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Warbirds Unlimited Salutes
CHARLES POSTON
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Links to more on the Charles Poston story:
The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories | Oral History (ww2online.org)
100 Years Old: Scottsdale’s Charles Poston – Scottsdale Trails
Scottsdale WWII vet celebrates 101st birthday | Neighbors | scottsdale.org
Historic P-47 aircraft leads to storytelling friendship | | arcadianews.com
The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories | Oral History (ww2online.org)
100 Years Old: Scottsdale’s Charles Poston – Scottsdale Trails
Scottsdale WWII vet celebrates 101st birthday | Neighbors | scottsdale.org
Historic P-47 aircraft leads to storytelling friendship | | arcadianews.com
The below video interview is from Phoenix, AZ Channel 3, prior to a reunion of the 1st Air Commandos held in Scottsdale, AZ in 2010:
A “Thank You” Letter to All My Comrades-IN-Arms
The First Air Commandos
This is a special letter of gratitude and thanks to all of you, past and present who were, and are, The First Air Commando Group, and especially those of the 6th Fighter Squadron with whom I was privileged to serve.
It was early in 1944 and John Eagan and I were instructors in the 5th Fighter Training Squadron at Venice, Florida. We each had about 500 hours in P-47s and P-40s. We flew some, fished some and played some and, as wartime assignments go, life was pretty good.
John Egan and I had just been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He said “we will see snowballs in h… a long time before we see our next promotion what with all the returnees from overseas with their chests covered with fruit salad.” Then he dropped the bomb: “Lets volunteer for overseas duty. I understand that unit commanders have 30 days to relieve you if you volunteer.” I thought that was a pretty good idea. Then he suggested we go to CBI (China Burma India) and become Flying Tigers and that sounded pretty good to me too. Soon my wife was no longer speaking to me and John and I found ourselves on a C-54 over the Atlantic, headed for Karachi, India. Three engine failures later we arrived at Casa Blanca. Then on to Tunis, Benghazi, Cairo, Bahrain, and Abadan and at 2am one morning we landed at Karachi. I forgot to tell you that we were on orders as P-51 replacement pilots. (Neither of us had ever flown the P-51).PS I have yet to do so.
Determined to be a Flying Tiger, John discovered that they were training Chinese in P-51s at Landi Field across town from us. He was enthusiastic and in his innocence said “lets you and me go over there and train to be Flying Tigers,” as though all we had to do was ask. I thought over the implications of what Eagan was suggesting and China seemed like a long way and I had already had my fill of travel, so. I said, “John, I don’t have a good feeling for your idea. I think I’ll just stay here and see what happens.”
So, Eagan worked some more hocus-pocus and off he went to Landi Field. I bided my time.
After some weeks, a few minor adventures and more rain than I had ever seen before, one day I noticed four pilots standing in the street in front of HQ, talking. They turned out to be 1st Lt.s William J. Hemphill, Lloyd H. James, Earl B. Price and William E. Raynolds. And my keen ears heard “we need one more Jug pilot and then we can go.” I asked them what they meant by that and they told me there was an assignment for five experienced P-47 pilots to ferry P-47s all the way across India to Madagangh, and then report to 1st Air Commando Group at Asansol where they would be assigned to transition the P-51 pilots there over to their brand new P-47’s. Talk about made to order! I said, “I’m the 5th man you guys are looking for.” Would you believe the CO of the Replacement HQ at Karachi admitted they had not read our flying qualification forms? Now he looked and saw my P-47 time and I was on my way to the First Air Commando Group.
On the way across India we saw a bunch of P-51s with funny diagonal striping headed back in the direction we had just left. They turned out to be the tired old P-51As of First Air Commando Group going home to roost.
We stopped at Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The rest of the trip was a piece of Cake. We didn’t have to navigate. Just flew formation with some B-25sthat were going to Madagangh too.
When we arrived at Asansol I was told to report to Captain Younger A. Pitts, Jr. I remember he didn’t have a shirt on because he had a real bad case of heat rash. He welcomed me and told me to keep my nose clean, do my job and “you will get your next promotion the day you are eligible.”
The longest runway at Asansol was 4800 feet which is pretty short for the ‘Jug’. Those ex-P-51 pilots were not at all enthusiastic about having to fly P-47’s and frankly, the airplane was not as pretty as the P-51., plus they found the P-47 control pressures a lot heavier than the P-51.
We had a saying back at Venice that “if you want a pretty picture of yourself with an airplane for your sweetie, make it with a P-51. But if you want to be alive to tell about it, make the plane a P-47. The Second Air Commando Group flying P-51 Ds and our First Air Commando Group with our P-47s flew several identical ground support missions. There was lots of ground fire. Both groups would send out 20 planes. We got back 20 planes. They got back 16. I rest my case.
