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Lt. Colonel Hollie Wilkes (retired) and his wife, Exie, of Biloxi, Mississippi, commissioned the artist, Jim Dietz, to paint a picture commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 15th Air Force in WW II. This painting, which shows some of B-24 planes of the 449th Heavy Bomber Group returning after a bombing raid in Italy, is entitled “Maximum Effort”

In the painting, the B-24 named “Paper Doll” is in the foreground with her exhausted crew wearing their orange heat vests and dragging their flight bags. The pilot, Garrison, drags on a cigarette while the other officers are debriefed and queried about what planes where seen shot down with the number and position of the parachutes seen. Only if two men reported the same number would that report become official.

In the foreground a jeep with “449th B.G.” and “15th A.F.” stenciled on the bumper waits to take the men to their quarters while the ground crew surveys the damage done to the number 3 engine. Although Col. Wilkes doesn’t make note of it, his wife, Exie, tells us Hollie is represented as the Crew Chief standing on the wing of the plane with his hands on his hips.

The ground crew must make the repairs through the night so that the plane is ready to go out on a raid the following morning.

On the muddy runway, which was characteristic in Grottaglie, Italy, where skeleton dirigible hangars are in the back ground. A second B-24 , “Reluctant Liz” is taxing into position. The third plane comin in is is "Born to Lose". In the sky are 3 more planes. There is a space between the third and fourth plane representing a missing plane. All the planes in the picture commemorate the seven B-24s which were shot down on April 4th 1944 -- which has become to be known as 4-4-44. Five of those planes were from the 719th squadron.

All the planes represented in the picture were original planes, brought to the Bruning Army Air Field right out of the Ford factory, trained and flown off the Bruning Army Air Field in Nebraska to Italy by the crews.

Lt. Col. Wilkes and his wife, Exie Hutson, whose mother was a McDowell and a native of Hebron, Nebraska have donated a copy of this famous painting to the Thayer County Historical Society Museum in Belvidere, NE. The Wilkes also gave a few extras to be sold to raise money for the $2350.00 State Historical Marker sponsored by the Thayer County Historical Society. The marker is located on highway 4 near the place where the Bruning Army Air Field once stood.

Col. Wilkes has also donated to the Museum copies of the early attempts made by the artist Dietz to capture the mood, story and detail used to immortalize this moment in history. Mr. Wilkes paid Mr. Dietz $10,000.00 for this masterful painting. The original hangs in the Pentagon.

“Reluctant Liz” was so named because the pilot wanted his wife, Liz, to see what it was to go up in a B-24. He persuaded her to go although she was very reluctant to do this as she realized the consequences that would have to be paid by both of them if they were caught.

Dressed in a smaller man’s uniform, Liz waited in the hanger until the guard went to the north end of the field and then ran to the plane hoping no one noticed this soldier was wearing high heels.

Liz had been staying with a farm couple near Bruning , and the farmer’s wife was in her garden when the B-24 zoomed past her and she could see Liz waving to her. The excited farm wife told her husband she had seen Liz in the plane. Her husband said that it just couldn’t be and the farmer’s wife was later told not to report seeing this incident which ”didn’t happen”.

The plane carried the name “Reluctant Liz” because of Liz’s reluctance to ride in it, until it was shot down on 4-4-44 Mr. Wilkes has given the Thayer County Museum in Belvidere, NE a copy of a video tape with Liz recalling this incident in her life.

There were 110 B-24s at Bruning AAF connected with the 449th BG. 62 of the new Consolidated B-24s were flown directly from Bruning to Italy by their crews (a remarkable feat considering the time). This number is sometimes given as 61, but Col. Wilkes insists it is 62 . Lt. Col. (retired) Dick Downey who is the editor of “Late Pass”, the offical paper of the 449th, has this number as 61.

This historian remembers going to the Beetley Salvage yard in Fairbury, NE as a teenager and seeing several wrtecked P-47 along with at least three B-24s that came from the Bruning Army Air Field. Mr. Beetley told us one of the B-24s was flyable but it was an older model. As I recall $60.00 would buy the whole plane. At that time $60 was an enormous sum of money especially when our only source of maney was from selling eggs at 24 cents a dozen.

As the B-24 had always been my favorite plane, I wanted to buy one. The more knowledgeable boys in our class asked me how would I get it home even if I could buy it. Since that time I have wondered how they got the planes to Fairbury. Charlie DeLong, a trucker from Alexandria, NE had a boom truck and was given the job of loading up crashed planes.

