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WWII USN FLIGHT SURGEON GROUP


BEAST
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Milton F. Popp was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and began practicing medicine and surgery in 1933. He was a graduate of Ohio State University and the Northwestern University School of Medicine.

 

Beginning in June of 1942, 30 percent of the doctors in Fort Wayne left to enter military service. Dr. Popp was one of these physicians, entering onto active duty in September of 1942 at Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

 

Upon completion of training at Naval Air Training Center (NATC) in Pensacola, Florida, Popp was assigned to the USS Independence. He participated in 9 campaigns and was discharged in 1946. His awards include the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with four campaign stars, Philippine Liberation Medal with three campaign stars, American Campaign Medal and WWII Victory Medal. After the war, Lieutenant Commander Popp returned to Fort Wayne to resume his practice.

 

First his coat:

 

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Very nice and very rare,

 

Kurt

 

Thanks Kurt! This is one of those groups that I feel very privaledged to own. It is a little extra special as Dr. Popp was from my hometown.

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Croix de Guerre

Very cool group! Did you get it from the family? Do you have any photos of Dr. Popp? (Unusual last name! thumbsup.gif ) Now, I'll share my ignorance,,what exactly was a flight surgeon? Was he a qualified aviator? Ya'll don't beat me up,,I'm sensitive! :lol:

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Very cool group! Did you get it from the family? Do you have any photos of Dr. Popp? (Unusual last name! thumbsup.gif ) Now, I'll share my ignorance,,what exactly was a flight surgeon? Was he a qualified aviator? Ya'll don't beat me up,,I'm sensitive! :lol:

 

CdG,

No worries! A Flight Surgeon is a specialist in aviation medicine although I believe it is now aerospace medicine. As far back as WWI (probably before that even), military pilots had to undergo different physicals (flight physicals) to determine their fitness for flight. There are Flight Surgeon's who also conduct research into the effects of flight on the body.

 

Wikipedia has a good page on Flight Surgeons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_surgeon. To get more information from the horses' mouth, see the Society of US Naval FLight Surgeons website ( http://www.aerospacemed.org/).

 

There are some good movie examples that have flight surgeons playing prominent roles. 12 O'Clock High (Paul Stewart as Doc Kaiser) and Dive Bomber (Errol Flynn as Doug Lee) are two that come to mind.

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  • 3 years later...

I was searching on-line for moe information on Doctor Popp, and ran across this group photo of him with a few torpedo pilots. According to one website, CVLG(N)41 was aboard the Independence from August 1944 through January 1945.

 

 

The caption from the website ( http://users.conwaycorp.net/flyboy/pictures_7.htm )reads: "Torpedo pilots, Night Air Group CVLG(N)41.

From left in front are: "Jug" Williams, F. M. Archer, J. Taylor, Jack Dewis and R. M. Hobson. In back are C. Colburn Hardy, Robert Campaigne, Mac McNair, W. R. "Reb" Taylor (killed in action), Bill Phelps, Don Linton and Dr. Milton F. Popp."

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks to an old friend of mine and a fellow forum member, I was able to reunite a few more of the good doctor's items.

 

His Victory Wallet

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His writing kit

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