Capt. James Bradshaw and his P-38, "Gaitor Bait" Click on the photo to read a letter home that he wrote 07 Feb. '44.

� "Somehow, we found ourselves in the office of Commanding Officer Capt. Carl Jackson. We were at full attention with our right hands up in rigid salute. Lake a cadet commandant, Jackson finally looked up at us in complete distain, and returned our salutes. We remained racked up in stiff attention while a scalding and frightening lecture was delivered.

� "Angrily, we were told that the 79th. had lost half the squadron the day before, including the Deputy Grp. CO, Lt. Col. Montgomery; that he had been on the phone since the mission return, all night and all morning trying to answer the questions of everyone from 8th. AF Headquarters to the lowest Wing weenie; and that the 20th. had been "stood down" from combat indefinitely, for reorganization.

� "In the meantime, we were told, we were to get all the practice time possible, to learn all we could about the P-38 and its systems, ad we were assigned crew chiefs for work and to the base maintenance group.

� "We were deeply jolted by being told not to expect to survive this thing, but if we did survive the first three to five missions there might be a slight hope for us. We were also told that, if we felt we couldn't fly formation and/or were afraid to die.....just quit now. Leaving formation would not be tolerated, and Jackson would personally shoot us down if we went off chasing some German by ourselves. "Now," he growled, "get out of my office and wait or further instructions."

� "Still frozen at attention, we saluted, about-faced and marched out into the pilot's room. There stood on of the few survivors of the original 79th.FS. Actually, only three would survive to complete their combat tour.

� "James Bradshaw had probably come to see Doc Roberts for a nose spray since we were on stand-down. Upon hearing what we were going through, he had waited to bager us some more. He gave us a big grin and said he had heard that "stay loose" speech. "Brad" introduced himself and since we were loaded with questions he couldn't have gotten away if he wanted to. He also made us feel welcome and that he was happy to see us.

This man, within the next 30 minutes, impressed us, first with his sense of humor, and then with the calm collected view he had of what we felt was total chaos. To the twelve of us, here was a God and we were involved in a miracle. This faith would never be derogated

� "Brad wasn't much to look at, for three months of combat and one meal a day had taken a toll, (that is the vomit and cigarette for breakfast and only a poor dinner meat, until Ed Steiner set up his after-mission Spam-Grill.) He would have a hard time breaking 120 pounds on a scale and had the giveaway of combat pilots, the appearance of having used clorox to shave with along with a "racoon mask." This was caused by no sunshine reaching those areas of the face covered by an oxygen mask while the area around the eyes was left unprotected and got the Sun's full force at altitude. Anyway, it gave the appearance of someone with a terrible medical problem. It was startling to see.

Convincingly, our thousand questions were answered and we regained our enthusiasm. Capt. Jackson's tirade was put on a level we could understand.

� "Brad reinforced us with the fact we were flying the best aiplane in the world, and just to learn to fly it. The P-38 would out turn, out climb and was faster than anything the Luftwaffe had. He leveled that we had many things to be aware of, like that we were the first long range fighters in the theater, with the exception of the 354th.FG, the new pioneer Mustang group which was having as many teething problems as he P-38 outfits were having. He cheered us with the hope for two new P-38 outfits about to come operational and that a new P-51 unit had flown their first combat mission the day before - the 357th.FG.

� "Remember,' Brad told us, 'that the Germans invented air combat thirty years ago, and they still hold the patent... yet daily they challenge us to take it from them. We have been sticking our nose into their homeland which they have been viciously defending with a ten to one advantage. Besides a numerical advantage over their territory, they could roll over and get away from the P-38 any time they chose and, if shot down, they could bail out, get into another airplane and come right back up.'

On August 5, 1944 Capt. Bradshaw, Capt. Baldwin and Capt. Heiden (l. to r.) were the first men
in the 79th.FS to complete the 300-hour combat tour.

� "The number one reason we are here is to get the bombers to the target and back. Picture this, one P-38 group (48 airplanes) is dispatched to escort 6 combat wings of bombers on target penetration, target support, and then they withdrawl to where they can be picked up by P-47's. The P-38s are lucky to get to the target with half their force from aborts and early rturns. In the mean time, the excellent German Fighter Director Radar is directing their fighters to all the weak spots and the German fighters, themselves, are busy with their own bag of tricks decoying and separating us by bouncing tactics. Fact is that we only have enough fuel for five minutes of full-throttle combat or we won't make it home. Some believe that was yesterday's problem, that the boys that were lost went over the combat fuel limit, stayed and fought till they ra out of fuel. German tactics would indicate that logic.'

� "Brad indicated that Capt. Jackson and the 20th. had been victims of circumstances beyond their control. Every military operation required good Press. Keeping the bomber crews happy with fighters sitting on their wings didn't make headlines like a large count of air victories. A fighter pilot would, by nature, attack anything in sight. This compounded by the 8thAF's own encouragement of a DFC awarded for each victory, a Silver Star for three on each mission, and a DSC if you got five.(A mixed message, and the 20th.'s popular and hard fighting Commander Col. Barney Russell was about to be sacrificed.)

