos and biographical personal stories. After he would tell one,
information of what happens at our weekly they would ask for another – and then
luncheons. another. Finally, he referred us to a book
he wrote, compiling all his historical 8th
Our editor, Larry Sagstetter, draws from this Air Force/Army Air Corps stories, which
information to put together our newsletters. can be found online at Amazon.com.
Sue Rucker also supplies photos of her So it is men like John Clark, all of our
interactions with 8th members. She especially regular luncheon attendees, those who
loves organizing our special annual Veteran’s aren’t able to attend - the many who have
Day luncheons. She decorates the tables, passed before us - that we will honor at
brings in desserts and entertainment. She does our celebratory Wednesday Veteran’s
this every year because she loves our veterans. Day luncheon.
She loves taking photos of them and with We love them. We honor them. We are so
them. very lucky to have them in our midst – to
have them as our friends.
Veteran’s Day this year falls on Monday, May God bless them and the United
November 11. I don’t want to be States of America!
presumptuous. But we will probably celebrate
at our luncheon on Wednesday, November of From our former chaplain, the late
that same week. And Sue is likely to have Bob Clemens:
much input into how we honor our veteran’s
that day. O Lord,
It is no secret the number of World War II We give you thanks for all our gifts,
veterans in our organization continues to
decline over time. The past few months we but today we give you thanks for our
have lost some heavy hitters including Mel military men and women who sacrificed
Dahlberg, Ed Conlon and Spook Johns. Tom for all people across the world, who
Stillwell, former member of our Board of believe in continuing the cause of
Directors & Gulf War Navy veteran died in an peace and freedom.
airplane crash in May. We recognize these
amazing men in the next few pages. AMEN.
And then another amazing man makes a 3
surprise appearance at one our luncheons to
pick up our spirits. I am talking about Dr.
John A. Clark who attended a Wednesday
luncheon earlier this year.
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8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
Dr. John Clark Visits 8th
o n anybody's map and there it was! We looked at
( Continued from page 1.)
it and I said, "Okay, we'll put it down there." So
In his luncheon comments earlier this year, we brought the airplane down and circled around
John A. Clark noted he had been in the 100th and it turned out to be near the city of Ghent,
Bomb Group, the same as our Jim Belgium and brought the aircraft into its final
Rasmussen. approach to that runway, just as the two outboard
engines ran out of gas! I could just see the fuel
“Well, our first mission as a combat crew pressure getting lower. It was too late to feather
flying with the 100th Bomb Group was on them.
October the 9th, 1944. I might describe how
you go about doing a mission because they We were still on the landing approach. As we
all pretty much follow the same pattern.” approached the landing, suddenly I looked up
and here was this six-story building right in our
In our base at the officer's club above the bar, path. We couldn't see it. This was January of '45
there were three lights: red, green and and it was a dark day and so on and late in the
yellow. Red meant a mission scheduled for afternoon. So, Mac just pulled the aircraft up and
the next day. Green meant no mission lifted the wing and we just cleared that building
scheduled and that meant at the moment you and brought it back and set it down on the
looked at it that no mission was scheduled; runway. It turned out not to be a runway as much
but that might change and it did many times. as it was just a little strip for metal plates that had
In the middle of the night it would change. been laid on the ground for fighters that don't
require much runway to land and take off.
Yellow meant stand-by because we think
there is going to be a mission the next day. We landed the plane on the few plates of metal,
That meant the flight crews would then make which were full of holes. We skidded off the end
their own decisions on how to conduct for about a mile through mud, splash and weeds
themselves. The bar would close soon as the of a swamp. We came to a stop in thick, watery
red light went on, but then you could go muck.
back and rest and sit around the officers club
and play cards or whatever you would do or At that point, I had to reach out the pilot’s window
read.” to grab hold of the overhead gun to pull myself
out of the cockpit. I pulled myself onto the top of
Regarding his crash landing in a Belgian the fuselage. Walked back. Jumped down onto a
swamp, Clark noted his crew was flying a wing. From there, jumped to the swampy ground.
brand new airplane. Every plane is different,
even if it is the same model of aircraft. They As pilot, it’s a long jump to the ground. The best
were not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of way to get out is to use a pilot’s window or go
their new B-17. They found out quickly, one back to the Forward Turret. Grab the guns and
was undependable fuel gauges. pull yourself up over the guns and onto roof of
plane. Walk back. Jump on wings. From there
On that particular mission, the two inboard jump to the ground.
