ETO Baseleg - James B Tunison

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Creator of Life in the ETO Albums, James B. Tunison and Paulette Starz

James B. Tunison was from New York and enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1943 when he was 21. He had a couple of years of aeronautical engineering college at Cornell and was sent to Burtonwood to assist with building and repairing aircraft.

He met his future wife, Paulette E. Starz at Burtonwood. She was from Indiana and volunteered for the Red Cross.

After the war, Paulette returned home and Jim was sent to Dubendorf, Switzerland to repair and scrap damaged aircraft. Mom and Dad keep a serious long-distance relationship through postal letters. Jim proposed when he returned from the war. Jim was discharged in 1946.

Dad then worked for Republic Aviation on Long Island for several years. Then was transferred to a new project at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Jim enjoyed sports cars, art, and skiing. They had 3 children together, Jim, Jeff, and Andy. James B. Tunison was tragically killed in an auto accident a week before his 40th birthday.

Mom recently passed at 100 years and these volumes of photos were rediscovered. If you copy/ use any of the volumes somewhere else, please just credit James B. Tunison and Paulette Starz

This is the last of dad's albums from Burtonwood. At the end of the war James B. Tunison was transferred to Dubendorf, Switzerland in order to salvage or repair aircraft. These 21 pages are the end of his time in England and the flight and beginning of time in Switzerland where he developed a love of skiing.


Eppes Cutting Bob Applehances Hair

Consolidated B-24 Liberator Alley-oop

Zimmerman, Shaw, and Greider

Home in the 328th Air SV Squadron

Earl Courtney standing in the Window

Flying to Dubendorf, Switzerland, on September 3, 1945,

Coming in over the French Alps

The final approach to Dubendorf Airfield

C-87 Liberator Crash Piled up where the black X is indicated 

The Crash of  United States Army Air Force Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express in Dubendorf at Zurich Switzerland on Aug 18, 1945.at 1500 Local Time, Aircraft Registration is 44-39213.   

On touchdown at Dübendorf Airport, the right main gear collapsed, causing engine number four to hit the runway surface. The captain increased power and decided to go around. During the initial climb, the aircraft stalled and crashed in flames in a wooded area located some 550 meters northwest of Hangar #2.

Four crew members were killed while two others were injured.

James B. Tunison USAAF from BAD1 at Burtonwood England was assigned to Dubendorf in the Scrapping of American Aircraft at the time of the Crash, he states that the 4 Crew Killed were Technical Sergeant Case, Technical Sergeant Holt, Captain Neisser, and Captain Smith. 

Remains of the C-87 Liberator that crashed at Debendorf Switzerland

Remains of the C-87 Liberator that crashed at Debendorf Switzerland

The Main Entrance of Zurich Railway Station that was constructed in 1871 

This photo was taken in 1945

Photo taken in 1945 of the inside of Zurich Railway Station

Bowdick at Zurich Switzerland with Crossmunster Protestant Church in the Background Construction of the Church started about 1100 AD

A Dog called 'Churchill' passed on...

R.I.P., born 2, Died 8- 3-1945

From the Alert and crews Mascot

The only 'Limy' who loved us

Williams and Shope with the new Dog Prime Minister Attlee

Zimmy and Greider

B-24 at Burtonwood headed for the States in August 1945

North American P-51 Mustangs at Burtonwood Coming in for Salvage in their last Flights Peeling off

The first P-51 coming into Land

One P-51 Down

They Ain't yours no more Lieutenant

Vivi Section

25 Krauts and 5 Japs Colonel Landers P-51 Mustang

No put-put up front

Air Oars

VJ Night at RAF Burtonwood USAAF Station 590 on Tuesday the 14 of August 1945

A Mortar is Fired in Front of the Control Tower

Flares Fired Between Hangars 'J' and 'K'

Flares Fired on the 'Airfield'

'Bob Clapp & Bobbie Moddrell' in the electrical workshop

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Bellies in on Runway 09

'McCracken' is on top of the P-47

Clearing the P-47 off Runway 09

'Buck Fry' in the Federal C-2 Truck

'Me ... Tunison' is on the wing of a Royal Navy Hellcat

'Kinyon' on the wing of a 'Grumman F6F Hellcat'

'Grumman Flying Boat'

'Grumman Flying Boat'

Boeing B-17 Maintenance on Engine Number 4

'Tunison' in a 'C-87 Cockpit'

Playing Casino on K-Rations in a 690

From the Left are:

Tunison, Hoenes, and Theissen

Quai-Lake Zurich

From the Left are:

Hoenes, Theissen, & Tunison standing in front of a B-17

Tunison ... "I Blinked"

'I am Reddy Too'

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Der Amerikan Und Der Schweizer Fraulein

High in the Alps

'Achtung'











































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