Probably two years ago I was walking around a gun show in Dallas and saw a guy selling a plastic bag full of "pilot stuff" for $20. Just looking at the age of it I said what the hell and picked it up. Took it home - totally forgot about it.
I was digging through some stuff this evening and stumbled across it in a box and went through it. It's the flight training records of a Lt. John J. Kirby who went through pilot training in early 1943. He transitioned from the PT-17 Stearman to the AT-9 Jeep to the B-24 best I can tell. I've got notes from his ground schools on meteorology, flight planning, aircraft systems, bombing patterns, etc. Documents from a few different training schools.
The coolest thing I found through all of the material was in one of his notebooks. Amongst nice 40's cursive writing you'd occasionally find a bold note he had added in such as "work on this on next flight" or "don't trust Mr. Cross so much!".
And then there was this one that reminded me of how we all felt the first time we took to the skies by ourselves:
I imagine Lt. Kirby went on to command his B-24 in Europe. Though I've no connection to him, I'm going to keep looking for what I can based on his name and what I believe is his 'serial number' on a couple of the books. I hope he made it through the war and back stateside safely. Any suggestions for tracking info down on him are greatly appreciated!
Wow! So it was him! I think this is just wonderful. I am so glad you got a hold of his family. I bet they were dumbfounded and excited. It's funny because I got in from work and started thinking about this thread for some reason out of the blue and decided I'd pop on just to see if there were any updates or if you had tried to reach his son, was it the same soldier, etc. Interesting that the day he was shot down is also your birthday, that you would buy these documents, dig them up after a long time, post about them on here, I would see it and be inspired to do some research into this airman and that we were both drawn back to this thread this afternoon within the same time frame practically. (this really tickles the snot outta me) Some things are just meant to be. I know this in my heart. Synchronicity. It was my pleasure to play some small role in this incredible event. We ARE all connected. many things, good or bad, happen for a reason, even if we do not understand or know why. There is a pattern amongst the random chaos. Something I have always felt/believed. This really is pretty damn cool. Made my day. Thanks for letting me know!!
Wow. Shot down on his 13th mission on 4/13, and it's your birthday. Any chance you were talking
His son and I wondered the same thing. That they somehow left his possession and managed to stay intact and together for over 60 years is nothing short of amazing.
