ww2 pilot "doping"?

Jerry Yellin, in his book about his Iwo Jima P51 flying, is very clear in discussing their use of Benzedrine to keep going. They were told to take it one hour before they reached the target area and they took it on all their missions to Japan.

Dan

…He had been shot down by the Navy and was going to kill the first gunner he found, he had been on continual ops for three days and was benzedrined out of his eyeballs. It took two Royal Marines on each arm to hold him down while the MO gave him a shot to knock him out.

that’s what I’m saying, considering the age of an average USAAF pilot (around 25 years old i’d say?), and bearing in mind that u actually have to be fit enough to sit in a cockpit and bear with the G-loads and general stress factors, one must reckon that the doses of anphetamines used at the time might well have been really heavy. I remember reading in an italian doctor report kept in a small war museum here about the symptoms of the wounded “green devils” found in the Montecassino monastry: many of them were gone mad because of battle stress, but others showed an evident abuse of drugs.

Cheers

Alex

I seem to recall reading that Benzedrine was quite widely used in the RAF. It continued to be popular with lorry drivers and shift workers into the 1950s. In the James Bond books, 007 laces his champagne with it when he needs an edge – possibly a habit that Ian Fleming developed during his wartime spymaster role.

In World War One a popular source of comfort was Dr Collis Brown’s cough medicine. This was only made illegal about twenty years ago (there was an interesting documentary on it) as it contained Coedine, Morphine and Cocaine. The documentary included several letters sent to the company from soldiers at the front saying how the cough medicine got them through the horrors.

My dad remembers seeing a Mustang pilot fished out of the sea at Normandy and onto HMS Hawkins. He had been shot down by the Navy and was going to kill the first gunner he found, he had been on continual ops for three days and was benzedrined out of his eyeballs. It took two Royal Marines on each arm to hold him down while the MO gave him a shot to knock him out.

…This led to Benzedrine being produced in tablet form as a stimulant. Even though this drug was supposed to be inhaled, many people cracked the containers open and swallowed the paper drenched in Benzedrine that was contained inside, often with coffee or alcohol.

yes, I remember about reading this detail of the little papers drenched with benzedrine and put in the pilot’s mugs.
I wonder if this anphetamines consumption led to some dependance after or during the war.

Alex

Not World War II, but you may want to check this out:

CBC News Online Updated November 17, 2004
Go-pills, bombs & friendly fire
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/friendlyfire/gopills.html

Rob / Kansan

I remember reading that ecstasy was originally developed for keeping soldiers alert in the trenches by one side or the other, although I don’t know whether it was used in WWII.

Librarian Alert!! It’s a quiet Monday morning here 😀

Back on Wkipedia we find: (My highlights in bold)

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), most commonly known today by the street name ecstasy, is a synthetic entactogen of the phenethylamine family whose primary effect is to stimulate the secretion of large amounts of serotonin as well as dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain, causing a general sense of openness, empathy, energy, euphoria, and well-being. Tactile sensations are enhanced for some users, making general physical contact with others more pleasurable, but contrary to popular mythology, it generally does not have aphrodisiac effects. Its ability to facilitate self-examination with reduced fear has proven useful in some therapeutic settings, leading to its 2001 approval by the United States FDA for testing in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

A patent for MDMA was originally filed on Christmas eve 1912 by the German pharmaceutical company Merck, and granted two years later (to the day.) At the time, MDMA was not known to be a drug in its own right; rather, it was patented as an intermediate chemical used in the synthesis of a styptic (a drug intended to control bleeding from wounds.) Over half a century would pass before the first known ingestion of MDMA by humans.

Contrary to many rumours, the drug was never used as an appetite suppressant or as a stimulant for armed forces during wartime. (This was in fact methamphetamine.) The U.S. Army did, however, do lethal dose studies of it and several other compounds in the mid-1950’s. It was given the name EA-1475, with the EA standing for Edgewood Arsenal. The results of these studies were not declassified until 1969. MDMA was first brought to public attention through Dr. Alexander Shulgin in the 1960s who recommended it for use in certain therapy sessions, naming the drug ‘window’ (he discovered it while searching for compounds that might have a similar psychoactive effect as other compounds contained in nutmeg). It was widely used therapeutically by US psychotherapists (especially on the West Coast) because of its empathogenic effects until its criminalization in the late 1980s. The drug was hailed as a miracle by therapists and counselors who claimed couples could have six months worth of progress in one use of the drug, and soldiers returning from the Vietnam war could overcome their PTSD sometimes more effectively than talk or group therapy. A small number of therapists continue to use it in their practices today. (See below for 2001 FDA approval and DEA licensing for use in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.)

