Joe Gill's Logbook

Page One of Air Cadet Joe Gill's Logbook.

My father stopped by Saturday afternoon with a copy of Joe Gill's flight log from World War II.  I wrote about Joe's visit to the Carolinas Aviation Museum earlier this month in a post titled:  63 Missions.  The original log is kept in a safe deposit box, but Mr. Gill graciously provides a copy for those who are interested.  It was a fascinating read!

Dorr Field, Arcadia, Florida.

November 25, 1942

Started Primary Flight Training in PT-17 Stearman biplanes at Dorr Field in Southwest Florida.

December 14, 1942

First solo!  Total Flight Time:  9:41.

January 19, 1943

Primary Flight Training complete.  Total Flight Time:  60 hours.

Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainers.

March 29, 1943

Completed Basic Flight Training in the Vultee BT-13 at Shaw Field in Sumter, South Carolina.  Total Flight Time:  136:25.

May 22, 1943

First flight in a Curtiss P-40.

North American T-6 Texan.  Photo by Eddie Price.

May 27, 1943

Completed Advanced Flight Training in the North American T-6 Texan at Spence Field, Georgia.  Total Flight Time:  214 hours.

Bell P-39 Airacobra.

June 21, 1943

First flight in a Bell P-39 Airacobra at Venice, Florida.  Joe logged 126 hours in the P-39.

Curtiss P-40.

December 29, 1943

Flying P-40s out of Punta Gorda, in Southwest Florida.

Understatement!

April 26, 1944

While still based at Punta Gorda, Florida, Joe had to bail out of his P-40 when the engine caught fire near Mayo, Florida.

June 14, 1944

First flight in the North American P-51 Mustang at Key Field in Meridian, Mississippi.

August 8, 1944

Last flight stateside prior to European deployment.  Total Flight Time:  662 hours.

North American F-6 D.

September 8, 1944

Three months after D-Day, Joe was in Versailles, France flying a North American F-6D, the photo reconnaissance version of the P-51D Mustang.  Eight days later he was in Charleroi, Belgium.

September 16, 1944

First Combat Reconnaissance Mission in the F-6D.

Still understating. . .

Joe flew sixty-two combat reconnaissance missions while stationed in Belgium; most were out of Charleroi.  Six months later he was flying in Germany.

March 29, 1945

First mission from German soil, Gemund, Germany.

Final entries from Germany.

May 10, 1945

Final Combat Reconnaissance Mission (82nd), Eschwege, Germany.  (I see I short changed Joe by 19 missions in my first post.)

May 19, 1945

Last flight in the F-6D, Eschwege, Germany.

Current map of Germany, Eschwege marked.

Joe finished the war with 849:28 in his logbook.  The first entry was on November 25, 1942.  The last entry was on May 19, 1945.  Thirty months, total.  In addition to the airplanes already listed, he logged time in a Cessna UC-78 Bobcat, and a Douglass A-24 Banshee.  I had to look that one up---the A-24 is the Army Air Force version of the SBD Dauntless dive bomber.  Joe flew the Banshee at Punta Gorda, two days after his P-40 bail-out.  He logged four additional hours, in a Piper Cub, after the war.  His last flight as a pilot was in 1946.

1st Lt. Joe Gill, February 27, 2013, Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte, NC.