THOMAS FRANKLIN SEALE

November 28, 1924 – April 14, 1945

Army Air Force Training 1943-1945

Tom graduated from Shelby County High School in Columbiana, Alabama in the spring of 1943.  He received his Selective Service notification in April 1943 and joined the armed forces upon graduation.  He selected the Army Air Corps and entered the military in July 1943.  His first experience in the military came in the form of basic training in south Florida from July 19, 1943 through August 28, 1943.

Tom was chosen to enter the Army Air Corps Aviation program as a cadet.  He was assigned to flight training at Ellensburg Field, Washington and made his way there by train shortly after completion of basic training.  He was assigned a flight instructor upon arrival in Washington and took his first instructional flight on October 25, 1943.  He completed various basic flight instruction flights, which included turns about a point, steep turns, stalls, takeoff and landing practice.  Tom completed four instructional flights, concluding on October 30, 1943. 

The continuing success of the bombing campaign over Germany in late 1943 required fewer trained replacement pilots.  There was a greater need for flight engineers and gunners at this point in the war so Tom was transferred from flight training to flight engineer training.  From November 8, 1943 through December 24, 1943 he was stationed in Long Beach, California.  He moved onto Amarillo, Texas on December 26, 1943 and completed his flight engineer training on June 10, 1944.

One of the additional duties of a flight engineer on the B-24 was to occupy one of the gun positions while in combat.  To acquire the expertise required, Tom was transferred to gunnery school at Buckingham Army Air Field in Fort Myers, Florida.  His gunnery training began on June 13, 1944.  Basic gunnery techniques began with a shotgun and learning the skills of firing at a moving target.  This was not foreign to Tom, as he had learned this skill as a young boy in rural Alabama.  He learned how to fire a machine gun out of the back of a moving truck.

Tom was transferred to Tyndall Army Air Field in Panama City, Florida on August 12, 1944.   At Tyndall AAF he began flights to improve his gunnery skills and used cameras on machine guns, instead of bullets, to document his accuracy.  Many of these flights were flown out of a nearby airfield in Apalachicola, Florida.  He accumulated a total of 31 hours of instruction while at Buckingham and Tyndall and completed Gunnery School on September 25, 1944.  While at Tyndall, Tom was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

After military leave to his hometown of Wilsonville, Alabama, Tom reported to Westover Army Air Field, Massachusetts for transition training into the B-24H.  He arrived in Westover on October 11, 1944 and was matched up with his crew for flight training in the B-24.  Tom’s crew included:  Pilot, 2Lt. David R Totten, Beckley, West Virginia; Co-pilot, F/O Walter J Stynetski, North Tonawanda, New York; Navigator, 2Lt. Lewis L. Anderson, Wichita, Kansas; Bombardier, F/O Michael C. Lavonsky, Clairton, Pennsylvania; Radio Operator, Sgt. Charles E. May, Union City, New Jersey; Upper Turret Gunner, Don C. Neville, Huntsville, Alabama; Nose Turret Gunner, Sgt. Charles A. Nystrom, Willimantic, Connecticut; Ball Turret Gunner, Sgt. Donald Orgain, Dickson, Tennessee; and Tail Turret Gunner, Sgt. Joe A. Galterio,  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The crew spend the next four months training on the B-24 Liberator.

While at Westover, the Totten crew flew 35 training missions totaling 138 hours of flight time. All of the training at Westover was flown in the B-24J model.  During this period the crew learned how to fly and operate the B-24 and to work together as a team. On February 17, 1945, 2Lt Totten’s crew was deemed combat ready and prepared for their journey to Europe.  The crew made their way to Mitchell Army Air Field, New York, where, on February 19th they were assigned a new B-24M and departed for Europe.