We flew our first combat mission from Cox’s Bazaar to Rangoon, round trip 1052 miles plus time on the target. We did not lose a plane, although mine got shot up pretty badly by an Oscar over Mingaladon airfield west of Rangoon. I was tail end Charlie. You couldn’t tell much from the cockpit where I was because the entry holes of the 20mm cannon shells were on top of my wings. But Sgt John Seagren, my Crew Chief who was 6’+ stood on the ground with his head comfortably in one of the holes in the underside of the wing. The miracle is it didn’t harm anything critical.Joe Setnor had answered my cry for help and chased the Jap off me. Joe, I still owe you.
The assignment to escort the 12rh Bomb Group (B-25s) followed. I was delighted to meet one of the pilots who was an LSU classmate of mine: Captain Sidney Mandina.
` At Christmas the officers got a ration of three fifths of liquor bit our enlisted men got none. Eddie Bayne and I went around the BOQs in a jeep and collected the extra two bottles and gave the loot to our ground crews. I heard there was one hell of a party.
Then we were assigned to do close support for the British 15th Army during their mission to chase the Japs out of Burma. I got my first (and only) Jap fighter in February of 1945 on one of those missions. Lt. Glen Feikert who was my element leader got one too. Tragically, Glen was shot down and killed while leading a mission the next day.
By this time Younger Pitts was a Major, he had had a bad accident and Bill Hemphill was acting CO of the 6th Fighter Squadron. True to Younger’s promise when I joined First Air Commando Group, on April 1, 1945 I got my promotion to Captain.
I remember all of those wonderful people of First Air Commando Group: All volunteers, all professionals, from cooks to communications to armorers, crew chiefs, pilots and squadron commanders. Each man did his job superbly. I can recall very little grousing. People worked hard because they were doing what they believed in. And I want to thank each one of you for being my comrade in arms. I especially want to thank John Eagan, Younger Pitts, Joe Setnor, Bill Hemphill, Glen Feikert, Voyo Jovanovich, Dick Taylor, Ed Barker, Allen Abrahams, Benton Hall, Ernie Mitchell, my crew chief John Seagren and my armorer Cpl Hennessey. It was an honor and a privilege to serve with you in a crack outfit.
A footnote: John Eagan did go to China. He flew his P-51 back to Asansol twice and John Seagren, my crew chief and I helped him fill a belly tank with beer, candy and canned goods. He said supplies in China were zero to none. Then on my way back to the States I ran into him in The Carnarnie Estates Officers Club in Calcutta in July of 1945. He had on a bathrobe for he was a walking malaria patient. He had been overseas exactly the same time as me. He had flown a total of 13 missions, had been shot down twice and almost starved to death. He had malaria and zero decorations and promotions. I had 78 missions, no malaria, a DFC and The Air Medal, was a Captain and had been fed pretty well.
The luck of the draw.
Charles Poston
Scottsdale, Arizona
March 4, 2008
The First Air Commandos
This is a special letter of gratitude and thanks to all of you, past and present who were, and are, The First Air Commando Group, and especially those of the 6th Fighter Squadron with whom I was privileged to serve.
It was early in 1944 and John Eagan and I were instructors in the 5th Fighter Training Squadron at Venice, Florida. We each had about 500 hours in P-47s and P-40s. We flew some, fished some and played some and, as wartime assignments go, life was pretty good.
John Egan and I had just been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He said “we will see snowballs in h… a long time before we see our next promotion what with all the returnees from overseas with their chests covered with fruit salad.” Then he dropped the bomb: “Lets volunteer for overseas duty. I understand that unit commanders have 30 days to relieve you if you volunteer.” I thought that was a pretty good idea. Then he suggested we go to CBI (China Burma India) and become Flying Tigers and that sounded pretty good to me too. Soon my wife was no longer speaking to me and John and I found ourselves on a C-54 over the Atlantic, headed for Karachi, India. Three engine failures later we arrived at Casa Blanca. Then on to Tunis, Benghazi, Cairo, Bahrain, and Abadan and at 2am one morning we landed at Karachi. I forgot to tell you that we were on orders as P-51 replacement pilots. (Neither of us had ever flown the P-51).PS I have yet to do so.
Determined to be a Flying Tiger, John discovered that they were training Chinese in P-51s at Landi Field across town from us. He was enthusiastic and in his innocence said “lets you and me go over there and train to be Flying Tigers,” as though all we had to do was ask. I thought over the implications of what Eagan was suggesting and China seemed like a long way and I had already had my fill of travel, so. I said, “John, I don’t have a good feeling for your idea. I think I’ll just stay here and see what happens.”
So, Eagan worked some more hocus-pocus and off he went to Landi Field. I bided my time.
