WW2 Over Europe | EB Freeland Photography

Wartime Photography 1943-44 by E. Brewster Freeland

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1st Lieutenant E. Brewster Freeland

My grandfather Edward Brewster Freeland was a 39-year-old insurance executive in Pittsburgh when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He had worked previously for Eastman Kodak and Photostat Corporation, which helps explain his assignment to Air Intelligence.

This photo was taken soon after Freeland enlisted in June 1942. He enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant after reporting to Officer Training School in Miami Beach. He then attended Air Intelligence School. His uniform has the single silver bar denoting his rank and a patch with the insignia of the Army Air Corps.

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Marauder Up Close

This shot of a B-26 Marauder in close formation clearly shows four of the flight crew: pilot, copilot, navigator (between the pilot and copilot) and the bombardier in the nose below. What might be the head of the turret gunner is visible toward the tail of the ship.

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EBF w Colonel Melvin Hall in Italy

Melvin Hall was A-2 (Intelligence) officer for the Ninth Air Force, relieving Kenneth Littauer from the VIII ASC. His status was such that his arrival in Sunninghill Park warranted a mention in Ninth Air Force commander Lewis Brereton’s journal (The Brereton Diaries, p. 221).

Hall was an impressive character. Shortly after graduating from college, Hall successfully completed on a 45,000 mile automobile trip around the world (with his mother!). At the start of World War I, Hall volunteered with the British Expeditionary Forces. By war’s end, he had fought with the English, French and Belgian armies and been decorated by all three.

Hall transferred to the United States Army in 1917 and aided his friend and mentor Colonel Billy Mitchell in founding the US Air Corps. He served as wing commander for nearly 30 US & French air and balloon squadrons and pioneered aerial photography for military purposes.

Between the wars, Hall took on the task of serving on the American financial mission to Persia. The Persian government invited the Americans to help it move the country to a modern economic footing while blunting colonialist gambits by Russia and Great Britain. 

This photo was taken in early 1944, probably in the hills south of Cassino

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Supply Flight From Iceland - Sep 1943

“Eggs, butter, white flour and whiskey” reads the caption on this photo. Wartime scarcity was very real in England. Even though American combatants were better paid, equipped and fed than their British counterparts, the appearance of real dairy and more important, real liquor - was a rare treat.

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A-20 From Above, June 1944

It appears Freeland took this photo through the open ventral gunner port of another bomber in the formation. More info below

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Briefing Hut

Bomber crews learn their destination and targets for the day’s mission.

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Spitfire Fighter Escort Over France

The RAF fighter that made history during the Battle of Britain provided much-needed protection to American bombers like the Marauder on their missions to targets in France and Belgium. Unfortunately, the Spitfire was designed as a short range interceptor, limiting its escort capability. Not until the arrival of the P-51 Mustang in 1944 did Allied heavy bombers have an escort that could get them deep into Germany and home again. Or did they? More information below.

Eighth Air Force bombing raids into Germany in the summer of 1943 were highly effective in reducing Germany’s capacity to wage war. Losses incurred by the unprotected bombers, however, were considered unsustainable and further raids were delayed until the arrival of the P-51 almost a year later. 

A 2017 analysis by the Royal Aeronautical Society, however, details how improvements to the Spitfire could have improved its range to provide the desired escort coverage in 1943, potentially ending the war in Europe much sooner.

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Ascot, Fall Race Week 1943

Ascot Racecourse was located close to Sunninghill Park (HQ for VIII ASC and subsequently Ninth Air Force) west of London, and the album contains several photos he took at a fall event. The famous racetrack had only reopened a few months before after closing in 1940. More pictures below.

Below, a bookmaker plies his trade.

Track & Crowd

Photographer & friend

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Oxford Fall 1943

Aerial view (above); streets (below)

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Italian Hill Village 

Note army tents In foreground (above). Another village (below) shows the damage inflicted by the fierce fighting, as Allied forces pushed northward toward Rome. Even after Italy’s surrender, German forces continued to fight doggedly.

Italian Hill Village

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“Boston In Flames”

Photo of an A-20 in trouble. Identified as s/n #43-10129, hit by flak May 12 1944 over Beauvoir, France. One of a group of 39 ships on a “NOBALL mission,” targeting German V-1 launch sites in France.

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Reviewing the Troops

This page in the album is titled “Field Force Returns to Sunninghill.” The officers reviewing the troops include General Candee and Colonel Littauer, which puts the likely time-frame for the pictures in the spring of 1943. The VIII Air Support Command, which Candee headed, would be absorbed into the reactivated Ninth Air Force later that year. (More photos below)

The officers identified in the photo behind General Candee are Colonels Millard, Edwards, Dutcher, Littauer & Bethcheck alongside Major Green

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Ground crew at work

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Paris, Eiffel Tower & Trocadero, Aug 44

Freeland was able to take photos by air and on the ground soon after the liberation of Paris in August 1944.

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Place de la Concorde, Paris Aug 44

Post Liberation

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A-2 Section, VIII Air Support Command

The A-2 Section was the intelligence arm of VIII ASC, part of the Eighth Air Force. In February 1943, the command’s mission was medium bombardment operations against the continent, the first US use of the Martin B-26 Marauder in Europe. In October 1943, the ASC was absorbed into the Ninth Air Force and the command was deactivated.

The men in the photo are identified as (top row) Fink, Hitchcock, Keele, Bostwick, Egan, Caldwell, Luria, (bottom row) Maynard, McKintosh, Littauer, Stanhope, Buttles. 

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Home Away From Home

Freeland was billeted here at Heron’s Brook when not in the field. The house was close by Sunninghill Park, where the Ninth Air Force had its headquarters beginning in Fall 1943.

The house dates back to the 16th century, according to the national database of historic properties. It was largely rebuilt in the late 18th century and extended in the 19th & 20th. The property has since been converted to apartments, but was still in full Downton Abbey mode when Freeland was here (see below)

Heron’s Brook Staff

During the war, estates like Heron’s Brook and Sunninghill Park (site of USAAF headquarters) were taken over to serve as British and American military administrative hubs and to house officers. It probably reminded Freeland of his home in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, although his quarters (below) were perhaps more spartan.

Badminton Court and Gardens, Heron’s Brook

It is not clear if or how often officers availed themselves of the property’s amenities :)