Tribute to Robert D. Cookson Sr. and B-29er's of the Marianas
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      • Last letter mailed home- __06 March 1945__
      • Last letter found in his belongings after his death-not mailed
  • Uncle Bob youth images
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  • Uncle Bob KIA
  • KIA - The Flight and Collision
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  • Returning Uncle Bob's Remains to the U.S. 1948
  • Z Square 8 CRASH SITE PHOTOS
  • POWs in Hyogo Ken eye-witness accounts, crash of the Z Square 8
  • Visit to Crash Site/Memorial. April 2015
  • Osaka Kempeitai Execution of Nelson and Augunas
  • Aircrews/Missions
  • 500th Bomb Group
  • Z-6 "Draggin' Lady"
  • Z-6 "Booze Hound"
  • Z-7 "Hell's Belle"
  • Z-8 "Mission to Albuquerque"
  • Z-9 "Nina Ross"
  • Z-10 "Punchin' Judy"
  • 1st Incendiary Raid report, Tokyo, 9 March 1945
  • Incendiary Raid Reports, Kobe, 17 March 1945. Z-8 crew lost.
  • Photo Galleries (5 galleries)
  • Unofficial History of the 73rd Wing Book
  • Algy Augunas of Z-8, "Mission to Albuquerque", Radio Operator, POW/Executed
  • Erwin A. Brousek of Z-8 "Mission to Albuquerque", Bombardier
  • Herschel W. Connor of Z-8 "Mission to Albuequerque", Flight Engineer
    • Connor War Diary
  • Robert E. Copeland of Z-8, "Mission to Albuquerque", Pilot/Co-Pilot, KIA
  • George Lucas of Z-8, Crew Chief
  • Richard A. Field of Z-6, "Draggin' Lady", Pilot
  • Richard Dodds of Z-6, of "Draggin' Lady", Pilot-Co/Pilot
  • Douglas F. Bulloch of Z-6, "Draggin' Lady", Left Gunner/Spotter
  • Charles R. Maples of Z-6, "Draggin' Lady", Radio Operator
  • Romeo "Raymond" Rendina of Z-6, "Draggin Lady", Tail Gunner-secondary crew, Engle.
  • Harry Gerson of Z-6, "Booze Hound", Radar Operator-replaced Bob Cookson
  • Francis J. Merrick of Z-6, "Draggin Lady," Navigator
  • Jack L. Heffner of Z-7,and Z-11, "Hell's Belle" and "Holy Joe", Radar Operator
  • Jack Lebid of Z-7, "Hell's Belle", Radio Operator
  • Edwin Lawson of Z-22, "Leading Lady", CFC "Ring" Gunner
  • James R. Farrell of Z-34, "Frisco Nannie", Aircraft Commander
  • Jack V. Arterburn of Z-34, "Frisco Nannie", Flt.Eng.
  • Harold Arbon of Z-36, "Lil Abner," Aircraft Commander
  • Harold Arbon Saipan photo collection
  • Ray "Hap" Halloran of V-27, "Rover Boy Express", Navigator-survived war
  • Billy J. Burgess of E Triangle 27, "Good Deal", CFC Gunner
  • John L. Wright, Circle X 39, "Indiana," CFC Gunner, KIA
  • Nicolas V. Van Ness of Block "O" 15, "Green Hornet", Bombardier
  • Gerald J. Murphy of Aircraft #42-6379, Tail Gunner
  • John R. McNamara Jr., 499th Bomb Group
  • Junichi Ogata of the 56th Sentai, Capt., Fighter pilot
  • Meeting Capt. Ogata's Daughter April 2015
  • Z-8 Scale Tribute Build
  • Tribute Show Car - "Reverence" - Dodge Challenger
  • Misc Mission Reports/Documents of Interest
  • Color Photos on Saipan
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Richard A. Field of "Draggin' Lady"


Richard Andrew Field was born June 13, 1919 in Macon, Missouri.  One of four brothers, he grew up in a number of small rural towns in southern Ohio and Missouri.  His father was the elected prosecuting attorney for Caldwell County, MO and his mother was the daughter of German immigrants who had settled in the area and continued farming as they had in the old country.

Dick spent many of his youthful years as would any small town boy of the time – school, paper routes, and the rare treat of ice cream.  He became fascinated with the prospect of man’s flight and spent many hundreds of hours constructing model
aircraft out of balsa wood.  Some were for static display and some actually flew under rubber band power.
 
After public school, Dick enrolled in Wheaton College near Chicago. During his second year, he had an opportunity to take flight instruction at Northwestern University under a Government program to train civilian pilots, with a likely concern for national defense needs soon to come.
 
