ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The 57th Fighter Group</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"> <CENTER><FONT SIZE="5"> <FONT COLOR=BLUE><B>The 57th Fighter Group</B> </FONT COLOR></FONT SIZE="5"></CENTER><BR> <Center> <IMG SRC="65TitlePage2.jpg" Width=800 Height=225> </Center><BR><BR> <Center><B><Font Size=5><Font Color=Blue>The Lucky Little Bell of San Michele</Font Color=Blue></Font Size=5><BR><BR><BR> <IMG SRC="LuckyBell01.jpg" Width=800 Height=1013 ALT="Lucky Bell page from P-47 pilot Lt. Jim Long's 'Tales From The Fighting Cocks Roost.'"><BR> This is a page from 65th Fighter Squadron P-47 pilot Lt. Jimmie R. Long, Jr.'s book "Tales From The Fighting Cocks Roost" that describes the Lucky Little Bell of San Michele.<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="LuckyBell02.jpg" Width=800 Height=1113 ALT="Lucky Bell page from P-47 pilot Lt. Jim Long's 'Tales From The Fighting Cocks Roost.'"><BR> Here's the story of the Lucky Little Bell of San Michele as it appears in <A HREF="Long01.jpg">Jimmie Long's book</A> about the 65th FS of the 57th Fighter Group.<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="LuckyBell03.jpg" Width=750 Height=496 ALT="65th FS P-47 pilot Lt. Dwight Orman's A-2 flight jacket."><BR> 65th Fighter Squadron P-47 pilot Dwight Orman sent me the photos above of his A-2 flight jacket (left = front and right = back) showing how and where his Lucky Little Bell of San Michele was fastened. Dwight's bell is missing but you can see the links and hasp where it was at one time attached. Dwight says he never believed in the bell being lucky but he went along with everyone else and wore one. He said some guys were lucky and some guys weren't regardless of whether they wore the bell or not. It was lucky for Dwight. I've yet to hear what the bells cost.<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="381stInsignia04.jpg" Width=314 Height=546 ALT="381sth BS B-25 pilot Bill Beirds wore his lucky bell on his field jacket as shown."><BR> Here is B-25 pilot Bill Bierd's field jacket with his Lucky Little Bell of San Michele pinned over his 381st Bomb Squadron insignia. The bell was lucky for Bill too!<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="BellOfMichele.JPG"Width=991 Height=613 ALT="George Underwood Lucky Little Bell of San Michele."><BR> <A HREF="under.html">George Underwood</A> from the 381st Bombardment Squadron, 310th Bombardment Group also got a Lucky Little Bell of San Michele at Capri but the documentation that came with his bell tells a different story than the one above. I guess it was just as lucky for George however!<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="UnderwoodA2Jacket.JPG" Width=608 Height=1090 ALT="George Underwood's A2 flight jacket."><BR> Here's George Underwood's A2 flight jacket with the Lucky Little Bell of San Michele attached just over his <A HREF="381stpatch.html">381st Bombardment Squadron patch</A>.<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="BellOfCapri.JPG" Width=500 Height=603 ALT="Lucky Bell of Capri."><BR> Here's a nice close-up of George Underwood's Lucky Bell of Capri (photo by George Underwood).<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="LuckyBell04.jpg" Width=782 Height=267 ALT="Quentin Kaiser's Lucky Bell of Capri."><BR> This little montage shows several different views of Quentin Kaiser's Lucky Little Bell of San Michele from Capri. Quentin Kaiser, my father, was a radio-gunner in the 489th squadron of the 340th Bomb Group stationed at Alesani, Corsica.<BR><BR><BR> <IMG SRC="LuchyBell.jpg" Width=1000 Height=479 ALT="The Luchy Little Bell of Capri."><BR> The Bell of San Michele above indicates it is "Luchy" rather than "Lucky." This unusual Capri bell was discovered by Wilkes Coleman.<BR><BR><BR> If you have any comments or suggestions please <A HREF="mailto:57thFG@gmail.com?Subject=The 57th Fighter Group"> email me</A>.<BR><BR> <A HREF="page.html">The 489th Bombardment Squadron in Corsica</A><BR><BR> <!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan ALT="Site Meter" --> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">var site="sm6Fstella"</script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/js/counter.js?site=sm6Fstella"> </script> <noscript> <a href="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/stats.asp?site=sm6Fstella" target="_top"> <img src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm6Fstella" alt="Site Meter" border=0></a> </noscript> <!-- Copyright (c)2000 Site Meter --> <!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup" Endspan --> </b> </font size> </BODY> </HTML>