About the Episode

This issue was produced by the Jenny Craig Museum Institute for War and Democracy.

At our 2022 International Conference, we had the pleasure of hearing veteran John "Raki" Rakada interview Dr. Donald Miller, author of the book The Hosts of the Air.

Raki served as a pilot and co-pilot with the Air Force's 100th Bomber Group 8, still known as the "Bloody Hundred." He flew 25 sorties against targets in France and Germany.

Raki shared some sentiments about his service with the Mighty Eight and his memoir of flying to these brave commands.

If you want to see the eccentric conversation, click here:

Topics covered in this episode

• Combat operations in Europe
• 100th Bomber Group
• "The Bloody Hundred"
• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

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Featured Historians & Guests

John “Lucky” Luckadoo

Lucky served as a pilot and co-pilot with the 100th Bomber Group, 8th Air Force. Lucky flew 25 joint-difficulty sorties over targets in France and Germany.

Donald Miller, PhD

Miller has gained popularity for his works such as "Airmasters: America's Bomber Boys Who Ran the Air in the War Against Nazi Germany," the World War II story "D-Days in the Pacific," and Vicksburg's latest, the most important civil war story, "Campania in the Granamara Covenant."

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Kenneth Newton Walker's Medal of Honor

US Air Force Brigadier General Kenneth Newton Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor for his influence during the deadly air raid on Rabaul, England, on January 5, 1943.

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The Freeman Field Mutiny

The 477th, who learned bombing on a two-engine B-25 Mitchell, never participated in military operations overseas, but fought here in the United States. Organized as an all-Army dark detachment, the regiment is famous not for its combat awards but for fighting "equally without distinction" with its soldiers.

Typed Notes

The Casablanca Conference

In fact, during the two ecumenical wars, cooperation between trade unions was achieved at an unprecedented level, leading to the creation of new staff organizations such as the United American Bosses (OCHC) Headquarters and the United British Bosses (OCHC) Headquarters.

Sponsors

The "Second World Struggle" project was prepared by the Herzstein Foundation.

Transcript

Jeremy Collins

Hello. I'm Jeremy Collins, a director in charge of the National Museum of World War II in New Orleans. Welcome to the special season of the Voice of World War II in World War II. Here, we listen to the story of the people who survived the war from the first mouth. This episode was created by a war and a democratic research institute on the name of Jenny Craig as part of the 2022 international conference.

We were lucky to hear the story of John's veteran. Vernissen Rakada was giving a lecture with Dr. Donald Miller and wrote a book called "Host of the Sky." Lucky was active as a pilot and c o-pilot in the 100th Bombing Group of the 8th Air Force, also known as Bloody Hand Red. He sorted a total of 25 times on the goals of France and Germany.

Lucky talked about the impression of working in the powerful 8th army and the memories of these bold tasks.

Dr. Mike Bell

At the end of the day, we will be invited to a wonderful discussion between veteran John Laka Rakada and Director Don Miller. I was able to hear a wonderful story today. Varnish, a veteran of World War II, a pilot and a c o-pilot in the famous 8th Bombing Group of the 8th Air Force, or maybe you know, but the powerful 8th army. I am glad to see Varnish, which was called "hundreds of bloo d-painted", because I did some of the most difficult tasks.

It seems that Lucky sailed 25 times on the goal of France and Germany in the early 1920s when he was a little young. But,. In order to have this conversation today, I am more qualified, scholars, and awarded awards, Professor John McCalken, Professor of History of Lafayet University in Pennsylvania, a many books writing many books. I can't think o f-Chicago to history to history.

But the museum is the most wel l-known in this museum in World War II, especially in the "Air Masters: American bombers who fought against the Nazi Germany". World War II magazine selected Master of Air as an excellent book for the year, and became the main material of the min i-series broadcast on Apple TV.

Then, Don, take over the mission.

Dr. Donald Miller

It's great. It's a great honor for me to come back to this museum and see all these fearless people, all these curious people here. And it's a great honor for me to work closely here with my friend, Lucky Lacadou. I've already interviewed Lucky, but in my opinion, we both forgot everything that actually happened in that interview. For example, I'm assuming that I'll be alive for quite a long time until I get the chance to interview him again.

