In this letter John states that he is hauling some Bombs & Flyers up to Fort Benning this is about a 160 mile trip and should take about 3 hours up and 3 hours back.  It was common for soldiers to move between bases during training.  Much of their training was done as predeployment training.  At each new base service members undergo special pre-deployment training before they leave. These pieces of training prepare them for the mission ahead and can have the service members working on new skill sets, and with new teams of soldiers. 

Below is an article from The George C. Marshall Foundation on pre-deployment training for a group of shoulders from Fort Jackson South Carolina.

Citation: The George C. Marshall Foundation. (n.d.). Pre-deployment Training. Category: World War II. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://www.marshallfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/pre_deployment_training.pdf

World War II was a definitive moment in history for aircraft. For both the military and commercial industry it was the heyday of aircraft production. Before the start of the war the U.S. Army Air Corps had only a few hundred air planes. By the end of the war it was the largest Air Force ever assembled with nearly 80,000 airplanes. Aircraft production and technology improved at dramatic rates as America set the world pace for military and civil aviation. More than 100 types of aircraft were used by the Army Air Force (AAF) during World War II.

Citation: “Army Air Forces Aircraft: A Definitive Moment.” Air Force Historical Support Division. Accessed 2023. https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/459025/army-air-forces-aircraft-a-definitive-moment/.

The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).  An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details. 

• Contributing Institution - Piedmont Historical Preservation Society
• Collection Name - Margaret Payne Collection
• Language - English
• Rights - Copyright held by the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society; no reproduction without written consent from the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society.

Notes – Handwritten letter dated [mm, dd, yyyy], [number of pages]. Includes envelope, postmarked [mm, dd, yyyy], [time on stamp], from [insert return address here].

The B-24: The Great Liberator

Why was the B-24 Liberator called the flying coffin?

The four-engine aircraft was notorious among aircrews. Officially designated the "Liberator," the square-shaped B-24 could easily turn into a death trap. It was hard to fly with its stiff and heavy controls, and so earned its name by its crews as the "Flying Coffin." 

Conceived in 1938 by Consolidated Aircraft, a Lockheed Martin legacy company, the original B-24 prototype was designed to fly faster and carry a larger payload than the US Army Air Corps’s B-17 Flying Fortress. In time the B-24 would boast a long, tapered wing atop its fuselage, which allowed impressive long-range cruising capabilities. A B-24 could reach 290 miles per hour and carry a 5,000-pound bomb load for 1,700 miles, giving it a longer range, greater speed, and a bigger payload than its B-17 cousin.

By 1941, B-24s were being shipped to Great Britain, where they were given the name Liberator and adapted for a variety of purposes, including coastal patrol, and protecting critical Atlantic cargo ship convoy crossings. The Liberators’ range proved invaluable in scouting and destroying German U-boats, creating safe passage for Allied transports and destroyers across Europe. They also bombed German oil refineries and attacked critical targets in Italy, changing the tide of the Allies’ Mediterranean campaign.

Citation: Lockheed Martin. (2022, August 12). The B-24: The great liberator. Lockheed Martin News Features. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/b-24.html.