B 17 bomber crew positions7/4/2023 Obviously the TTE, the Radio and the Armament gunner assignments were automatic because of their previous training. Woffordįrom reading other crew histories, it would normally appear that the officer assignments were made initially and the enlisted men were assigned later. The crew assignment was as follows : 2nd Lt. None of those selected for this crew had previously known any other selected individual and all were from many diverse home locations and backgrounds. This delay of assignment lasted for several weeks and finally a full crew was assembled and transferred to Avon Park, Fl. As we continued to be unattached personnel, and in order to avoid details like possible KP, I volunteered for a work detail at the base's baseball field where some dozen of us would do routine grounds management work such as liming the base paths plus raking out and leveling the infield-routine maintenance. The base had a sizeable covered grandstand (painted green) but I never learned who or what teams played there. At that time Tampa still had electric streetcars and that was an efficient means of transportation around the area, and in addition there were several good movie theaters available. We evidently had opportunities for evening passes into Tampa because several individuals reported going to the Flamingo Club there. I have no idea what took the process to drag out for weeks, but we were there to be assigned to aircrews. There were cot arrangements for us and we lived out of our barracks bags. Upon my arrival there I was sent to a huge open hanger structure that contained what seemed to be hundreds of unassigned enlisted men personnel. During that time he was housed under the stadium of a baseball field. He evidently arrived in Tampa approximately 10June44, as he did not get assigned to a crew for nearly three months after arriving there. Just prior to that he had been in Charlotte, SC in an experimental program that was testing the use of a 75 mm cannon mounted in a B-25 nose. Davenport was coming from Warrensburg, MO where he served briefly in Troop Air Transport. Frumin was coming from navigation school at Selman Field, Monroe, La. In my case, I had received a delay in route leave after completing gunnery school (class 44-27) at Las Vegas, NV on 18JULY44 and was to report to McDill Field, Plant Park, Tampa Fl. Air Force personnel were coming in to reassignment centers from all areas.
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