So basically, I just pile on a few remarks, nothing that I deliberately prepared for this. We simply establish a fairly free-flowing conversation, and Lucky starts chatting with the host himself. This is his fight, and he's going to bring it to you. And I try to explain the story a little bit by saying some sentences about the 8th Air Force, not about when it was created, what it was like, but about what he encountered in the war, and what other pilots encountered.

By the way, we have another guy from the 8th Air Force, Ken Beckman, a young pilot who flew in a B-17. Ken, can you stand up? 48 Flights

Happy Lakadu

For the fifth Navigator Scorer

Dr. Donald Miller

He was rambling on about the trips I was leading with the lords of aviation, and how they left and how they scattered. Someone in the back of the bus said, "That's not quite right." I was like, "Who the hell? What the hell?"

Oh, God. Ken won't let me have this. Yes, we're talking about war. In fact, I call it "sui generis." She's the only one in her family. There was only one bomber battle. There were no bomber wars before that. And there never will be any bomber wars again. It's all missiles these days. In fact, for example, this is a scene of something completely new.

And as is so often the case in Lacky's books, according to his writing, this is the untested background to the battle. Everything here is experimental. And I think in this conversation there was much more interest in the machines than in the people. This is a very different picture of war. This is his own family analogy of war in Wonderland, where everything is turned upside down.

What kills? At 11, 000 feet the air kills. You can't blow things up. Is that clear? What actually kills? The sun. You'll be noticed. The Germans are moving forward to destroy. This is not good news. It means we need war. A delicate cylinder connected to a machine. Meanwhile a strong man with a screwdriver has the ability to make a hole in it. And of course anti-aircraft flame, as you understand, if it gets into an anti-aircraft hole in an airplane, it usually goes right through the airplane and into it.

And it causes losses of equipment and personnel. This is something completely different from war. For example, the people who planned this war, the so-called bomber mafia, were based at Maxwell Field in Alabama in the mid-1930s.

Not only did they go to war as guinea pigs, they were lied to pretty heavily. They were even told that they could reach their targets without guidance. They were told that the planes had a pretty high ceiling to fly over, to avoid worrying about anti-aircraft lights. They were told not to worry too much about losses.

The bombing itself would be in the hands of bombardiers who had a whole new tactic called the Norden bombsite, so there wouldn't be many of them on board or on the ground. And they could drop bombs on, say, cucumber barrels. It's called precision bombing, but as we all know, this is considered an oxymoron.

So basically, it was only after they arrived that they learned about everything they were given, about the truth, about war. During that time, they had to adapt. They had to adapt to the stress. And they broke. Almost all of them. Because fatigue manifested itself in different ways on the battlefield. The symptoms of the pilots were different from those on the ground.

For example, the treatment was different, and it was actually a completely different battle. And not only are there no trenches in the air, but you're in a pipe full of gasoline. And there's a huge myth about zero-gravity warfare. You see the missions, you press the buttons. Ernie Pyle's men in the mud and snow.

But if you've ever seen a photo of a zero-gravity battle, you notice the closeness of the battle. Like Lucky in this book, you had the opportunity to look into the eyes of a German pilot. In real combat, many of the fighters who looked dead before they retrieved the prisoners, especially over the Pacific, actually saw the enemy. They saw the enemy up close, and the enemy was anti-aircraft guns.

The enemy was anti-aircraft aircraft. The enemy was a few centimeters in front of you, and you couldn't take evasive action. What pressure does this put on the aircraft? The survival of the aircraft depends on the people on board. And this is a very different group, on a psychological, mental and physical level. How does this affect the body? What is the right diet?

Everything here is absolutely fresh, and now we tell us how we feel to fly in B-17 in the sky of European controversy at the most difficult moment of the War of no Gravity. You can. He arrived there in the spring of 1943 as a part of the 100 Bomber group, all of which were actually bad in August during the great Legensburg-Schweinfurt Mission, but absolutely love.