The question has been asked why didn’t the army have equipment to do this. Can anyone help give information about this? Bruning was new an ill equipped and used the help of the local people. Perhaps such equipment was not yet available to them. Was there equipment available?

COMMANDING OFFICERS OF 449TH

On the back cover of the 449th book #2 entitled FROM TUCSON TO GROTTAGLIE there are three pictures of the commanders OF the 449th with a few word about each of them:

“All were tough courageous leaders. There was no question who was in the lead ship.

They were of different temperaments:

• Col. Darr Alkire once said “Every time this God damned group goes up on a mission, I’m going to lead it”

• Col. Thomas Gent when faced with a tough target said, “Let’s go get them men!”

• Col. Jack Randolph, under battle conditions, said, “Come and follow me, boys!” Col. Randolph was also called 180 Randolph because after leading the men through flak, he turned around and went back through it again.

It was Col. Darr Alkire who was the Company Commander while the group was at Bruning. There was no question that Col. Alkire was a stern and severe disciplinarian.

One young pilot said that he arrived in Bruning, put his gear in the barracks and went up to see the hangars to check out the facilities. While in a hanger a dark figure loomed out of the darkness and yelled, “Lieutenant. why didn’t you salute me?” “You are not wearing a coat, and have nothing on your uniform to indicate you are a superior officer, Sir” was the young Lieutenant’s answer.

“ I am Col. Alkire, the commander of this group and I don’t need anything on my uniform. Take a look at this FACE and don’t you forget it. Every time you see it, YOU SALUTE!”

Col Alkire also was quoted as saying, "I can get all the God damned Lieutenants I w

Roy Jackson of Minneapolis, MN, a retired Captain of the U.S. Air force wrote:

“Our group commander, Colonel Darr Alkire, joined early in our stay at Bruning. The Colonel had just returned from London where he had been a military observer during the Battle of Britain. He was a fine leader and never failed to impress us that this was “SERIOUS BUSINESS”

In his book entitled "50 MISSION CRUSH", by Lt. Col. Donald R. Currier USAF (retired) written with the help of his wife, Blondie, he has this to say about Col. Alkire:

“The first of October 1943 was an eventful day in my life. First I encountered the toughest guy I had yet to meet. I, along with all the other officers of the 449th who had so far reported in, were assembled in the base theatre that morning for a mandatory formation. On the stage all by himself stood our group commander, Colonel Darr H. Alkire.

He confronted us with a piercing stare and lo and behold , the place fell as silent as a tomb. When he finally spoke, there was no word of welcome or even an introduction. There really wasn’t any need because we Second Lieutenants recognized God wearing those two eagles on his blouse.

When Col. Alkire began to speak, his message was direct and to the point. I guess everyone there assembled still recalls, his words:

"You young punks with that pot metal on your chests think you’re pretty good flyers. Well, you’re not! You know nothing of combat flying, but that’s what I am here to teach you."

Then he got down to business and read us the riot act, scaring the hell out of us in the process. He told us what he expected and how unhappy he would be if he didn’t get it. He itemized a series of fines that would be imposed on any officer who, in any way, screwed up.

The fines depending on the gravity of the sin, could reach $75 which was equal to our monthly flight pay. Father Flannigan’s Boys Town, which was in Nebraska, was to be the recipient.”

This is the attitude most all the men had towards Col. Alkire. That is, all except for Lt. Col. Hollie Wilkes. Hollie tells quite a different story. He, too, met Col. Alkire for the first time in the number three hangar at Bruning.

The two men bonded immediately. Hollie Wilkes was non-commissioned. He was in maintenance. Perhaps it was because he was not a pilot that Darr Alkire felt free to talk to him. And talk they did. They sat on one of the planes and talked for nearly 2 hours upon meeting.

From that moment on, Hollie was Alkire’s confidant. Whenever Col. Alkire bawled the men out, (which was often) he would grin and boast to Hollie afterward about the great job he had done scaring and putting fear into the men. That was his strategy. He wanted the men to be afraid of him more than anything else. He wanted the men to fear him more than the enemy. He wanted his men to obey him and they did.

Bruning, to Hollie Wilkes, was hell They had to learn in just 6 weeks what would normally take 6 months to learn. He remembered going to work one Sunday and not getting to bed until Wednesday without a break from the aircraft maintenance work needed. When he awoke Thursday, his eyes were so swollen he could not open them.

