Flight Engineer's
Badge
Decorations
Unit
Citation
and Awards
with
Oak Leaf Cluster
Service
Awards
with
2 **
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1st Lt Maurice J. Picheloup
Flight Enginner
Assigned as Asst 39th BG FE
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I
arrived on Guam on June 27 as a member of a cadre of Flight
Engineer Instructors from Lowry Field to help with some
problems the Wing was having with some of their flight
engineers.
Although
I was assigned to Headquarters as Assistant Group Flight
Engineer to 1st Lt. Jos. E. Smith (Smitty), I did fly
missions when they had problems with a flight engineer
or, as in the case of Capt. William D. Stackhouse (called
himself Billy D. on the Flight Log) he needed someone
to replace his crew engineer who was hospitalized or unavailable
for the Toyokawa mission and the Isesaki Mission, August
7 and August 15.
On
the Isesaki mission, the last one, Capt. Stackhouse was
in the last group to leave the island but we had high
cylinder head pressures, not uncommon, and we delayed
to try to work out the problem or decide if we had to
abort. I managed to get the temperatures down and Capt.
Stackhouse decided to proceed. By this time we had to
follow the last plane in the group.
We
proceeded to the target, hoping that we would receive
the "UTAH" on the radio to jettison bombs and return to
Guam with the war over. No "UTAH" came so we proceeded
over the target and dropped our bombs at 3:03. Just a
short time thereafter we began receiving the announcements
ending the war.
After
spending over a year teaching Flight Engineers in Flight
Branch of Lowry Field, the time I spent with the 39th Group
was a fine experience. |
Crew
Assigned
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Dated
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Target
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Combat
Flying Hrs
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-
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07-20-45
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Okasaki |
14:15
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07-24-45
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Handa |
16:30
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08-07-45
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Toyokawa |
14:00
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08-15-45
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Isesaki |
14:40
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-
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08-30-45
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POW
Supply Drop |
17:30
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Missions
as indicated from Maurice's Record of Combat Duty |
My
first mission, 20 July 1945 to Okasaki, I don't recall
the AC's name. He was a very young, 22 year old, and just
a 2nd Lt which made me the Senior Officer on the flight.
His
crew had not been in combat long and I was asked to help
his Flight Engineer who had been having problems with
his Crusie Control. Shortly after take-off and climb I
noticed he had badly accounted for the fuel usage and
power settings so we were not sure as to how much fuel
was used. Got him squared away for the rest of the mission
but when, approaching Iwo Jima, the AC asked if we had
enough fuel to reach Guam, I had to tell him I thought
we did but that we had some question about exactly how
much we had. He decided we go into Iwo.
While
on the ground we were waiting under the wing when the
engineer dove to the ground, hitting his head and with
twisting his face. The young AC calmly took out his handkerchief,
reaching into the man's mouth and pulled out his tongue.
He had recognized immediately that this crewman was having
an epileptic seizure and that he had to free up his tongue.
We had to leave the Enginner in the hospital.
I'm sure the AC did not remain a 2nd Lt very long. - I
was certainly impressed.
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**
denotes:
1 Bronze Service Star per General Order 80, dated: 2 October
1945 for participation from 16 April 1944 through 15 August
1945 in the Eastern Mandates Campaign - Issued by the
Twentieth Air Force Headquaters in San Francisco, CA.
1
Bronze Service Star per General Order 25 - Section I,
dated: 16 August 1945 for participation in the Air Offensive
of Japan Campaign from 17 April through 31 July 1945 -
Granted to Headquarters, 39th Bombardment Group. Issued
by Headquarters, 39th Bombardment Group, San Francisco,
CA.
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Crew
58
Ground
Echelon
314th Bomb Wing Roster
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