Saturday, February 26, 2011

Color video of P-47 bombing missions during WWII

The P47 training was done in Stratford. The pilots lived in barracks about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile beyond the airport fence (on the right) heading toward Lordship. The barracks were in dire condition and were finally torn down in the 1970s(?). They were built out of wood (pine) that was often used as porch siding and overlapped. It was only about 5/8" thick and about 5/16 " thick in the area that was being overlapped. The pilots in the winter must have been about as warm as they would have been in a tent. The P47 did not act like the other fighter planes and training to go operational was difficult. While training to go operational 19 pilots were killed throughout Connecticut and Long Island Sound.

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