Memories of 82nd Airborne Veterans from Normandy June 2004
Lt. George W. Roberts, L-4 Pilot, 456th PFAB
Whilst at the display an 82nd Airborne veteran who was also wearing Pilot’s Wings came up to us and informed us that he took off from this field!
It transpired that the veteran, George Roberts, was a L-4 pilot from the 456th PFAB, who landed in the field on D+1 with another pilot in a single L-4 to provide aerial spotting for the artillery. After we apologised for digging up his runway, he kindly told us some of his experiences.
George was a civilian pilot before WWII in Missouri, but was turned down as a pilot by the USAAF due to colour-blindness, and was assigned to Glider Pilot School. However, before the glider training started, a 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion recruiter came around asking for volunteers to fly L-4 spotter planes, so George promptly volunteered and got to fly a powered airplane instead!
Whilst flying General Ridgway around in North Africa, the General noted that George was still a Sergeant and said that he would do something about that, and had him promoted to Lieutenant straight away!
Flying the L-4’s into England, the flight chose Leicester Racecourse as a landing ground after being unable to find the airfield they were supposed to land at – Leicester racecourse was then promptly turned into their permanent landing field!
In England, George flew General Gavin around from unit to unit. Gavin eventually realised that his announced visits simply meant that people were putting things in order before the visit, and he wasn’t seeing the true picture, so he changed to unannounced visits, which took just one surprise visit to a HQ (catching everyone unawares and doing nothing) to get everyone on the ball!
George met an English woman and was due to get married shortly before D-Day. General Ridgway gave him special permission to leave camp to get married, but his best man had to stay on camp!
There were 10 L-4’s in the unit in total, but George flew into Normandy on D+1 with another pilot (2Lt. Norman R. Miller) in just a single L-4. A couple of days later, Lt. Miller was killed after crashing immediately after take-off. George had to go back to England via ship to get another plane (and took the opportunity to meet up with his new wife!).
George returned to Normandy, and then flew in Holland (they arrived on D+5 and had 3 planes shot down by ME109’s while they were there) and in the Ardennes. He settled in England after the war and still lives there.
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