r/u_USAAFoverPOLAND

The local community funded and maintain the memorial dedicated to this crew:

https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=2728&MemID=3583

You will find more about American planes named after movies and songs in this story on Substack:

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka/p/in-the-air-and-on-the-air-part-1

The Part 2 of this story (including the “I’ll be Seeing You”) is coming to my Substack on next Saturday, May 16th.

Photo: Joseph Cotten and Ginger Rogers in an ''I'll Be Seeing You'' (1944) press photo. Source: wikipedia

This is one of the most famous WWII photos, and it is virtually unknown it was taken over Blechhammer, which is today in Poland. Borders were moved in 1945, and Blechhammer became Kedzierzyn-Kozle.

The below link is to the story I wrote about this photo. It describes what it meant and how it was like to fly through German flak. It is a tribute to 15th Air Force crew which flew missions in WWII.

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka/p/the-true-story-behind-a-famous-photo?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

Seeing the Blechhammer North and South the way the B-17 and B-24 crews saw them is easier than you think.

If you are flying from the west to Krakow, Poland - with a bit of luck - you can see the Blechhammer complexes about 20-25 minutes before landing. If you are flying from Krakow towards west, keep your eyes open same time after take-off. Appreciate there is no flak there today.

You can find some Blechhammer stories on my Substack:

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka