Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry served in the Eighth Air Force as a B-17 pilot. He flew for 30 combat missions in Europe. Landry interrupted his college education after a semester to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Landry was inspired to join the armed forces in honor of his brother Robert. Robert Landry had enlisted in the Army Air Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. While ferrying a B-17 over to England, Robert Landrys plane had gone down over the North Atlantic, close to Iceland. It was several weeks before the Army was able to officially declare Robert Landry dead. He began his basic training at Sheppard Field near Wichita Falls, Texas (now Sheppard AFB), and his pre-flight training at Kelly Field (now Kelly Field Annex), located near San Antonio, Texas. Landrys first experience as a bomber was a tough one. A few minutes after takeoff, Landry realized that the pilot seemed to be working furiously, and it was then that Landry had realized that the planes engine had died. Despite this experience, Landry was committed to flying. At the age of nineteen, Landry was transferred to Sioux City, Iowa, where he trained as a co-pilot for flying a B-17. In 1944, Landry got his orders, and from Sioux City he went to Liverpool, England, where he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, 493rd Squadron in Ipswich. Landry earned his wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant at Lubbock Army Air Field, and was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group at RAF Debach, England, as a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber co-pilot in the 860th Bombardment Squadron. From November 1944 to April 1945. He completed a combat tour of 30 missions, and survived a crash landing in Belgium after his bomber ran out of fuel. The 493rd Bomb Group was the last group to become operational in the 8th Air Force. Its first mission was on June 6, 1944 to Liseux, France; its last mission was on April 20, 1945 to Nauen, Germany. Combat missions totaled about 160. The first 50 missions were in B-24s; the final 110 were in B-17s.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 12:41:54 +0000
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