All the tar paper barracks at Bruning had 3 coal burning stoves in them. The draft wasn’t set correctly on one of the coal burning stoves. and Hollies eyes were swollen from the smoke. To work from Sunday to Wednesday also shows what perseverance Hollie Wilkes showed even then. Hollie was given a field commission as soon as they got to Italy. Probably being Alkires best friend also helped. He has done much to preserve the history of the 449th.

Hollie Wilkes remained Col. Darr Alkire’s confidant until Col. Alkire was shot down and became a Prisoner of War. It is said that when Alkire became a prisoner of war, he took over the POW camp, in the same way he took command of everything.

He told the German’s they didn’t know how to run a POW camp and proceeded to run a strict disciplined POW camp for them. The men were given assignments, they were required to do certain jobs, carefully dole out the meger rations methodically and were required to maintain cleanliness as best they could. Once again the men were probably more afraid of Col. Akire than they were of the enemy. Even his captours were afraid of him. Undoubtely life in that POW camp was better than most.

Darr Alkire was later promoted to Brigadier General.

Planes of the 449th H B Group

When the 449th came to Bruning Army Field from Alamogordo, New Mexico, they brought with them four B-24Ds. That is the B-24 Liberator without a nose or ball turret. The B-24Ds remained in Nebraska and this historian believes they ended up in the Beetley Salvage Yard in Fairbury, Nebraska. Can this be verified or denied?

After obtaining the 449th book “TUCSON TO GROTTAGGLIE” we wanted to know just which of these B-24s which made the famous raid on the oil fields of Polesti had been on the Bruning AAF. I wanted to know which were the planes I watched as a teen ager and who was in them.

I posed this question to Lt. Col. Pat Gentry and he made an incomplete list from memory. I believe he corresponded with Lt. Col. Wilkes (retired), the 449th historian and Lt. Col. Dick Downey (retired) who is the editor of the paper put out by the 449th entitled “Late Pass”

We are indebted to these Colonels as they came up with a list of the 61 planes-- B-24Hs, that came to the Bruning Field right out of the Ford factory at Willow Run, and then were flown directly from Bruning to Topeka, KS for P. O. M. (Preparation Overseas Movement) and on to Italy. This flight seems impossible in the days before radar, air refueling, oxygen, etc.

Of these 61 planes, 2 were lost in the trip to Italy and 59 were lost in combat but 7 met with depot repair, overhauled and were reassigned to other bomb groups . Of the two lost in combat one piloted by Capt. Heiro Hays was lost to heavy icing and the other, which was piloted by Col. David Councill, the Squadron commander of The 719th Squadron, hit a mountain in the Atlas Mountains in Africa, killing 14 men. These was the first causalities suffered by the 449th.

Lt. Col Donald Currier USAF (retired) , in his book entitled “50 Mission Crush” describes this trip through the Atlas mountains: “There were only 5 visible checkpoints for reference for 1200 miles. The maps covering the Spanish Sahara were almost blank...The Atlas towered to 14,000 feet and the trick was to negotiate them at 8000. Why? Because we carried no oxygen and humans don’t function too well above 12,000 feet without oxygen.

How were we to get through the mountains? There was a pass used for centuries by camel caravans that wound its way through the jagged peaks to emerge in a lush oasis lined with date palms and guarded by the walled palace of a sultan.

Now, camels could take their time to thread their way through that rocky path, but airplanes must maintain flying speed We flew straight for the mountains at 125 miles and hour...the check point at Tindouf...was impossible to see until you got right on top of it.

At almost the last possible moment, John (Woods, the pilot) shouted, “I got it and he wheeled the “Chopper” (The name of the plane on which Currier was the navigator) into a rather tight left and began to let down. We twisted and turned through the rocky gorge, losing altitude all the way until we saw the greenness of the oasis”

Luke Skywalker or Hans Solo of “Star Wars” couldn’t have done better. It is no wonder that Councill, who tried to negociate the Atlas Mountains in bad weather, crashed.

Names of Planes

Col. Dick Downey printed the list of these planes that were the original planes all stationed at the Bruning Army Air Field in the 449th paper, ”LATE PASS”:

KIA= Killed in Action POW= taken prisoner of war.

