F4U Corsair of VF-24 in flight with a P-38 and P-51D during an impromptu battle formation on a surveillance patrol over the Japanse Alps Honshu, Japan.(rudeerude)

Surveillance patrol

"The Vulgar Virgin", likely photographed at Benina, Libya, 1943, was a Consolidated B-24D Liberator (B-24D-20-CO s/n 41-24198) of the USAAF’s 98th Bomb Group "Pyramiders", 344th Bomb Squadron. Until September 1943 the "Pyramiders" were under the 9th Air Force and after this date were under command of the 12th Air Force. Beginning on 1 November 1943 the “Pyramiders” came under newly-established 15th Air Force and moved to Southern Italy. But “The Vulgar Virgin” and its crew never viewed this events because was one of the aircraft lost in the low level raid to Ploesti on 1 August 1943. This day 47 Liberator took off from a raid against the Ploesti’s oil refineries in Rumania: only 21 returned safely. “The Vulgar Virgin”, flying as the lead aircraft in the "E" Section of the 98th's formation, took a direct hit in the nose section by flak over the target and burst into flames. The pilot pulled out of formation and ordered bail out. It is believed they were still too low for the chutes to open and only one man of the four who got out survived. This the crew’s fate: Capt. Wallace C. Taylor, Pilot (POW), F/O Paul W. Packer, CoPilot (KIA), 1st Lt. Jack K. Wood, Navigator (KIA), 1st Lt. Robert N. Austin, Bombardier (KIA), T/Sgt. Gerald E. Rabb, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner (KIA), T/Sgt. Alfred F. Turgeon, Radio Operator/Left Waist Gunner (KIA), S/Sgt. Ralph M. Robbins, Gunner/Asst. Eng. (KIA), S/Sgt. Louis Kaiser, Right Waist Gunner (KIA), S/Sgt. Donald H. Duchene, Tail Gunner (KIA), Sgt. Arthur B. Van Kleek, Tunnel Gunner (KIA). Victor Sierra

"The Vulgar Virgin": a tragic fate

 Famed aviator Charles A. Lindbergh (right) with Maj. Thomas McGuire (left)during the summer of 1944, Lindbergh visited the Southwest Pacific Theater and helped develop economical flight techniques to extend the range of P-38 fighters.
 Lindbergh was interested in finding out how other types of fighters functioned and so he obtained clearance to do some observing with the Army Air Corps in New Guinea. There he got acquainted with the Lockheed P-38 and again soon found himself accepted as just another Technical Representative, who also was a top pilot. With the Air Corps, he found another way to be useful. After one of his first missions in New Guinea, mechanics checking planes discovered that Lindbergh had more fuel left than the pilot of any other ship in the squadron.
 This happened regularly. When this information sifted up through to the high command, Lindbergh moved, at General MacArthur’s request, from group to group instructing in fuel conservation and illustrating his lectures by flying with the squadrons.
 His work was credited with lengthening the range and tremendously increasing the usefulness of the P-38 for long-range bombing escorts. His efforts enabled P-38 fighters to shoot down a Japanese bomber that was carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Altogether he spent six months in the Pacific, made fifty combat missions, put in 178 combat hours, and returned to Connecticut with complete reports on fighter planes, their performance, and their problems. 