17th Bomb Group

From the Book 17th Bomb Group

"On September 20, 1942, the 17th Bomb Group's Air Echelon took a troop train form Shreveport to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, where the men were processed and issued clothing and equipment. From there they went to the New York Port of Embarkation and boarded the luxury liner, the Queen Mary, beginning their journey across the Atlantic on September 27. The high speed crossing on a course through U-Boat infested waters exposed them to possible Luftwaffe attack. All was peaceful, until October 2 as they were nearing the Irish coast. Here their ship collided with one of her escorts, the British cruiser Curacao. The British Vessel almost cut in half, immediately sank taking 338 lives with it."

Report from an Eye Witness

Jack B Henderson

17th Bomb Group - WWII

You asked to be refreshed about the Queen Mary. Don't like war stories as such but I did respond on this one. Some person wrote The Sortie and asked if anyone else was still around who was on this "cruise". He was going to a reunion and wanted something to talk about. Sent him clippings* from Daily Telegraph 1960 era when we lived in Middlesex on Kewferry Road. The Telegraph said: "W2 Most Closely Guarded Secret Now Revealed" Here is a copy of my response.

Good Morning: Yes I, too, was aboard the Queen as you described and yes I slept in that same Foreign Legion horse stable in Telergma! [N Africa] Curt Sluman was our commander. Ross Greening was among us as was 'Davie' Spicer. Dr Large was our medic.

But now to your request for information regarding that collision at sea. What I will offer is ' only as I remember" supported with some documentation. You apparently had visual contact-at the moment of impact- I did not. I was on deck from just after daylight until what I recall was around 2 p.m., was bored and had just returned to my bunk- felt a jar-as if some one had slammed into my bunk-and, in recall, remembered that the porthole [portside] was blanked out momentarily. Apparently this was 1/2 of the light cruiser we had impacted amidships sliding by.

You will remember that from outside the New York harbor we were without escort. The Captain, in an effort to impress us, announced:" there 17,500 of you aboard and we have life boat capability for 5,000-stay away from the rails- we will not stop for anyone who falls overboard". Innocently we did not know [later intelligence reports] that the 2 Queens and the Normandy were, because of their troop carrying capability the highest priority targets for Sub commanders. The strategists felt with our 30-knot, speed, subs were not as great a threat. However we were on an 'anti-sub' course [zig zaging]*. About 24 hours out of Gouric Scotland the Queen's Captain had come on the Tannoy [the night before our anticipated docking] announcing "-- just after day break we would observe a large British battle fleet on a 180 course from ours." He continued that it was tradition for the RN to dispatch one vessel to 'salute' the Queens and if we were interested we could watch. This salute was done by a designated vessel crossing. {remember the* anti sub course} the Queen's bow and dipping her colors. Also I remember the Captain, later announcing on the Tannoy that '--we struck and sank a cruiser-all hands lost--' 'we would be slowed to 18 knots-from 30- and we would rec. daylight A/C escort ". See clippings re survivors and number aboard [maybe the Captains figure included crew] Sorry clippings are blurred.*

We disembarked, and boarded the Scottish Express bound for RAF Bassingbourne [near Cambridge]. We now brag about trains doing over 100 mph-- that one could and did in Oct 1942! Could continue but that would be getting away from your query. Much later and on second o/s tour I saw this article in the Daily Telegraph. [enclosed] Have tried to keep "I's" to a minimum-and please recall: "this is how recall brings this version back'. As a point of minor interest and after my second tour-3 yrs later- [from Linz Austria to South Hampton, U K] returned to U S on Queen Mary! There were 12,000 passengers this time- more crowded than [yours and mine] first voyage- because of female troops. The only direct order from a superior officer [a Transportation Corps Col.] I ever refused was a request to detail a number of my men [had a detachment of 170 air corps, inf., armored] to carry the baggage of these personnel aboard. Most of their baggage had 'mementos of war' visible and overhanging. My people had come from N Africa, Med., and Europe and had their mementos in their heads. No, he didn't prefer charges-but his M P escort were not friendly let's say. That was then-this is now. Cest la Vie and Cheers

The Sortie seemed to stress your need for input/pictures. The recent query re: Queen Mary prompted me to respond to the writer. Have found a very readable clipping from Daily Telegraph [circa 1960], which gives a more detached coverage.

 

The Clippings

Note:

After a sterling performance in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of operation the B-26 Marauder met an inglorious fate.

EUROPE

To quote from 17th Bomb Group by Turner Publications:

"The dismantling of the war included disposing of American Equipment as well. All of the B-26's that had not been turned over to France (and that included numerous 17th Marauders) were flown to a depot at Landsberg near Munich, where they were blown up to be melted down for scrap."

