My Wars, by Richard Bushong
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My Wars, by Richard Bushong
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Experiences from WWII through and including Viet Nam as pilot, test pilot and other military experiences. Aircraft include B-17, RC-121, F-4 and many others. Interesting stories of experiences in the Army Air Force and the US Air Force.
My Wars, by Richard Bushong- Amazon Sales Rank: #2984828 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Richard B. Bushong
- Published on: 2015-09-16
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.02" h x .37" w x 5.98" l, .52 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 158 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Readable, engaging, invaluable By Kerryann Kenney I visited the 390th Memorial Museum in Tucson, Arizona in March of 2012. I had the luck to visit on a Thursday when Colonel Bushong volunteers as a docent. A large crowd of people surrounded him as he gave a talk on his experiences as a B-17 bomber pilot during WWII. I bought two copies of his book and he autographed them for me. The museum sells the book for 15.00. I wrote down my notes of his remarks because he was fascinating, humble and frankly I was in awe of him. My copy of his remarks are incomplete as I did not hear his entire talk. Further, I did not take notes while we was talking, I wrote it down later from memory so some details like dates and numbers may be incorrect. However I will include them here because it will give you some idea of how valuable and interesting he is and I encourage you to buy his book. If you are interested in the topic of B-17 bombers then I also recommend Pistol Packin' Mama: The Missions of a B-17an award winning documentary from 1991 that features the oral histories of a B-17 crew. A Story To Remember. The 390th Bomb Group and Its Unique Museum is a book about this very worthy museum.Note: I typed up the portion of Colonel Bushong's remarks that I was privy to while we visited--he was a B-17 pilot in the 390th. He completed his 25 missions before he turned 21. They might give you an idea of how extraordinary these oral histories are. Any errors in the notes are based on my memory, not the talk as I took notes when I went home that night."Regarding parachutes. We wore two o-rings on the front of our flight suits so that we could fasten the chutes if we needed too. We kept our harnesses cinched tight. I never had to bail out, which is good. When you deployed the chute sometimes it would hit you in the face which is not nice. Our ball turret gunner had to leave his parachute outside the ball turret. The way he got in was from a door that opened with a hand crank. He would fold himself inside for about 8 hours. You did not want to be claustrophobic. If your plane was struck in the fuel line (which was in the wing?--KK) this would create an explosion that would blow the wing off. This would make the plane spiral. You did not see many chutes come out of a plane like that because of centrifugal force. If we had to bail out, it was my job to hold the door open (gestures with red light pointer to escape hatch) I would be the last to go, so no one to hold the door for me. I didn't really figure that out at the time or else I would have been more scared and I was already pretty scared.To give you an idea of the casualty rates (this is where my transcription may have errors), in July of 1942 a squadron of 25 B-17 crews were sent overseas. In August they went into service. Of those 24 planes, only one survived. Now every plane destroyed is a lost crew of ten men. Not every plane lost all crew members, some bailed out. For every 100 crew members that bailed out 47 were killed and 53 were imprisoned.Regarding the climate of the B-17. The temperature of the plane was the same inside as outside. The plane was a thin metal shell. We flew 25,00o to 30,000 feet. My flying was done in the wintertime over Germany. Our plane was between 20 and 40 degrees below zero. Now our cockpit was a little bit warmer as we had the number 2 engine blowing a bit of warm air into the cockpit to keep the windows defrosted unless it was shot out. On three occasions my number 2 engine was shot out, but every time that happened we were already heading home. Now our crew dressed a little differently than we did. They wore what amounted to blue underwear with electric wires running through it under their sheepskin flight suits. These plugged directly into the plane's electrical system. They worked all right. After the war someone took a look at them (we have one on display here) and said that would make a nice blanket. So that was the beginning of the electric blanket.Now when I started out I was a co-pilot. When we flew our bombing runs we would spell each other every 15 or 20 minutes. We flew in such tight formation that it was hard work to maintain and we had to spell off frequently. When I flew I always looked at the same spot in front of me. I just tried to keep exactly in formation. I was not afraid when I was flying. When I was not flying, I had time to look al around at all the other planes, and the flak coming at us, the planes falling out of the sky. At times like that I was scared.I did not talk very much about my service or what I did after the war. My son asked me for the tail numbers of the planes I flew. I researched the planes here. I flew 7 different B-17's. He made of list of when they were built, the dates when I flew them and when the planes were destroyed. It was astonishing. I did not know what happened to these planes. (gestures with laser pen at wall of B-17 photos showing nose art and indicating his planes) One plane I flew, the Belle, the crew flew for 7 missions. We went on leave. When we came back, the Belle was destroyed. I learned that from this list. (gestures with pointer) this plane, the Royal Flush, was shot down with my crew but I wasn't with them. I was in the hospital. Does anyone want me to buy them a lottery ticket (laughs). I guess sometimes it's good to be in the hospital. Of the 7 planes that I flew 6 were destroyed in battle. The only plane that survived was named Johnny Walker. (Laughs) I guess that makes me a scotch man, but I've got a good reason I guess. I flew my 25 missions but I guess that was not enough. My last mission was in 1971 in Vietnam. I'm the only 390th pilot that is a member of this museum. I'm grateful to talk to you today and I'm happen to answer your questions. Thank you for coming."Colonel Bushong will celebrate his 89th birthday on March 26, 2012. Happy Birthday Colonel and God Bless You.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Outstanding and Entertaining By Karren This book is one of the most intriguing book I have ever read. It was hard to put down. The author Richard Bushong is a true American hero. He had more life experience by age 22 than most of us will ever get in a full life time. If you are interested in military or flying books this is a must read. I highly recommend this book to every one.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. What a Hero Is All About By R. Key Col. Richard Bushong"s book, "My Wars", was captivating and interesting from beginning to end. He has accomplished more in his life than most people dream of doing. He is a true example of what heroism and patriotism is all about.I would definitely recommend this book to both male and female readers, even young adults will enjoy it.
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