Blue Dreams bellied in at Steeple Morden (close to Bassingbourn) right after takeoff one day ... full of bombs and gas.
Earl Williamson, an acquaintance of mine for several years, was a waist gunner with the 91st (35 missions). He was on the first assigned crew of
Hi-Ho Silver, one of the first unpainted 17s to arrive in the UK. Wish I knew him in the days of scanners. His photo album was unbelievable.
On the fateful day, Earl drew a replacement slot on
Blue Dreams. He told me they hit the ground at Steeple Morden and he jumped out of the waist soon as he could and took a step
"every quarter mile" thinking the thing was going to blow any second.
Earl's A-2 jacket (Hi-Ho Silver artwork painted by none other than Tony Starcer), along with about 40 of his pictures are on display at Barksdale AFB's museum. As the then Vice-President of the museum's support association, I made a promise that if he donated his jacket and photos to us, we'd commission a special case just for his stuff. He did, and we did.
Hope it's still there - I left Bossier City for other pastures in 1998.
Wade
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