The worst of October, called Black Oktorbar, was the worst. It was a week when the Air Force was called a dark week, and the cost was unthinkable. For the first three days, the departure of the Air Force was thin on 86 bombers. At the time of the war, the B-17 crew was able to survive until the age of 25.

It's just mathematics. You were dead. And 11 sorties. The probability of enduring all the hardships is about 3. This is a pretty bad probability. 73 % of men who flew as a member of the eight no n-gravitive troops died. And this is all the time during the war. At the stage he participated, the sacrifice was over 80 %. And only these costs came out of the dawn and I was interested in me.

And my book is really a question. I kept finding the answer in the book. In such a stress, how do you take an airplane, do what kind of work, and how to stay? And it doesn't stay when it stays. And what is actually happening to them when the men around you or the man with a man do not understand you, how they continue to fly and how they deal with them. Is it?

The battle does not end in 1945. This is a long struggle for young people. As you can see, this is a fight that never ends. Finally, start with "varnish" using Pearl Harbor. Did the firs t-year students studying abroad in Tennessee and Chaatanuga want to go to this battlefield? Go to this battle as a pilot.

Happy Lakadu

Well, from my life 100 years ago, I'm looking at it from the perspective of 100 years ago. In 1943, what I and my friends, who went to Europe as a member of the 8th Waitress Army, are completely different from us today. We were just looking. We were the children of the Hair Mukujara Research Institute. He was so young, innocent, easily hurt, and trusted.

And we believed that their values ​​were at risk. We were attacked by Pearl Harbor. We were witnesses, almost all of them, but a considerable number of people have set up and united the country that we have never seen since then. This also triggered everyone from grandchildren to grandparents to participate in the war.

Everyone immediately adopted a slogan that personally contributed to the war and protected freedom. Like almost all of the same generation, I never talked about my military experiment. I was still a nightmare. No one goes to the war and does not return as a human.

For me, who you are and what your skills are are the same, but the battle itself is not worth it. We have learned nothing from the war. I didn't train, and I would probably never learn. The only thing that boils is to satisfy someone's extreme ego. This is considered to be a prerequisite for war. But we do not confirm anything in the war. The good example is Ukraine. But there are many other examples that are as impressive.

This book, which Dr. Miller mentions, is called his own situation, but this is Kevin's book, and he thinks that he should be documented. There is. However, this has never been documented.

For example, in February 1943, when I graduated from the flight school, I was assigned to the 100th bomber group shortly after graduating from the flight school. During this time, they were stationed in Nebraska, going abroad, and pr e-battle training had already been conducted. We classmates and I had never been on the B-17.

We have completed the secondary training schools, just gained wings, and have just set up their committee. Immediately, we all replaced all the c o-pilot in the group with 100 bombs. Why? The fundamental reason given to us was that we needed it. For example, the United States urgently needed Britain to prevent the UK. < SPAN> And we believed that our values ​​were in danger. We were attacked by Pearl Harbor. We were witnesses, almost all of them, but a considerable number of people have set up and united the country that we have never seen since then. This also triggered everyone from grandchildren to grandparents to participate in the war.

Everyone immediately adopted a slogan that personally contributed to the war and protected freedom. Like almost all of the same generation, I never talked about my military experiment. I was still a nightmare. No one goes to the war and does not return as a human.

For me, who you are and what your skills are are the same, but the battle itself is not worth it. We have learned nothing from the war. I didn't train, and I would probably never learn. The only thing that boils is to satisfy someone's extreme ego. This is considered to be a prerequisite for war. But we do not confirm anything in the war. The good example is Ukraine. But there are many other examples that are as impressive.

Dr. Donald Miller

For example, in February 1943, when I graduated from the flight school, I was assigned to the 100th bomber group shortly after graduating from the flight school. During this time, they were stationed in Nebraska, going abroad, and pr e-battle training had already been conducted. We classmates and I had never been on the B-17.

