The Search mission

Below are scans of the Search Mission which was carried out after the time of loss for the Pistol Pakin Mamma.  This is another bit of information I obtained from the MACR.  I don't believe there can be any blame cast upon anyone for lack of trying in this situation.  It appears all was done that could be in the era prior to satellites and helicopter rescues.  Sorry for the poor quality of these copies; I've tried to clarify and improve the quality of them.

Fantastic Photographs

Above are photographs I received from Phil Brodziak, nephew and namesake of Philip Brodziak (top gunner on the Pistol Pakin Mamma).  At the beginning of my search into this history I was naive and believed that my great-uncle Bob, being the first-pilot of PPM at the time of their loss, had named the plane and that [it]was the only one he ever flew.  Well, with information provided by the Brabender  and Brodziak families, I was schooled quickly on the subject. As you will see in these photo's, they were taken at various bases/locations.  First and what I assume to be the "original crew" is at Hamilton, Florida, 2-10-1944. Second was taken in Hawaii, 3-1-1944, likely at  Hickam  [air] Field during "gunnery school".  The third, from 5-16-1944, taken in front of the "Come Closer" plane is taken at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. This is the day they got the "Come Closer". In my opinion, this 3rd photo is one of most fascinating.  You will notice that Lt. Davies is missing and he's replaced by Victor Petroff.  First-pilot, Lt. Davies, must have been one hell of a good guy as he was killed on another plane 4-10-1944 over Truk.  According to the Rene Brabender logs: Lt. Davies "went just so he could let the rest of know what to expect when we start our missions". Davies was killed on that mission with "Lt. Larsons crew. The whole plane blew up and there wasn't a chance of anyone getting out".  Also, from the Brabender logs I gain that Victor Petroff was assigned to the crew on 5-5-1944.
Another interesting point about "Come Closer" is that she had at least 3 crews in her time and according to the book "Log of the Liberators" she'd flown at least 91 missions and was a contender in the 30th bomb group to be one of the first to obtain 100 missions.  Gee, things may have been different for us if they'd stayed on that plane?; it's all history now.  The topper of all toppers is that I now own this book which I inherited from my Grandfather Dempster (Robert's brother).  It [Log/Liberators] clearly mentions the "Come Closer" and never in my life did I ever hear mention of this plane.  I highly doubt that my grandfather ever even knew his brother flew on this plane.  More photo's can be found of Come Closer at this link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/319369@N20/pool/with/4477778926/  This link is also listed to the right of this page as Liberator and Privateer fan club.

Enjoy,

Brant

Hero's forged by fire



In your day to day life do you  experience stress?  Maybe you had a near miss during your commute to work; maybe a business project isn't going well  or possibly your profession does require you to be in a life threatening situation daily?  If you're alive and reading this then I know that you've experienced or can relate to, at least once in your life, a gut wrenching, muscle tensing, high adrenalin situation where you've questioned the survival of you or others.  It's amazing that we survive as long we do!  It's our small, insignificant experiences of high stress moments in life that give us a basis, a foundation to feel, in a vicarious way, what someone else must have been feeling during a harrowing, life threatening moment.  These are the reasons we feel emotion when we read a story; the feelings that bring a tear to one's eye.   Below is a copy of a story I obtained from the "Missing Air Crew Reports (MACR)"  the US government has on microfilm.  This truly is an amazing story of survival.  I'm sure that many, many air crews experienced this or worse;  "Our guys" ultimately did.  This story was released to the papers for print and may possibly been printed in the New York Times. I know for a fact that this story was recalled in the book "One Damed Island After Another, The Saga of the 7th".  The existence of this book was brought to my attention by Phil Brodziak, nephew of Philip Brodziak,  top gunner of the Pistol Pakin Mamma.  The book is quite expensive but I will own it some day  (I own it now. $50.00 at Amazon for a good used copy. Fantastic book!).  It is my personal feeling that the photograph of the whole crew in front of the PPM was taken just after this "fruit juice" occurrence.  My reasoning for this is:  there are 11 men in the picture and I think Sgt. Temple is the man who is peeking over a shoulder and only showing his face.  Another reason is: I assume the tank with the hose (bottom center) in the photo is actually some type of hydraulic system purge pump or hydraulic filling pump; why else make it the center of a photograph? (also: Philip Brodziak is painting the 54th mission bomb. I've been able to count the missions by comparing photo's of the Mamma.  So, I believe the story is incorrect by stating "a veteran of 55 missions")  Read on and appreciate.  I've done the best I can do identifying the crew in the photo.  Most I'm sure of, with help of labeled photo's from the Brodziak family, but some I'm not.  If I'm incorrect, please let me know so I can correct any errors.

One note: Benjamin Cook (co-pilot) was not on board the PPM at the time of loss (9-11-44), William Chambers was co-pilot at that time; I'm not certain why at this moment.

Also,  If you click on the text and photo's they should enlarge for better viewing.

To start I'll name the men in this photo that I'm reasonably sure of:

Rene Brabender, standing, right elbow against prop.

Philip Brodziak, standing, painting bomb on fuselage

Robert Dempster, Jr., kneeling w/"pith helmet"

George Thompson, kneeling, right of R. Dempster, left of frame

Richard M. Smith, standing, right hand on right knee, "crush hat"

Warren Leland, sitting, right of frame, right arm to "tank"

Robert McGee, sitting, right of frame, by ladder

John Robb, standing, right arm against fuselage

Martin Sisko,? standing, head in front of painted bombs, left of frame

Benjamin Cook,? standing, holding gallon can, wearing shorts, sleeveless shirt

Bernard Temple,? face only, over [Cook's?] shoulder

A B-24 is lost but not forgotten

The first post to this blog is a tribute video I made some time ago in honor of the crew and crew's of all B-24 Liberators with the nose art theme/name: "Pistol Packin Mama".  There were many variations of  artwork and spelling of the name as you will see in the video.  As I understand the story, Al Dexter and his Troopers wrote and played the popular song Pistol Packin Mama in the early 1940's.  This catchy little tune celebrating honky tonk debauchery inspired the artist Alberto Vargas to paint the infamous Pistol Packin Mama; a popular pin up girl for the troops at war during that time.  Here is an excellent link to a site listing some B-24's, B-17's and other types of aircraft of the era named Pistol Pakin Mama:  http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/theme-pistolpackin.htm
When you view the link above, you may notice that the nice gentleman who owns the site was gracious enough to supply a link to the PPM tribute video.

I sincerely hope that this blog is well received by the families of the Pistol Pakin' Mamma.

Cheers,

Brant Dempster, grand-nephew of  Robert A. Dempster, Jr., Pilot of the Pistol Pakin' Mamma