Until 1985, MDMA was not illegal in the United States. Recreationally, it first came into prominence in certain trendy yuppie bars in the Dallas area, then in gay dance clubs. From there, use spread to rave clubs, and then to mainstream society. During the 1990s, along with the growing popularity of the rave subculture, MDMA use became increasingly popular among young adults in universities and later in high schools. It rapidly became one of the four most widely used illegal drugs in the US, along with cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

Rob / Kansan

Haven’t heard about drugging up WW2 pilots, but i know in WW1 LSD (or something like that, surprisingly enough for a teenager i don’t know much about drugs!) was given to British Soldiers to cheer them up after the depressing sights of the trenches, but this was soon abandoned as it made them to happy and cheery to want to kill the enemy!

Not LSD in WWI – Also from our old friend Wikipedia:

“LSD” is an abbreviation of the German chemical name of the compound, Lysergsäure-diäthylamid. It was first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. Its psychedelic properties were unknown until 5 years later, when Hofmann, acting on a hunch, returned to work on the chemical. He attributed the discovery of the compound’s psychoactive effects to the accidental absorption of a tiny amount through his skin on April 16, which led to him testing a larger amount on himself for psychoactivity.

Rob / Kansan

Wakey-wakey pills were issued to bomber crews, and were sometimes hoarded for spells of leave!

I’ve also seen references to “Bennys”, so perhaps our crews were given Benzedrine, too?

Benzedrine “is” an Amphetamine (Amphetmanine is the generic term) so there’s no difference. I have seen references to it in RAF memoirs too, Al.

Rob / Kansan

Wakey-wakey pills were issued to bomber crews, and were sometimes hoarded for spells of leave!

I’ve also seen references to “Bennys”, so perhaps our crews were given Benzedrine, too?

Benzedrine and Amphetamine are not actually different substances: This is from Wikipedia:

Benzedrine is a racemic variant of amphetamine (dl-amphetamine) marketed under this brand in the USA by Smith, Kline and French in inhaler containers from 1928 forth. Benzedrine was used to enlarge nasal and bronchial passages and it is closely related to the substance named Ritalin® (methylphenidate).

As a side effect, physicians discovered that the amphetamine part of Benzedrine could help in treating narcolepsy. This led to Benzedrine being produced in tablet form as a stimulant. Even though this drug was supposed to be inhaled, many people cracked the containers open and swallowed the paper drenched in Benzedrine that was contained inside, often with coffee or alcohol.

In the 1940s and 1950s reports began to emerge about the abuse of Benzedrine containers, and in 1949, doctors began to move patients from Benzedrine to the weaker stimulant propylhexedrine. In 1959, the FDA made it a prescription drug in the United States.

Benzedrine should not be confused with the fundamentally different substance Benzphetamine.

A couple of RCAF memoirs on the web mention “Wakey-Wakey” pills for aircrew in the context of the Escape Kit:
http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/exag0106.html
http://web.mala.bc.ca/davies/letters.images/Memoirs/Forman.memoir.htm

It might be worth looking at “The Eighth Passenger” and some other Bomber Command memoirs (in print and on the web) to get a clearer picture. The Luftwaffe’s use of stimulants is a complete mystery to me.

Rob / Kansan

What – Hun and Jerries Icecream?

Sounds like an interesting field research project – suggest in depth article on the use of excessive Amaretto consumption in the Regia Aeronautica c.1939-1945!

Didn’t the ‘Messerschmitts to Malta’ contingent have to delay their trip due to o/d-ing on Italian ice cream en-route?

More seriously, I’m pretty sure that RAF bomber crews routinely used a ‘wakey’ pill – as many were later used to keep racing and rally drivers awake on events like the Monte Carlo and Liege-Rome-Liege Rallies in the 1950s (the latter event ran 96 hours non-stop).

Certainly Sir Stirling Moss admitted that the ‘wakey’ pills he was issued on the 1955 Mille Miglia worked particularly well. He drove the entire 1000 miles non-stop, took part in the Awards Party, then he drove from Italy to Stuttgart for a celebration dinner with the Mercedes Benz management, before eventually deciding he neede a night’s sleep!

Sounds like an interesting field research project – suggest in depth article on the use of excessive Amaretto consumption in the Regia Aeronautica c.1939-1945!

Amphetamines were used by the US military in WW2 for pilots and soldiers, remember reading that on the internet not too long ago

Haven’t heard about drugging up WW2 pilots, but i know in WW1 LSD (or something like that, surprisingly enough for a teenager i don’t know much about drugs!) was given to British Soldiers to cheer them up after the depressing sights of the trenches, but this was soon abandoned as it made them to happy and cheery to want to kill the enemy!