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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Thomas O'Connor

Jim O?€™Connor wanted to be a military aviator. His dream was almost derailed when Army doctors determined that he was medically ineligible to fly due to residual scarring from multiple ear infections as a child. He nonetheless enlisted in the Army as what he termed a ?€?26 dollar-a-month man?€?, working a civilian job at the Western Electric plant in Kearny, NJ, awaiting his call up. During that time, he paid for his own flying lessons in a Piper Cub at Staten Island Airport.

As the US became more deeply involved in the war after Pearl Harbor, pilots were needed and in September 1942 Jim was sent to pre-flight school at Maxwell Field, AL in the US Army Air Corps. He received his first flight training in the Stearman PT-17 at Jackson, TN. After two months he moved to Gunter Field, Alabama, where he attended 5 weeks of basic flying school and flew the Vultee BT-13. From there he went on to advanced flying school at Blytheville, AK, where he learned to fly twin engine aircraft - the Curtis AT-9, the Beachcraft AT-10, and the North American AT-6. During this initial 240 hours in flight, he and every one of his fellow aviation cadets desperately hoped to be fighter pilots. Jim was ultimately selected as one of just 20 pilots for special assignment to train as P-38 fighter pilots.

But the Army needed bomber pilots. After earning his wings, Jim and the other fighter pilots in his class were sent in April 1943 to Blythe Field, CA. Upon arrival, they learned for the first time that they were to become 4-engine bomber pilots, where Jim trained as a co-pilot in the Boing B-17. Jim was subsequently sent from Blythe to Clovis, NM and then Pueblo, CO, where he was introduced to another bomber, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, as first pilot. Jim objected to the transfer from the B-17 group to the B-24, not based of the plane, but because he had to leave the crew with whom he had trained. In the B-24, he was now the pilot. From May 1943 through October, he and his new crew conducted extended cross-country flying, formation maneuvers, and practice bomb runs in the B-24.

With a total of over 600 hours of flight training ?€“ Jim often said that the American airmen were extremely well prepared - Jim and his crew embarked on their combat assignment in Europe. On October 29, 1943, Jim and his crew began the transport from Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, FL to Bungay England where they would serve as part of the Eighth Air Force, 20th Combat Bombardment Wing, 446th Bomber Group (with the Group tail code being a ?€?Circle-H?€?), 704th Bomb Squadron (known as ?€?The Vultures?€?). To get to Bungay, they flew via the ?€?southern route?€? landing in Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico; Waller Field, Trinidad; Belem, Brazil; Ascension Island; Liberia; Dakar; and Marrakech, French West Africa. They arrived at Flixton Airfield at Royal Air Force Base Bungay on November 15, 1943, where the aviators who were stationed there became known as the ?€?Bungay Buckaroos?€?.

Having turned 23 years of age less than a month earlier, Jim took on the responsibility of a crew of 10 men under the most difficult and frightening conditions. Jim kept a meticulous pilot log, which reveals details about their destination cities, the specific military targets, the count and type of bombs dropped, weather conditions, flight elevation, encounters with flak and/or enemy fighters, and the duration of each flight. Among other duties, he and his crew flew 16 combat missions out of Bungay to targets in Europe. Jim flew as the second lead plane in the formation. Their first combat mission was on December 16, 1943. On that day his log reveals that they attacked the harbor and shipyards at Bremen, Germany, where they dropped eight (8) 500 lb bombs and 16 incendiary bombs. They flew at 22,000 feet and the duration of the mission was 7:45 hr.

According to Jim?€™s pilot log, combat missions were flown at elevations between 20,000 to 25,000 feet. Temperatures typically ranged at somewhere around minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (or colder), and the conditions were exacerbated by wind from the large waist gun openings that never closed. At that altitude, the crew had to wear oxygen masks (which often iced up), gloves, headgear, and electrically heated flight suits ?€“ all in very cramped spaces. Frostbite was a constant risk.

