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Sidney R. Bolick - Taps


Custermen
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I wanted to give a dedication to Sidney R. Bolick, who passed away this week and will be buried on Friday. Sidney R. Bolick had a unique service experience during WW2 as he earned his wings with both the Royal Canadian Air Force and the US Army Air Force.

 

Sidney was from North Carolina. He joined the RCAF and began training at the No. 1 I.T.S. at Toronto Field in August 1941. After being stationed in England, the Army Air Force announced in Feb 1943 that all Americans pilots could apply for transfer to the USAAF. He was assigned a co-pilot to a B-17 crew in the 8th Air Force. He flew several missions as a co-pilot.

 

On Nov 18, 1943, he was assigned to fly in the group leader's aircraft as Observer Pilot-Tail Gunner. The lead plane would position a trained flight crew in the tail gunner position. His job was to watch the formation and keep every one in a tight formation. During one mission, a German Focke-Wulf made a attack on the formation from the 6-o'clock position. The enemy fighter drove straight thru the formation with his target as the lead plane. Every aircraft in the formation fired at the fighter, including Sidney, until the fighter exploded. Since the enemy AC has his sights on Sidney's AC, Sidney was officially given credit for downing 1 EA.

 

The day came when Sidney was finally assigned a command pilot of a B-17 crew. On March 18, 1944, he piloted the B-24-J bomber "Paper Doll" with the 68th Bomber Squadron, 44th Bomb Group. On this mission his aircraft was badly damaged and Sidney turned towards Switzerland. After barely clearing a lake, he crash landed his aircraft. He and his crew were interned by the Swiss. After some attempts to escape, he was finally returned to England.

 

Sidney tells his story in his paper-back book "To Soar With the Eagles", printed in Canada by Trafford Publishing, 2002.

 

Salute to Sidney Bollick.

 

 

 

Steve

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This should be moved to Taps forum. I knew I should have looked more closely.

 

 

Just browsed his book. His last mission was the Dornier factory at Fredrichshaffen, which was across Lake Konstz from the Swiss border. His B-24 was hit by flak just prior to reaching the target. An engine prop sped away when it went to fine pitch. They jettisoned their bombs and headed for Switzerland. He gave the bail-out order and the crew safely evacuated the AC. Just before he jumped, the run-away engine blew its prop, which sliced right through the cockpit. The pilotless bomber flew another 100 miles before crashing.

 

Reports from those who viewed the crahsed bomber said it broke at the cockpit where prop went through and at the fuselage where the Ball Turrent gun is located. There is a book that has a photo of his crashed AC. It is sitting in the snow. The rudder markings for "Paper Doll" is a White(or yellow) circle with an "A" and at the bottom of the rudder a "Q". The Tail No. is 2100112.

 

I found a webpage(PDF) that lists this aircraft as being lost on this date. It lists the pilot as Nichols---I may be incorrect in that Bollick was co-pilot and not the pilot. The AC serial number is 42-100112. [This "Paper Doll" is not to be confused with another AC by that name that also flew for the 44th Bomb Group earlier.]

Page 9 of Link: http://www.greenharbor.com/ROHPDF/ROHTOC.pdf

 

Steve

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I'm going back over his book and recalling some of his details. Sidney joined up at Age 16. He became a Sergeant Pilot (as he called it) in the RCAF. In England, he did well in training that they made him an instructor. When he transitioned to the USAAF, he did go into B-17's. But he finally was assigned to a crew, it was a B-24. When the war ended, Sidney had 4 years of service experience at the age of 22.

 

If you check out his book on Amazon and see the crude drawing for the cover of his book, you will notice he is wearing his two wings: RCAF on the RH breast and the USAAF on his Left breast.

 

I was wrong about one detail in the first post: the 44th Bomb Group gave Lt. Bolick credit for downing an Me-109.

 

BTW, his last home was in Coffeeville, MS. (not N. Carolina)

 

Steve

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