Happy Memorial Day From Tom Harmon
A couple years back a Purdue fan ran across a number of Tom Harmon photos featuring him and his plane—the one that would later go down over the Amazon. Today's a good day to mention them again:
Happy Memorial Day. See you tomorrow.
IIRC, he named his subsequent P-38 fighter "Little Butch II" and had identical nose art. That one went down in flames over China. The story of his survival in China is pretty remarkable.
...Harmon in China with other Flying Tigers.
The cover of Harmon's autobiography, Pilots Also Pray
As a retired "brown shoe" I can attest the best pilots are all "cocky." That's why they are pilots!
Thanks for the link. As incredible as his exploits were on the football field, Tom Harmon's wartime bravery and survival against steep odds are even more amazing. He was really a legend across the board.
Cant' find the pic right now but there was a B-24 in the Phillipines in 1945 that had a gigantic mural of Michigan Stadium and of course, a well built lady. Took up most of the nose of the plane and if you are familiar with the aircraft it was a very big canvas.
Edit - found a pic of a model of it... close enough.
The B-24 that you are referring to was a Liberator, from the 64th Bomber Squadron, 43rd Bomber Group, 5th Air Force. It was based at Clark Field, The Philippines. The bomber was called... "Michigan"
This is an interview with a B-24 pilot. From the book, "B-24 Liberator Units of the Pacific War"
"The reference to Michigan, is to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and never, never to Michigan State." As a Pacific B-24 pilot remembered over 50 years later, "The Michigan colors are maize (corn yellow) and a dark blue, almost Navy. They have the ugliest helmets in all of college football. Watch the sports sections for a few Sundays now that football is coming up. You are sure to see some color pics of those Godawful helmets real soon. Most of the nation's sportswriters are very enamored of this team. Some things never change."
I guess he has never read the Freep.
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