Returning from their first combat mission, as happened occasionally, Jim?€™s plane was forced to make an emergency landing at an airfield in England short of their home base. To his surprise, he and his crew were greeted by Jimmy Stewart, whom Jim described as a very amiable fellow. They were invited by the famed actor and Army Air Corps bomber pilot to join a meager pre-Christmas dinner with the 445th Bomb Group. Jim and his crew returned their B-24 from Seething Airfield to Bungay two days later, after repairs, having enjoyed their momentary brush with a legend.

Other targets in subsequent missions from Bungay included: 12/30 Ludwigshafen, Germany (aircraft factory); 12/31 Cognac, France (airdrome); 1/4 Kiel, Germany (submarine pens); 1/11 Braunschweig, Germany (aircraft factory); 1/28 Yvrench, France (robot bomb installation ?€“ a/k/a V-1 Flying Bomb); 2/4 Frankfurt, Germany (aircraft factory and shipyards); 2/6 Siracourt, France (V-1 robot bomb installation) 2/8 Gotha, Germany (no bombs - weather over target); 2/10 Gilze-Rijen, Holland (fighter airdrome); 2/13 Ailly, France (V-1 robot bomb works); 2/20 Gotha, Germany (aircraft factory); 2/22 Arnhem, Holland/Germany (fighter-bomber airfield); 2/26 Nurmburg, Germany (aircraft factory); 2/28 Grand-Parc, France (V-1 robot installations on coast); 3/1 Berlin, Germany (aircraft factory).

In March 1944, having completed 16 of their required 25 combat missions out of England, Jim and his crew were assigned to the 15th Air Force, 449th Bomb Group flying out of Grottaglie, Italy. It was common practice for the Army to select one experienced crew from an 8th Air Force squadron in England to help lead a squadron in the 9th Air force in Italy. Their 24 missions from Grottaglia, between March 24th and May 25th, included bombing runs to Steyr, Germany (aircraft factory); Mestre, Italy (m/y in city); Sofia, Bulgaria (factories in city); Bucarest, Romania (aircraft factory); Budapest, Hungary (m/y in city); Orbetello, Italy (harbor installations and shipping); Toulon, France (submarine pens and harbor installations); Wiener-Neustadt, Germany (Messerschmitt Bf109 aircraft factory); LaSpezia, Italy (oil stores and harbor installations); Giulia Nova, Italy (railroad bridge); Grotta-Ferate, Italy (German troop concentrations); Porto Margherra (oil refinery near Venice).

Two days after D-Day, on June 8, 1944, after completing a combined total of 40 combat missions and gaining the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, Jim and his crew departed Grottaglia, Italy and returned to the US via the same southern route - in reverse. They arrived in Homestead, FL on June 30th. Jim soon returned to Jersey City, NJ and on July 16th married his sweetheart Jane, whom he had met while working at the Western Electric plant. Typical of the bond formed by bomber crews during their combat missions in Europe, several of the crew members were groomsmen at Jim and Jane?€™s wedding just a little over two weeks after returning from combat.

From August 1944 through October 1946, Jim flew primarily out of Langley Field, VA as an instructor. There he piloted the B-24, as well as the North American AT-6, Beachcraft AT-11, North American B-25, and Beachcraft C-45. His assignments at Langley included investigating military aircraft accidents. After completing his tour of active duty, Jim stayed on in the Army reserve.

As a reservist, Jim was called back in December 1951 to engage in the Korean conflict. There he piloted the Boing B-29, training initially at Randolph AFB, TX and Lake Charles, LA. His uniform color changed from green to blue as he served as a pilot in the USAF. On June 30, 1952, Jim flew his first combat mission out of Niigata AFB, Yokota, Japan. He flew a total of 24 combat missions in Korea with the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Wing. Targets included Pyongyang (supply area); Suino hydroelectric plant on Yalu; a railroad bridge; and a munitions factory. Several missions involved dropping only leaflets in Hamhung, Hungnan, Korea. He was awarded the Korean Service Medal. At the age of 31, his experience in Korea was much different and less harrowing than in WWII Europe. The B-29 had a pressurized cabin and, of course, there was no Luftwaffe. Jim flew his last combat mission in Korea on December 9, 1952, and returned home to Travis AFB, CA in March 1953.