engines had quit for lack of fuel, despite
what the gauges indicated. He needed to get Before we landed, I called the crew on intercom
the plane on the ground ASAP. to be sure they had guns pointed forward when
we landed. We had a well-trained crew that did
“ So, we made two fundamentally, basically, that job right. This facilitated ability to grab guns
good decisions. One was to land at the first over your head and pull yourself up and out of
opportunity. The other one was to use some the aircraft.”
fuel to get up to about twenty-five hundred
feet, which was to parachute and we could Oh, well, we landed in what turned out to be
bail out at that altitude. Everyone could get in the front lines. It was very confusing and there
was nothing ever done rationally. We had landed
out safely. Then we kept looking. “ at a Polish fighter strip, temporary as you can
imagine on a flat piece of ground. They would
Suddenly, out of nowhere we looked down throw up some of these steel plates and put in
and here was this little strip of runway not Balkan Spitfires to give support to the front. The
front was not very far away and confusion
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8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
reigned.
“See, we were young. I was twenty when I got
They did not send messages back to our my wings. As I said before, the crewmembers were all
group that we had landed as they said they teenagers. A military combat experience is enormously
would, but I think that they had messages maturing. Remember this, we came through the
that were higher priority than ours. They Depression. “
trucked us into Ghent in probably RAF
trucks because they were a RAF Polish “Because of that we learned patience, we
fighter unit. In Ghent, we had a little funny learned thrift and we learned not to waste. So those are
story that I wrote about in my book, a special character traits that are very important. Just the
war story. But the guy whom was a Polish Depression taught us that in the thirties. In wartime and
officer said, "When you get into Ghent the in combat, you learn self-reliance, self-dependence and
enlisted men are going to be put in the learn to work and in cooperation with other people and
stables." learn to be trusted by them.”
The aircraft was totaled and never was -Dr. John A. Clark
recovered. Then it took us five days to get 32 Missions 1944-45
back to the group by virtue of going through 300 combat hours/600 total hours – B-17
Ghent. We took the advice of the Polish
officer at the airstrip that when we got into “Fuel & weather are the two most
Ghent that the enlisted men would go into important factors in flying a B-17.”
stables and the officers would get hotel Weather has it’s own impact on fuel
rooms. So when we approached the town usage. In cold weather you use more fuel
major, the British had sent in officers than in warm weather.
specially trained to run the civil government
in those days, because Ghent had just been Fuel was the major concern of 8th Air
liberated a few days really before we got Force aircrews. You didn’t want to
there and the town major was the extremely exhaust your fuel while flying over
busy. Germany.
The Polish officer said, "Tell them that all Factors affecting fuel:
of your crew are second lieutenants because
he is so busy, he won't be able to check and 1. Never sure how long missions are
he won't know anyway." He said, "Besides going to last. Catching up to
you American aircrew all dress the same. formation uses tremendous
You can't tell who the officers are and who amounts of fuel. You don’t want
the enlisted men are. Since the aircrew to fall behind!
dressed the same, the town major will not
only be so busy and it will be at night and he 2. What if fuel gauges aren’t right?!
can't tell anyway, just tell them your are all Never trust gauges. And every
second lieutenants.” plane’s gauges are different
despite them all being same
The next day we went into Brussels and design & build.
spent the next four days trying to get
transportation back to England. It was 3. Weather: Cold, wind & rain has
chaotic and it was hard to go. Wounded of tremendous impact on fuel usage.
course, were being flown out and they had
priority, naturally. We didn't have any “In movies about WWII, aircrews are overly
problem with that. They finally got us aboard dramatic. In real life, we didn’t salute each
a C-47, which is like a transport plane, a other while crewing a plane. We explained
twin-engine transport plane and flew us back situations, gave options and came to mutual
to a base near our base in England. decisions to make a decision”
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8 th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
Folded Wings
July 6, Mel Dahlberg passed away. According to
Dr. Tom Stillwell of Plymouth, Minnesota, died on Kevin Callahan’s posting on the 8th’s archive web page,
May 8, 2019 in the crash of his single engine airplane “This man was a true hero. He signed up to serve his
about half-mile outside the airport at Moose Lake, country as an 18-year old in World War II in 1943 and
Minnesota. Tom was a member of the 8th Air Force received 2 purple hearts as a paratrooper in the 517th
Historical Society of Minnesota, indeed a longtime Airborne Division Regimental Combat Team. One of
member of the Board of Directors. He organized several the things he would share about enlisting in the Army
trips for the members through his Club Cherokee flying was he wanted to see some action, and he did. He faced
club, in which private pilots from the Twin Cities flew fear straight in the face, and lived to tell about it. In all
veterans to various historical and aviation-related of his adventures, he just never stopped going. He loved
locations around the state of Minnesota. being around people, talking, sharing and serving others
whenever needed.”
