World War II Chronicle: January 10, 1943
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Lockheed’s XC-69 Constellation lifted off from Burbank, Calif. today on it’s maiden flight. Edmund T. Allen, a former Signal Corps pilot during World War I, was on loan from Boeing to fly the plane. Lockheed’s famous designer and engineer Kelly Johnson, who is about to establish the “Skunk Works,”is along for the flight to Muroc Field (today’s Edwards Air Force Base). The sleek four-engine transport can fly faster than a Japanese “Zero,” cruising at 300 knots. It can carry a 20,000-lb. payload over 2,000 miles…
Below the fold, the Free French Air Force has revived the famed World War I squadron Escadrille La Fayette, which consisted of volunteer American pilots. One of the original Lafayette fliers and designer of their iconic logo is Harold B. Willis, currently an Army Air Force colonel.
Willis originally enlisted in the American Ambulance Field Service where he was decorated for rescuing wounded under fire at Verdun. He later joined the French Foreign Legion and became a pilot. Willis was shot down during the First World War and spent 14 months in different prison camps. He managed to disguise himself as a German guard and escaped with several other prisoners, and swam across the Rhine River to freedom…
Above is a contemporary photo of Willis and two other pilots. Vinson, a 2nd Fighter Squadron ace with seven kills, is killed in action on April 3, 1943 while flying a Spitfire over North Africa. In July, Marvin’s twin brother Melvin is shot down over the Netherlands and he is sent to Stalag Luft III. Younger brother Marshall is a staff sergeant in the 341st Bomb Group and killed during a flight over India in 1944. Lt. Gen. Marvin commands the Ninth and Thirteenth Air Forces during his career before moving to NASA, where he becomes an administrator and helps select the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts. Brother Melvin ultimately becomes a major general.
The McNickles are not the first twins to become generals. In fact, Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Giles, currently flying in Greenland, will soon be named commanding officer of IX Troop Carrier Command. Maj. Gen. Barney M. Giles is the commanding officer of the Fourth Air Force. Both were Army Signal Corps pilots during World War I.
Cuthbert and Charles Pattillo enlisted in the Army Air Force in November 1942 and will fly for the Eighth Air Force’s 352nd Fighter Group. Cuthbert flies 135 combat missions and shoots down seven German aircraft — including a Messerschmidt Me-262 jet. He was shot down and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. Later they become founding members of the Air Force’s “Thunderbirds” demonstration team in 1953.
Cuthbert will command the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing during the Vietnam War and ultimately becomes a major general. Charles commands the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying 120 combat missions in the F-4 Phantom II before retiring as a lieutenant general.
A tangled web of fun facts
You probably noticed that the French are flying American P-40s and the Americans were flying British Spitfires. Just a few weeks ago these Lafayette pilots, possibly still flying their American-made Curtiss H75 Hawks, were strafing American soldiers on the beaches of North Africa. Lafayette‘s commanding officer is Maj. Constantin “Kostia” Rozanoff (his grandfather was Russian), who helped test Britain’s and America’s first jet airplanes before breaking France’s sound barrier…
On page three, 17-year-old Clayton Barber is enlisting in the Navy. His three older brothers all perished aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941. He will become a plank owner (member of the ship’s first crew) on the destroyer escort USS Barber, which is named after his brothers and christened by his mother…
Col. William H. Wilbur will be awarded the Medal of Honor and is being promoted to brigadier general for actions during the Operation TORCH landings in French Morocco. Wilbur graduated the U.S. Military Academy with the Class of 1912, then served overseas with the American Expeditionary Force. He taught at West Point and the Infantry School before attending military academies in France, where Wilbur was a classmate of Charles de Gaulle. His son William Jr. (USMA Class of ’49) is killed in action during the Korean War, earning a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross. We will have more on Wilbur later…
175th week of the war summarized on page 25… Sports section begins on page 31… Grantland Rice column on 33… “District Fighting Men” on page 59
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 10 January 1943. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1943-01-10/ed-1/