Happy Lakadu

Everyone immediately adopted a slogan that personally contributed to the war and protected freedom. Like almost all of the same generation, I never talked about my military experiment. I was still a nightmare. No one goes to the war and does not return as a human.

Dr. Donald Miller

This book, which Dr. Miller mentions, is called his own situation, but this is Kevin's book, and he thinks that he should be documented. There is. However, this has never been documented.

Happy Lakadu

We have completed the secondary training schools, just gained wings, and have just set up their committee. Immediately, we all replaced all the c o-pilot in the group with 100 bombs. Why? The fundamental reason given to us was that we needed it. For example, the United States urgently needed Britain to prevent the UK.

But this group was not ready for combat. The 1st pilot was the second company commander of a crew squadron, and the equipment and the crew were completely new to it. So we flew. That was our order. But I wanted to say that this was just one of the things that happened to what became known as the bloody 100th Bomber Group.

For various reasons, out of the 40 people who joined the group, only four completed the tour. The reason the book is called "Damn Lucky" is because that's exactly what happened. It didn't matter if we were good or bad. If we survived, we were incredibly lucky. So I wanted to record it.

Dr. Donald Miller

I was very lucky. Did your motivation change during the war from when you enlisted to when you were in the middle of the events?

Rakada

My motivation was not because, as you pointed out, we were forced to believe that we were serving, that our values ​​and freedoms were at risk, and that our patriotic duty was to answer the call. And we answered it. I spent most of my time today talking to elementary school kids, reminding them that they owe their sacrifices to my generation, otherwise they wouldn't be here like you guys.

Dr. Donald Miller

How do you pick your hands after, say, 12 missions? You've seen so much blood, you've seen so many of your comrades die, you know what the odds are, how bleak they are. Are you sitting in an airplane?

Dr. Donald Miller

Honestly, I don't know. I just know that we faced this extraordinary combination of circumstances. We were in a position of great responsibility. All of a sudden, as I said, we were ordinary citizens, college students, and we were in a great position to defend our country and principles. I was able to personally pull myself together and realize that we just needed to focus on the job and do it.

Happy Lakadu

Dr. Donald Miller

We crew did not know this. We have been rudimentary to approach the day in a giant hill, in a global bandwidth, in a furious cold. This is my memoir. My role in the second ecumenical war is more prominent. On the hill was 50 degrees or 60 degrees below freezing. And as a serious thing, of course, this was our legal work ability, but we were forced to fight in data.

Happy Lakadu

Me109, FW190, Me110, this was a rocket ship. 3 was an ant i-aircraft fire. Their air was quite developed and controlled by radar. The radar has mechanically determined our direction, altitude, wind, and others, and has radiated flame while receiving the support of electronic devices. In fact, German Hitler Jugend was basically all of these for weapons.

And the last thing, of course, the important thing is cold. During a mission, we were about to freeze to death. The beak on my plane was pierced by the direct hitting bullet. The ic e-like air flow hit my legs directly and frozen on the steering pedal. And I pulled out me at the time of landing and gave a good support, so I ignored that my toes did not wither.

I had to get off the plane and send me back to the hospital where I had ice, and they gradually brought them to the normal temperature. By removing the gloves, all fingers could be applied to the finger joints.

Should I say that my fingers have floated on the floor? In fact, these moments are, for example, rapidly mature.

Dr. Donald Miller

And you came across an unrealistic story. Talk about the tail of the tail.

Dr. Donald Miller

Dr. Donald Miller

Please tell us about the experiments on the tail of the plane as two pilots.

Happy Lakadu

This was also an unnatural case, and it was consistently developed without being noticed or recognized, and developing a certain operation procedure. According to it, if his crew was assigned as a flight main crew, the two pilots were replaced by the commander in charge of the whole formation, and the two pilots would fly to deal with the tailgun. 。

I was on hold for the first time, my crew was once assigned, and he flew in several large positions. I was born and never shot this 50 caliber, but here I was isolated to the rear of the aircraft, and I could only communicate with the pilot through an income, but as if in this specific direction, the whole formation behind. It seemed to be a fire control.

