Connecticut being on the coast and with a big submarine base, everyone knew we could be a bombing target.
Albert Russo. b. 1934
My uncle, Gene, belonged to the Aircraft Warning Service. He and other men got trained to recognize German airplanes and would go at night to the top of the Mallory hat factory and stand look out.
They had a large spotlight they could use if they thought they spotted a plane. I went with my uncle one night, but we did not spot any planes.
The spotters taped cut outs of the German planes on the walls and had decks of cards with the silhouettes of the planes on them. My uncle gave me a deck of the cards and I had a good time at school testing the other kids. Some of the other kids also went plane spotting but we never saw a German plane.
Albert, I had that deck of cards of all the foreign airplanes and all the boys in our neighborhood would sit on out front steps and go through them. What a small world. That was Syracuse, NY.
Best Regards,
Skip Wood