DOMESTIC (USA Aircraft)

The following information and pictures were supplied by John Harris:

"I was half way through the Martin B-26 transition school at Frederick, OK when the war with Japan ended. The school closed the next day, as I remember it. Things were very disorganized. A friend and I went to the flight line every day trying to get some flying. We managed a few flights, but it probably wasn't smart. Since we weren't either, we continued to fly when they'd let us. The enlisted guys wouldn't go any more and we did things like forgetting to turn on the generators (they were in the compartment behind the pilots). Those electric props didn't like that. Eventually, they started to ferry the airplanes to Walnut Ridge to be scrapped. I begged on to that to get some time. Had to go as co-pilot. It still makes me feel sort of bad thinking about Walnut Ridge. They chopped them up. I managed 65.7 hours in the Martin B-26. Most were light and stripped down. Some were combat models with only the guns removed. I thought it a great airplane. The in flight shots are on the way to Walnut Ridge, Ark to the scrap heap. (see Pictures below)

 

NOTE

• (1) John Harris flew a tour in Korea with the 13th Bomb Squadron. His story follows "My service with the 13th Bomb Sq., 3rd Bomb Wing began in June, 1951. I was picked up in an Air Force sweep to find replacements for some of the original members who were there when the war started, or arrived there shortly after. I was eager to go, and was accepted with a total of 22 hours in the Douglas B-26 Invader. What little training I received was done at Iwakuni, Japan. I had by-passed Langley. We moved to Kunsan, Korea in August 1951. I did on-the-job training and flew 57 missions, all at night except for two. It was the best refresher school ever."John W. Harris
• (2) A more complete story of John's participation in the Korean war can be found in: Fly Until You Die (The story of the 452nd Bomb Wing (L) in Korea)

German Jet and Rocket Aircraft

William Allan, Jr.

37th Squadron -World War II

Here's a bit of 17th history that was startling to me, although I profess no expertise other than my experience as lead navigator with the 37th Squadron of the 17th Bomb Group, and after the war, 495th Squadron of the 344th Bomb Group. As I say in the text, it all started when I answered notices in the 344th newsletter, or perhaps the Air Force Magazine, or both.

There was a sense of the eerie in the skies over southern Germany in the winter and spring of 1945. Heavy bombers of the U. S. Eighth Air Force reported unusual balls of smoke and fighter pilots told of encounters with jet-propelled aircraft, which could out-run, out-climb and out-gun them.

Not that the Allied air forces hadn't been warned of the presence of jets and their danger. We reportedly had two prototype P-80s near Paris, but they were experimental, unarmed and nonoperational.

The Germans had gotten their technological act together far sooner, and while not exactly weird, this all made for a sense of anticipation. You weren't exactly sure what you 'd encounter up there. That, as it turned out, was a bit of understatement, for jets merely were a prelude to one of the most unusual and virtually unknown types of aircraft ever flown, to this day: the Me-163 Komet.

The bubble burst for the U. S. 17th Bomb Group late in April, when on a bombing mission in the vicinity of Ingolstadt, just west of Munich, two jets later identified as Messerschmitt Me-262s tore into a flak element from below and sent two B-26s spiraling to oblivion. The flak element had deliberately left the formation and dropped shredded metal to confuse and attract the antiaircraft away from the formation. German fighters laid in ambush for any plane straying from the concentrated firepower of the formation -flak ships, stragglers and especially damaged bombers unable to keep up. Jet superiority intensified the advantage.

Then on a subsequent 17th mission in the same vicinity, an even more unusual German plane came in low at I2 o'clock, climbing at an unbelievable speed and climb rate, slid through the lead group itself, underneath the lead ship and over the No. 4 plane of the lead group -through a space a few hundred feet in depth -as another B-26 fell.

Fortunately, the war in Europe ended before many more such encounters occurred, and perhaps that's why jets in World War II generally, and the Me163 in particular remained so obscure. They personally were all but forgotten until years later when a friend handed me a paperback history, "Horrido, " by Raymond F. Tolliver and Trevor J. Constable (Bantam Books, New York) which put most all this into crystal clear, but still incredible, perspective.

Interest continues to this day in both the Me-262 and the Me-163 Komet, and these two late missions of the 17th. In the past two years, I personally have been queried by German and English researchers about two missions the 17th Bomb Group flew very late in April of 1945. The Europeans seem to be concentrating on the little town of Schrobenhausen, about 20 mile s southwest of Ingolstadt. Most interested, I went through some old navigation logs, and found the 17th Bomb group as being very active in the vicinity on April 22/25, 1945, some of our very last missions in Europe. And there on one log was "Schrobenhausen."

The book, "Horrido, " concentrates on the "Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe " many of whom the authors interviewed personally. And in doing so, documented some really incredible "inside the Luftwaffe " history in addition to the fact that the 17th tangled with JV 44, the so-called German Squadron of Experts."

First, the Germans developed experimental, jet-propelled aircraft as early as I938/39 -before the beginning of World War II -and, according to "Horrido": "By the end of 1944 some 564 Me-262s had been produced and in the ensuing three months a further 740 came off the assembly lines" at the Messerschmitt factory at Augsburg, some 40 miles southwest of Schrobenhausen.

