Roger Freeman

An obituary has appeared in today’s Daily Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2005/10/22/db2203.xml

Roger Freeman

The man who kept the Mighty 8th alive in the UK

The UK’s historic aviation community has been saddened at the news of the death of Roger A. Freeman, the peerless military aviation writer and historian who coined the phrase “The Mighty Eighth”.

There is to be a memorial service for Roger at 3pm on Friday 21st October at St Mary’s Church in his home village of Dedham, near Colchester, to which those who knew him are cordially invited.

Roger was, of course, best known for his seminal “Mighty Eighth” series of books about the US 8th Air Force’s bomber offensive launched from the UK in World War II. In addition, he wrote some 50 books covering many other aspects of the wartime British and American air offensive. As such, he was a major consultant for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford; David Puttnam’s 1989 film Memphis Belle; and many TV documentaries.
Lt General E.G. “Buck” Shuler (USAF ret.), who commanded the US 8th Air Force during Operation Desert Storm, said: “Roger Freeman was the finest aviation historian and writer since the dawn of military aviation. He aided me immeasurably in putting together the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, Georgia in the mid-90s. A true gentleman has departed from the scene.”
General Shuler added that the entire library complex at the museum will be named The Roger A. Freeman Mighty Eighth Air Force Research Centre – a fitting tribute indeed.

Please also see my 2002 magazine article about Roger’s life, which is now online at: http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2004/freeman/freeman.htm

A tremendous loss. Roger was THE expert on the 8th Air Force, and a really nice bloke with it.

Rest in peace.

Quite sad news !!!

My condolences for its family

ERIC JANSSONNE

Roger Freeman’s passing

I echo the thoughts about Roger Freeman’s passing on this thread. A friend of mine recently emailed Roger on an aviation subject a few weeks ago, and Roger calmly added to the post that he would be dying in the next few weeks. It was his wish not to receive any more emails or calls, as time was short. I just got word about Roger’s passing from a friend in Colchester.

As a “Yank” on the other side of the pond, I have admired Roger’s works for many years. I got the privilige of meeting him last year when I came over to Boxted for the air show they had there. Roger had just published his book Wolfpack Warriors.

He will certainly be missed.

A very sad loss to the community. I’ve read many of his truely superb books about the USAAF during the second world war. ‘The Mighty Eighth’ is a bible to those wishing to research the 8thAF and the information available astounding. A great man… Rest in peace.

Very sad to learn of the passing of Mr Freeman, have many of his books on the Mighty Eighth in my collection and he was a great historian of American Airpower during WWII. I always wanted to meet him on my many trips to the UK , but never did. I know he came to many of the national chapter meetings of the Mighty Eighty Historical Society as a speaker & guest of US veterans! I used his book “Airfields of The Mighty Eighth” to visit many of the old based of the Eighth on my trips there. I send my condolences to his family and salute him for his long historic work paying honor to the men of the Eighth & Ninth US Army Air Forces who flew from your country during the war. I know many veterans here in the USA will be sad to learn of his passing. Thanks for posting this for us here on the other side of the big pond !

A salute from:

BlueNoser352!

I have many of his books and have always bought his books on his name alone…
A big loss…. RIP Roger

I was rather shocked to find the news of Rogers death published on here this morning, what is sad, is that the source of news of his passing comes from a US website with no mention of it on our local news bulletins, it’s obviously more newsworthy to go on about drug raids in Kings Lynn and idiots running ships aground at Dunwich rather than lament the passing of one of East Anglia’s great authors.
A few years ago, while looking through my copy of ‘The RAF in Colour’ I noticed some colour footage of Halifaxes at Bassingbourne. Remembering an incident related to me by my ex wifes uncle, Ralph Tailford, who was flight engineer on Halifaxes, I phoned him up and it was indeed his flight, diverted to Bassingbourne to refuel, the whole incident personally filmed by Clark Gable on a hand held camera. Would it be possible to find any more of this footage, only one way to find out.
I decided to track down Roger Freeman and ask, not knowing what the response would be. The internet only told me roughly where he lived, however the local telephone directory did the rest and I wrote to him.
Within days I got a fantastic reply, putting me straight on to a copy of the original film, an 8th Airforce gunnery training film narrated by Clark Gable and obtained from Amazon believe it or not, Roger then went on to sing the praises of aircrew like Ralph and offered to help with any other enquiries, what a great man he was.
Perhaps I’ll e-mail the local TV stations to ask if they can be bothered to report his sad death.

