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| Jack in the cockpit of his plane |
Dearest Alice,
I finished my work early today so now I am sitting in the
cockpit writing to you my sweet darling. Our lights have been so poor in the
tent that you can hardly see at night so my last few letters have not been very
long. I wonder how you are darling and what you are doing. I hope you are in
the best of health. I love you very, very much darling and always will. There
could never be anyone nearly as sweet and perfect to me as you. You really are
an angel.[1]
Jack took advantage of
his cockpit lights to write to Alice. He knew its instrument panel well, the
interface between the aircraft’s problems and the crew chief. He even saved his
P-51 clock. So when the weather was bad or the light in the tent poor, he could
retreat to his cockpit and be with Alice. He didn’t tell her much about what he
was doing or the men he worked with. He did take over a thousand photos, the
majority showing the pilots, crews, and P-51s of his squadron. Rarely did he
identify his subjects. It was enough to have to take the trouble to get them censored!
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| "P-51 Cockpit Layout"[2] |
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| Jack's P-51 clock |
Jack’s squadron (the
380th Fighter Squadron, converted to the 160th Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron) moved from base to base in southern England and from
France eastwards across Europe. Sometimes they took over an established base,
and sometimes they set up a mobile airfield or Advance Landing Ground (ALG), as
in Staplehurst, England, and Giraumont, France.
 |
| Winkler in his cockpit |
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| Derrick in his cockpit |
An English local
historian explains:
Generally, the Advanced Landing
Ground was around 400 acres, accommodating some 1000 men and all that is
required to operate a self-sufficient airfield. No permanent structures could
be built; all materials used in construction were to be temporary and able to
be dismantled for re-use at another forward airbase, as the invasion of Europe
progressed.[3]
Steel mesh laid down
on level farmland created the mobile airfields. It defined the runways,
perimeter tracks, service roads, and “dispersals” (parking bays) for some
eighty aircraft.[4]
 |
| Winkler's plane, "Corky-Anne" in a dispersal with the steel mesh track |
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| Winkler, pilot Gerry Clough, crewman |
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| "Corky-Anne" II with armorer Cpl. John C. Hackett, again in a wire mesh dispersal bay |
Gee honey I get awfully lonesome for you and I sure hope it won’t be too long before we will be back together again living and doing things the way we did before. It’s nearly 16 months since the last time I saw you. It seems more like 16 years. Gee how happy we will be once we are together again. I sure appreciate all the things you have sent darling and I want to thank you very much. If I were home I would give you your “thank you” in bed Ha! Oh boy. Won’t we have fun! I love you.[5]
The local historian continues:
[The Line] refers to an imaginary
‘flight’ line usually located behind the perimeter track that runs parallel to
the runway. Here, aircraft of a particular squadron that have been assigned to
the next mission, are armed, refuelled and made ready, waiting in the dispersal
bay for the pilot to be scrambled. Generally, the groundcrews hang around their
aircraft to assist the pilot as necessary or, groundcrew are working on their
aircraft, again along the line of the squadron’s ships.[6]
 |
| The line with pierced steel mat |
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| Jack working on "Pat and Mary Pat" |
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| Winkler working on "Corky Anne" |
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| Crewmen on the line |
The Crew Chief [Jack, Winkler, Derrick] straps the
pilot in and makes sure he has plugged everything in during his cockpit check.
The CC stays on the wing while the plane taxis along the perimeter track to
the assembly point at the head of the runway, purely to guide the pilot to the
correct position—then dismounts just prior to take-off. [7]
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| Jack strapping in his pilot Martin DeLong |
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| Jack on the wing of his plane, "Alice," shared with pilot Bud Bellon's "Pat and Mary Pat" (painted on the other side) |
April 5, 1945, 3 years today!!!
Dearest Alice,
I am sitting in my cockpit writing this while it is raining
and the rain makes me pretend we are sitting in the car somewhere but there is
no “you” darling . . . Well darling three years ago today we were married by
this time and how well I remember how happy we were . . . I need your loving,
caresses, kisses & many other things you have! The weather was nice here
this morning but now it is raining and it reminds me of the day we got married Ha
It sure wasn’t very funny then the way the weather was. I have sure had “I
don’t want to walk without you” running thru my head all day today. I’ll never
forget that song and that night as long as I live! I guess you won’t either. O
how I would love to take you out under the old Oak tree at Sonoma or out on the
back road at Petaluma or up on the hill at S.R. Couldn’t we have fun.[8]
As the spring of 1945
progressed, Jack’s squadron would push eastward, hopeful that war would soon be
over. How soon could he return home to Alice?
[1] Jack J. Kellar (Germany), letter to “Dearest Alice”
[Alice (Streeter) Kellar, Santa Rosa, California], 16 March 1945, excerpt.
[2] William R. Nelson, “The North American P-51
‘Mustang’,” Aviation 44 (July 1944);
reprinted at “P51_draft,” Legends In
Their Own Time (http://legendsintheirowntime.com/LiTOT/P51/P51_draft.pdf
: accessed 9 August 2018), 17.
[3] Alan Wright (England, alanwright25@yahoo.com), “Staplehurst photos,”
email to Judy Kellar Fox 26 July 2018, excerpt, lightly edited.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Jack J. Kellar, letter to “Dearest Alice,” 16 March 1945, excerpt.
[6] Alan Wright, “Staplehurst photos,” excerpt.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Jack J. Kellar, letter to “Dearest Alice,” 5 April 1945, excerpt.
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