Dr. Tom was a skilled, experienced flyer of small,
private planes. He was a veteran of the US Navy In 1943, Mel was in training to be a paratrooper. He
Medical Corps. He served in MASH units as a landed in Italy near Anzio and later jumped into France.
surgeon piecing kids back together in the 1991 Gulf He suffered an ankle injury during one drop. He was
War in Iraq. His expertise was urology. He talked called up later to fight during the Battle of the Bulge.
about all of this in an 8th luncheon presentation in
April, 2011. Mel received two purple hearts. After being wounded in
the hand by a grenade, he was also later seriously injured
For whatever reason, probably to serve others, Dr. in the Battle of the Bulge by a mortar attack. He was
Tom took off from Moose Lake airport on an icy, unconscious for a month and woke up in England. He
stormy, windy evening Wednesday, May 15 to fly then worked in the 31st Statistical Control Unit keeping
back to his base of operations at Crystal Airport. He track of the Eighth Air Force in England, sorting
never made it. Went missing for some time. The next records and information encoded on IBM-type cards.
morning, authorities found his plane in a river Mel eventually came home on the Queen Mary.
outside Moose Lake airport.
Dr. Tom went above and beyond the call of duty to
serve members of the 8th Air Force Historical Society
of Minnesota. His is sorely missed!
Dr. Ed Conlon died May 15. He Mel Dahlberg with Sue Rucker at 8th Veteran's Day
gave a great talk to our group about his experiences luncheon November, 2018.
in Vietnam as a medical doctor with 633rd Combat
Support Group in Pleiku. Dr. Ed attended several 8th
luncheons. He was a good man and very well
thought of by those who had the privilege of meeting
him.
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43 September, 2019
8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota World War II and the Airlines
Lou Martin has been giving some really good
Spook Johns, former US Navy AD-6/7 Skyraider talks lately at 8th luncheons. He is like our
Pilot, passed away on Thursday, July 25, 2019. resident “color” commentator. He fills in speaker
gaps with his first-hand knowledge of airplanes
Spook talks with Roald Knutson at 8th Air Force booth at and his expertise in flying them.
Air Expo, Flying Cloud Airport. Lou adds to the conversation. Brevity is a virtue
he has some difficulty with, sometimes. With the
Malcolm “Spook” Johns was one of a kind. He was vastness and depth of his aviation experiences, it
an independent thinker, an artist and tinkerer. He is easy to forgive Lou’s lack of brevity at times.
flew with an attitude Navy Skyraider airplanes from And, of course, Steve or Dick are always nearby
aircraft carriers – specifically, the USS Kitty Hawk - to rescue the microphone, if necessary.
off the coast of Vietnam. He was there at the In August, Lou brought his friend, Howard, to an
beginning of the war, when the Gulf of Tonkin 8th luncheon. Howard is a WWII veteran. While
incident occurred – or maybe didn’t. He flew in introducing himself, Howard talked a bit about
formation with Dieter Dengler, when Dengler was American Airlines role in WWII.
shot down and captured by Pathet Lao.
Lou Martin with friend Howard.
Spook was an active 8th member. He organized
several museum flights in the past for 8th members to The story Howard told was only part of a
visit Udvar-Hazy, the Air Force Museum in Dayton, broader one about how airlines helped the
Ohio and the U.S. Naval Museum in Pensacola, Fla. military during that period of time. Airlines
He was a regular participant at summer Air Expo’s at worked closely with the military during World
Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. War II, furthering the war effort by transporting
people and material.
