Max Kirby, WWII 8th Army Air Force Engineer

In 1998, sister and brother Sue Kirby Jameson and Max Edward Kirby were surprised when their family organized and printed their memories into two volumes titled “As I Recall.” There are memories of growing up among family and friends in Dunwoody. The second volume includes Max Kirby’s memories from WWII.

The Kirby family lived in Dunwoody, first arriving on the Roswell Railroad in 1914. They lived along what is now Pitts Road, later moving to downtown Dunwoody close to where there is a KinderCare Childcare Center today on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Like many families in DeKalb County, the Kirbys decided to start a dairy.

In 1943, Max Kirby was working for Southern Railway in Atlanta. After being inducted into the army, he was transferred to the Army Air Force and trained at Camp Wolters, Texas. Then he waited for his assignment to aviation preflight school. (Atlanta Constitution, July 7, 1943, “Max Kirby returns to Texas”)

Kirby became part of the 8th Army Air Force Bomber Command, deployed to England. The Bomber Command flew over and sought to destroy sites which enabled Germany to cause destruction across Europe. The goal was to gain command of the European skies to make way for an Allied land invasion. The men of the 8th AAF faced death daily. (nationalww2museum.org)

In “A Day in the life of a Bomber Crew member in World War II,” Kirby begins by describing the crew members aboard the plane.  The 19-year-old pilot and captain loved to fly in closer formation than the other pilots, which according to Kirby “…usually had the rest of us scared half to death.” The co-pilot was the oldest member of the crew at 23. Also on board were the bombardier, navigator, radio operator, ball turret operator, waist armament gunner, and top turret gunner. Kirby was the engineer.

“On mission day we were aroused from sleep at 2 a.m. We had one hour to shower and shave. Showering you could skip, but shaving was a must to make the oxygen mask fit snugly against your face. Lack of oxygen at high altitude meant certain death.”

The men would eat a big, hearty breakfast 3 a.m., knowing their next meal would not be until that night. A briefing was held at 4 a.m. They were told where they were going and what their position would be in the formation.

“The enlisted personnel then went to the equipment shack to pick up our parachutes and harness, heavy flying clothes, oxygen mask, helmet, life preserver, and flack suit.” The flack suit weighed about 50 pounds, according to Kirby.

“We went next to the armament building to pick up our guns to take to the plane and install into their various positions. Our plane carried thirteen 50 caliber machine guns.

I had to climb up on each wing and check all the fuel tanks, making sure they were full and then closing all caps and sealing each one with safety wire. If a fuel tank cap should come loose in flight, the suction on top of the wing would pull all the fuel from the tank.”

After thirty minutes of sleep under the wing, the men began putting on their gear. “On my head I wore a leather, fleece-lined helmet with built-in earphones, on top of that went a steel helmet, which I didn’t put on until just before enemy territory because of the weight. Take-off was around 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. Formation take-off was quite a thrill. We lined up on the perimeter in our exact position for take-off. There were 48 to 60 planes taking off, one being air-born every 30 seconds, so everything had to go like clockwork.

The next hour was spent getting into formation. Our group of 48 to 60 planes would join three other groups to make a wing, then four other wings joined to make a division-800 to 1,000 planes.”

Once they were over the English Channel, they test-fired their guns to make sure they were working properly. Then they headed towards the target.

“After dropping the bombs, we'd turn away, drop the plane's nose, set the engine on emergency power and dive to get out of there as soon as possible. Our plane was red-lined not to exceed 325 miles per hour, but at times I’ve seen the airspeed indicator bounce up to the redline.”

They arrived back at the base after ten to 12 hours flying time. “The best sound in the world is to hear the tires squeal when they hit the runway.”

After a debriefing session, the men headed to the mess hall around 7 or 8 p.m. “After chow we were free to go to our barracks. Most everyone fell into the sack until 2 a.m. the next morning.”

This routine could go up to seven days in a row if the weather was good. Then, the men would get one or two days off. When the weather was bad, they would fly practice or weather missions.

In August of 1945, the Atlanta Constitution reported that Sergeant Max Kirby of the 8th Air Force was returning to Sioux Falls, South Dakota after a 30-day furlough and visit with his mother Laura Kirby in Dunwoody.

Kirby died in 2010 and is buried at New Hope Cemetery in Dunwoody, close to where his family once ran their dairy.

“As I Recall” is held in the archives of the DeKalb History Center.