Taking on the challenge of completely overhauling the 447th BG’s website was not taken lightly. When I was asked years ago, we didn’t even have a password to log on and make changes to the previous site at all. And when we did get access, I was admittedly taken aback by what I discovered.
If the website was to get a facelift it would have to be from the ground up. But I am not implying that this was starting from scratch. In fact, the opposite is true. Many good folks have worked for years on gathering the documents, photos and other information it takes to put together something like this.
I am going to simplify this a bit, but I want to make sure that credit is given to those who really have made this possible.
Hal Kiena personally invested a substantial amount to finance scanning of microfiche archives to preserve the load lists and mission documents that much of this is based on. He was inspired by the original website built by Lars Knudsen, and working with a group that included David Wayrynen, Rob Kirkwood and Steve Borcherding set out to make the information usable to preserve the history of the 447th BG. Paul Andrews also provided a new wave of information from the Eighth Air Force Memorial Museum Foundation’s Project Bits and Pieces. A great many 447th BG veterans and their families have generously provided wartime photos from scrapbooks and journaled accounts of their experiences at Rattlesden.
Kiena has generously shared a great deal of files created while organizing all the information they had — spreadsheets of pilots and crews, planes and names, gravesite and cemetery locations, cross-references of mission details, and so so so so so much more.
The site that Wayrynen built was archived so much of that information was still accessible (though many of the links are now dead ends). I was also to create a backup archive of the site as it was when Joe Ferris handled it.
Armed with everything that had been accomplished before, I accepted the challenge of trying to present a useful tool for visitors to learn about the activities, the planes and the veterans of the 447th.
The website
Mark at Provide.net was helpful in converting the 447bg.com domain over to a WordPress-based server. Not only does this allow for a fresher consistent look, but also the innards of the site will be accessible to multiple users. I want to ensure there is a select group of people who can get in and work on the site.
But for now, I am quickly “populating” the various pages with photos and information from the previous sites and the vast amount of files/documents at hand. I will try to cite the credits where possible, and may also just start a list here and just keep adding to it as I discover those that have contributed to this collection.
It can’t be said enough — Thank you!
- Hal Kiena
- David Warren
- Rob Kirkwood
- Lars Knutson
- Joe Ferris
- Garrett Hillery
- Stevin Oodshorn
- Gregory Pons
