Personal Narrative Manuscript/Mixed Material Photo, Print, Drawing Software, E-Resource Audio Recording Paul A. Bradley Collection
Veterans History Project Service Summary:
- War or Conflict: Korean War, 1950-1953
- Branch of Service: Air Force
- Unit of Service: 5th Air Force, Strategic Air Command (SAC)
- Location of Service: Kumsan, Korea; Bangor, Maine; Lackland Air Force Base and St. Angelo, Texas; Greenville, Mississippi; Mather Field Sacramento, California; Langley Field, Virginia; Stead Air Force Base Reno, Nevada
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/10194
After he enlisted in the Air Force and washed out of cadet training, Paul Bradley went to Officer Candidate School and trained to become a navigator and then a bombardier. In Korea, he rode in the nose of a B-26, mostly at night, "looking for targets of opportunity" as an observer (navigator-bombardier). Navigating in nearly total darkness was a challenge, and finding those targets was another. Bradley was still in Korea at the time of the truce, whose terms--and the repatriation of prisoners--he has strong opinions on. After the war, he continued flying, but now it was as a navigator on refueling missions for the Strategic Air Command.
Paul A. Bradley Collection
Interview / Recording
Transcript
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PlayWorking in a federal arsenal at 16 during World War II; recalling neighbors who went off to war and didn't come back, in particular one young man whom he was able to commemorate with a donation to an air museum in England. 00:02:55.4 - 00:05:27.2
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PlayFirst interest in aviation as a senior in high school; graduated from college in January 1950; working in a factory when Korea started; enlisting in January 1951 in the Air Force; washed out of pilot training; went to OCS, trained to be navigator and bombardier; navigation was much less sophisticated then; learning navigation and bombing on B-26; escape and evasion training; no men repatriated from missing B-26 crews in Korea; story of one repatriated POW who kept track of every prisoner he buried during his 33 months in captivity. 00:05:43.1 - 00:13:32.1
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PlayMost missions flown at night; difficulty of navigating in total darkness (no ground lighting at all); close call with flak; teamwork important; engineer taking over for his pilot on one mission when pilot got vertigo; another pilot asking to get out of the unit because he couldn't handle the strain; impossible to fly over time and not have "exciting experiences." 00:15:14.3 - 00:25:11.9
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PlayTwo Korean house girls did laundry and other chores and also stole from them; two kinds of infiltrators, the serious guerrillas and the local thieves; security around the base to keep out the first kind. 00:29:53.2 - 00:32:03.6
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PlayReaction to the truce; satisfied they did their job, though disappointed in the terms; enemy jockeying for position just before the truce was signed; returning to the U.S. in December 1953; story of his pilot, whose brother-in-law was a POW and was never repatriated; feels the U.S. has walked away from accounting for all its servicemen in recent wars out of pragmatism; serving as an adventure for him; flying over to Korea instead of going on a troop ship; on the way, stopped in Hawaii, came in on same flight path the Japanese had on December 7, 1941 00:37:21.3 - 00:44:13.2
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PlayNo residual psychological problems; his pilot drank to relieve the stress and that concerned Bradley; he was sober and stable when flying, though. 00:53:42.8 - 00:55:48.3
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PlayWWII veterans serving in Korea and beyond who likely shouldn't have been flying any more. 01:00:09.8 - 01:02:08.8
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PlayOnly time his plane was hit by military weapons was when they dropped their bombs and they exploded prematurely; in the States on a military flight, avoiding a thunderstorm and getting lost when their instruments went out; wound up flying too close to the White House; escorted away by F-86s. 01:09:54.3 - 01:14:39.7
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About this Item
Title
- Paul A. Bradley Collection
Names
- Bradley, Paul A.
- Kent, Judith J.
- Flagler County Public Library
Home State
- Florida
Headings
- - Bradley, Paul A.
- - Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
- - United States. Air Force.
Repository
- Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Gender
- Male
Status
- veteran
Service History
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Korean War, 1950-1953
- Branch of Service: Air Force
- Unit of Service: 5th Air Force, Strategic Air Command (SAC)
- Location of Service: Kumsan, Korea; Bangor, Maine; Lackland Air Force Base and St. Angelo, Texas; Greenville, Mississippi; Mather Field Sacramento, California; Langley Field, Virginia; Stead Air Force Base Reno, Nevada
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Dates of Service: 1951-1955
- Entrance into Service: Enlisted
- Military Status: veteran
Materials
- Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2002-01-01; 2002-01-01)
- Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Multiple types of electronic files (collected 2004-02-04; 2004-03)
- Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 2004; 2004-11-27)
- Manuscript: Transcript [23 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 2004-02-04)
- Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)
- Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [2 items] -- (collected unknown)
- Manuscript: Correspondence [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 2000-06-25)
- Photograph: Copy photographic print [1 item] -- Photograph (collected 1953)
- Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2004-02-04)
Collection Number
- AFC/2001/001/10194
Cite as
- Paul A. Bradley Collection (AFC/2001/001/10194), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Online Format
- audio
- image
- online text
Additional Metadata Formats
IIIF Presentation Manifest
Part of
Wars & Conflicts
Service Branch
Location of Service
- Bangor, Maine
- Greenville, Mississippi
- Kumsan, Korea
- Lackland Air Force Base and St. Angelo, Texas
- Langley Field, Virginia
- Mather Field Sacramento, California
- Stead Air Force Base Reno, Nevada