Fulfilling his life-long dream of flying, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps with the outbreak of World War II and took primary and advanced flying training in Texas, graduating first in his flying class. Commissioned a second lieutenant, he moved on to training in medium and heavy bombers and was stationed in Florida and the Caribbean, flying B-25's on patrol for German submarines.  
 
Later he was trained to pilot B-29's and arrived on Saipan on November 18, 1944. 
After three missions, he suffered the effects of battle fatigue and was evacuated back to Hawaii and the mainland US.  
  
The circumstances of his departure from the campaign weighed heavily upon him for many years to come, but his love for
flying and those with whom he served did not cease. His ensuing career in aviation included positions in air traffic control,
aerial navigation charting and mapping, and national airways modernization.  In later years, he gave back to his former air crew comrades by serving as an active director of the 73rd Bomb Wing Association.
- Dick Field Jr.
*Note- all images and documents on this page are courtesy of Capt. Richard A. Field's son- Dick Field Jr., unless credited otherwise.

Richard Field upon his appointment as a 2nd Lt following flight training
Richard Field upon his appointment as a 2nd Lt following flight training

Richard A. Field
Capt. Richard A. Field as a small town boy, launching one of the many balsa wood and tissue flying models that he made
From the Chicago Sunday Tribune, front page, Feb 11, 1940
From the Chicago Sunday Tribune, front page, Feb 11, 1940
Capt. Richard A. Field first solo flight
Capt. Field's first solo flight in flying class offered through Wheaton College, IL, where he was a 20-year old student, Spring 1940
Doolittle letter to Capt. Richard A. Field
This letter was sent to college student pilot Richard Field by James H. Doolittle, who later went on to lead the famous B-25 raid on Japan from the USS Hornet, April 18, 1942

 

Picture



Capt. Field had rented a plane in Naperville, IL and flown home to Hamilton, MO for Christmas. 

He is shown with his parents and two of his brothers. 
He ended up taking the plane up eight times, giving flights to family and neighbors

[Unknown Source], July 17, 1941
[Unknown Source], July 17, 1941

Account of a ferrying flight on a B-18, with 2nd Lieutenant Richard Field as co-pilot -
and an unexpected historical twist only discovered 44 years later
Picture
Picture

Richard and Gwen Field
Capt. Field and his wife Gwen. Wedding plans had to be accelerated due to orders to leave for overseas duty

Hurricane Flights as compiled by Capt. Richard A. Field
Hurricane Flights pg.1
Partial record of one of the first scheduled flights by an aircraft into a hurricance, by Capt Field and weather officers on board. Pg.1
Hurricane Flights pg.2
Hurricane Flights Pg.2
Field Family Sons article
Appeared in the Hamilton [MO] Advocate - Hamiltonian, Mar 16, 1944. The Field brothers were representative of many American families at the time who saw more than one son or daughter volunteer to defend their nation

Capt Field and an unidentified fellow flight officer
Capt Field and an unidentified fellow flight officer. (The unidentified officer is believed to be Lt. Dodds-we are awaiting confirmation if possible)

The story of Capt Field's and Lt Dodds' flight in a war weary B-17 under very
adverse weather conditions. A tale of flying by geography in the American heartland
Picture
Picture

Capt. Richard A. Field
Capt. Richard A. Field receiving his Air Medal

50MM guns on B25
B-25 with 75mm cannon and 50 caliber machine guns like the one flown by Capt. Field out of Cuba while on submarine patrol duty in the Atlantic

 

Picture






Capt. Richard A. Field sitting in the pilot's seat of
T Square 54, under restoration at Lowry AFB, CO.  Capt. Field was the 73 Bomb Wing Association Project Director for the restoration project. 

When Lowry was deactivated, the aircraft was relocated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. 

The complete story of this project is found at http://user.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/b29.html


Significant dates in the military flying record of Capt Field
Significant Flying dates of Richard Field pg 1
Pg. 1
Significant Flying dates of Richard Field pg 2
Pg. 2
Significant Flying dates of Richard Field pg 3
Pg.3

Feature article by Jean Gray appearing in the Haxtun-Fleming Herald (Colorado), August 11, 2004. 
(Technical correction:  it was the B-25 that had a cannon that fired out the nose.)
Pg.1
Pg. 1
Pg. 2
Pg. 2

Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Large formation of 63 B-29s flying over Independence, MO. Not sure what the nature of this mission was. Dick Field took it sometime in the late 1940s after the war. If they were B-17s, it could have been a scene in the skies over wartime England. It is a sight which I am sure hasn’t been seen since in peacetime in this country - and doubtful such a formation of bombers of any kind will ever be seen again. (courtesy D. Field)
Picture
Dick Field in the mock up of a B-29 bomb bay at Wright Patterson AFB.
Korean War era, US Air Force museum, WPAFB


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