The Bell P-59 Airacomet. Gift of Lena Hartlein in Memory of George Hartlein, 2005.069.003
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the first American jet-propelled aircraft, the Bell P-59 Airacomet, taking flight. Although revolutionary for the time, the P-59 was ultimately a disappointment and would play no combat role in World War II. Though other countries sucha s Germany and Great Britain had been working on jet aircraft for years, it was novel for the United States. As one Yank reporter put it, “The first time you see a jet-propelled plane in the air, it’s like seeing a man walking down the street with no head.” Though largely considered a failure, the P-59 remains a watershed in American aviation history. The first Airacomet is on view at the National Air and Space Museum
On this day 70 years ago, the first game of the 1942 World Series got underway with the defending champion New York Yankees outlasting the St. Louis Cardinals in front of an audience of 34,769 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Missouri, winning by a score of 7-4. Coming into the series, with an array of future Hall Of Famers on its roster including the great Joe DiMaggio, the ’42 Bronx Bombers had every reason to be confident: it had been 16 years (1926) since their last Series defeat and, in the interim, the Yankees had chalked-up an unprecedented eight Series championships. The first game featured a pitching gem as Yankees starter Red Ruffing took a no-hitter into the bottom of the eighth inning. However, the Redbirds squad, featuring talent by the likes of Enos Slaughter and Stan ‘The Man’ Musial, came storming back, winning the next four games and capturing the 1942 World Series championship; the Cardinals’ first since 1934.
Post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator at The National WWII Museum
On September 29, 1942, three squadrons of American pilots—called Eagle Squadrons—were transferred from the British Royal Air Force to the US 8th Air Force. These several dozen American men had volunteered to fly for the Brits despite the United States remaining neutral, risking the forfeiture of their citizenship in order to do what they considered the just and rightful thing to do.
The Eagle Squadrons were created in the image of the famed Lafayette Escadrille of World War I, also a squadron of American volunteers from the neutral US fighting on the side of an ally. In both cases, the purpose was manifold—not only did these volunteers provide much needed manpower, but they also served as ambassadors to the neutral United States, whom the Brits in the Second World War and the French in the First hoped to rope into the war.
Though many thousands of young American men applied to the program—recruitment was handled by Americans living overseas who also shouldered much of the cost of training and transporting those volunteers—only around 250 actually served with the RAF. Many more served with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Three squadrons, No. 71, No. 121 and No. 133, were activated between February and July 1941, and were named the Eagle Squadrons after their own insignia design which supposedly borrowed the style of the eagle on US passports. The eagles initially flew the notoriously bad Brewster Buffalo which, by at least one account, they intentionally damaged in order to have them replaced. The squadrons later flew Hurricanes and Spitfires. All three units partook in the Dieppe Raid, where famed ace Dominic “Don” Gentile claimed his first kills. Once transferred to the 8th Air Force, Gentile became the 4th Fighter Group’s highest scoring pilot.
On 29 September 1942 in a small English suburb, Squadrons No. 71, 121, and 133 became the American 334th, 335th, and 336th Fighter Squadrons, respectively. Although they now donned American wings, the Eagles were allowed to retain their hard-earned RAF wings, worn on their right lapel. The 4th Fighter Group also continued to fly the British Spitfire until eventually reequipped with P-47 Thunderbolts and later P-51 Mustangs. By the time the Eagles were transferred to the USAAF, nearly half of the original volunteers had been killed in action, wounded, were missing, or had been taken prisoner. Undoubtedly, the months of combat experience amassed by the Eagles contributed to the 4th Fighter Group’s impeccable record, the best of any fighter group in the 8th Air Force, with 1,016 victories.
From 17 September – 1 October 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt undertook a cross-country inspection of the nation’s defense plants. On 29 September 1942, Roosevelt made his only stop in Louisiana; from 9-10 am that morning, Roosevelt met with A.J. Higgins and visited the Higgins Industries’ City Park Plant. The President toured the plant (inside and out) in a convertible, visiting the assembly and production bays. The Higgins band played Hail to the Chief, Anchors Aweigh, and the Higgins Victory March. After giving the President “three cheers” and a rousing ovation, Higgins shouted to his workers, “And now, the President would like to see how quickly you can get back to work.”
