2nd LT Brad Armour, USAAF
Image:458bg.com
Charles Bradley (“Brad”) Armour was born on 05 March 1917 in Worcester, MA. He left high school after his third year. This was not uncommon during the 1920s and 30s. Many times,young adults had to leave their education behind for paying jobs that would augment his/her collective family income. Times were tough.
Brad registered for the draft in 1940. At that time,he lived in Worcester and worked for Dennison Manufacturing at their Paper Box Factory in Marlboro, MA. He married his wife Josephine (1915-1967) in 1940. She also worked at the box factory as a clerk. Later that same year,they could be found living on Gordon Street in Framingham.
Brad enlisted in the Army on 02 November 1942. In 1943,he was selected for and sent to flight training,received his wings and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (2nd LT). His first duty station was the Royal Air Force (RAF) Airfield (Horsham St. Faith) near Norwich, England. Brad was assigned to the 754th Bomb Squadron of the 458th Bomb Group. He flew B-24 Liberator aircraft.
B-24 Liberator
Image: Public Domain
More than 18,000 Liberators were manufactured during WWII. This Heavy Bomber was powered by 4 Pratt Whitney engines,had a crew of 10,a maximum bomb load of 8,000 pounds,a maximum range of almost 2,900 miles and carried 11,.50 caliber machine guns for self-defense.
754th Bomb Squadron Emblem
Image: Public Domain
Between 06 June and 28 June 1944,Brad and his crew flew 13 combat missions, including a 06 June mission in support of the D-Day Invasion. Most of these flights lasted between 4.5 and 8 hours. For these missions,Brad was awarded three Air Medals.
“Armour Crew”
Back Row: John Fullerton–Navigator, Don Blodgett–Co-Pilot, Charles Armour–Pilot,John Beddow–Navigator
Front Row: Jerome Brill–Radio Operator, Frank Peichoto–Ball Turret Gunner, Billy Joe Davis–Waist Gunner, William Owens–Nose Turret Gunner, Carry Rawls–Top Turret Gunner/Engineer, Everett Allen–Tail Gunner
Image: Mark Owens
Armour Crew and the B-24 “Shoo Shoo Baby”
Image: 458bg.com
At 0600 on Thursday, 29 June 1944,Brad and his men departed England en route to the German aircraft factory located in Aschersleben,Germany. They were to bomb the facility from 22,000 feet. They were flying in the B-24 nicknamed “Shoo Shoo Baby.”
Horsham St. Faith Airfield, 27 May 1944,
Image: USAAF Photography
Shortly after bomb release,the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft artillery fire (“Flak”). The plane’s ailerons (flight control surfaces) and all four engines were damaged. It quickly lost altitude. One of the engines was completely inoperable,flight control cables were damaged, the oxygen system was destroyed,the radio was out and the fuel tanks in the wings were punctured. The plane was losing a considerable amount of fuel. Thankfully,only one crew member was injured. The waist gunner was hit in the head by a piece of shrapnel. The plane dropped out of formation and headed back to England. Eventually,with two engines inoperable and almost out of fuel,Brad ordered his crew to bail out. Six men parachuted from the plane over the Netherlands. Armour and three other men stayed with the plane,hoping to make it to a part of recently liberated France. This was not to be. The remaining four,including Brad, bailed out northwest of Antwerp,Belgium. The plane crashed into a farmhouse and burned (unfortunately,killing the three occupants).
Of the ten crew members,four evaded capture with the help of the Dutch Resistance and Belgian citizens,and six were taken as Prisoners of War (POW) by the Germans. Of the six,three were quickly captured and three were eventually taken by the Gestapo after being betrayed by Belgian collaborators. They were incarcerated in Luft Stalag IV in Pomerania (now part of Poland).
Brad and Don Blodgett,his co-pilot,landed near the Netherlands-Belgium border and were quickly whisked away from danger by the locals. Both men then went into hiding with support from the Dutch Resistance and Belgian citizens. They were moved several times during a period of ten weeks. Brad’s first hiding place was a hospital. He left the facility as a "deaf-mute tailor named Albert De Clerck" (with a new ID to say so). On 05 September,the Belgian village in which they were hiding was liberated by British troops.
“Albert De Clerck” aka Brad Armour
Brad, a Belgian in hiding, and the family of Mr. Octaaf De Boever (Langeveld, Belgium)
Images: 458bg.com
Brad arrived in England on 12 September and was back in the US in November. He celebrated Christmas of 1944 with his wife in his home on Waushakum Street in Framingham. Brad received a Purple Heart for damage done to his foot during the crash of the “Shoo Shoo Baby.” All ten crew members would return to the US.
Captain Brad Armour's next assignment was with the Fifth Ferrying Group at Love Field in Texas. The 5th was disbanded at the war's end in 1945.
Brad would eventually settle in Lima,Ohio where he would own a machinery,equipment and supplies business known as Klay Supply Company. He passed away at 73. He was survived by his second wife,Mabel and his four children.
Purple Heart Air Medal (3 Awards)
The 458th Bombardment Group website (458bg.com) provides an excellent recap of the post-shoot down trials and tribulations of Brad and his crew. The cruel treatment of the six men who bailed out first from the “Shoo Shoo Baby” is most noteworthy. Their experiences as German POWs were, at times, inhumane. The recap is based on crew member interviews following their liberation.
Of note: “Shoo Shoo Baby” was the name of a hit song performed by the Andrews sisters in a 1943 movie titled “Three Cheers for the Boys.”
Sources
The 458th Bombardment Group (www.458bg.com)
The Army Air Corps Library and Museum (armyaircorpsmusem.org)
The Framingham History Center
The Library of Congress
The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force
The National WWII Museum
The US Air Force
The US Army Center of Military History
The US National Archives
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