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Spielberg and Hanks secure rights for HBO WW2 series on 8th AF


drewpey

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What's weirder to me is that people were jumping on 'combat' sorties in the desert so they could knock out RAP requirements. My grandpa made it through 28 combat sorties in the tail of a B-17 and was lucky to have made it through every one of them. I appreciate the extra pay that a combat sortie provides, but when I think of what he went through, it makes me embarrassed to qualify for an Air Medal.

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...but when I think of what he went through, it makes me embarrassed to qualify for an Air Medal.

The dominance in airpower we enjoy today is directly related to the sacrifices they made. I bet they would be proud.

Can't wait to see this on TV.

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What's weirder to me is that people were jumping on 'combat' sorties in the desert so they could knock out RAP requirements. My grandpa made it through 28 combat sorties in the tail of a B-17 and was lucky to have made it through every one of them. I appreciate the extra pay that a combat sortie provides, but when I think of what he went through, it makes me embarrassed to qualify for an Air Medal.

I don't want to take anything away from your grandpa or your contribution, but in where in the wild world of ###### can you log both RAP and a sortie counting for an Air Medal?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking forward to it with trepidation..only because I know it is going to be very upsetting to watch for me. My Dad was a B-24 pilot, and crash-landed twice. Once while he was an IP in a B-24J with a propeller overspeed and another in combat in the Pacific. I think that the stateside training accident contributed to my father's early death, because 4 of his crew were killed and I don't think he ever truly got over it. He committed suicide in 1979 when I was just 19, so I have always held the USAAF "Bomber boys" in very high esteem, and it amazes me how young they all were. How complex and difficult their tasks were considering the time period and the amount technology being transferred to literally the kids off the farm or ethnic neighborhoods in the cities. My Dad was the son of Irish immigrants and put himself through Temple University and enlisted in the Air Corps February 1942 after being rejected by the Navy for having one leg slightly shorter than the other. I never knew about this until I read his retirement physical.

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