While most of the war-themed hit songs of 1942 did little more than express either a saccharine sense of sentimentality or a unified feeling of martial patriotism, it is clear from the first few seconds of the big fall hit for Spike Jones & His City Slickers that the listening audience was in for something much different than the average torch-song or ballad. An arch-satirist known for his barbed parodies of popular songs of the day, Jones and His City Slickers, on September 26, 1942, took aim not at those acts currently at the top of the Billboard charts, but at the ‘Horst Wessel Lied:’ the national anthem of the Nazi Party. Replacing the militaristic marching rhythm of the original with a fast-paced, irreverent oom-pah, Jones and his band make a mockery of the Nazi state song; the ridicule approaching near-riotous levels of scorn when the lyrics begin:
Ven Der Fuehrer says, “We iss der master race!”
Ve heil! Heil! Right in Der Fueher’s face
Not to love Der Fuehrer is a great disgrace
So ve Heil! Heil! Right in Der Fuehrer’s face
The mood and tone of the song is made even more ridiculous by the accompaniment of each shouted ‘Heil’ with a loud Raspberry or Bronx Cheer produced by Jones through the use of a rubber razzer.
Originally written and published by Disney Studio composer, Oliver Wallace, who had also previously contributed music to Disney’s Dumbo, Alice In Wonderland, and Peter Pan, it was Jones’ version that drove sales of the sheet music and the record, which ultimately would climb to #3 in the charts on November 7. Jones’ rendition of ‘Der Fuehrer’s Face’ proved so massively successful that a year later it lent its name to one of Disney’s most popular and memorable wartime shorts starring Donald Duck, previously known as ‘Donald Duck in Nutziland.’ Oscar Hammerstein III, of the famed songwriting partnership of Rodgers & Hammerstein, considered Jones’ skewering of the Third Reich so masterful that he called ‘Der Fuehrer’s Face’ ‘the great psychological song of the war.’
Click below to hear and sing along with Spike Jones & His City Slickers’ original version of ‘Der Fuehrer’s Face:’
Post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator at The National WWII Museum
On September 25, 1942, upon the recommendation of the U.S. War Manpower Commission, Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker announced the launch of a nationwide initiative ‘designed to mobilize secondary school students for more effective preparation and participation in wartime service.’ This voluntary organization, aimed at the country’s more-than-six-million students attending some of its over-28,000 high schools, was called the High School Victory Corps and was conceived to prepare young Americans for service ‘in the armed forces tomorrow through learning in the classroom today.’
More than a patriotic or extracurricular service group, the High School Victory Corps program emphasized an entirely supplemental war-time education, complete with its own uniform, insignia, physical fitness regimen and command structure. In order to participate in the High School Victory Corps, students – both male and female – were required to enroll in a war-effort class (such as first-aid, marksmanship or navigation), pass a physical fitness inspection and volunteer in at least one extracurricular wartime activity. For their uniform, Victory Corps members were issued service caps embroidered with the Corps insignia and service patches indicating the focus of their wartime course work. Physical fitness, through sports and military drill, was considered a special focus of the program as draft officials at the time were alarmed by the growing number of recent enlistments declared unfit. National leadership of the High School Victory Corps was entrusted to its National Policy Committee headed by Captain “Fast” Eddie Rickenbacker, a WWI fighter ace and Medal of Honor recipient.
The High School Victory Corps program proved extremely popular during the two years of its existence, with a wealth of pamphlets and instructional policy guide books being produced and issued to schools and teachers. The High School Victory Corps program was also groundbreaking for its time by allowing participation from both white and African-American students a full decade before public school desegregation.
Today, The National WWII Museum honors the contributions made by the High School Victory Corps through its Victory Corps young volunteer program, which takes the wartime program as its namesake and seeks to continue its seventy-year-old mission of service and education with the students of today’s generation.
Post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator at The National WWII Museum
On 25 September 1942, the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans hosted the Million Dollar War Bond Breakfast. Seats to the breakfast were obtained only by promising to purchase $1000 in war bonds. Such breakfasts were held nation-wide and the New Orleans breakfast doubled the orgaziners’ goal and set the national record with over $2,800,000 in bond subscriptions.
The Roosevelt Hotel (named for Teddy Roosevelt) was the site of many events, dinners, fundraisers and dances during the war. After a name change and closure, the hotel reopened as the Roosevelt in 2009, where many of these wartime venues can be seen in their restored glory.
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the maiden flight of Boeing’s famous B-29 “Superfortress.” The plane was designed to replace the B-17 “Flying Fortress” and the B-24 “Liberator,” as well as to be able to handle long distance bombing missions the other planes were incapable of. The Superfortress was technologically advanced for the time, including features such as remote-controlled gun turrets and a pressurized cabin. More than 3,500 B-29s were produced before fabrication came to a halt in May 1946. The plane also served in the Korean War.
