Stanley Pinson, WWII

‘I was the pilot, navigator, radio operator, gunner, engineer – I did it all’

By Tamara Stevens
Special to Emmet County

It was 1944 – the height of World War II – when Stanley Thomas Pinson was finally deployed to Europe to fly fighter planes against Germany. After nearly five years of training, Pinson was bound for duty in the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his life-long dream of fighting Germans in the skies over his parents’ homeland of England.

“Not bad for a kid from Detroit,” said Pinson, 92, who lives in Petoskey with his wife, Shirley.

From 1944 until 1947, Pinson flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes escorting and protecting bombers including B-17s, known as the Flying Fortress, and A-20s, B-25s and B26s, on missions over Belgium, then France and Germany. He and his group of pilots, the 406th fighter group, served in many major battles, including flying over the Battle of the Bulge. Throughout the course of his training and during the war, and even after he returned to the states, Pinson piloted a variety of planes, including F-6s, P-39s and T-6s fighter planes.

“Flying fighters was the most exciting thing I ever did,” Pinson said. He admits that once his days as a fighter pilot ended, he really missed it.

Pinson’s parents immigrated to the United States shortly before he was born. When WWII was developing, Pinson was attending high school in Detroit. He and his buddies dreamed of going to Canada after graduation and volunteering in the Canadian Air Force.

“We were going to go to Europe and fly Spitfires (Britain’s iconic fighter plane) and kill some huns,” Pinson said, laughing at his own youthful bravado.

But his parents had other plans for their son. Having lived in Wolver Hampton, England, under the caste system, Pinson’s parents wanted their children to better themselves by getting an education. Only then would their children be able to secure higher quality careers and elevate their family’s economic status. Pinson would have to attend college before heading off to war.

‘In your dreams!’

Two years of studying engineering at Lawrence Technological School gave Pinson a solid understanding of all things mechanical. The summer between when he joined the military and after he left LTS, he worked at Ford Motor in the executive training department going through the plant to various departments that put together the Pratt & Whitney R280 radial engine.

He and another buddy tried to enlist in the Navy, because that branch of the military had a good flying program, he said. Pinson passed their test, but on a form he checked the box indicating that he had allergies to ragweed and other plants. He was told he would never be able fly.

“I told them, ‘In your dreams,’ and I went over to the Army and joined them,” Pinson said.

The Army’s tests and training program were intense. Pinson read at night with a flashlight and tested out fairly high, he said.

One day he and a friend, Bill Rutherford, were driving over to the Bill’s grandmother’s house when the music on the radio was interrupted with the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was December 7, 1941. Everything changed for Pinson, who had enlisted in the Air Force pilot training program, and his girlfriend, Shirley, who was in high school. They knew that the attack on U.S. soil would accelerate their country’s involvement in the war, and would change their lives.

Pinson went to boot camp in Miami, Florida, then attended flight school at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. He was in the first class to graduate. The Army’s training program took him to Jackson, Tennessee, where he flew a single engine, two-seater, open-air bi-plane, and to a base in Arkansas. He flew T-6s, and other aircraft, and learned aerial gunnery skills.

“I learned to love it and fly it,” Pinson said of the open cockpit aircraft.

Pinson graduated from flight school on April 15, 1944, and seven days later he and Shirley were married. By the time he was mustered out, Shirley was pregnant with their daughter.

He was 22 when he headed to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth I, which he remembers was a beautiful ship before the war. The crossing took five days and was full of adventures. One night a German submarine was tracking the ship, Pinson said, although he and the other military personnel on board weren’t aware of that while they slept in their bunks. The commander would abruptly turn the ship, zig-zagging across the ocean. One turn was so violent that men fell out of their bunks, but Pinson hit the side of the ship and stayed in his bunk. In the morning they learned why the ship’s course was so erratic – they were avoiding the submarine’s torpedoes.

After crossing the Atlantic, they landed in South Hampton, England. They boarded a train to Stone on the west coast of England to their assignment station.

“We knew we were going to the continent,” Pinson said.

Reporting for duty

Pinson developed a serious case of laryngitis and was hospitalized. His company, the 406th, mustered out to Paris without him. He recalls taking a small plane to Paris to catch up with his company. He stayed in the Chateau de Rothchild where he gazed at beautiful Michelangelo paintings. Every morning he would report for orders, but somewhere in the hectic business of war, his orders were misplaced.

Finally, he received orders. He rode in a Jeep with a driver to the 506th headquarters in Leage, Belgium, close to the front. When he reported for duty, the base staff told him they didn’t have orders for him. Pinson laughs about it now. Fighter pilots were in high demand, so they found a place for him.

Pinson points to a portrait of himself in his uniform and tells how one evening he was walking down the street in Belgium and he passed a photo shop. The driver of his Jeep went into a restaurant for lunch. Pinson strolled the shops. They were close to the front. Photography being his hobby, he was intrigued by the photo shop. He admits that at the time he thought he might not come back, so he wanted his portrait taken.

“I thought, if the photograph turns out nice, I’ll send it back home to my parents and my wife,” Pinson said.

While with the 506th, he flew a P-47 fighter plane, built by Republic Aviation, which was a one-man plane.

“I was the pilot, navigator, radio operator, engineer, gunner – I did it all,” Pinson said, smiling broadly.

When he worked at Ford, Pinson built the tooling for the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 engine. He was impressed to find that his P-47 aircraft had the same engine he had helped build back in the states.

The wingman assigned to him was Bill Chambers, who joined the group one week after Pinson arrived. The two men became very close friends. Pinson said Chambers “was a real hell-raiser.”

Stories from the front lines

Pinson has many stories about his time in Belgium, France and Germany. While stationed in Belgium, he stayed at the base called Y29 in a town called Genk. He and his wingman were able to take R & R on the Riviera, and the group of pilots played a lot of baseball in their down time. Their adventures included hitchhiking on the Autobahn, driving Jeeps around Europe while avoiding SS soldiers, who were “roaming around.”

He even visited the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp shortly after it had been liberated.

“It turned your stomach,” Pinson said of the concentration camp. “I’d seen a dead body before, but I’d never seen bodies piled up like cord wood. It was awful.”

Pinson’s photography hobby resulted in him capturing many images of his time in Europe. A thick photo album is filled with black and white images of Pinson standing in front of his aircraft, flying his aircraft, posing with his wingman, and men in his unit playing baseball in Europe. Captions describe the places and events in the photos: “German 1-man Submarine,” “B-29 with B-51 flying over Denmark Exposition,” “29th Infantry Division taking Magdeburg,” which is close to Berlin. Pinson said General Patton stopped there. Another photo has the caption, “General Sherman Tank Roadblock on Autobahn.” Pinson saw Nurenburg Castle; Munster with its ruins of bombed buildings; and even has a photo of Bob Hope and Jerry Colona when they visited Europe to cheer up the troops.

Several photos show Pinson standing in front of his P-47 with the name of his daughter painted on the nose. “Joanne 1st” he called his aircraft. Pinson and his wife communicated through letters while he was in combat. It took him six months to receive the letter telling him what his wife had named their daughter. He didn’t see his daughter until he got back from Europe on leave, and by then Joanne was 10 months old.

Missions over Europe

Pinson and the other pilots in his squadron of four P-47s escorted the large A-20s and B-26 bombers. The P-47 held one person, the pilot. The aircraft contained four .50 caliber machine guns on each wing, eight guns total. Pinson came close to shooting down an enemy plane one time. He was always on alert to do his part to contribute to the war effort, he said.

He flew on as many missions as he could, and he saw a lot of combat. The fighter pilots went on missions to protect bombers and to drop explosives on bridges, buildings, trains, trucks, manufacturing facilities, and one time on a hospital that was hiding large amounts of ammunition.

“The 506th were the first ones to get the 5” high velocity rockets to knock out a Tiger Tank,” Pinson said.

“Once you had flown 50 missions, you could go home,” Pinson said. “And after you flew five missions, you got your air medals.”

When the war ended, Pinson had flown 25 missions. He realized at the time how lucky he was to not have been injured when so many men were wounded and killed. He remembered entire squads of pilots that would leave their base and never make it back. On one mission, a piece of flak, or shrapnel, broke through his aircraft’s Plexiglas canopy and nicked his face. When he got back to the base his crew chief suggested that he report his “injury” and earn a Purple Heart. Pinson scoffed at the idea, saying that he’d been cut worse shaving on occasion. He never did report it.

After the war

Pinson’s C.O. called on him one day and informed him of a new job opportunity. They wanted him to be an adjutant, which would handle all the book work for pilots. He would be given a 30-day leave to go back to the States and bring his wife and any children back to Europe. Pinson was a First Lieutenant. They told him he would earn his Captain’s bars, and at the end of six months he’d be a Major. He thought about it and talked it over with Shirley.

Their daughter was an infant who was going through some serious health problems and was under a doctor’s care. He turned down the offer and returned to his family in Michigan. A photo in his thick album shows the “U.S.S. Rensaleer heading home,” the former cruise ship that Pinson rode back across the Atlantic.

Once back in his home state, he joined the National Guard and went to Selfridge Air Force Base to sign up. He was headed to Korea when fate stepped in his way. His daughter’s pediatrician recommended moving to Arizona to escape the pollen and other allergens that were affecting their daughter’s asthma. In Arizona, Pinson joined the Reserves. While out on a standard training flight with students, Pinson drew heavy Gs when the jet reached 520 mph. After he landed, he showered at the base, and drove his convertible home. He opened the car door and couldn’t move his legs.

A “congenital ailment” the military called his back injury. Pinson spent two weeks in traction before he could slowly walk. He was sent to a hospital in Texas where the final diagnosis and treatment option was to fuse his back. Looking back, he’s glad he refused the suggested course of treatment. After intensive physical therapy and a dedicated diet to lose weight he’d put on eating Shirley’s wonderful baked goods, Pinson eventually recovered enough to lead a fairly normal life, but he never flew again, and he was not able to be a part of the Korean War.

Pinson worked at Ford Motor designing commercial buses in Dearborn. Later on he joined Harold Brock and designed tractors in Highland Park. Shirley worked as a city clerk at Oak Park. In 1982 he retired at 62 years old.

Over the years when he worked at Ford, Pinson and Shirley organized a ski club and they would drive up from Birmingham and Troy to Emmet County on winter weekends to ski at Boyne Highlands and Nub’s Nob ski resorts. Eventually, they built a chalet in Harbor Springs, designing it themselves. They recall great times with friends from those days. Each year they would go out to Aspen, Colorado, for a ski trip.

Their daughter married and her husband convinced the Pinsons to stop driving back and forth and move permanently to their chalet. After he retired, they did just that. They spent winters in Sebring, Florida, for 12 years. Fourteen years ago, they sold the chalet and moved to a more convenient condominium in Petoskey, where they are closer to their daughter and her family.

After many years of not seeing any of his former unit pilots, Pinson attended his first Air Force reunion in 1982. After not seeing his former wingman since 1944, Pinson heard a familiar voice as he walked into the reunion. Chambers, his wingman, was living out west in Washington and working for Boeing.

Pinson has been to Washington, D.C., several times, including to participate in the dedication of the WWII memorial. Other members of his fighter group were in attendance for the ceremony. He and his daughter returned to Washington in 2011. Pinson now holds the responsibility of being the sole remaining member of his fighter pilot group.

WWII fighter plane facts

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the largest and heaviest fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single piston engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50 caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to eight tons, and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack roles could carry five-inch rockets or a significant bomb load of 2,500 pounds; it could carry over half the payload of the B-17 bomber on long-range missions (although the B-17 had a far greater range). The P-47, based on the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wrap engine, was to be very effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat and, when unleashed as a fighter-bomber, proved especially adept at ground attack in both the World War II European and Pacific Theaters.

The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of WWII, and served with other allied air forces, notably those of France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U.S. were equipped with the P-47.

The armored cockpit was roomy inside, comfortable for the pilot, and offered good visibility. A modern-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47.

Republic Aviation introduced the P-47 in 1942, and manufactured more than 15,600. By the end of WWII, the P-51 Mustang aircraft replaced the P-47.