skywag
BE300 CE500 DA-50 LR-JET
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
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Out of respect for Colonel Bill Hicks I have started this new thread. I had the honor of reporting to him when he ran and I flew for the Bon Marche, a NW regional Dept store chain of 41 stores that later sold out to Macy's.
Charley inquired about the "rescue B-17" in the ditching thread. In WWll Col. Hicks flew a rescue B-17. He was based somewhere near the Mediterranean in Italy. The bomber was outfitted with life rafts that would be dropped upwind of a ditched allied aircraft. On either side of the life raft were ropes attached to rockets that fired the ropes some distance off to either side. The raft would drift back to the downed crew, they would grab the ropes as they floated by.
In the 1970's Bill Hicks had a reunion with his WWll crew. I was somehow invited and took my video camera. I have a couple of hours of video of their recollections. They had not seen one another since the war ended.
Col. Hicks went on to fly Skyraiders in Korea and AC-47D gunships "Puff TMD" in Vietnam.
http://youtu.be/uKOrpyO0z48
Charley inquired about the "rescue B-17" in the ditching thread. In WWll Col. Hicks flew a rescue B-17. He was based somewhere near the Mediterranean in Italy. The bomber was outfitted with life rafts that would be dropped upwind of a ditched allied aircraft. On either side of the life raft were ropes attached to rockets that fired the ropes some distance off to either side. The raft would drift back to the downed crew, they would grab the ropes as they floated by.
In the 1970's Bill Hicks had a reunion with his WWll crew. I was somehow invited and took my video camera. I have a couple of hours of video of their recollections. They had not seen one another since the war ended.
Col. Hicks went on to fly Skyraiders in Korea and AC-47D gunships "Puff TMD" in Vietnam.
http://youtu.be/uKOrpyO0z48
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