� "Cheer up guys,' Brad said, 'the 8th.AF was defeated at Sweinfurt in Oct.'43, but we will go back soon...then Berlin." (And we did on Feb. 24th. and Berlin on Mar. 3rd.)

� "This confrontation with reality, somehow, made us feel more adult and responsible. Now, all we needed to do was pull up our socks and enter the real world. Brad didn't just leave us there, but escorted us to our quarters and got us settled in. Not only that,but moved himself into one of our three Nissan Hut's rooms as the only old pilot there. This act was extremely important to us. We were not left in a vaccuum and so had a built-in answer to our questions...and special nuturing. That special bond was in place now, only to get stronger with the combat factor. Of course, we were, as a group, escorted to the O-Club for meals, a pleasant interlude at the bar, and introduced to all around. We were not allowed to feel like outsiders.

� "Back in quarters, Brad told us to grab a bottle of Johnny Walker and come to his room as he had something he wanted us to hear. Of course, none of us knew how to acquire that bottle as the Brit's black market was very tight to the vest and you would have to know someone special to get connected. Another of Brad's lessons, and the Johnny Walker was on him. But monthly, a special expedition was sent to Edinburgh for Scotch. We could leave our order at the O-Club.

� "In his room, Brad had a radio which we turned to Radio Berlin. The sweet strains of Lily Marlene filled the room. Shortly, the seductive voice of Axis Sally came on with her usual welcome to the boys of the 8th.AF.

� "Intrigued with our new found girlfriend, we were not prepared for another shock of our lives: '...and a very special welcome to all the new boys of the 20th.FG at King's Cliffe,' Axis Sally crooned. She then named each of us and our hometowns, followed by her routine about sweethearts and wives and how they must miss us and how we missed them. Homesickness seemed to be her main theme.

� "Extremely shook up, we asked Brad how in the hell she could know all of that. Brad told us to just listen tomorrow night, that she would put on the hurt and probably name all the guys who went down yesterday.

� "Finally in the air, in combat, Brad looked after us and continued the nuturing with anyone he was with. The combat bond was concretely in place. We were looked after and we would all look after Brad. I would have the highest honor of being assigned to Brad's flight and the bond grew even stronger. It grew to seem our thoughts and reactions were interlocked across miles of sky. So much so, I was anxious when flying with anyone else. J.D. Bradshaw was an unusual study in leadership."

� � � Bradshaw flew P-38-J-10-LO, serial #42-67899, coded MC-B, "Gator Bait", P-38J-15-LO,serial #43-28433, coded MC-B, P-38J-15-LO, serial #43-28662, coded MC-B and P-51D-5-NA, serial #44-13660,coded MC-B, all named "Jeanie". He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with 1 cluster and the Air Medal with 3 clusters.

Capt. Bradshaw is shown the cockpit of a F-111 during a visit the the 20th.FTW in 1976.

� � � � "...Although I wasn't quite 16 years old when he died, my dad made a large impact on my life and I am very confident, on all the people he knew,� no matter who it was, a common statement that was always repeated to me about him was that he 'is a great man'.� It wasn't until later that I realized what exactly these people were talking about.� He was always the guy with the jokes, and I am happy to say that I try to think I have his sense of humor.� But it was more than jokes, he was there for us, all five kids and Mom.� I was never in need of ANYTHING, he made sure that the kids always had it good.� I can't imagine how he pulled it off at Christmas, but we always had a living room full of presents.

� � � ��He would take me to work on Friday sometimes, up to PBIA and the little field at Lantana, all the guys would leave whatever they were doing to meet with him. He would "bum" me a ride in a Cessna of a buddy for a quick trip around the pattern.� He loved those planes, could not get enough of them. I could identify every WWII era plane by the time I was 6 or 7 I'm sure.� A little later, just before he passed, we were in Dayton, Ohio at the AF museum and I had the special pleasure of meeting Royal, he was the curator at the time.� He was talking to me about the Air Force Academy and how he would help me in any way he could, he just told me to keep my math and science grades up.� I wish I would have had more insight was to what it could have meant to me.

� � � ��We were in a gallery in the museum and I remember Dad standing in front of a painting of a '51 with a FW 190 going down in flames, he looked at me in disbelief and said 'that's my plane', sure enough, it was a '51 from the 79th with a square 'B' on the tail.� It was a very emotional moment, one which I will never forget.� Here was this great warrior staring at a moment in time, long gone, a different world.� Dad died about 5� months after that trip, but Royal Frey made sure a framed litho of the painted was sent to our house.� I still have that print and will cherish it forever.� I also have his DFC and Air Medal framed, and lots of his paperwork and photos.

� � � ��I just became a father, 11 weeks ago, I hope the Gods of the "wild blue yonder" see to it that I can be a fraction of the Man my Dad was... I was in King's Cliffe with my Mom for the memorial service in '83, I am glad I was able to meet all the great men that served this country with Dad, when I got off the plane in London, a group of squadron members saw me in the distance and said 'that is Jim Bradshaw's boy'�and they were right!! I will see him again one day, we'll take a ride in a '51..."