Planes of the716th Squadron

”STINKY THE B.T.O.”-- assigned to Harold A. Oien’s crew --3 KIA --7 POW

“THE WISE VIRGIN”-- assigned to Cecil E. Kinord’s crew --bailed out ok

“THE HEAVENLY BODY” -- assigned to Edward V. Drinan’s crew--1 killed

“BLIND DATE” -- assigned to Robert M. Kennelly’s crew -- 4 KIA --6 POW

“PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMA” - assigned to Gilbert F.Bradley’s crew 10 POW

“BRADY’S GANG”-- assigned to Robert N. Brady’s crew -- 2 KIA 8 POW

“GHOST OF OMAR”-- assigned to Carl Browning’s crew-- 10 POW Named after Omar Lounge in K. C. where the 449th spent their last night before going overseas. Said goodby to loved ones

“RAMP TRAMP” -- assigned to Harry W. Moore’s crew -- 2 KIA 6 POW

“MAN STRICKNINE” -- assigned to Gordon Powers crew --overhauled, transferred and assigned to another group. Lasted to the end of war.

“SOPHISTICATED LADY” -- assigned to Robert P. Bird’s crew --downed 15 German fighters; 1 KIA 9 evaded capture

“MISS LEE DING”-- assigned to Vincent K. Isgrigg’s crew --2 KIA 8 evaded--capture

“DEVIL’S HENCHMEN” -- assigned to Marion Messenger’s crew --transferred for major overhaul and given to another group

“SLICK CHICK” -- assigned to Richard F. Roberts’ crew --overhauled and --transferred to another group

“DUMBO”-- assigned to Robert Kapp’s crew --first plane lost in combat --crew ok

SERIAL #7727-NO NAME--assigned to John Forbe’s crew-- All KIA

LANES OF THE 717TH SQUADRON

“MISS BEHAVEN” -- assigned to Harold R. Loughran’s crew--in a 3 plane collision . All KIA . Men of other 2 planes all KIA -making 30 died and 1 POW on April 2 1944

“SUPERSTITIOUS AL-O-WISHUS” -- assigned to John H. Starr‘s crew. One of three plane collision on April 2, 1944. All KIA

“PEERLESS CLIPPER” Assigned to Lawrence Sies’s crew. Named for Peerless Woolen Mills in Chattanooga, TN. Down by flak when two ships “Miss Behavn’ ” and “Superstitious Al-O-Wishus” collided on April 2 1944. 11 KIA. 30 KIA in all.

“THUNDER BAY BABE”-- assigned to Warren Ridgway’s crew. 6 KIA --3 POW

“MIASIS DRAGON”-- assigned to Bryce Gray’s crew. All KIA

“LURCHIN URCHIN” -- assigned to Jacob Kury’s crew. CO Col. Darr Akire was flying it with selected crew men. 3 KIA 8 POW --including Alkire- POW.

”RELUCTANT LIZ”-- asssigned to William C. Bontley ‘s crew. So named when Bontley prusuaded his reluctant wife, Liz , to wear a small uniform and sneaked a ride over the BAAF. 2 KIA 8 POW

“HOLY JOE”-- assigned to Flex Fowler ‘s crew. Ship crashed on take off --but crew survived. “THE TEMPTRESS”-- assigned to Howard Juetter ‘s crew. Engine failed on take off with full bomb load. Bomb load detonated killing all.

“OLD IRONSIDES”-- assigned to Henry McInvale’s crew. Downed in Yugo. All evaded capture.

“CINNSY’S MARGIE”-- assigned to Vernon Samuelson’s crew. Made an emergency landing inTarquin N. Italy. Crew returned to base. Later repaired and assigned to another group.

“CLASSY CHASSY”-- assigned to Albert Geminder ‘s crew. First to fly 50 missions successfully Was to be brought to US but went down on 87th mission. 2 KIA 7 POW I evaded capture. Plane received the most publicity during the war of any B-24/

“DRAGON LADY”-- assigned to John OLSON’s crew. Morton’s crew overshot landing and hit stone wall.

“SHACK HAPPY” -- assigned to Alfred C. Morton’s crew. Downed on Polesti mission. 4 KIA 6 POW

PLANES OF THE 718TH SQ.

“VENI, VIDI, VICI”--assigned to Henry Silver’s crew. 7 KIA --3 POW

“HOT ROCK”--assigned to Steven Petz’s crew. Transferred for over haul and then transferred to another group.

