78th Fighter Group
78th Fighter Group
Personal pictures, stories and web "links" submitted by 78th Fighter Group veterans, family and friends.
_2nd Lt. Donald R. Roberts, 82nd Fighter Squadron, 4-6-44 to 4-13-44
2nd Lt. Donald Roberts with his classmates at the P-47 Advanced Gunnery School in Florida. Lt. Roberts is in the center of the front row. ( Picture Source : Dale Roberts )
2nd Lt. Roberts joined the 82nd Fighter Squadron on April 6, 1944. A week later, he was flying a Ramrod(bomber escort) mission to Germany, when it was reported that Lt. Roberts was "attacked from the rear by a FW190 and last seen going into clouds with his plane smoking." Wounded, Lt. Roberts bailed out close to a German town and was immediately captured. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in Stalag Luft III( made famous in the movie "the Great Escape" ). His aircraft was a P-47D, MX-H, s/n 42-76074. After the war, Donald settled in Ithaca, Michigan and joined a close friend(also a prisoner in Stalag Luft III) in the crop dusting business flying both Stearmans and the first commercial helicopter, the Bell 47.
( permission to post these pictures and information was provided by Donald Roberts via his son Dale Roberts )
"The Roberts' Flying Legacy" - Don Robert's son, Dale standing by his E-1B "Tracer" on the deck of the USS Kearsarge in the Gulf of Tonkin, 1967. ( Picture Source: Dale Roberts )
To contact Donald Roberts , please email Dale Roberts. Your inquiry will be forwarded.
Thanks... to all that have contributed to these pages on behalf of the 78th Fighter Group Family!
This page was last revised on 1 / 9 / 02
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