14th Air Force

Missions Outreaches Amid the Battles Chaplain Mengel lead his men to participate in outreach to the wartorn and impoverished Chinese countryside. These photos from Chaplain Mengel's private collection, show him he and the men visiting mission schools, interacting with the children and teachers, and assisting blind children's homes. The US airmen also gave out collected donations to help bombed out...

Chaplain Dwayne H. Mengel conducts a temporary military burial in Yunnan, China. The 308th took heavy casualties, and one of the Chaplain's duties included burying recovered bodies in local graves until they could be repatriated after the war.

(Above: A "Flying Tigers" Reunion: Chaplain Mengel is pictured second from the right in this postwar reunion photo.) LT. COLONEL WW 2, CBI THEATRE Chaplain Dwayne Halley Mengel "Flying Tiger," 308th Bomb Group, 14th Air Force Chaplain Dwayne H. Mengel was a native of Gibsonburg, Ohio. He received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Ohio Northern University, and Master of...

Lt John R. Herdic 1st Lt John R. Herdic (2nd from right) in front of a B-25 at Yangkai (Yangjie) airbase. Lt Herdic was KIA at Duong Dao, Indochina while bombing a railroad bridge on January 19, 1945. See the story about Lt Herdic here.

1st Lt John R. Herdic (2nd from right) in front of a B-25 at Yangkai (Yangjie) airbase. 1st Lt John R. Herdic was born in 1921 in Williamsport, PA, where he grew up. He was attending college when WWII broke out and signed up for the Army Air Force in early 1942. He was sent to navigator school in Texas...

This very tired and very worn B-24D bomber is probably at the airfield at Luliang, China. It has been modified, with nose, dorsal, ventral and tail gun turrets removed and those positions capped, similar to a C-87 Liberator Express or C-109 tanker version which had 6 additional fuel tanks carrying 2,400 gallons of fuel. This is believed to be serial...

Our project purchased a collection of images and a large number of unknown negatives from a dealer who had found them at an auction, and was uncertain what they contained. In the end there were over 500 images from the CBI, most in China, many in Yunnan province, probably at the Luliang air base and some at Chanyi (Zhanyi), a...

B-24 bomber #42-73317 was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a night mission to strike Japanese shipping. The crew were: 1st Lt Donald G. Richardson, Pilot 1st Lt Frank L. Munson, CoPilot 1st Lt James P. ‘Jim\' Gilbert, Navigator 1st Lt Linus J. Austin, Bombardier TSgt Cecil L. Olson, Radio...

B-24 bomber #42-73317 was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a night mission to strike Japanese shipping. The crew were: 1st Lt Donald G. Richardson, Pilot 1st Lt Frank L. Munson, CoPilot 1st Lt James P. ‘Jim' Gilbert, Navigator 1st Lt Linus J. Austin, Bombardier TSgt Cecil L. Olson, Radio...

Page 1 (of 5) for MACR 5156 for B-24 bomber #42-73317, which was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a night mission to strike Japanese shipping. The crew were: 1st Lt Donald G. Richardson, Pilot 1st Lt Frank L. Munson, CoPilot 1st Lt James P. ‘Jim' Gilbert, Navigator 1st Lt...