WWII Reading Air Show, Now The Horse

Now the horse so to speak, because you do come to an air show to look at the planes; of which they had a great display and air show, as most of the planes flew.  Several B25s, but no B26 Marauders, this is what my husband's father flew in during the war.  He was a Flight Engineer.  It seems after the war so many were scrapped that B26s are few and far between.

I went around taking those badge pictures as for three years he worked at the Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine factory in Baltimore and then I believe in 1943 he was sent down to Pensacola, FL for training and then shipped out on what he called a banana boat to England.  He was stationed somewhere in the south, unfortunately I don't know where, although I'm sure with research you could find that all out.

So it makes sense that he would be Flight Engineer as he worked on those engines.  It also seems the B26 Bombers although called widow makers early on, because it was so hard to land them, later with modifications they had the least casualty rate of all the bombers.  Fortunate for us because so many never lived to have another generation.

Christy