56th FG, 61 Squadron P-47 Pilots Logbook!

[the330thbg]

not sure where to post this.,. but I just made the connection between a man I went to school with as a youngster who's father was Lt. General Donovan Smith. His claim to fame was 5.5 kills with the 56th FG flying P-47's over the ETO. Shot down 3 ME-110's on one mission. His son just sent me a .exe of his fathers log-book that shows each and every mission, escort, ground attack etc., with dates and times.., an historian's wet dream! His P-47 was 'Ole Cock' and 'Ole Cock III'.., airfix makes a model kit.., how cool to have a model kit of the exact aircraft your father flew?

Anyway.., sorry to bother anyone but the 56th FG's Wolfpack were famous in the ETO.., if you think it is worth posting a link to the ftp where the .exe is of the log book.., I will do so.

Many thanks,

Smisek

[Holedigger]

I would think this the perfect place to post, and YES I think people would be interested in a link to it! Especially if it has already been translated from chicken scratching! Actually, most logs were fairly readable, just a lot of abbreviations that are hard to comprehend without a cheatsheet!

[Alexandre Jay]

Excellent, that does sound very interesting!

[the330thbg]

ftp.petersmithphoto.com/Stephen%20Smisek/Pilot%20Log%20-%20Copy.exe
You can either execute it from the site.., or save it on your desktop.

Let me know what you think of the logbook! it is really cool!!!!!

[mustangdriver]

I love reading this kind of stuff.

[the330thbg]

he earned the nickname 'Dieppe Don' because he was on a mission over Dieppe and his flight was jumped by vastly superior FW-190 pilots and he was the only one to make it back!

[shepsair]

Oh c**p

I am an Apple man so cannot read .exe files?!!!!

Can it be converted to PDF or Excel?

regards

Mark

[the330thbg]

yeah boys.., sorry, forgot about the MAC thingy!!! It is an .exe file you will be downloading..,and it will not work for me at home.., works at the office though.,. I am having Pete.., Donovan's son, create it for US MAC USERS!!!!!!

[Holedigger]

I do ALL my web surfing on the Mac, only connect the PC to the Web to do the updates(Patch-again and again) and then disconnect. Too much evil out there that like to play with Mr Bill's Wonderful Windows!

[the330thbg]

Anyone get the log-book .exe to work for them?

Remarkable flyng history here!!!!

[lmritger]

Friggin' OUTSTANDING, thank you SO much for this!!! Personal favorite so far:

10/1/44, P-47D-26, HV-S: "X-C (Cross Country) to pick up jacket. Boxted-Shipdon, Polbrook, Pod. 2.00 hours."

To pick up a jacket? Seriously? My first thought was, "darn, that's better than FedEx"... although I don't have a 2000 HP P-47 at my personal disposal to go pick up stuff around the country.

Lynn

[the330thbg]

I did not see that one.., that is TOO funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The clerk on the other end of the line....'yes.., your jacket is ready to be picked up.. sure., but we close in an hour....,well.., ok.., yup I understand.., big silver plane.., looks like it could never fly.., loud as all get out.., I will keep an eye out for you!"

LOL

[the330thbg]

http://www.56thfightergroup.co.uk/donav ... index.html

Fantastic photos in these albums.

Thought you all would enjoy.

[the330thbg]

Cool news!

The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo is inducting this gentlemen into their aviation hall of fame.

The ceremony is on May 19, 2012!

Very cool!

[The Inspector]

I love seeing the stuff that fills in gaps and cracks which can lead to that other piece of info you know about and pretty soon, you have another story that may have gone untold.
Still lotsa holes to fill in and cracks to be plastered and Tempus Fugit