“Joining you guys a few years ago, Al (Anderson) let The airlines were well prepared to play their part
me know about the Eighth Air Force and your in the war effort. Edgar Gorrell of the industry’s
weekly meetings, and I was trying to gen‘ up some Air Transport Association had drafted plans for
interest in going on some of these charters sponsored their wartime mobilization in 1937.
at Sun Country. And, since then, this has been a real When the United States entered World War II
nice addition to my life, to meet all you guys. The four years later, the plan was smoothly put into
brothers of the air and combat experiences are getting action, and the airlines immediately began
smaller and smaller. But we all speak the same working closely with the military. The Air
language, and its great to see you guys.” Transport Command (ATC) was formed in 1942
to coordinate the transport of aircraft, cargo, and
--M.A. “Spook” Johns (AD-6/7 personnel throughout the country and around
the world.
Skyraider Pilot ‟63-66)
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8 th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
Casual air travel virtually ceased in the United States.
A tight priority list ensured only those serving the
war effort flew. As a result, aircraft flew more than 80
percent full, 20 percent higher than before the war.
The military requisitioned 200 of the nation’s 360
airliners, along with airline personnel. Planes were
directed to fly wherever they were needed.
TWA transferred its entire fleet of five Boeing 307’s,
along with their flight crews, to the Air Transport
Command. TWA flew mostly across the Atlantic.
American served Africa, India and China.
Lloyd Flynn Feted at USMC Ball
November 10, 2018
8
12 September, 2019
8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota
Veteran’s Day 2018 Luncheon Photos
This is the way it looked last year. Let’s see what
Sue Rucker has in store for our veterans this
coming November’s Veteran’s Day luncheon.
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8 th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota September, 2019
Mike Madsen, Vince Parker and Ted
Seglem had their photo taken outside
Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington
Wednesday, July 31. They all attended the 8th
luncheon that day.
Great to see Vince Parker again! He doesn’t "I'd like people to remember me as someone who was good at
make it to as many luncheons as he once did. his job and seemed to mean what he said."
And the three friends got a sunny day to
have their photo taken! We haven’t had -Jimmy Stewart, retired Brigadier General,
many of those lately! Hard to believe Vince United States Air Force
was only 18 years of age when he went into
Army Air Corps B-17 duty!
Born to the owner of a hardware store, Jimmy Stewart
dodged continuing the family business to become one of
the most prolific actors of this time. Stewart was shy as a
child and was interested in aviation, but his father
discouraged him from attending the U.S. Naval Academy
and guided him towards Princeton. It was at Princeton
that Stewart became involved in acting, and began
a career as a stage actor.
Jim When the U.S. entered World War II, Stewart was drafted
McDougall into the Army but was rejected because he was
underweight for his height. He worked with colleagues
sure looks to put on the necessary pounds, and successfully enlisted
great! with the Air Corps. He was stationed at Moffett Field,
Especially California as an enlisted man. During his nine months of
with arm training at that base, he also took extension courses with
candy – Sue the idea of obtaining a commission.
Rucker. Her His college degree and extensive flight time played to his
love for our favor. He received his commission after the attack on
WWII Pearl Harbor. Because he had previously logged over 400
veterans is hours as a civilian, he was permitted to take basic flight
palpable! training at Moffett and earned his pilot wings. During the
next nine months, he instructed in AT-6, AT-9, and B-
17 aircraft and flew bombardiers in the training school at
Albuquerque, N.M.
In the fall of 1943, Stewart went to England as
Commanding Officer of the 703rd Bomb Squadron,
equipped with B-24s. He began flying combat missions
and on March 31, 1944, was appointed Operations Officer
of the 453rd Bomb Group and, subsequently, Chief of
Staff of the 2nd Combat wing, 2nd Air Division of the 8th
Air Force. Stewart ended the war with 20 combat
missions. He remained in the USAF Reserve and was
promoted to brigadier general on July 23, 1959. He
retired on May 31, 1968.
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8th . of MN
AFHS
2019 Christmas Party
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Mancini’s Char House
531 West 7th Street, St. Paul
11:30 – 12:25 Social Hour
12:15 – 1:00 Dinner
$30 per person
Checks payable to 8th AFHS of MN
Gary Birchem
28790 Ivywood Trail
Chisago City, MN 55013-9634
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Return this portion with your check to:
Gary Birchem
28790 Ivywood Trail
Chisago City, MN 55013-9634
Name______________________________________________________Steak Chicken Fish
Guest______________________________________________________Steak Chicken Fish
Guest______________________________________________________Steak Chicken Fish
Number of reservations________ Total $$_________.00
($30 per person)
.
The famed B-17F Memphis Belle was placed on permanent public display in
the WWII Gallery of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on May 17, 2018.
Photo by Gary Chambers.