While maintaining his reserve status, Jim had initially returned to civilian life at the age of 27, becoming a Patrolman in the Jersey City Police Department on November 1, 1947. After his tour in Korea, he returned to the JCPD. He graduated with a BA in Police Science from Seton Hall University in 1958. He earned a law degree from St. John?€™s University School of Law in 1962. Following a clerkship and admission to the New Jersey Bar in May 1966, he was appointed to serve as a municipal prosecutor in Jersey City. Jim retired from the USAF reserve on April 10, 1971 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant Detective from the Jersey City Police Department/Law Department on December 4, 1980.

Jim had an extraordinary Irish tenor voice, which he shared as a key member of his church choir. He sang the National Anthem at mayoral inaugurations in Jersey City and graciously sang at many other public and private events ?€“ weddings and funerals ?€“ and often at social gatherings at the insistence of those present.

Like many of his generation, Jim never spoke much about his military experience in WWII. After retirement, he became affiliated with the 446 Bomb Group Association, where he ultimately became the Secretary of that organization. Reunions took Jim and Jane to many airfields and museums around the US. He would have very much enjoyed the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Later in life Jim and Jane sometimes flew ?€?space available?€? to air bases in Germany ?€“ once on a C-5, sitting above tanks and military transports - from where they toured European cities.

Despite his many experiences and accomplishments, Jim was a humble and gentle man. In those few moments where he did offer a glimpse of his WWII experience, he expressed how grateful (and lucky) he was to have survived all those missions, while he knew so many good men who had not.

Jim?€™s time in the US military served as a benchmark against which to measure perceived moments of hardship and times of joy in later years. He died in 1997 at the age of 76 having lived a very full and meaningful life. Ultimately, achieving his dream of becoming a military aviator was a linchpin of Jim O?€™Connor?€™s later achievements and his indomitable spirit.

On August 11, 2006, at the County Airport near Jane?€™s home in Cape May, NJ, a dozen members of Jim?€™s family ?€“ Jane, children, and grandchildren ?€“ experienced flight on a restored B-24 Liberator, Witchcraft, maintained by the Collins Foundation. In two groups, the O?€™Connor family experienced takeoff and landing, and about 20 minutes of noisy, windy, shaky flight as the B-24 circled the NJ coastal community at an altitude of only about 1,000 ft. with open waist gun ports. Witchcraft was one of only two airworthy B-24?€™s. Jim?€™s name is inscribed on the side of that aircraft, as it is now at the Wall of Fame at the National Air and Space Museum.

Sources:
Senior Pilot Log of James F. O?€™Connor (flight records from 9/14/42 ?€“ 3/12/53)
Interview by Randy Riotto, September 9, 1997, Monmouth Beach, NJ (2 hr. audio recording)
Target Maps of German facilities in European cities
Maxwell Field Alabama, Headquarters S.E.A.A.F. Training Center Manual
Jackson Tennessee, Southeast Army Air Forces Training Center Cadet Directory
Gunter Field Alabama, Army Air Forces Basic Flying School Directory
Blytheville Army Airfield, Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center Directory
History of the 446th Bomb Group, by Edward H. Castens, 1946, rev. 1988 and 2003
446th Bomb Group Revisited, Castens, 446 BG(H) Association
American Air Museum of Britain ?€“ https://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/108266
Collins Foundation - https://www.collingsfoundation.org/
Notes, letters, and military records preserved by Jane C. O?€™Connor
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal
Korean Service Medal

*Most of the information provided in this bio is taken directly from Jim O?€™Connor?€™s original Senior Pilot Log, which still has been maintained remarkably good condition. Jim and Jane also preserved mission target maps, survival kit (including a silk map of Europe, currency and Army-issued survival booklets providing translation and cultural tips), and of course photos. Many details and impressions are taken from the two-hour taped interview conducted by Randy Riotto just a few days before Jim died from complications associated with heart failure on September 26, 1997.