Don Black
2/23/2010
Don was an aerial gunner in VPB 119 and 109 flying on PB4Y2 Privateers. He was the right waist gunner. "The one I am enclosing is from my Custom tailed uniform done in silver thread rather than the white official one. I completed the course at Yellow Water NAS in Jacksonville FL in 1944. Anyone wearing the Navy Air Crew wings would also wear this badge on their Blues.Do you know the story behind the A/C wings with and w/o the 3 gold stars. In case not, each star represents 20 hours of combat air/mission time. I still have my original wings which are sterling silver.
In the gunnery school were learned how to tear down, and repair the guns and how to lead the targets and shoot while moving. The training was crude but effective. We would ride around a course in the back of an open truck and had shot guns with Ring sights. They would release clay targets and we would shoot them down while traveling about 15 mph, they started us off slow and gradually increased the truck speed. I don't remember if anyone failed to qualify or not." - Don Black
