Frank had tried to enter the service several times and was not "heavy" enough (136' and needed to be 138') but had completed 2 Years of College and then did enter the Service on 29 Dec. 1941 in Texas at Kelly Field. Frank was accepted directly into the Army Air Corp and would eventually fly Combat in the B-25 Mitchell Medium Bomber in the Mediterranean Theater in the 321st Bomb Group, 447th Bomb Squadron.

Frank would also be one of "the 1st" of the Pilots who seemed to have all walked in shoulder to shoulder and all were in the [Now Famous] Gen Bob Knapp's 321st Bomb Group "Flight over the Atlantic (The "HOP") the Southern Route in a single mass without loss. Leaving Morrison Field, Fla. 15 Feb. 1943,

Capt. Francis E McGowan was an original with the Knapp Group that crossed the Atlantic by the Southern Route, a pilot that flew in the co-pilot's seat with Lt Austin D Andrews in the Southern Belle #41-12997 with W Murtha, M Small, and M Boris. Frank was a bunk-mate with Lt Dan McDuff. . . Great friends with John "Buster" Burns, Big Rich ( R Richardson), Big and Little Brink (Hamilton and Wilton Brinkley), McKinnley (KIN) Cohagen. Frank and Al Duke were also friends and trained together with Bob Spikes and Jim Bugbee. . . well, they pretty much all went through pilot training together at Randolph and Ellington Field. These men made up the original Cadre' . Frank was all of 21 years old when he went to SC, the 321st BG, then the 447th BS. Frank said "I flew about the 1st fifteen to twenty Missions with Austin Andrews, as co-pilot, then got my own ship with Paul Gill, and Harold Paiton as my Bombardier. I also flew many Missions with Roy Tate as my Bombardier. I still correspond with Serge Neprash, (2007) our Squadron Intelligence Officer, who stayed on with the Bomb Wing until the war ended in Europe. In the War Diary, Frank became 1st Lt. on 21 Aug. '43 . . . Reaching his 50th Mission on 14th Oct. '43. By then had become Captain. Capt. McGowan said "On one of my first Missions (Africa) I was instructed to land at about 50 feet and after a wide-eyed landing, asked the crew chief how high the strip was ?" (as he was certain that he had touched the waves) and he said, "Oh, about 50 feet !" He figured his approach, then , had been about 5 feet above sea-level !

Francis Edward Mcgowan