| Title |
Willis Ure, Bountiful, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, January 22, 2003: Saving the legacy tape no. 625 |
| Alternative Title |
Willis L. Ure, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Ure, Willis L., 1922- |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2003-01-22 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
France |
| Subject |
Tucker, Lee E., 1924- --Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
559th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group, Ninth Air Force; Togglier |
| Description |
Transcript (21 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Willis Ure on January 22, 20003. This is from tape number 625 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Willis Ure (b. 1922) describes his duties in the 559th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group, of the Ninth Air Force. He flew fifteen missions as a radio gunner and sixteen missions as a "togglier," a position in the nose of the aircraft. 21 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
21 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6b01430 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1020522 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6b01430 |
| Title |
Page 10 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1020509 |
| OCR Text |
Show WILLI URE WIL: No, we'd stayed there at each place about one or two days. BEC: Did you just stick around the base? R 22 200 WIL: I remember when we were going across from Natal Brazil, to Ascension Island we had kind of a desperate situation. We were right between those two places just about over the middle of the ocean there. We flew solo. We didn't go in flights (groups) or anything. I was in the back of the plane and both engines suddenly stopped. We didn't know what to do, whether to bail out or what. They just stopped for, well, it seemed like a long time, but was just, for maybe, less than thirty seconds. Then, they frred up again and got going. So I got on the radio and asked what the problem was. They said that they just wanted, in order to make sure they had enough gas to get across, to run the one gas tank completely empty before they transferred to the other one. Fifty years later, at one of the reunions, I found out the real story. The real story was that on that trip over, we had two auxiliary gas tanks mounted in the bomb bay where the bombs were usually carried. One was mounted on the right and the other on the left. In back of the copilot, there was a switch that turned from one tank to the other. The pilot said to the copilot, "Switch over to the other one." Being backwards, he tried to turn the switch in the opposite (wrong) direction and it wouldn't go. He just kept trying to force it. Finally, he turned it in the right direction, but in the meantime, the engines had run out of gas and stopped. When he turned it in the right direction, they cut right on again. But I never found that out until one of our reunions (laughs). BEC: Really? The pilot or the copilot was at the reunion and fmally told you? WIL: It was the copilot. The copilot told me that. He said he reached back and everything was opposite and he didn't realize it. He said, "Thank goodness that switch 9 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6b01430/1020509 |
