Tag: Major Milton Joel

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: XI – References

References

Books

Bell, Dana, Air Force Colors Volume I – 1926-1942, Squadron / Signal Publications, Carrollton, Tx., 1979

Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947

Freeman, Roger A., The Mighty Eighth – Units, Men and Machines (A History of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force), Doubleday and Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y., 1970

Freeman, Roger A., Camouflage and Markings – United States Army Air Force 1937-1945, Ducimus Books Limited, London, England, 1974

Gabel, Christopher R., The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941, Center of Military History, Washington, D.C., 1992

Green, William, Famous Fighters of the Second World War, Hanover House, New York, N.Y., 1958.

Kinzey, Bert, P-38 Lightning in detail & scale: P-38 Lightning Part 1 – XP-38 through P-38H, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, Tx., 1998

Kinzey, Bert, P-38 Lightning in detail & scale: P-38 Lightning Part 2 – P-38J through P-38M, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, Tx., 1998

Littlefield, Robert M., Double Nickel, Double Trouble, Robert M. Littlefield, Fallbrook, Ca., 1993

Maloney, Edward T., Lockheed P-38 “Lightning”, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, Ca., 1968

Maurer, Maurer, Air Force Combat Units of World War II, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1983

Maurer, Maurer, Combat Squadrons of the Air Force World War II, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center and Office of Air Force History, Headquarters, USAF, 1982

Prien, Jochen, and Rodeike, Peter, Jagdgeschwader 1 und 11 : Einsatz in der Reichsverteidigung von 1939 bis 1945. Teil 1. 1939-1943 [Jagdgeschwader 1 and 11: Used in the Defense of the Reich from 1939 to 1945.  Part 1.  1939-1943], Struve Printers, Eutin, Germany, 1994 (ISBN 3923457219 / 9783923457212; OCLC 832557295)

Prien, Jochen, and Rodeike, Peter, Jagdgeschwader 1 und 11 : Einsatz in der Reichsverteidigung von 1939 bis 1945 / Teil 2. 1944 [Jagdgeschwader 1 and 11: Used in the Defense of the Reich from 1939 to 1945. Part 2.  1944] Struve Printers, Eutin, Germany, 1994 (ISBN 3923457243 / 9783923457243; OCLC 644774281)

Shenahan, Anthony, Lockheed P-38 Lightning – A Pictorial History, Historian Publishers, John W. Caler Publications, Sun Valley, Ca., 1968

Stanaway, John, Peter Three Eight – The Pilot’s Story, Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Missoula, Mt., 1986

Books – No Author

USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II – USAF Historical Study No. 85, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Air University, Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1978

Pilot’s Manual for Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Aviation Publications, Appleton, Wi. (undated)

Journals and Magazines

Anderson, Carroll R., The Ghost Sentai, Wings, February, 1978 (V 8 N 1)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part I – The Story of Lockheed’s P-38 Lightning, Airpower, March, 1976 (V 6 N 2)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part II – Lockheed Builds a Fighter, Kelsey Flys It, and Hap Arnold Sees That It Gets Into Production, Wings, April, 1976 (V 6 N 2)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part III – A New Radical Departure in Single-Sear Fighters, Lockheed’s P-38 Was Not Only a Classic Design, But the Only One of Its Type to Achieve Mass Production!, Airpower, May, 1976 (V 6 N 3)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part IV – Lockheed Overextends Itself; The YP-38 Encounters the Compressibility Phenomenon; The British Renege on A Contract; The Lightning Obtains Heavy Armament at the 11th Hour and Its Operational Debut is Delayed by Nearly a Year!, Wings, August, 1976 (V6 N4)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part V, Airpower, September, 1976 (V 6 N 5)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part VI – The P-38 Lightning Flies the Atlantic En Masse, The First Fighter Ever To Do So, And a New Combat Career Begins!, Airpower, November, 1976 (V 6 N 6)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part VII – The Lightning in Combat… North Africa, Wings, December, 1976 (V6 N 6)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part VIII – War Over the Mediterranean … Fighting Compressibility and the Germans!, Airpower, May, 1977 (V 7 N 3)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part IX – Long Range Escort Photo-Recon Plane, Dive-Bomber, The Lockheed P-38 Has Become A Triple-Threat Over the Mediterranean, Airpower, July, 1977 (V 7 N 4)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part X – Dueling the Luftwaffe Over Fortress Europe, Wings, October, 1977 (V 7 N 5)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Part XI – The Cataclysmic End in Europe and the Debut of the Long Ranging Lockheed P-38 Js and Ls, Airpower, March, 1978 (V 8 N 2)