Upon completion of testing and production, B-29s were sent to the Pacific where they were well-suited to the long distance flights required to strike at Japan from US air bases at Tinian, Saipan, and Guam. These islands, making up the Marianas Chain, were fought for and captured for the sole purpose of providing B-29s a base from which to hit mainland Japan.
In June 1944, they were the first planes to strike at homeland Japan since the famous April 1942 Doolittle Raid. The aircraft were also used for the massive incendiary bombing campaign as well as their most well-known role in dropping the atomic bombs over Japan. The high service ceiling protected the Superfortress from anti-aircraft fire on the ground, and in combination with the aircraft’s speed also prohibited many enemy fighters from being able to reach it. The plane was versatile, used for both high- and low-altitude bombing, during both day and nighttime. It was also used a cargo plane, flying the “Hump” of the Himalayas from India to China and back again.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress Specs
Armament: Ten .50-cal. machine guns + one 20mm cannon + 20,000 pounds of bombs
Engines: Four Wright R-3350 engines of 2200hp each
Maximum speed: 357 miles per hour
Cruising speed: 220 miles per hour
Range: 3,700 miles
Ceiling: 33,600 feet
Span: 141 feet 3 inches
Length: 99 feet
Height: 27 feet 9 inches
Weight: 133,500 pounds maximum
Artifacts from the Collection
Gift in Memory of John Kushner, 2006.279
The Norden bombsight could be found in virtually all medium and heavy bomber aircraft in the US Army Air Force during World War II. It was such a closely guarded piece of technology that bombardiers had to swear an oath to protect the secrets of the device by destroying it before letting it fall into enemy hands, even at the cost of their own lives. The USAAF wartime claims of the Norden being able to place a bomb in a pickle barrel at 20,000 feet were greatly exaggerated. In reality, the Norden bombsight was a complex machine consisting of many gearwheels and ball bearings, prone to produce inaccuracies when not in proper calibration, which was often the result of the aircraft’s turbulent journey to the target.
Image Gallery
Remember "My Weekly Reader" from elementary school? During the war, they often focused on military subjects, including the new B-29. Gift of Rhoda L. and Roger M. Berkowitz, 2012.005.034
US Navy Seabees build and maintain B-29 base on Tinian. 30 March 1945. Gift of Charles Ives, 2011.102.003
US Navy Seabees completed the necessary airfields in the Marianas in record time. 30 March 1945. Gift of Charles Ives, 2011.102.002
Superfortresses of the 73rd Bomb Wing drop their payload. Location unknown. Gift of Donald McCaughey, 2012.006.008
A row of B-29s lined up on a runway, location unknown. Gift of Donald McCaughey, 2012.006.006
A Superfortress crashed on Saipan in the Marianas. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.
B-29s with Mount Fuji in the background. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.213
A B-29 takes to the skies. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.219
A view from above. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.209
A Superfortress soars over its base on Guam in the Marianas. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.358
Bombs dropped over Tokyo. Gift of Elwyn Fink, 2010.216.365
On 17 and 18 September 1942, several thousand employees of Higgins Industries flocked to the New Orleans Municipal Theater for special free showings of war films. The hour-and-a-half reel was compiled of the short films: World at War, Battle of Midway, Solomon Island News, Letter from Bataan and Women in Defense—which most certainly resonated with many in the audience.
Ginger Rogers disguised as a twelve year old?! On 16 September 1942, The Major and the Minor premiered starring Rogers opposite Ray Milland. It was the first American feature directed by Billy Wilder, a Galician Jew, who fled Europe in 1933. Wilder won two Oscars and is, to date, the second most nominated director in Oscar history with eight Best Director nominations. He received his first Oscar in 1945 for another film with Milland, The Lost Weekend, for which Milland would also win Best Actor. Watch the trailer for The Major and the Minor for the wonderful line Ginger delivers to her rival for “The Major’s” affections,”You should be glad I’m not twelve. I was a very straightforward child― I used to spit.”
While most of the war-themed hit songs of 1942 did little more than express either a saccharine sense of sentimentality or a unified feeling of martial patriotism, it is clear from the first few seconds of the big fall hit for Spike Jones & His City Slickers that the listening audience was in for something much different than the average torch-song or ballad. An arch-satirist known for his barbed parodies of popular songs of the day, Jones and His City Slickers, on September 26, 1942, took aim not at those acts currently at the top of the Billboard charts, but at the ‘Horst Wessel Lied:’ the national anthem of the Nazi Party. Replacing the militaristic marching rhythm of the original with a fast-paced, irreverent oom-pah, Jones and his band make a mockery of the Nazi state song; the ridicule approaching near-riotous levels of scorn when the lyrics begin:
