Identity Portfolio
By Travis Owens
Family Tree
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Author’s Note On a cold winter night, in Northern England, on 17th Dec 1942, my grandfather was at an Air Force base. His duty assignment was to fly over Germany to bomb a Nazi base. On this night, they did not have proper recon reports to show where enemy would be. My grandfather was turning his chances of living to fate. I remember the look on my grandfather’s face as he was telling me what it was like when the enemy was shooting at his plane. He told me that he had never been so scared in his life before. He was so worried. He wasn’t sure whether he would make it back to my grandmother in a body bag or alive. That event affected my grandfather to the point where he thought about it everyday. He told me whenever he heard about someone dying on a aircraft that he would wonder what if it had been him. I had never known how much a single event in a war could affect, not only the military, but the families who have a relative serving in the war.
Bombs Away The plane ride bobbled my head and twisted my stomach. The turbulence made the plane jump up and down. The air had a musty smell. My hair stood on end due to the electricity from the lightning on this stormy night. As per normal routine, we were all on alert for this nighttime mission over Germany, and it made me as nervous as if I had met a cobra in the bush. My body was dripping with heavy sweat to a level that my flight jacket was soaking, and I felt goose bumps over my entire body. The strong winds were blowing loose objects through the air, like a twister back home in West Texas. The brewing storms and constant lighting caused us to have a change of flight plans. Unfortunately, due to the change of plans, I did not have adequate recon reports, which meant that the mission was more dangerous and complicated. I knew the enemy (the Nazis) could attack when I did not expect. Suddenly, bullets penetrated through the walls of our planes. Pieces of metal flew all around my plane so fast that my mind could not focus on the direction to fly the plane. “Hey, we’re two hours into the mission, we should drop the payload (the bombs)!Man, this really makes me quiver like there might not be a tomorrow,” I yelled into the radio. The bombs on our plane were waiting to explode at any moment. The rapid gunfire from the ground hit two of the five planes. Pieces of shiny metal passed by my plane from all sides of the plane and from the bullet holes there was cold air streaming around the plane. Probably more than twenty rounds ripped through our plane. “I only have one engine left humming!” I screamed. “We need to abort our mission and return to our home base,” I ordered. Everyone was petrified that maybe we could not make it back. My hands were frozen on the steering column as I pulled every ounce of energy out of my body to bring us home. As we approached the airbase, the ground crews frantically run around to prepare to take the injured off the planes. The crew, that had been hit, moaned. After landing, I could see out of the corner of my eyes, two other men were being rushed by ambulance to the hospital for gunshot wounds.
The red and blue lights
beamed off into the distance. Warm, sticky blood ran down my forehead. I was treated for several cuts, which required stitches. It was painful the breath with pain piercing my chest. How lucky that I did not take a direct hit. Many of my fellow pilots were not as lucky as me. There were reports that many planes were shot down and my close friends did not return from their missions to home base and to their families.
QUESTIONS & ANsWERS 1. How would you describe your experience ? >> The cold chill of the stormy night on the 17th December 1942 is a memory I will never forget. My bones were aching from the cold, and this was a message that there would be a life changing experience on that night. 2. What were you doing ? >> As per our routine, we were preparing for a nighttime mission over Germany and my palms were full of sweat because I am always nervous before a mission. 3. Please provide details of what happened ? >> With the severe weather conditions due to the storms, the Slight plans were changed by the command. This makes us extremely nervous because we knew the recon reports were not accurate. This makes the mission more dangerous and complicated. 4. Explain why it is more dangerous ? >> At nighttime the pilots cannot see the locations as well and the enemy (Nazis) can be in a different location than you expected. 5. On this stormy night did the change of plans cause any problems ? >> Our planes were shot at by surprise and there were bullet holes all over the planes. 6. Can you give more details of this mission ? >> After almost two hours just before we were scheduled to drop the payload (bombs), the bullets from the anti-‐aircraft guns were ripping holes through our planes. The smell of smoke and the awful sounds of metal Slying through the cockpit was terrifying. 7. How did this happen ? >> The enemy Siring on our planes made all of us jump out of our skin as we did not expect this to happen. This was due to the change of Slight plans. Two out of Sive planes were hit. The loud noises of the bullets hitting our plane were drowned out by the screams of one of our crew being shot. Our plane was hit was the most. 8. How much damage was there to the plane ? >> More than twenty gaping holes were found around the plane. We knew that we could not continue. We had to suddenly abort our mission and return to our home base or we might all die that night.
9. Did you suffer any injuries ? >> Lady Luck helped us on that terrible night. None of our crews were seriously injured, though two men were in the hospital for several weeks from gunshot wounds. I had to be treated for several cuts which required stitches and had heavy bruises from being thrown around and bumped my head in the cockpit so many times. 10. What do you remember the most about this experience ? >> Even before we left as I was extremely nervous and I was heavily Sweating. My Slight jacket was dripping wet. Everyday I realize how lucky all of us were that night. Not all of my fellow pilots were so lucky. Many of the planes were shot down and they didn’t return from their missions to home base.
Research Notes
I found out • the importance of air reconnaissance for military. • I learned that recon reports were the locations of the enemy. • I learned that Hitler believed that the Nazi movement would go on for a thousand years. • At first the Nazi movement was political. • Recon reports were for air force pilots to know if where they were flying had enemies or if it was clear of enemies, because if the recon reported they were unsure of a certain location, there was a high uncertainty if you were gonna be shot down or live. • Because of the nazi party anti jewish programs were erupted throughout Germany.
Reflection
1. In this project I learned and felt a new connection with my grandfather and better understood how he contributed to the war. I now have a better understanding of who my family is. 2. I think a project like this is important because it makes us talk to our family to learn about them and also some history behind it. 3. In this project my favorite part was learning from my grandfather what he did in the war and having a face to face conversation with him. I was able to spend time together talking about what he did in the war and where he was stationed. 4. In my narrative, in some of the describing moments, I probably did a little telling and not showing, but to overcome it, I tried a new way of describing different moments.
Bibliography "Britannica Online
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Walter J. Boyne, “Reconnaissance on the Wing,” Air Force 82:10 (1999), available at http:// www.afa.org/_private/Magazine/Oct1999/1099recon.asp
John Thomas Farquhar, A Need to Know: The Role of Air Force Reconnaissance in War Planning, 1945–1953 (Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, February 2004), 8.
Dr. Alfred Price, Targeting the Reich: Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Over Europe, 1939-45, (London, Greenhill Books, 2003), 9.
J. Rickard, “Photo Reconnaissance Spitfires,” historyofwar.org, n.d. Web 15 May 2012 http:// www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_spitfire_PR.html"Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http:// www.britannica.com/>. “ World Book Online.” World Book Online, n.d. Web. 16 July 2011. <http://www.online.com/>.
Walter J. Boyne, “Reconnaissance on the Wing,” Air Force 82:10 (1999), available at http:// www.afa.org/_private/Magazine/Oct1999/1099recon.asp
John Thomas Farquhar, A Need to Know: The Role of Air Force Reconnaissance in War Planning, 1945–1953 (Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, February 2004), 8.
Dr. Alfred Price, Targeting the Reich: Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Over Europe, 1939-45, (London, Greenhill Books, 2003), 9.
J.Rickard, “Photo Reconnaissance Spitfires,” historyofwar.org, n.d. Web 15 May 2012 http:// www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_spitfire_PR.html