Bodie, Warren M., SKYBOLT Conclusion of the P-38 Story – The Lightning Rages Over the Pacific, Wings, August, 1978 (v 8 N 4)

Bodie, Warren M., Double or Nothing – The Story of the P-38 Chain Lightning’s Bigger Brothers – XP-49 and the XP-58 Chain Lightning!, Wings, June, 1980 (V 10 N 3)

Bodie, Warren M., Tame Lighting, Wings, April, 1990 (V 20 N 2)

Boylan, Richard L., The Search for a Long Range Escort Plane 1919-1945, Military Affairs, V 30, N 2, Summer, 1966

Frey, Royal D., General Kepner’s One and Only Goof, Kings Cliffe Remembered, Spring, 1992 (V 10 N 1)

Joel, Joseph, and Berman, Myron, My Recollections and Experiences of Richmond, Virginia, 1884-1892, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, July, 1979 (V 87 N 3)

Olmstead, Merle C., Incident at Ludham, American Aviation Historical Society Journal, Fall, 1973, pp. 177-180.

Microfilm

38th Fighter Squadron History (through June, 1944) AFHRA Microfilm Roll AO 136 (frames 1724 to end of reel)

Websites

P-38 Lightning

Der Gabelschwanz Teufel – Assessing the Lockheed L-38 Lightning (Technical Report APA – TR – 2010 – 1201), by Carlo Kopp (Air Power Australia), at ausairpower.net

Why the P-38 Flunked in Europe, by Robert F. Dorr, at HistoryNet (From Aviation History, May, 2014)

The P-51 Mustang Historical Narrative, American Fighter Drop Tanks, and Air Superiority over Nazi Germany
(Articles by Trent Telenko at Chicago Boyz)

History Friday – MacArthur’s Fighter Drop Tanks (July 12, 2013)

History Friday: Deconstructing the P-51 Mustang Historical Narrative (September 27, 2013)

History Friday – Revisiting the P-51 Mustang Historical Narrative (December 16, 2016)

Big Week, Day 5, Feb. 24, 1944, Plus 75 Years (February 24, 2019)

A Thumbnail History of the American Fighter Drop Tank 1923-2000 (April 7, 2019)

How Air Superiority Over Nazi Germany was Really Won (September 1, 2019)

27th Fighter Squadron, 38th Fighter Squadron, and 55th Fighter Group

Little Friends (8th Air Force Fighter Groups), at littlefriends
27th Fighter Squadron, at USAF History
38th Reconnaissance Squadron (USAF), at USAF History
55th Fighter Group, at 55th.org
Nuthampstead Airfield Museum, at Station 131
Nuthampstead Airfield, at Wikipedia
H.M.T. (R.M.S.) Orion, at Wikipedia

P-38 Losses on November 29, 1943

Aircrew Remembered Kracker Luftwaffe Archive

1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-57213 to 42-70685) (Joe Baugher)

Biographies

Albino, Albert A., at Traces of War
Friedlich, Elaine (Ebenstein), at Geni
Friedlich, Allan L., Jr., at Geni
Friedlich, Allan L. (obituary), at EuropePMC
Hascall, John S., at MTU
Kepner, William E., Major General, at Wikipedia
Suiter, Fleming W., at Aviation Archeology

Other

The CAA Helps America Prepare for World War II (by Theresa L. Kraus, FAA Historian), at FAA.Gov

People

Bettie J. Jacobs (Cousin; Lived with Milton’s parents during war; Irving Joel was her half-brother.  Both grew up in Joel home after their mother died. Martha Goodman is her daughter)
Leonard Kamsky (Friend from Richmond, knew Milton from childhood)
Ida J. Kaplan
Dr. Robert Leve (nephew of Lt. Morris Leve)
Sara F. Markham (contacted via Leonard Kamsky, her friend; best friend of Elaine Friedlich)
Maurice L. Strause, Jr. (friend from University of Virginia)
Harold J. Winston (Milton’s first cousin)
Robert W. Wood (38th Fighter Squadron Communications Officer)

And, last but hardly least, a certain visitor to this blog whose insights, observations, and speculations have contributed very greatly to the quality of this story.  In a word, “Thanks!”

