Pat Ranfranz named to the board of the 307th Bombardment Group (HV) Association as the new Historian
Pat Ranfranz presenting his Missing Air Crew Project at the 307th Bomb Group Reunion in Seattle, WA (August 2006)
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I'm very pleased to have been named to the board of the 307th Bombardment Group (HV) Association as the new Historian. One of my first projects was to launch a new web site for the 307th BG. The new web site was put live in late August 2007. Over the next few years I will be digitalizing the massive archive of 307th BG document, pictures and other materials. A new searchable database will be implemented to help researchers and family's location information about the 307th BG. Please check out the new web site and check back often for updates.
307th Bombardment Group (HV) Association
The 307th Bombardment Group (HV) Association web site was setup to honor all the men of the 307th Bombardment Group (and 307th Bomb Wing from Korea) for their valiant service to their
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country during World War II from April 1942 to January 1946. The 307th Bomb Group (H) completed 625 Missions in the Pacific Theater, participated in 11 Campaigns and received 2 Distinguished Unit Citations. The 307th Bomb Group was part of the 13th Air Force and consisted of the 370th, 371st, 372nd, and 424th Squadrons. The group was known as the "The Long Rangers" due to their long missions over long open stretches of the Pacific including missions to Truk, Yap, Palau, Philippines and Balikpapan, Borneo (the Ploesti raid of the Pacific war—the unescorted mission against vital oil refineries at Balikpapan, Borneo). Some of the missions were over 17 hour unescorted round trips over open water with no landmarks. However, the 307th Bomb Group never received the press, fame and accolades that we piled on the bomb groups in Europe due to their remote theatre of operation and the fact that many of their missions were controlled by the Navy. This site has been created to preserve and document the history of the 307th Bomb Group.
Visit: www.307bg.org
Missing Air Crew Project
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The Missing Air Crew Project and the MissingAirCrew.com web site is dedicated to the memories of the ten crew members of the Coleman B-24 Crew (13th Air Force, 372nd Bombardment Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group) who were shot down by a Japanese fighter over Yap Island and declared missing on 25 June 1944. My uncle, T/Sgt John R. McCullough, was the Assistant Radio Operator on the missing B-24. The site is my vehicle to find out more about the lives and times of the Coleman Crew members and to find the missing plane! The Missing Air Crew Project is dedicated to the mission of locating the unaccounted for men and planes who were lost near Yap Island during WWII. We should find our fallen men and bring them home, no matter where they fell, or how long ago they have been lost. The missing men were sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers who never got the chance to live out their lives.
Visit: www.MissingAirCrew.com
CharlesLindbergh.com
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Dec 2006 Update: Pat Ranfranz signed an agreement to transfer the CharlesLindbergh.com ownership to a new ownership group who will be attempting to re-create the famous New York to Paris flight in a Spirit of St. Louis replica. Pat has devoted thousands of hours of time over the last 10 years to develop and maintain the CharlesLindbergh.com web site. The site was repeatedly recognized as one of the best aviation history web sites and the most comprehensive site about the Lindbergh related history. After 10 years of work Pat has decided to part with the site and devote his limited time outside of his real job to his Missing Air Crew Project.
My interest in aviation, history, and web development are all factors which have inspired me to create this site. The seed for this site was planted after I read the book, Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg, (Impossible to overpraise this Pulitzer Prize winning biography) and then went searching on the web for more information. I was surprised to find the web lacked a comprehensive site about the life and times of Charles Lindbergh. I decided to utilize my web development knowledge to create a comprehensive Lindbergh web site. My goal in creating and maintaining this site has been to develop a comprehensive and fair web site dedicated to the memory of Charles Lindbergh while also attempting to preserve his dignity and document the history. The CharlesLindbergh.com web site is not a money making business but one of my hobbies.
Visit: www.CharlesLindbergh.com