“461”; SERIAL # 42-64461 -- damaged over Vienna RR yard target. with Rouse and Miller pilots. 1 KIA 9 evaded capture.

“HARPERS FERRY” assigned to Paul R. Harper's crew. Sent in for repairs and transferred to another bomb group.

“SINNERS DREAM” assigned to Thomas Chandler crew. 6 KIA 5 POW

“PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMMA” assigned to Dale R. Roger’s crew. 1 KIA 9 POW (spelled with two "M"s on Mamma)

“DAISY MAE” assigned to Harry Carter’s crew. Ground damage when a RAF Beufighter landed and ran into her.

“BIG NOISE FROM KENTUCKY” assigned to Fletcher S. Porter’s crew. Crew bailed out post-Polesti tgt. 1 Pow 9 evaded capture

“730” --assigned to Hayward S. Wheeler ‘s crew. Downed when rammed by ME-109 (Messerschmidt-109) All KIA

““41-20217”--assigned to Ben N. Kendall’s crew. Killed by flak over Udine AB. 9 KIA 1 POW

“SLEEPY TIME GAL” -- assigned to Harold C. Wingfield ‘s crew. 7 KIA --3 POW

“WOODSCHOPPER”-- assigned to John W. Wood’s crew. Completed 50 missions. Crew sent home. Reassigned to Kirkland’s crew Ran out of fuel 4 miles short of base . 3 KIA others survived.

“EVERYBODY’S BABY”-- assigned to Warren A. Stewart’s crew. Ground damage when hit hole and was used for parts.

“YE OLD RUGGED CURSE--assigned to David A. Rasbach’s crew. Damaged after fighter attack. Made emergency landing . Used for salvage. Crew ok.

“WHITE FANG” --assigned to Harold E. Pickard ‘s crew. Named for author Jack London’s dog. Painted with snarling wolf teeth around ship’s nose. Hit when another B-24 dropped bomb on it during a bombing raid. 9 KIA 2 POW

719TH BOMBARDMENT SQD.

“MAUI MAID”-- This was the 449th commander, Col. Darr Akire’s plane named after Maui, the island in Hawaii, his wife’s home. He led the group from Bruning to Italy in this plane. It flew few missions in Italy as it met with a ground accident and was salvaged for parts.

“TWO TON TESSIE” assigned to George T. Fergus’s crew. It was downed over Germany and all bailed out and were taken as Prisoner’s of War.

“GUARDIAN ANGEL” assigned to John C. Woodle’s crew. Damage caused the crew to bail out over Regensburg, Germany and 11 were taken Prisoner.

“DIXIE BELLE” assigned to James C. Grimmer’s crew. Downed at Bucharest on the 4 4 44 mission. 2 KIA 8 POW

“STAR EYES” -- assigned to Elmer C. Meade’s crew. Flew 70 missions. Badly damaged and salvaged for parts.

“BETTY JEAN”-- assigned to William T. Phillip’s crew. Downed over Perugia Airdome. 6 POW 4 evaded capture.

“HASSAN THE ASSASSIN”assigned SheldonJ.Zimmerman’s crew. Bounced off hill in Puerto Rico on trip from Bruning to Italy. Men had to ‘hitch hike’ on to Italy. Later it was repaired and sent to the 459 Th HB group who renamed her “TAMBERLANE”

“PAPER DOLL”--assigned to Richard Garrison’s crew. Is the center plane in the painting “Maximum Effort” downed 4- 4- 44 - 7 KIA 3 POW

“MIGHTY MOUSE”-- assigned to Clarence Frones’s crew. Ditched in Adriatic Sea. 4 POW 6 KIA

“LONESOME”-- assigned to Joseph Geisel’s crew. Made at least 41 successful missions. Sent to repair depot for repair and reassigned to another group. Named because none of crew was married.

“BETTY ANN”-- assigned to William Thieme’s crew. Lost on flight from Bruning to Italy due to heavy icing at night flying. 13 Bailed out ok. Hays chute did not open --KIA

“PATCHES”-- assigned to (Pat) Ralph Gentry’s crew. Co-pilot was Don Lapham who was seriously injured when German rocket hit his leg during flight. Lapham returned home and wrote the first history of 449th. Plane was originally called “Sweet Sue” after the birth of Gentry’s daughter while at Bruning. It was renamed “PATCHES” after 245 di