Warbird Information Exchange

Long time lurker, first time poster here on WIX. My background is vintage radio and electronics, but I have a great interest in aviation, especially warbirds from the WWII era. I have a decent sized library of War Department manuals and WWII documents/literature that I have found over the years, including many aircraft manuals. I find this vintage literature fascinating, and try to preserve these old documents whenever I can.

While doing some traveling/shopping last weekend, I came across a stack of old books and papers on a counter and immediately noticed a B-24 flight manual. After some negotiation, I was able to bring it all home. Jackpot! It was a large pile of documents and manuals that belonged to an Officer in the Air Corps during WWII. I have probably 10 pounds of paperwork here.

The officers name was Gerald E. Apple, and I think that he was a B-24 Pilot. So far I have not located any information about him, and if he is deceased or living. The only serial number that I can find is for a B-24G model, s/n 42-78276. I was able to find one photo online that states this aircraft was named "American Maid".



A few of the documents that I have scanned are below, followed by a few pictures showing some of the manuals and documents that I was able to acquire last weekend. For the record, nothing is for sale and this will all be added to my personal collection. Can anyone dig up any information about this particular B-24? How should I go about finding information on the pilot? I've tried several resources online without success.





One of many individual flight records for this guy.



Some smaller pics of a fer misc books from this lot.









Mr. Apple was quite the artist too! Below is one of his many illustrations that mark the pages of these manuals.

Right after writing this post, I was able to find a little more info about this pilot.

https://www.usarmyregistry.org/registry ... eID=414382

APPLE, Gerald E. Capt. US Army Air Corps Pilot, Paoli High School Class of 1937, Completed 50 missions. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Apple. He also earned the "Distinguished Flying Cross". Paoli, Indiana is only about an hour from where I found all of this paperwork for sale.

His class picture from 1937 (lower right corner).

Jeremy,
Welcome to the nuthouse!!! Great first post and I can see you will become an important player to several of our fellow members with the constant requests for technical assistance especially with radio, radar, and nav equipment that always turn up.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The only thing shown on Joe Baughers's website states:

"to RFC at Altus, October 3, 1945"

Great find!

My copy of the record card is poor at best, can’t read a lot of the dates, but here’s the gist:

B-24G-10
Built by North America Aviation, Dallas, Texas
Accepted 3/20/44
to Tucson (modification center)
to Tulsa
to Topeka
to Morrison Field, Fla. (jumping off point for A/C going overseas on southern Atlantic route)
May 1, 1944 to 15th Air Force, Bari, Italy (code: OHAM)
10/17 to 11/28 some type of repair depot in Italy
Returned to U.S. at Hunter Field, Ga.
to Ypsalanti/Willow Run (4032 Base Unit -- lots of returning Europe and Mediterranean aircraft stored here)
to 4124 Base Unit, Altus, Okla. (receiving unit at storage depot)
to Reconstruction Finance Corp. (surplus)

Best,
Nick

His records indicate 451st BG - 724th BS.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=ps ... 80&bih=895

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45-47=-2

Thanks for the help so far! You guys can dig up some amazing info, that is something that has always impressed me about this place.

I will continue to do research myself about this veteran and this B-24, perhaps try to locate living family members. They might have some pictures or other interesting things that I can scan and share on here.

Maybe the "Apple" doesn't fall far from the tree?
http://www.zabasearch.com/people/garold ... /722710541

Other Apples,
http://www.zabasearch.com/people/gerald+apple/in/

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45-47=-2

Hi,

I'm trying to contact the original poster, Jeremy S. I would appreciate it if you could send me a PM.

Thank you,
Stephen Apple

Hi Jeremy,

Could you please send me a message? Gerald Apple is my grandfather.

Thank you

Greetings Stephen, welcome. I also sent Jeremy a PM. He's a good man. He'll show up soon so stick around, we'll find him for you

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45+47=Psalm 92:6

Awesome! Thank you! I was trying to stalk him politely

PM Sent!

I'm not around the PC much during the summer months.

Thanks Jeremy! I was hoping to reply to your PM, but I guess I am too recent of a member here, and the site won't let me send a PM. In any case, would you mind PMing me your email so I can contact you that way?

EDIT: ok, now it will let me. I guess there is a minimum number of posts required before you get PM privileges. I'll send you a PM.

Just an FYI to people here: My grandfather, Gerald E Apple, passed away yesterday morning at age 94. He was a true hero to all of the Apple family, and not just for his experiences as a B-24 pilot in WWII. I'm trying to contact Jeremy S to see if he has any scans he can send me from the collection he acquired, but my PM functionality seems to be disabled. Hopefully someone here can contact him.