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He reported to Patrick Air Force Base on Long Island, New York, but they had nothing for him to do. Van Kirk made it to Scotland and from there he landed in New York. From Casablanca they made it to Marrakesh, Morocco with a pilot delivering mail, who was not going to Marrakesh originally. They tried to get him to take a boat but he refused. From Oran he made it to Casablanca, Morocco where he stayed for a month. He knew almost all of the pilots on the bases in North Africa, so he was able to bum rides off of them. On his way home, he stopped in Algiers, Algeria and had to find his own transportation. At first they could not send him home, so he toured North Africa in command cars.
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Theodore Van Kirk completed his tour of duty and was sent home because he flew over 50 missions. They bombed a German airfield and actually hit the mess hall when most of the German pilots were eating. They were extremely lucky during their first mission. Van Kirk was given a standard road map to navigate with during their first mission in North Africa. They had to load their own bombs and refuel the plane with five gallon gas cans. Shortly after the invasion of North Africa started, they wanted to help. Tibbets flew with them the entire time they were in North Africa. Van Kirk flew 58 missions out of North Africa. They flew to Gibralter and stayed with the 12th Air Force. General Eisenhower was on Van Kirk's B-17. They were called to Hurn, England, given civilian clothes and passports, and ordered to take General Eisenhower and his staff to North Africa. Van Kirk had a Tommy gun, a carbine, and a. They flew 14 missions in England before flying General Clark, to North Africa. They thought it was a lucky airplane and it was, they were never shot down. They picked one with the tail number 924444. They received a new shipment of airplanes at one point and Tibbets told him and Tom to pick one out for their crew. They made it back to England safe, but the mission was confusing and disorganized. They had 100 airplanes on this mission, including B-24s. They flew to Rotterdam, Netherlands on his sixth mission. The same thing happened on their fifth mission. They made it back unscathed from the first mission, but they came under heavy fire during their third mission and received a new airplane. On their first mission, they flew to Rouen, France. They did not go on the first mission out of England due to a mixup. Theodore Van Kirk recalls his first combat mission in Europe in B-17s. Paul Tibbets took over Rocket's crew which included Van Kirk. Rocket was eventually court marshaled when they reached England.
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He was assigned to 340th Bombardment Squadron, his commanding officer was Paul Tibbets. After training he joined the 97th Bombardment Group in Sarasota, Florida. He truly enjoyed navigation training, until they doubled his training at Kelly Field, Texas. A captain convinced him to go to navigation school instead. He washed out of pilot training and he planned to join the RAF. He transferred to Enid, Oklahoma for basic training. He learned to fly in a PT-13 within two days. He started his training in a civilian facility in Missouri. He almost did not pass his final physical for training because he lost four teeth playing football. Van Kirk did not hear back from aviation school for over a year. He had to pass an exam to get into the school and has no idea how he passed it. He attended college for a year before attending aviation school. When it became apparent to him that the United States would have to join the war at some point, he applied for aviation cadet school because he would rather fly than walk on the ground in the mud. He went on a ride in a biplane and was fascinated from that moment on. He became interested in aviation and flying when he visited a county fair during his childhood. He grew up in a very small town and he described himself as a river rat because they lived so close to two rivers. Theodore Van Kirk, known as Dutch, was born in Pennsylvania.