Early racing and rodding, warbirds, and loss. The story is here: http://www.edwilson.org/B17-Crash/The 1944 Wartime Crash of a B17.pdf Just one of many early rodders who never saw the golden age.
Tragic but certainly meaningful reading...we can forget how costly World War II was in terms of just Army Air Corps dead: "The United States Army Air Forces incurred 12% of the Army's 936,000 battle casualties in World War II. 88,119 airmen died in service." This does not count Naval or Marine Corps air fatalities during the war...
Great story Bruce. This story has special meaning to me because my Dad's older brother, Wilferd C. Mlady, was killed in a B-17 crash is Sioux City, Iowa in January of that year while training to go overseas. Wilferd Mlady was born on June 26, 1920 in Kimball, South Dakota. He grew up in Kimball, South Dakota and was the son of Frank and Agnes Altwicker Mlady. He and his family soon moved to Sioux Falls where he attended Washington High School with his other siblings. He was the second of seven children, Floyd, Lula, John, James (my Dad), Frank Jr. and Donald. After his graduation from high school, Wilferd was drafted into the United States Army. Later, he married Elaine Andrews on October 30, 1943; they had no children. He entered the armed forces on February 11, 1942 to battle the Axis powers in World War II. He served honorably in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, then in Sioux City, Iowa where he was killed. While practicing for combat on a training flight, the pilot of the plane on which he was assigned, lost control of the plane on take off due to the failure of an engine. The plane crashed and he suffered fatal injuries to his head and chest. He died on the field on January 7, 1944. Nine other members of the crew were also killed. My grandparents learned that the pilots were partying hard the night before and feathered the props on the wrong engine, causing them to go down. Tragically, my other uncle, John Mlady was killed later the same year on the same farm that I grew up on, when his horses spooked while pulling a trip rake in the hay field, and he was impaled by one of the tines. He died of an infection because penicillin wasn't widely available there yet. They were indeed the greatest. My other uncle Floyd was a B-29 pilot and my dad, James, served on the USS Tucson, a light cruiser, in the Pacific. He was in Tokyo harbor for the surrender ceremony in 1945. My Dad's two younger brothers, Frank Jr., worked for Boeing Aircraft. and Don, worked for Martin Marietta in aerospace projects. He was the Viking Mars orbiter project manager and also was very involved in the creation of the Aegis defense system.
My dad was pulled off the B-29 just a few hours before takeoff due to his mothers untimely passing, his crew flew their mission that day and the plane was shot down. HRP
Thanks for posting that story, Bruce. I've been previledged to know several WW2 pilots, including the famed Swede Vetesa, not sure I spelled that right? All this reminds me of a great story of one of the survivors of the Doolittle raid who was found by some tribe and then sold to the Chinese. He mentioned that no one really knows what their life is worth, but that he knew his value: He was sold to the Chinese for a 10 lb. bag of rice. He then knew what his life was worth. They truly were the greatest generation Jim
It's a story that hurts, and I think it hurts a bit more here because the guy was one of us, a rodder-racer-mechanical innovator who probably would have been one of OUR greats had he and his Model A been there after the war. Look at the race car...it has headlights, probably meaning it was his ONLY ride before the B17!
Thanks for the post Bruce. I can only say 'Ditto' to the preceding posts! My Dad was a WWII Vet.....Patton's Third Army......and many Uncles and family friends served as well, in various Branches of the Service. Lots of Reverence due those folks. Ray
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