Brazilians in WW2

[Alan Eardley]

I received a PM asking if I could explain why an armourer wearing a USAAF D-1 jacket in a photograph on page 31 of the Eastman Leather Clothing 'Golden Book' is wearing a shoulder title that says 'Brasil'.

Well, I think I can, and it's interesting enough to share with the forum, as I know we have some South American readers. I would hazard a guess that he is a member of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, which fought with the US Army (one infantry division was entirely Brazilian) and the USAAF 12th Air Force in Italy. The air wing operated in both fighter and bomber squadrons. Indeed a photograph on the same page shows Brazilian 'Southern Cross' nose art and the Portuguese name 'Senta a Pua'. I think we can assume that the airman posing by the plane (a medium bomber?) is Brazilian. Their efforts and sacrifices in a distant cause are little remembered today.

 

[falcodriver]

a job "well done" by this great group of airmen.

Hacker:cheers1:

 

[jake431]

I received a PM asking if I could explain why an armourer wearing a USAAF D-1 jacket in a photograph on page 31 of the Eastman Leather Clothing 'Golden Book' is wearing a shoulder title that says 'Brasil'.

Well, I think I can, and it's interesting enough to share with the forum, as I know we have some South American readers. I would hazard a guess that he is a member of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, which fought with the US Army (one infantry division was entirely Brazilian) and the USAAF 12th Air Force in Italy. The air wing operated in both fighter and bomber squadrons. Indeed a photograph on the same page shows Brazilian 'Southern Cross' nose art and the Portuguese name 'Senta a Pua'. I think we can assume that the airman posing by the plane (a medium bomber?) is Brazilian. Their efforts and sacrifices in a distant cause are little remembered today.

That's actually a P-47, but they could carry 2000 lbs of bombs, so I suppose that could qualify it as a medium. Since they flew in the 12th AF, they did a lot of ground support. Check out http://www.web-birds.com/ , scroll down to the 12th AF, and click on the 350th FG - the 1st Brazilian FS was part of that group. There's more photos of them there, as well as a group history. Since they were flying bubbletop models of the P-47, you can surmise they didn't enter combat until the summer of '44, probably the fall, as the 9th got the newer stuff first (and the 8th before them) - the 12th was pretty far down the pecking order for new planes like the P-47D-25 and subsequent models.

-Jake

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Thank you, Brazil.