Whilst I would never claim to be fixated with the war in the air in europe I have had a copy of the “Mighty Eighth” on my bookshelf for many years if for no other reason than the sheer impressiveness of the cold sound objective editorialship of the author. In this age of emotive wrtiing the loss of of a man of such objective scholarship is very sad.

As we in New Zealand say a tall totara ( a mightly tree of the forest ) has fallen.

A sad loss indeed. We are not only losing the veterans, but even those who were kids at the time.

By all accounts a great bloke. Not knowing him personally all I can say in tribute is that I have enjoyed his work hugely.

Not a bad obituary.

Moggy

A great loss. He was perhaps the most imporatnt historian of American combat airpower. He popularized 8th AF history like no one before and I believe he was responsible for inspiring many 8th AF veterans to write their first person histories that we’ve seen published over the last decade or so.

I had the honor of meeting him when I was stationed in Suffolk in the late 80’s. The librarian at RAF Bent waters asked me for a suggestion on who could come to the base and give a lecture on area history. I suggested Mr. Freeman and within weeks he was there to give a talk. I was a bit concerned that WWII history might not appeal to some of the younger servicemen, but I shouldn’t have been worried. The place was full, and many A-10 pilots were there to learn about their predecessors who flew from the surrounding countryside nearly a half century before.

He signed my copy of The Mighty Eighth “With every good wish, Roger A. Freeman”

Fair winds, Mr. Freeman.

Sad news indeed. Roger was the supreme historian for the 8th USAAF here in England in WW2 and his books fill many spaces on my bookshelves.

We used to spend fsmily holidays at Poringland south of Norwich in 1943/44, myself as a small child. I well remember the noise as those 2nd AD B24 Liberators took off and formed up before setting course for enemy territory. Later in the day they would return, smaller in number. Roger lived further south in Fortress country and his youth was spent adjacent to an American base. We were both influenced by our respective wartime experience but Roger turned to authorship and became a superb historian.

Those who attended his summer schools at UEA will always remember him as will those who continue to use his many books as really valuable reference works. A veritable giant of an aviation author and historian is no more.

My sincere condolences to his family and so many friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cheers,

Trapper 69

Same as Andy in Beds, ‘The Mighty Eighth’ was my first ‘Big’ aviation book and most of his others followed.He will be sadly missed.

I have to confess only vaguely recognising the name Roger Freeman until…

…mention was made of ‘The Mighty Eighth’, which I read cover to cover as a young kid and remember being captivated by it, it inspired me to find out a lot more about that era…

Just echoing the messages of condolence to friends and family.

This is indeed very sad news. On a parallel theme to AiB, I bought a copy of the Mighty Eighth on 12.8.78, the day that my grandfather died, whom I adored. I still have it, inscribed with my thoughts on that sad day. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

A sad loss indeed. I have been fortunate over the years to have had several of his books signed by him. My condolences to his family.

This is terribly sad news. May he rest in peace.

When I finished studying engineering in 1984 I was almost immediately employed by Marconi at Stevenage.
I attended a Shuttleworth show that July and with a chunk of my first month’s salary I bought second hand (for it was long out of print at that time), Roger Freeman’s ‘The Mighty Eighth’.
I remember this incident because of two reasons, 1) My Mother was appalled I think that I could go out and spend twenty quid on a book on aviation and 2) this book started all the book collecting for me.
Every book on the shelves of ‘Jones Towers’ came after this one.
It’s simply the most magnificent book on aviation and is still, after all these years the book you need if you’ve an interest in the Eighth.
Mr Freeman will be very sadly missed.
Best as ever
AiB.

Apart from being a brilliant author and researcher, Roger was an extremely nice chap. Back in the 1970s, he found time to answer several letters from me about USAAF high ground crash sites. Subsequent meetings confirmed my first impressions. If there were an American equivalent of an honorary knighthood, Roger richly deserved it for his meticulous histories of the 8th.