To prevent this, you have to change the channel and save the rest of the formation from the threat I reported. The dawn is over. Everything is over. Actually, I did this again. When he landed, I declared that there would be no debt.

You didn't study me as a gunner. I studied this airplane pilot. So you spent this much investment in my training and forced to be in a position that I couldn't adapt at all because I acted innocently.

Dr. Donald Miller

So they returned to the United States as instructors and visit crews. But I survived on the earth

Happy Lakadu

Well, lucky, one of your books and my experience is similar to this. And, in fact, one of the reasons, for example, the normal explanation of the children, for example, as they did, I think that there was a large mass in the cabin. In fact, the crew was well united. But you have a bad crew.

You were a Melviian away from your family, isolated and completely lonely. Why did that happen?

Happy Lacadu < Span> This was also an unnatural case, and it was due to developing a certain operation procedure without being noticed or aware. According to it, if his crew was assigned as a flight main crew, the two pilots were replaced by the commander in charge of the whole formation, and the two pilots would fly to deal with the tailgun. 。

I was on hold for the first time, my crew was once assigned, and he flew in several large positions. I was born and never shot this 50 caliber, but here I was isolated to the rear of the aircraft, and I could only communicate with the pilot through an income, but as if in this specific direction, the whole formation behind. It seemed to be a fire control.

To prevent this, you have to change the channel and save the rest of the formation from the threat I reported. The dawn is over. Everything is over. Actually, I did this again. When he landed, I declared that there would be no debt.

You didn't study me as a gunner. I studied this airplane pilot. So you spent this much investment in my training and forced to be in a position that I couldn't adapt at all because I acted innocently.

So, in effect, I wasn't in the magazine during the mission. I refused to fly again with the tail, and when the crew took over the formation, I had to do so at first. As a result, I couldn't fly to the end: I did 25 missions in 89 days. But I still had four missions.

So they returned to the United States as instructors and visit crews. But I survived on the earth

Dr. Donald Miller

Well, lucky, one of your books and my experience is similar to this. And, in fact, one of the reasons, for example, the normal explanation of the children, for example, as they did, I think that there was a large mass in the cabin. In fact, the crew was well united. But you have a bad crew.

Dr. Donald Miller

Happy Lacadu This is also an unnatural case, and it was due to developing a certain operation procedure without being noticed or recognized. According to it, if his crew was assigned as a flight main crew, the two pilots were replaced by the commander in charge of the whole formation, and the two pilots would fly to deal with the tailgun. 。

Happy Lakadu

To prevent this, you have to change the channel and save the rest of the formation from the threat I reported. The dawn is over. Everything is over. Actually, I did this again. When he landed, I declared that there would be no debt.

You didn't study me as a gunner. I studied this airplane pilot. So you spent this much investment in my training and forced to be in a position that I couldn't adapt at all because I acted innocently.

Dr. Donald Miller

So they returned to the United States as instructors and visit crews. But I survived on the earth

Happy Lakadu

Well, lucky, one of your books and my experience is similar to this. And, in fact, one of the reasons, for example, the normal explanation of the children, for example, as they did, I think that there was a large mass in the cabin. In fact, the crew was well united. But you have a bad crew.

You were a Melviian away from your family, isolated and completely lonely. Why did that happen?

Dr. Donald Miller

As you can assume yourself, when you are fucking fresh, only those who actually graduated from a flying school, some of them, and of course the crews I got to, took that as a strict exception, and they replaced the second pilot. They talked to him, drank with him, played cards with him.

Happy Lakadu

Dr. Donald Miller

I was one of them until I got to Newfoundland. This is a situation you should read about.

Happy Lakadu

I think this is written about in another book, "The Unexpected." And again, original skill. Tell them about LeMay's mission, Curtis LeMay's mission in Berlin.

Lac la cada

Dr. Donald Miller

Happy Lakadu

Dr. Donald Miller

I answered. I have to fly. We carry out this mission and we have planted you because the operational officer decides who should fly for the air squad, in what position, and when you will be in charge of it. is. Your squadron led a group system, and then the Commander of the Air Corps or the operational officer in charge of the strategy became the commander pilot, replacing it with a normal second pilot, and the pilot was at the end.

