OUR GOALS and PROJECTS:
- Help families find out about their WWII Troop Carrier relative. We do this at no charge other than asking families to share information and photo.
- Encouraging familes to send original material to the Silent Wings Museum for preservation.
- To update and add to the Legacy database started by the WWII Glider Pilots in early 1970.
- Write articles for the Glider Pilot Briefing.
- To keep the council aware of any needs for memorials, education, or recognitions.
- Locating families where we need to either give them information or we ourselves are in need of information.
OUR EXPECTATIONS FROM FAMILIES:
- We are an all volunteer research team from across the U S and Europe. As a result, we do not charge for our research time or for copies of WWII-era documents we find related to WWII veterans. We ask in return for families to share photos, documents, letters, etc.. We use the information you provide to update our digital archives, help other families, as well as sharing the information with the Silent Wings Museum (SWM) in Lubbock, TX., for inclusion into the veteran's folder.
- Any material that we have shared and is made public by the family, that we be given credit for providing that material.
- Although not a requipement for research help, we would like to have you as a member of our organization, this supports our work and the Silent Wings Museum.
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Major Leon B SPENCER 1924 - 2016
WWII Glider and Troop Carrier Historian
Research Team Lead/Adviser
On December 28th 2016 the Association’s Research Team lost their beloved leader. Leon B. Spencer,
the National WW II Glider Pilots Association's historian, was instrumental in developing the research team. He guided and
advised the team. He was a valuable asset to the team’s ability to verify details he knew by experience and or years of study.
He studied all aspects of the glider program and troop carrier history; training, combat, towing, snatching, construction of
the CG–4A glider, and the history of each troop carrier group. He wrote many articles on his areas of study and also wrote
many biographical papers on numerous troop carrier veterans and friends.
In January of 2017, in memory of Leon, our team was named the Leon B. Spencer Research Team.
Starting in the Army Air Corps Leon graduated from Advanced
Glider Training at Dalhart, Texas (Class 43–4) in February 1943 as a Flight Officer. Twenty four years later Leon retired from the Air Force.
Leon is an expert in communication systems and was responsible for modernization of the communications systems in Air Force One.
Through both his first hand experience of being a glider pilot during WWII, as well as conducting research since then, Leon has
become a top historian in the area of WWII Troop Carrier and combat glider history.
| | In 2007 Leon received the Bickett Ellington Memorial Award
for outstanding service in the interest of the National World War II Glider Pilots Association, Inc.
Leon’s many published works include:
26th Mobile Reclamation and Repair Squadron: A Concise History, 2002
Glider Retrieval in Burma, 2014. Co Author, Charles Day
They Flew into Battle on Silent Wings, 2010
WWII U.S. Army Air Force Glider Aerial Retrieval System, 2007
Development and Use of the Waco CG-4A Cargo Glider Deceleration Parachute, 2003
Glider Tow Ropes: World War II Military Gliders, 2003
The Wizards of Crookham Common, 1999
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We stand on his shoulders.
Dr. Don ABBE - Former Silent Wings Museum curator Author, Advisor, WWII Troop Carrier and South Plains Army Air Field, Cira 1930s
Hans den BROK, International Director - Author, Researcher and document collections Focus: Troop Carrier, Holland and Rhine Crossing
Zach CROMLEY Airline Pilot - Researcher and document collections Focus: Mediterranean Theater: 62nd Troop Carrier Group
Charles DAY -Committee Historian, author - Researcher and document collections Focus: WWII Gliders and testing, WWII glider pilot history
Chuck" HOBBS - Researcher and document collections , Focus: 439th Troop Carrier Group
Michael LARKIN Researcher and document collections, Focus: In depth 437th Troop Carrier Group history from 1943 to 1946
Fred LUNDE - WWII Glider Pilot - Advisor: glider and glider pilot history
Tom MARTIN - Researcher and document collections, Focus: 61st Troop Carrier Group
Sharon McCULLAR - Curator Silent Wings Museum, Advisor, Verifies information and documentation
Jeff McGOVERN - Author, Historical Officer for the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing Focus: 435th Troop Carrier Group
Patricia OVERMAN - Author, Researcher and document collections, Focus: Troop Carrier, work in all eight operations, 1943 - 1945
Trevor SHIMULUNAS - Researcher and document collections, Focus: 1st Air Commando Group, focus on 319th Troop Carrier Squadron
Jean Michel SOLDI - Researcher and document collections, Focus: southern France, operation codenamed Dragoon
Gary STRIPLING - Project Manager, Researcher and document collections, Focus: Troop Carrier, all eight operations, 1943 - 1945
Annemarie Monique Mousseau TAYLOR - Author, Researcher and document collections, Focus: General information on the 437th Troop Carrier Group, four operations, 1943 - 1945
Col. Mark VLAHOS - Author, Researcher and Document collections, Focus: 314th Troop Carrier Group, and Sicily as well as Mediteranean Troop Carrier Operations
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