Oral History Interview with H. James Avery, April 11, 2001

Transcript of an oral interview with James Avery. Mr Avery was a junior at the University of Illinois when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He signed up with the Army Air Corps since they would let him finish his degree before they would take him. However, the Army Air Corps was not able to honor its commitment since they needed pilots badly. In March 1943, they called him up and sent him to Lackland Air Base for the preflight program. From there, Avery went to Fort Stockton where he learned to fly in a Fairchild PT-19 and then to Goodfellow Field in San Angelo to learn to fly a BT-13. After two months of basic training, he went to Reese Air Base in Lubbock to train in the AT-17 and got his wings there in January 1944. Avery wanted to fly the B-26 and he got his wish; reporting first to Del Rio and then to Barksdale Field where he got his crew assigned. There were six of them in the crew. After about three months at Barksdale, they went to Savannah, Georgia to pick up a brand new airplane. However, they had to wait six weeks for their ship; Martin Company was behind in building the B-26s. They were there on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and felt badly that they weren't over there to help after hearing about the terrible loss of lives at Omaha Beach. They didn't get delivery of their plane until October 1944. Next was their hop to Europe via South America and Africa among other places; eventually landing at Newquay, Wales after almost two weeks of flying. Avery stated that this trip is one of his most cherished memories. They were assigned to the Ninth Air Force, 323rd Bomb Group, 454th Bomb Squadron in Leon, France; this was mid-November 1944. He flew his first mission as a co-pilot. Their missions were against bridges, ammo dumps, supply trains and yards; anything to deter the enemy's capability to move. Avery provides a good general description of the missions they flew including the flak they encountered. He flew 44 missions in all and was discharged in October 1945