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8AAF B17 Gunner


Ricardo
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The Cold Blue Sky: A B-17 Gunner in World War Two by Jack Novey.

 

Imagine being a waist gunner, climbing into that small space you are to occupy for many hours, subject to the wind, the cold and the fear. Empty shell casings that cover your section of the floor cause you to slip as you fight for your life.

 

Author Jack Novey relives those days in his fine autobiography, "The Cold Blue Sky: A B-17 Gunner in World War Two." This is not just another wartime memoir, but a wonderful book written by a person interested in everything going on around him. More unusual, it is an enlisted man's point of view, which has not really been examined as well as it should have.

 

Novey explains how he got there and unabashedly speaks of his difficulty staying on flight status-not through any problems with training, but through airsickness. After completing flight training, Novey's crew was sent to England and arrived about a week after the 96th Bomb Group first set up shop at Snetterton Heath. Novey describes the people and places of wartime England, life on the base with its grim reality of ever-changing faces and those memorable passes to London.

 

His crew flew most of their missions in the B-17 Black Hawk. Novey had come up with the name, "... not for the Chicago Black Hawks, the hockey team, although I was from Chicago, but for the Blackhawk Indian tribe." At a time when long-range escort fighters were still only a dream, the crew participated in some of the 8th Air Force's most dangerous missions (including Regensburg and the second try at Schweinfurt). Jack Novey ultimately completed his required 25 missions even though statistics showed the odds were against the average crew member surviving even six. He was awarded the Air Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross and two Purple Hearts. w00t.gif

 

This is a remarkable story about the air war from one who was there. It is important that Jack Novey finally got to tell his story, since it opens up another little-known aspect of the European air war. Perhaps he says it best when he recalls, "We were all so young." Isn't that true of all warriors?

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A homage display:

EDIT: All pictures are lost

Please, any news informations are VERY Welcome!!!! thumbsup.gif

PS. I have many photos, cards, souvenirs, etc!

PS2. Your airplane 'BLACK HAWK' B-17F-90-BO 42-30180 ... nose art by Sgt Johnnie White - 96th Bomb Group Snetterton Heath, England.


Best regards,

Ricardo.

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Beautiful grouping Ricardo, he even wrote a book about his experiences WOW. That makes the group truely priceless, I love the A-2 by the way. Really has been there and done that on the 25 missions, I never get tired of looking at A-2s. The DFC,Air medal and purple heart, he really was in the thick of it. Great

Grouping thumbsup.gif

 

Best Regards,

Phillip

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That is a truly outstanding group Ricardo!!

 

 

Gary

 

 

 

Thank you Fellows!!!! thumbsup.gif

 

I love this group!!!

 

Best regards,

 

Ricardo.

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  • 5 months later...

 

 

Some Jack Novey´s stuff:



I just picked up the 8th Air Force Yearbook yesterday along with the follow up: the 8th Air Force Album, published two years after the Yearbook. What a fantastic collection of 8th AF photos they are! I will be putting them up for sale in case any 8th AF aficionados are looking for a set.

Today while my son was in swimming lessons, I sat in a lounge chair at poolside and went through both of those books. I had my portable XM satellite radio tuned into the "40's channel" so I had appropriate period music :) The photos of daily life at the bases and in the surrounding English towns and villages were just incredible to say nothing of the hundreds of photos of nose art, the operations photos etc.

There are two extremely fascinating yet sad photos in the Album that were taken by a B-17's camera showing its bombs falling. In the the first photo we see two bombs clearly about to hit a B-17 flying below the one with the camera. In the next photo the left elevator is gone and the bombs are continuing toward the ground.

b17bomb1.jpg

b17bomb2.jpg
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Oh yes!

 

Inside the book have GREAT images of 8th AAF in combat, in base and in London.

 

===> "bombs away" images are amazing!!

 

Best regards,

 

Ricardo.

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Amazing group!! I just received part of a grouping

in the mail today from an 8th Air Force gunner in my family.

Will post pics tomorrow evening!! Get ready!!

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Ricardo my friend,

you are a lucky SOB :D

Why can't i find something like that think.gif

 

This is great.

Stephan

 

Hi Stephan,

 

Belive me ... I found in Brazil. ;)

 

Thank you Mate!!

 

Best regards,

 

Ricardo.

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  • 2 months later...

hi Ricardo,

 

nice items you have there.

i saw in your answer that you received one from ""bombs away"", he is a good friend of mine and also a good knowledge in USAAF uniform.

i met him on another forum named "vintage leather jacket" .

it's great to see that everybody try to found new friend on different forums.

i'm sure there is other members of the VLJ on this forum; maybe with other avatar.

us militaria collector is a big family surely now with the net.

bye bye

 

marcel

 

 

 

 

Hi Stephan,

 

Belive me ... I found in Brazil. ;)

 

Thank you Mate!!

 

Best regards,

 

Ricardo.

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hello bombs away,

it's me; marcel.

nice to meet you also on this forum.

see you later.

 

bye marcel

 

 

Hi Ricardo,

 

This grouping is fantastic !

 

Congatulations thumbsup.gif

 

Tim.

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  • 4 years later...

From Army Air Force Forum:

 

Photo of Black Hawk ground grew in front of aircraft in book Snetterton Falcons page 198. Page 197 has a photo of a flight crew with the caption:

 

"Another sacrifice to Aphrodite, Jim Tolbert's famous Black Hawk. Above Flight Crew." 

 

Page 96 also mentions a Lt George Pond flying Black Hawk.  Book listed him and crew under New Crews Assigned Dec. 43.  Novey was not listed with them so I don't believe they are connected. If you have some dates maybe one of the other members could connect him with Tolbert.

 

 

Please, I need a scan of this pages!! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks!

 

Best regards, Ricardo.

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