HomeMy WebLinkAboutWWII Prog SpradleyERNEST WARNER SPRADLEY
US Army Air Force (Retired), R.A.F., R.C.A.F
2nd Lt. - Lt. Col, Northern African Theatre
“At Malta we went up in four’s. There were usually 150 to 175 of them and we were always sadly outnumbered, so the job we had to do was cripple them up as much as we could when we got
the chance.”
E. W. was just 22 and one of the first 50 Americans to join the RCAF in the summer of 1940. Six months later he was sent to duty in England. Throughout 1941, he flew Spitfires in France,
Belgium and Holland and the RAF raids on Brest. In January 1942, his assignment in the Mediterranean shifted from ferrying supplies to the British at Malta to protecting Malta. Spradley
flew off the HMS Eagle where he was to spend three months during the siege of Malta as a member of the 249th Squadron RAF.
After the Malta campaign, Dad was sent to the Gold Coast of Africa to ferry Spitfires across the dangerous Congo jungles to Cairo, Egypt. His pilot record book with the RAF indicates
that he had extensive night training and instrument flying experience.
In February 1943, Dad transferred from the RAF to the United States Army Air Corps and flew cargo and supplies on DC-3's with the 9th Squadron. His transfer to the USAAF was preparatory
to his marriage 9 March 1943 in Cairo to Josephine "Josie" Martin, a nurse also stationed in Cairo -- the first wedding of American forces in the Middle East during WWII.
By 1944 Daddy had been transferred stateside as an Instrument Pilot to train pilots for six weeks at Bryan Air Field -- the only instrument-training school of its kind in the United
States Army Air Force. The unique school selected only the most experienced pilots such as Spradley who had flown over 120 combat missions and had 210 combat hours as a Spitfire pilot.
Among the honors E. W. "Bill" Spradley received with the British were the Cross of Malta, the Canadian Overseas Ribbons and the African Star. While in the US Air Force, Spradley shot
down four enemy aircraft and was a Command Pilot with more than 3500 flying hours in his career. Bill Spradley stared death in the eyes, not once but many times, making split-second
decisions. Never bragging about his flight prowess, refusing to talk about his decorations and the war, Bill would probably say "others don't have to know what I have done, I know.”
Lt. Col. E. W. Spradley died at age 54 in 1973 – on his wife’s birthday. They are buried together at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.
Jane Spradley Haley Janice Spradley McCarthy Susan Spradley Bell
Missouri City, Texas Katy, Texas Houston, Texas
WWII Prog Spradley