A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: IV (2) – Autumn Over Europe – The “Flying Wolf” Identified [Updated post…]

[Created on 11/23/20, this post has now been updated to include an illustration of Lt. Col. Jack S. Jenkins in his P-38H.]

Autumn Over Europe – The “Flying Wolf” Identified

(A brief “intermission” in Major Joel’s story…)

In this series of blog posts about Major Milton Joel, Part IV (Part 1), “Autumn Over Europe” displays three photographs of P-38H Lightning 42-67020.  This aircraft served as Major Joel’s personal plane, and eventually carried his personal insignia (sans actual nickname) of a “flying wolf” in the form of a P-38.  He piloted this aircraft on what proved to be his final mission over Europe, on November 29, 1943 (covered in Missing Air Crew Report 1429), as recounted in “A Monday in November“.

As I wrote in Part 1 of “Autumn Over Europe”, “As for Major Joel’s aircraft, Sergeant [Robert T.] Sand completed the insignia about 18 November, eleven days before Major Joel was shot down.  Paralleling the central mystery of what actually happened to Major Joel, there lies a minor mystery: The specific “identity” – the squadron identification letter – of the flying wolf.  Unfortunately, typical of the great majority of MACRs for 8th Air Force fighter losses (the 355th Fighter Group being a notable exception), MACRs for 55th Fighter Group planes did not record specific aircraft squadron letters.  Similarly, while the Squadron’s Mission Reports list the full names and serial numbers of pilots and their “positions” in squadron formations, both aircraft identification letters and aircraft serial numbers are absent from these documents.”

And there, I thought the small puzzle about the “flying wolf’s” identification would forever remain.  But, no sooner had this part Major Joel’s story been posted to the Internet, then I received the following communication from Bruce Klein: 

“After reading this excellent post on Major Milton Joel, I decided to go to the Critical Past website to take a closer look at the films included in the post.

Looking at the pictures from this film: P-38 aircraft of the U.S. 55th Fighter Group at Nuthampstead Airfield, England, I noticed that the serial number of the P-38H-5 CG-A, shown early in the film, was barely legible, something it is not in the film. Increasing the brightness on my iMac, I was able to make the serial number legible, the serial number of CG-A is 267020, which is the serial number given for Major Joel’s personal P-38.”

Absolutely: Bruce’s detective work is correct!

During the interval of 8 to 12 seconds into the film, the camera pans left to right across hardstands at Nuthampstead.  This view moves from P-38H “CG *A” and stops at a distant view of P-38H “CG * J”, the latter being P-38H 42-67074, Colonel Jack Jenkins’ “Texas Ranger”.  Since the film is relatively dark and of very high contrast during this time-frame , “CG * A’s” serial isn’t visible.  (At first.) 

But, when brightness and contrast are adjusted for this screen capture image of “CG * A”, the plane’s serial number clearly emerges. 

You can see the plane’s serial on its fins and rudder, in the image below: 

Major Joel’s use of the letter “A” for his plane’s identification code does make sense, for the very first letter of the alphabet would have been intuitively consistent with his having been squadron commander, and as such may have simplified aerial identification, and both air and ground communication.  Well, I did previously wonder if the “flying” wolf was the “second” “CG * J” (J for Joel) of the 38th Fighter Sqadron (Colonel Jenkins’ “CG * J” being the first “J”), or “CG * M” (M for Milton), but evidently, not!  (Given the stencil lines in the letters “C”, G”, and “A”, the squadron code letters were probably painted shortly before this scene was filmed.  It seems that Major Joel’s ground crew hadn’t yet completed the finishing touches to the plane’s markings.) 