After some weeks, a few minor adventures and more rain than I had ever seen before, one day I noticed four pilots standing in the street in front of HQ, talking. They turned out to be 1st Lt.s William J. Hemphill, Lloyd H. James, Earl B. Price and William E. Raynolds. And my keen ears heard “we need one more Jug pilot and then we can go.” I asked them what they meant by that and they told me there was an assignment for five experienced P-47 pilots to ferry P-47s all the way across India to Madagangh, and then report to 1st Air Commando Group at Asansol where they would be assigned to transition the P-51 pilots there over to their brand new P-47’s. Talk about made to order! I said, “I’m the 5th man you guys are looking for.” Would you believe the CO of the Replacement HQ at Karachi admitted they had not read our flying qualification forms? Now he looked and saw my P-47 time and I was on my way to the First Air Commando Group.
On the way across India we saw a bunch of P-51s with funny diagonal striping headed back in the direction we had just left. They turned out to be the tired old P-51As of First Air Commando Group going home to roost.
We stopped at Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The rest of the trip was a piece of Cake. We didn’t have to navigate. Just flew formation with some B-25sthat were going to Madagangh too.
When we arrived at Asansol I was told to report to Captain Younger A. Pitts, Jr. I remember he didn’t have a shirt on because he had a real bad case of heat rash. He welcomed me and told me to keep my nose clean, do my job and “you will get your next promotion the day you are eligible.”
The longest runway at Asansol was 4800 feet which is pretty short for the ‘Jug’. Those ex-P-51 pilots were not at all enthusiastic about having to fly P-47’s and frankly, the airplane was not as pretty as the P-51., plus they found the P-47 control pressures a lot heavier than the P-51.
We had a saying back at Venice that “if you want a pretty picture of yourself with an airplane for your sweetie, make it with a P-51. But if you want to be alive to tell about it, make the plane a P-47. The Second Air Commando Group flying P-51 Ds and our First Air Commando Group with our P-47s flew several identical ground support missions. There was lots of ground fire. Both groups would send out 20 planes. We got back 20 planes. They got back 16. I rest my case.
We flew our first combat mission from Cox’s Bazaar to Rangoon, round trip 1052 miles plus time on the target. We did not lose a plane, although mine got shot up pretty badly by an Oscar over Mingaladon airfield west of Rangoon. I was tail end Charlie. You couldn’t tell much from the cockpit where I was because the entry holes of the 20mm cannon shells were on top of my wings. But Sgt John Seagren, my Crew Chief who was 6’+ stood on the ground with his head comfortably in one of the holes in the underside of the wing. The miracle is it didn’t harm anything critical.Joe Setnor had answered my cry for help and chased the Jap off me. Joe, I still owe you.
The assignment to escort the 12rh Bomb Group (B-25s) followed. I was delighted to meet one of the pilots who was an LSU classmate of mine: Captain Sidney Mandina.
` At Christmas the officers got a ration of three fifths of liquor bit our enlisted men got none. Eddie Bayne and I went around the BOQs in a jeep and collected the extra two bottles and gave the loot to our ground crews. I heard there was one hell of a party.
Then we were assigned to do close support for the British 15th Army during their mission to chase the Japs out of Burma. I got my first (and only) Jap fighter in February of 1945 on one of those missions. Lt. Glen Feikert who was my element leader got one too. Tragically, Glen was shot down and killed while leading a mission the next day.
By this time Younger Pitts was a Major, he had had a bad accident and Bill Hemphill was acting CO of the 6th Fighter Squadron. True to Younger’s promise when I joined First Air Commando Group, on April 1, 1945 I got my promotion to Captain.
I remember all of those wonderful people of First Air Commando Group: All volunteers, all professionals, from cooks to communications to armorers, crew chiefs, pilots and squadron commanders. Each man did his job superbly. I can recall very little grousing. People worked hard because they were doing what they believed in. And I want to thank each one of you for being my comrade in arms. I especially want to thank John Eagan, Younger Pitts, Joe Setnor, Bill Hemphill, Glen Feikert, Voyo Jovanovich, Dick Taylor, Ed Barker, Allen Abrahams, Benton Hall, Ernie Mitchell, my crew chief John Seagren and my armorer Cpl Hennessey. It was an honor and a privilege to serve with you in a crack outfit.
A footnote: John Eagan did go to China. He flew his P-51 back to Asansol twice and John Seagren, my crew chief and I helped him fill a belly tank with beer, candy and canned goods. He said supplies in China were zero to none. Then on my way back to the States I ran into him in The Carnarnie Estates Officers Club in Calcutta in July of 1945. He had on a bathrobe for he was a walking malaria patient. He had been overseas exactly the same time as me. He had flown a total of 13 missions, had been shot down twice and almost starved to death. He had malaria and zero decorations and promotions. I had 78 missions, no malaria, a DFC and The Air Medal, was a Captain and had been fed pretty well.
The luck of the draw.
Charles Poston
Scottsdale, Arizona
March 4, 2008
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