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John E. Phillip Pickett collection, 1942-1999, Date accessioned: 2001-06-07

 

Summary

Creator:
Pickett, John E. Phillip, 1920-2000
Extent:
.25 Linear Feet
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], John E. Phillip Pickett collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-01-0201

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of photocopies of personnel records, official orders, and photographs related to the service of John E. Phillip Picket with the 13th Air Force, a tail gunner serving aboard a B-24 with the 307th Bomb Group of the 13th Army Air Force during World War II. There are official records documenting the number of missions Pickett and his crew undertook. Copies of a number of publications, including a history of the 13th Air Force in the Pacific, as well as summaries of each bombing mission that Pickett and his crew undertook in 1945, and several postwar reminiscences are included in the collection.

Biographical / historical:

John E. Phillip Pickett was born on June 20,1920 in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to joining the Army Air Force on June 20, 1942, Pickett was employed by the Department of Pathology at the Duke University School of Medicine. He attended preflight training at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas followed by primary flight school at Chickasha, Oklahoma with the 316th Army Air Forces Force Training Detachment. He did not advance further in pilot training and was reassigned to the aerial photography school at Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado from March 1943-June 1943. After completing photography school, Pickett was deployed to the 68th Air Depot Group based in Brookley Field in Mobile, Alabama. At Brookley, Picket photographed a boxing match between two African American fighters, possibly GIs. Pickett attended Harlingen Aerial Gunnery School from June 1944 – September 5, 1944.

Pickett was assigned to serve as gunner and radio for a B-24 with the 371st Bomb Squadron of the 307th Bomb Group of the 13th Air Force. Pickett's crew took part in bombing missions against Balikpapan, Rabaul, Saigon, and other targets in the Southwest Pacific in 1945. Pickett was discharged from Army Air Force on November 10, 1945 at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina. Pickett enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserve on May 20, 1947 and was discharged on May 19, 1950. Pickett attended reunions with his crew in the 1990s.

Pickett died on January 31, 2000 and is buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina.

Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to the public.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], John E. Phillip Pickett collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-01-0201

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA