Posted:
By: COL Bruce E. Empric
On: 11/24/2003
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Scott,
Thank you for the leads. The curious thing about the "Shade Ruff" A2 image in the Valant book, however, is that it displays 35 missions. As mentioned earlier, the original "Shade Ruff" went down on the 8 MAR 44 mission to Berlin/Erkner when flown by another crew - the 401st's 33rd mission. My uncle and the 1LT R.O. Stine "Shade Ruff" crew did not fly that day.
In my photo of 1LT Stine, the words "Shade Ruff" are visible on the right breast of his A2 (correction from my original posting). Unfortunately, I don't have a shot of the back of his A2. In the photo Stine is wearing his leather flying cap. I have a similar photo of my uncle but he is wearing a B3 flying jacket (fur lined) with parachute harness and officer service (saucer) cap. Both photos appear to be official unit photos taken of the crew members once they were assigned to Deenethorpe. In each photo the U.S. star and and bar may be seen in the background. I have seen this background on other period 401st crew photos taken at Deenthorpe. They were likely used for general identification and/or PAO purposes.
Since my uncle had 17 combat missions with his shoot down, I can only assume that the "Shade Ruff" A2 image in the Valant book is of a crew member who flew on "Shade Ruff II." "Shade Ruff II" was with the 401st through war's end and by then had flown well over 100 combat missions.
Regards,
COL Empric
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