Flying Flit Gun 340th BSq 97th BG

[FlyFlitG]

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/363384263654883338/

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=178_1363437607

The Flying Flit Gun was my father's plane and he was the only ball-turrett gunner that plane ever had. Yes, it was named by Margaret Bourke-White and she actually flew a mission with them (flew on a different plane though) and talks about my dad's plane in a few chapters of her autobiography, with one of the chapters named "The Flying Flit Gun" and mentions my father by name (spells his name wrong...spells it Froleig) and how he shot down a German airplane during a mission she knew about. Here is a pic of my dad that she took (he's the one cleaning the ball-turrett with the dog):

http://life.time.com/history/world-war- ... nd-1942/#1

Unfortunately the plane was destroyed after one of their missions. Not sure exactly how many missions that plane served because dad never really said (it was a bunch though), but it was not his first plane (have since found out)...the Flit Gun was his second plane. His first plane was "Hoffman's Hornets" but it was destroyed. His second plane was the Flit Gun. Of course it was destroyed after a bunch of missions (like I said) and he never could remember the name of the third plane. The Flit Gun was a wing plane to the "Red Gremlin" piloted by Paul Tibbetts (340th bomb squadron 97th bomb group). Of course, when the Flit Gun was destroyed, dad got a new plane and finished up his 50 missions alongside of Paul Tibbetts and Dutch Van Kirk doing missions like the Raid on Polesti and that secret delivery of Eisenhower to name two of many things they did (for more detail read Dutch Van Kirks new book). After his 50 missions, he came back to the states for a stint in Florida teaching gunnery school and smart mouthed himself back to India/China in B-25s for another 75 missions as a tail-gunner but dad called those "milk runs" compared to events over Europe. After the war, dad got out for like 6 months and then went back in and retired from the Air Force in 1974 as a CMSGT, having served since October 1941 and the first and only person in the history of the Army Air Corps/Air Force to retire from the same unit (97th Bomb Group) as from the moment that it began/founding (it's what they told him). When dad did his last four years it was at Eaker Air Force Base because that was where the 97th was (we had been at Scott AFB and dad had 4 years left so he asked General Lewis where the 97th was and Lewis told him he could go there for his last four years if he wanted so we did). Of course, the 97th has since moved to Oklahoma. Fyi--in the 340th bomb squadron there were 22 "midgets" (ball-turrett gunners and tail-gunners)...by the time the war was over, only 3 made it out alive and dad was the only one who didn't get a purple heart (although he did have his oxygen mask and watch shot off). On paper, the 97th needed one officer and one enlisted man to form the foundation for a bomber group from the Army Air Corps (when it was formed) and believe it or not, my dad was the first enlisted person and Paul Tibbetts was the officer (that's what Paul told me and my dad). Unfortunately, my dad passed away in 2009 with numerous medals and was given a full military honors funeral at one month shy of his 87th birthday.

Anyway, I have seen several photos of my dad's plane on here and I just thought I would finally comment on it and fyi some of you about my dad's connection to the plane and the guys who would later drop the bomb on Hiroshima...

[05564]

That is such a great story. I love reading the true tales of our flying men during the war. Thank you for sharing that with all of us.

[FlyFlitG]

That is such a great story. I love reading the true tales of our flying men during the war. Thank you for sharing that with all of us.

Thanks. I have had to since "readjust" my post because I had a few facts in error after more discussion with my mother and looking in Margaret Bourke-White's book (had the chapter wrong)...there is actually about 3 chapters devoted to dad's plane and/or mentions her concerns with the plane. I have seen several posts by Steve Birdsall concerning the plane and he seems to know a lot about WW2 at this time. If he reads this, I would love to discuss his knowledge of the Flit Gun and maybe more of the 340th bomb squadron, as information about this is difficult to find and of course, other than "Dutch" everybody that my dad knew as passed on. The 97th no longer has reunions because the guys have all gone on to meet their friends in the sky. Fyi, my dad is one of the reasons why I became a History teacher/college instructor...so again, anything this website can do to help me know more about the 97th and the 340th bomb squadron would be greatly appreciated!