________________________________________

So, here again are captionless three images of the “flying wolf”, as featured (and fully captioned) in Part IV (Part 1) of the post “Autumn Over Europe“.

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Here’s the Critical Past video clip that’s featured in Part IV (Part 1) of the blog post “Autumn Over Europe“, but here, with an updated caption.

This video, clip: 65675030628, is entitled “P-38 aircraft of the U.S. 55th Fighter Group at Nuthampstead Airfield, England”.

Though a description of the film is available at Critical Past, here’s a much more detailed breakdown of the scenes in the film:

0:04 – 0:08: General view of 343rd Fighter Squadron P-38s
0:08 – 0:12: General view of 38th FS P-38s being prepared for a mission.  Major Joel’s P-38H 42-67020 “CG * A”, at left, and then, camera pans to Colonel Jenkin’s P-38H 42-67074 “CG * J” “Texas Ranger” in distance, at right. 
0:13 – 0:28: Close-up of a P-38.  Ground crewman loads parachute and dinghy in cockpit, another attends to .50 machine guns, another closes canopy, another examines engine plumbing and buttons up access panels.
0:28 – 0:34: An armorer cleans the barrel of the P-38’s 20mm cannon.
0:34 – 0:36: Finishing touches on the P-38.
0:36 – 1:12: Group Commander Colonel Frank James (standing at far left) briefs 38th Fighter Squadron pilots prior to the mission. 
0:47 – 1:11: Audio recording of Colonel James’ pre-mission briefing.

In this scene, a total of 21 pilots are visible besides Colonel James.  Though this video is low of resolution and it’s probably impossible to correlate “names to faces” 77 years later (as if anyone would be remembered by now!), eleven men in the group are definitely members of the 38th Fighter Squadron.

They are:

Major Joel
Capt. Mark K. Shipman
1 Lt. Jerry H. Ayers
1 Lt. James H. Hancock
1 Lt. Joseph Myers
1 Lt. Gerald F. Leinweber
1 Lt. Morris Leve
1 Lt. Wilton E. Wyche
2 Lt. Gerald Brown
2 Lt. Hugh E. Gillette (replaced on the mission by 2 Lt. Allen R. Peters)
2 Lt. Delorn L. Steiner
…and…
Lt. Colonel Jack S. Jenkins

…thus, the remaining 10 pilots are presumably members of the 338th or 343rd Fighter Squadrons, or possibly, the 20th Fighter Group.

Other scenes show:

1:13 – 1:20: Lt. Colonel Jenkins climbs into Texas Ranger.  The aircraft can be identified by the nose art, which is visible in this Photoshopifically tweaked still image from Critical Past.

Here’s a high-resolution image of Lt. Col. Jenkins, albeit not in this film.  This picture can be found at the five-page HyperScale Forum discussion “What is a visual difference between the P-38G and H?”  It’s one of six images pertaining to the design and construction of the rear canopy in early P-38s, all posted on August 16, 2019 by John Clements.

This photo appeared in the Daily News (New York City) on March 4, 1944, in conjunction with news reports about the first appearance of USAAF fighter escorts over Berlin.

Lt. Col. Jenkins presumably piloted a P-38J on that mission.  He was shot down and captured a little over a month later – on April 10 – while flying “Texas Ranger IV”, a P-38J (42-67825).  That plane’s downing and his capture are covered in MACR 3620 and Luftgaukommando Report J 840.  The last 8th Air Force P-38H lost in combat, at least for which there’s a MACR, was flown by 1 Lt. William E. Harbert of the 338th FS, and downed on January 11, 1944.  Unfortunately, Harbert did not survive.

1:20 – 1:22: The “business end” of Texas Ranger.
1:23 – 1:26: Lt. Colonel Jenkins fires up Texas Ranger’s engines. 
1:27 – 1:32: P-38H CG * O taxies out.
1:33 – 1:44: Texas Ranger taxies out.

In closing, thanks very much for your help, Bruce.

Next: Part V – A Monday in November: Major Joel’s Last Mission