LOOSE ENDS, FEEDBACK, & MISC.

Thanks for visiting this digital time capsule. I would like to hear from any  318th vets that are still out there. Any pictures or other feedback would be greatly appreciated.  High on my wish list is obtaining actual 318th gun camera footage and an image of a real  73rd Squadron patch (as opposed to the logo) for future inclusion here. If anyone can help me on these, please do.

This site would bear no resemblance to it's present form without two wonderful reference sources. "One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the 7th" (Air Force) was written by Clive Howard and Joe Whitley in 1947 when everyone's memories were still fresh. "The Pineapple Air Force: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo" by John W. Lambert was written in 1990 and is a wealth of personal pictures, interviews, and appendices. All direct quotes except one come from these two sources. I can't praise the latter highly enough. For example, the only reason I know the Canton airstrip was called Topham Field, was because I asked my father, who was there. I have never seen a written reference to it. But in appendix 7 in Lambert's book among the fatalities by date is 2nd Lt. John H. Topham KPC (Killed Plane Crash). For anyone who had a family member in 7th Fighter Command in the Central Pacific Air Forces with a interest in how gritty it was, I can't recommend it enough. Also, a big thank you to Yellow Airplane for use of the group and wing scoreboards. They have a number of photos of Ie Shima worth looking at, including what was left of "Baldy" Parker's plane, and I have listed them in the links section. My father helped fill in several blank spots and found several minor errors on the rough draft as well. Thanks, dad.

I changed most of the references of "Japs" to Japanese or enemy, leaving only a few for historical flavor. I realize "Japs" is an offensive term and I promise to do something about the remaining references as soon as Japan apologizes to the the victims of it's atrocities in China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and to the Allied POWs who were treated so horribly in their little emperor's name.  Unlike Germany, Japan refuses to even acknowledge it's wartime atrocities. To be truly forgiven, one must first apologize, and a long list of groups and people are owed at least that.  Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen in their lifetimes. Maybe it will.  But time is not on their side.

I have two loose ends at this time.

There used to be a wonderful web site of mostly WW2 aircraft nose art  I bookmarked at

If anyone knows where it moved to, please let me know so I can link to it. It was very well done with a lot of content from WW2 to Desert Storm. I hope it isn't gone forever.

And early on in this project, I exchanged E-mail with a fellow looking for pictures of two P-47s his dad flew. So if anyone has a picture of the P-47s named "Ickey and Me" or "Jack the Ripper" and can send them to me, I shall pass them along.

Address any E-mail to atdouble@Earthlink.net with 318th in the message header so I know it isn't spam.

And if I have anything posted here that is copyrighted, please let me know and I will remove it ASAP.

Don't forget to check out the links section.  Thanks again for visiting!