training base and decided to land there. I did not have much choice. The fog was rolling in so fast every air field in England was covered with fog in a matter of hours. I could not contact the control tower by radio. I turned on my landing lights to indicate my desire to land. They gave me a green light from the tower, and we made the approach to land. I was not sure what would happen to the prop on number one engine when we landed. The prop and engine were smoking badly as we landed. The prop stayed on and did not fall off. The engine did not catch fire. Someone was watching over us. We landed without incident. However, we found out after we got on the ground that some of the aileron counterweights in the left wing had broken loose as a result of the vibration. These counterweights were loose in the wing all of the time we were flying back to base. Lucky for us the controls did not jam about the time we were coming in for a landing. I called our base that was about 50 miles away to let them know where we were and to have them send a truck for us. The fog was so bad they would not let a truck off the base to come after us. That night three 401 st B-17s managed to return to base, the others landed at Lavenham, Knettishall, Woodbridge, Deopham Green, Great Massingham, Bruntingthorpe, Boxtel, and Ridgewell. We landed at one of these, but I do not remember which one. Flying time was 6:55. Bombing was visual and strikes were excellent. We spent Christmas Eve with the Canadians; that was very enjoyable. They treated us very well. We did not have proper uniforms to be in the officers club, but the wing commander came over to us and told us we could go anywhere we pleased. We had a few drinks with the Canadians and Scotchmen and then attended a dance on the base that was open to all ranks. Our base sent a truck for us on Christmas day to take us back to Deenethorpe so we could be ready for our next mission on 28 December. William Charles Urry - POW William was a bombardier in the Air Corps with the 8th Air Force from August 1942 to December 1945. He earned the rank of first lieutenant. On his 7th bombing mission out of England, he was shot down and taken prisoner. He was held in the Stalag prisoner camp until May 15, 1945. He was the recipient of the Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, European Theater Ribbon and two Bronze Service Stars. J. Clair Whiteley We were operating out of Roswell, New Mexico, Air Force Base in the wee hours of a July morning in 1945. I was instructing students in instrument flight in a B-29. Little did I know that I was about to witness an event that would be the prelude to, at worst, the end of the world, or at best, a change in the course of history forever. It was pitch black outside the cockpit, and we were practicing radio range orientation on the southwest leg of the Roswell range. I was suddenly startled by a bright flash, slowly fading into a gigantic ball of fire. It appeared to be in the vicinity of the Sacramento Mountains, about 30 or 40 miles west of our position. The fire continued long enough to suggest a plane crash. I called the tower, told them what I had seen, and that I was proceeding to the site to pinpoint the location for rescue crews if they were needed. The tower operator acknowledged my call. 66 As we flew toward the area of the fire, it was apparent that it was farther away than I had thought, but we continued anyway. A few minutes later the tower operator called me again and told me that he had checked with all the air bases in the area, with the commercial airlines, and with air traffic control, and no one was missing. He suggested I continue my original mission. The fire had faded out by then, so we reversed our course and continued the training period, leaving it to someone else to solve the mystery. About six weeks later, the headlines were screaming about the Enola Gay dropping the "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, and the pending end to the war. The stories told of this awesome new bomb, how it was developed at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and tested at White Sands just west of the Sacramento Mountains. I checked back on my schedule; and when the date and time of my training flight coincided with the news reports of the atom bomb test, my blood ran cold. A few minutes more, and I would have been flying through that cloud with disastrous results. Somewhere there's a former tower operator to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude for a job well done. My regret is that I never told him that face-to-face. Keith C. Wilkinson - KIA Sterling E. Wilkinson - KIA Sterling E. Wilkinson Keith C. Wilkinson Keith and Sterling lost their lives in the service of their country during WWII. Keith C. Wilkinson, a flight officer in the Air Corps, was killed in a plane crash at Okinawa on September 15, 1945. He had received a Purple Heart for his service. His sister, Lorraine W. Burdett shared the letter the family received from the War Department and also a letter from then Governor of Utah, Herbert B. Maw. Sterling Earl Wilkinson was killed in action in New Guinea on February 6, 1944. He was in the Air Corps and had received a Bronze Star, Pacific Theater Medal and North Solomon Islands Carrier Pacific Group ribbon. William Irven Wilson William Irven Wilson served in France and England in the Army Air Corps as staff sergeant. He received Air Force Medals for combat service. He was a tail gunner with the 391st Bomb Group. He was drafted on his 18th birthday. While he was serving, his brother was wounded in Italy. George Albert Wimmer_ George Albert Wimmer enlisted in the Army Air Corps 22 August 1941. He received his basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and his specialized training at Fort Logan, Colorado. He was a technical sergeant when he was discharged on November 8, 1945. He was assigned to the Headquarters Squadron at Randolph Field, Texas. He was an administrative noncommissioned officer. His discharge papers state: "He was chief clerk in charge of the A1 enlisted section at Headquarters Army Air Corps Central Training Command and was responsible for its operation. He wrote all directives pertaining to Air Force enlisted reserve, and was in charge of all correspondence. He supervised six workers, was an accomplished typist, and processed applications for discharge." During his tour of duty he played basketball for Randolph Field in competition with other Air Force bases in a morale building program for the Air Force personnel. He graduated from Weber High School in 1936 and attended Utah State University where he participated in the R.O.T.C. program and played freshman and varsity basketball. He played against Byron Whizzer White who later became United States Supreme Court justice. He graduated from Texas Chiropractic College in 1948 and practiced his profession for many years. He graduated from Weber State College in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology. 67