Happy Lakadu

It was General Curtis Lemay. I thought it was very unusual. He had never attended our briefing. But he was here. And the weighing scholar stood up and said, "You guys are observing very unusual phenomena throughout Europe today. On e-tenth of clouds are observed throughout Europe, and he sits down. General Remay stood up and said that his mission was the most important in his al l-yo u-have history.

But General Arnold threatened him. If he was on an airplane, he would go to trial. So he said. "You are the only group, and this is very important, so it would be successful if only one of the 18 row aircraft would start over the target." I showed my face with the captain of the aircraft on the other side of the room and told me that I knew what my mission was. < SPAN> After landing, the captain came to me. After landing that day, he said: "You are more experience than others, so I will appoint an operating officer." Then I was just a tail wearing a uniform. It was still a lieutenant class. I was promoted to Captain on November 1st. On November 23, I was sitting at the officer club and touched my shoulders. When he turned around, he was the captain.

Dr. Donald Miller

It's this night. He warned me that he should sleep a little because he flies. He said, "No, I want you to take this mission." That was the order. I entered the bed, got up at 330 o'clock and went to the briefing room.

Happy Lakadu

But General Arnold threatened him. If he was on an airplane, he would go to trial. So he said. "You are the only group, and this is very important, so it would be successful if only one of the 18 row aircraft would start over the target." I showed my face with the captain of the aircraft on the other side of the room and told me that I knew what my mission was. After landing, the captain came to me. After landing that day, he said: "You are more experience than others, so I will appoint an operating officer." Then I was just a tail wearing a uniform. It was still a lieutenant class. I was promoted to Captain on November 1st. On November 23, I was sitting at the officer club and touched my shoulders. When he turned around, he was the captain.

I answered. I have to fly. We carry out this mission and we have planted you because the operational officer decides who should fly for the air squad, in what position, and when you will be in charge of it. is. Your squadron led a group system, and then the Commander of the Air Corps or the operational officer in charge of the strategy became the commander pilot, replacing it with a normal second pilot, and the pilot was at the end.

It's this night. He warned me that he should sleep a little because he flies. He said, "No, I want you to take this mission." That was the order. I entered the bed, got up at 330 o'clock and went to the briefing room.

Dr. Donald Miller

But General Arnold threatened him. If he was on an airplane, he would go to trial. So he said. "You are the only group, and this is very important, so it would be successful if only one of the 18 row aircraft would start over the target." I showed my face with the captain of the aircraft on the other side of the room and told me that I knew what my mission was.

Happy Lakadu

In the unlikely event that the plane flew once, it is a victory. The only reason I am here is that this mission was actually interrupted. We took off, raised the altitude, expanded, and was defeated on the enemy's coast. And we were recalled. Why? The clouds spread over the goal and the surprise attack was eradicated.

Suicide act.

Dr. Donald Miller

And this was symbolic due to the fact that all the public affairs of the Imperial Congress were transferred to the crawl opera arena. It would be equivalent to the European Duditra attack. That's right.

Lacadada

I took the squadron aside, and he actually approached my chest, looked from the bottom to the top, and said this. "Yello w-like S. O. B. You know what kind of mission you are, placing me in this space, placing me in this space, and I swore, in fact I return. And when you return, if you meet him, kill him.

And I arranged it. This is an adaptation.

Dr. Donald Miller

By the way, he was a lieutenant. At that time.

Rakura Kada

Dr. Donald Miller

He attended the briefing and fully understood the conditions, and said, "I need a flying captain, but if it is another squad, you will have the opportunity to take this position." is. And I answered, "One minute later in New York."

Dr. Donald Miller

Jeremy Collins

Rakura Kada

Dr. Donald Miller

For example, when males vomit, they are still on base. They have no chance to fly. They don't want to fly. And, perhaps, compare it to how the British treated the data.