Following recent government announcements the museum is currently closed, there is plenty to explore in our online archive.
The American Air Museum is a charity - Find out how you can support us
Military
Major Willis D. Locke of Kingston, NY, pilot and commanding officer of the Mosquito squadron is shown demonstrating the powerful photo flash bomb used by the 8th Air Force, 325th Recon Wing, fliers on daring night photo missions over Europe. Pictured are L-R: 1Lt Robert P Walker, 1Lt William G Miskho, M/Sgt James M Tennille Jr and Major Locke. NARA Ref 342-FH-3A14260-60213AC.
On 1 Mar 1945 he flew a low-level flight to Berlin to parachute two OSS agents. The mission was flown on a moonlit night at fence-top level all the way. The zigzag course, followed rivers and other features. It was successful.
Postwar: Bob made the USAF a career and flew C-54 transport aircraft in the Berlin Airlift and across the Pacific Ocean during the Korean War. After graduating from test pilots school at Edwards AFB, he became a USAF acceptance pilot for the Douglas B-66 program and test flew aircraft off the production line.
During the Vietnam War he flew RB-66C Destroyers from Thailand, and on 25 February 1966, a SAM missile struck his aircraft near Vinh, North Vietnam. He managed to fly the crippled jet to the Gulf of Tonkin where crew members ejected. A navy helicopter from the aircraft-carrier USS Ranger rescued five of the six members from the sea.
He retired a Lt. Col, then flew civil passenger aircraft until retiring a second time. Having served his country in three wars, he passed away 7 January 2010 and is buried in Texas.
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 25th Bomb Group
Assigned to 653BS, 25BG, 8AF USAAF. On 1-Mar-45 he was on a successful low-level flight to Berlin to parachute two OSS agents. The mission was flown on a moonlit night at fence-top level all the way. The zigzag course, followed rivers and other...
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
...
Group
The 25th Bombardment Group (Reconnaissance) was constituted in the days after D-Day and activated in England in August 1944 to carry out photographic and mapping missions over mainland Europe as the Allied armies pushed east. The Group were designated...
Squadron
Military site : airfield
Built in 1939 as a medium bomber station with a grass airfield, Watton was occupied by the RAF until handed over to the Eighth Air Force in mid-1943. Improved initially with a single steel mat runway in 1943, plus 41 loop and 12 pan hardstandings, a...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lived in | Austin, TX, USA | 1941 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 26 November 2018 10:41:56 | Emily | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Moved information added by user Wattonman |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 25 November 2018 03:46:50 | Wattonman | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Norman Malayney, "The 25th Bomb Group (Rcn) in WWII", Schiffer Publisher Ltd. 2011. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 25 November 2018 03:17:55 | Wattonman | Changes to nickname |
| Sources | ||
Norman Malayney, "The 25th Bomb Group (Rcn) in WWII", Schiffer Publisher Ltd. 2011. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 14 August 2017 12:57:06 | Al_Skiff | Changes to middlename, highest rank, events, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Key Image ID. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:22:55 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Aerial Intelligence of the 8th Air Force, pg 14, 30 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia |
||
