BRIGADIER
GENERAL J. KEMP MCLAUGHLIN
On his first ever mission as a co pilot in October 1942 he brought home a
heavily damaged and burning B17 from a mission over France, with a four
foot hole in one wing. A year later went on to pilot the mission command
plane with the 92nd Bomb Group, leading the second raid against
Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history and soon after was
participating in the bombing of heavy water installations in Norway. On
one particularly long flight his B17 ran out of fuel, crash-landing in
Ireland with four generals on board, including the Commander of American
Forces in the European Theatre of Operations and in 1944 he was air
commander on a raid during the Battle of the Bulge when shrapnel pierced
his seat missing him by inches. General McLaughlin remains one of the most
prominent pilots in the Eight Air Force during WWII.
CAPTAIN ROBERT SHOENS
As the pilot of the famous B17 Our Gal Sal he flew with the 351st Bomb
Squadron in the 100th Bomb Group. On March 6th 1944 he took part in the
first daylight mission to bomb Berlin, the day, the Eighth Air Force lost
69 bombers. His entire squadron was completely wiped out and he and his
crew were the only B17 from the unit to make it back to Thorpe Abbotts.
LT. COLONEL ROBERT KLEYLA
As the original Bombardier on the B-17 “JACK THE RIPPER” with the
324th Bomb Squadron, he was one of the original members of the famous 91st
Bomb Group (the Memphis Belle’s unit) based at Bassingbourne. After
flying some of the Eighth Air Force’s very first missions of the war he
and his crew returned to the United States to help develop tactics and
improve American bomber operations from England.
LT. COLONEL RALPH NUTTER
Serving with the 305th Bomb Group at Chelveston on B-17’s, he was
General Curtis Lemay’s personal Navigator and also Group Navigator for
the 305th. After serving with distinction in the European Theatre he moved
to the Pacific with General Lemay and General Heywood Hansell flying many
operations on B29’s.
