Henry Andrew Skubik

Military
media-24333.jpeg UPL 24333 1st Lt Henry A. Skubik

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Object Number - UPL 24333 - 1st Lt Henry A. Skubik

Enlisted into the US Army, tested and was accepted as a cadet, qualified as a pilot and officer in 1944. Flew 13 combat sorties on "Bedroom Eyes" until that a/c was damaged beyond repair. Henry then became the aircraft commander of "Black widow" for another 12 sorties. He was shot down over Cologne Germany as an Instructor Pilot checking out a new crew for combat. After becoming a POW he evaded interrogation, escaped captivity, was recaptured, and eventually liberated. He survived the war, and became the first of three generations of professional pilots all of the same family name. Henry stayed in the Air Force after the war as a reservist and was involved heavily in air traffic control.



T/O Nuthampstead in B-17G #43-38129 in 28sept44, target Madgeburg, GE. Landed in Brussels (reason unknown) , a/c salvaged. Crew of 9 RTD.



Herald Tribune Article dated March 3, 2016

By Henry Skubik, as told to Abby Weingarten



New Yorker Henry Skubik enlisted in the Army Air Corps in October 1942 and became a B-17 pilot during World War II. He served with the 601st bomb squadron, 398th bomb group of the 8th Air Force and was stationed in Nuthampstead, England. Skubik completed 27½ bombing raids over Eastern Europe, was downed twice, and was a prisoner of war for three months. Now 92 and a widower to his wife, Katherine, of 66 years, Skubik lives in Englewood. A Purple Heart recipient and a former regional director for the Federal Aviation Administration, Skubik is the last surviving member of his “Bedroom Eyes” B-17 crew.



Henry Skubik was a B-17 bomber pilot during World War II. He flew 27 1/2 missions and was shot down twice and served three months as a POW.

‘My B-17 was hit by flak outside of Cologne, Germany, in January 1945. It caught fire in the engines and was downed over enemy territory. I tried to maneuver the plane to put out the fire in engine No. 1 but the entire wing went up in flames and I commanded the crew to bail out.

I put on my parachute, clipped the last strap and disconnected the oxygen. I started to lose consciousness and ejected at 25,000 feet. The wind caught my parachute and I was propelled across a frozen pond, hit my head on a rock and was knocked out. When I came to, two German soldiers were standing over me.

They marched me into the town we had just finished bombing and made me kneel down before one of the German officers. They told me to say a prayer as the officer drew his Luger pistol and held it to my head. As I prayed what I thought would be my last prayer, he returned the pistol to his holster and spared my life.

I was taken to the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft XIII-D in Nuremberg, Germany, where I was fingerprinted, photographed and interrogated. I refused to give any information beyond my name, rank and serial number. The Germans knew all about me though, I found out. They knew where I was born and all the details of the military training I’d received.

I spent five days in solitary confinement, being interrogated. One time, they asked me if I had seen German fighter planes. I said, ‘Oh, you have fighter planes, too? I’ve yet to see one.’ I probably shouldn’t have been being a wise guy. They gave me a swift crack to the ear for that.

On March 29, 1945, I was reported MIA. I was marched 120 miles to another P.O.W. camp along with 10,000 other prisoners. As a prisoner of war, I lost 25 pounds in three months. On April 29, 1945, the American tanks liberated us. When I saw the American flag, the word elated doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. In a way, you were proud that your guys were there but, more importantly, you knew you were going to get out of there.

The one souvenir I have from that time is a special ring I earned when I graduated from Officer Candidate School; it was the one thing the Germans didn’t take from me. The Germans who imprisoned me were in the Luftwaffe so they treated the Air Force a little differently. It was a code of honor thing that they let me keep the ring.

Over the course of life, little problems have come up and I would always look at this ring and it would always come back to me that, ‘This ... was when times were tough.'’











Later was Prisoner of War (POW).

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 398th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 398th Bomb Group 601st Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Bedroom Eyes

Places

  • Site type: Prisoner of war camp
  • Known as: Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12
  • Site type: Prisoner of war camp
  • Known as: Stalag 7a, Moosburg

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

New York, New York 13 May 1923 BornNew York, New York

Prisoner of war

Prisoner of War (POW)

Stalag VIIa Moosburg, Austria 20 January 1945 - 29 April 1945 Prisoner of War (POW)Stalag XIIIb, Weiden and later Stalag VIIa, Moosburg

Died

Englewood, Florida 3 January 2018 DiedEnglewood, Florida

Buried

Calverton National Cemetery Calverton, New York 6 January 2018 InterredCalverton National CemeteryCalverton, New York

Revisions

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ContributorAl_Skiff
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Updated on March 18 2017 by his grandson a Lieutenant in the USAF

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Henry A. Skubik

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Sarasota Herald Tribune, Form 53-98

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Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 2016

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Certificate of Service,

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Part of Marias' crew, 601st Squadron.

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Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 11797 / MACR 11797; Losses of 8thAf, VOL.4 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Henry Andrew Skubik: Gallery (2 items)