KEEP ‘EM FLYING BY SPARKY BARNES


Horham Airfield in England, 1943. Photos courtesy of Chester L. Peek Collection


B-17S AT HORHAM AIRFIELD IN WORLD WAR II – KEEP ‘EM FLYING!


NATIVE IOWAN CHESTER PEEK STOOD 5 FEET 6 INCHES TALL AND WEIGHED 125 POUNDS IN 1942 WHEN HE LEFT HOME TO JOIN CLASS 42-5 AT CHANUTE FIELD IN RANTOUL, IL. ENROLLED AS AN AVIATION CADET IN A 23-WEEK PROGRAM, HE RECEIVED TECHNICAL TRAINING AS AN ENGINEERING OFFICER. AFTER STUDYING AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE AND ASSOCIATED SPECIALTIES, PEEK WAS QUALIFIED TO SUPERVISE A SQUADRON’S MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES. HE RECEIVED HIS COMMISSION AS A 2ND LIEUTENANT IN OCTOBER 1942 AND JOINED THE 95TH BOMB GROUP.


CATASTROPHE AT ALCONBURY Peek shipped overseas to England in May 1943 as part of the 336th Bomb Squadron. While he was stationed at the temporary base of Parham, there was an accidental, catastrophic


6 DOMmagazine.com | june 2020


explosion of the 412th Bomb Squadron’s B-17s at Alconbury on May 27, 1943. “I was fortunate not to be directly involved, since I was still in the 336th Squadron, and it was the 412th that blew up. A friend


of mine, ordnance officer Arthur Meek, figured out what happened,” recounts Peek. “There was only a skeleton crew available to service the B-17s and load the bombs. No one had much experience, and to


Photos Courtesy Chester L. Peek Collection unless otherwise noted


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