While this may raise a few eyebrows today, it wasn't startling news to Allied Supreme Command. Jimmy Doolittle 's Doubleday biography (" Doolittle." by Lowell Thomas and Edward Jablonski) documents, "The rocket and jet fighters that Doolittle had cautioned against the previous summer materialized menacingly in the spring of 1945 . . . but the effect on Allied air force crews was one of apprehension."

Why such a lapse, of five long, critical years in connection with aircraft which would have given the Luftwaffe critical superiority? Not even Doolittle knew the answer to that one; one of the really staggering, and little publicized facts of World War 11, according to "Horrido.": The jets largely were put on the back burner personally by Adolf Hitler, who wanted bombers to bomb England into submission, and not fighters , principally because he did not envision Germany getting into adefensive battle.

This obsession grew until April of 1944, five long years later, when Hitler threw one of his tantrums upon learning that the Me-262 twin jet was being manufactured as a fighter, not a bomber. Hitler ordered all Me-262 production halted, and Field Marshall Hermann Goring agreed, setting off a muffled feud within the Luftwaffe.

No one argued openly, because it was extremely dangerous to try to reason with Hitler, especially during a tantrum. But the situation set bomber pilots against fighter pilots, sabotaged German air power from within, and got Adolf Galland fired as top Luftwaffe tighter pilot.

Later as Allied air power pounded German industry, and especially German aircraft production, Hitler relented a smidgeon and allowed every 2lst Me-262 being built to be a fighter instead of a bomber. Twenty jet bombers, one jet fighter, period. Then, finally, all Me-262s became fighters.

By then it was too late to make much difference, but German air officials put all their best pilots into the jet fighters, and generally speaking, when one jet took one pass one bomber went down, says "Horrido." The jets 'superiority cannot be over stressed, to the point their speed had to be reckoned with, even by them, according to Tolliver and Constable.

It's difficult for us to envision now, but jets were so new their idiosyncrasies were difficult to handle.

Initially German jets attacked bombers from the front of our formations, from 12 o 'clock low, and the closing speed with the bombers was near 600 miles per hour, which gave pilots very little time to pick out a target and fire. Later they switched to attacking from the rear, and slowed down things to a more reasonable 240/260-mph. Allied fighters, even British Spitfires and U. S. P-51 Mustangs, were at a disadvantage in connection with the jet's speed, rate of climb and firepower. These new fangled jets were not all things to all pilots, however, and the slower prop planes could easily outmaneuver the jets, so German pilots were ordered to avoid dogfights and concentrate on bombers, "Horrido" goes on.

The Allies learned that the jets particularly were vulnerable to attack while landing because there was a noticeable delay between when they applied throttle and the actual acceleration of the plane. As a result, Allied pilots followed the Germans "home" and then attacked. Many more were destroyed on the ground.

None of which explains the "jet " which came in low at 12 o 'clock and skidded between the lead and No. 4 ships of the 17th Bomb Group that April day near Landsburg. Because it wasn't a jet, but a tiny rocket plane, a V-2 buzz bomb with a pilot, so to speak, armed with what the Germans called a "Jazz Music cannon, " 30 mm cannons mounted to fire upward and forward, later updated to a 30mm rocket firing missile version of the "Jazz Music." (There is no explanation in "Horrido" for the name, "Jazz Music."

Rocket planes also were known in Germany before the war and squelched by Hitler, according to the book: "The Me-163 had its origin before the war, in the activities of the German Research Institute for Sailplanes, developed from a basic design by Professor Alexander Lippisch, the rocket fighter was pursued under Messerschmitt factory auspices from early 1939 onward. "

Flying a buzz bomb was a bit tricky; the Me-163 Komet, as it was designated, carried two metric tons of "T-Stoff ' fuel, which gave it only four minutes of flying time at full thrust. The pilot had 60 to 90 seconds to reach altitude (no problem, the thing climbed effortlessly at 45 degrees and 10,000 feet per minute). He had two minutes to select a target, fire and get home, although at less than full throttle this could all be extended to six minutes, and the extra two minutes could make getting home more pleasant. That was important because normally the Komet landed without power like today's space shuttles. The pilot had one pass at landing, and one alone.

To intensify the situation, the T-Stoff (and later Z-Staff)was some "84 percent hydrogen superoxide, with a mixture of carbon dioxide, (straight) hydrogen and mysterious catalysts and ferments,'*to quote German pilot Heini Ditmar, who flew one. "... these fuels were nothing to fool with, " he continued. "We had to bury pilots who had literally been dissolved through T-Stoff . . . or blown to smithereens because of an explosion. "

In addition, German regulations forbid parachuting out of an aircraft traveling over 300 miles per hour, and to slow a Me-163 to 275 mph. a drag chute usually had to be deployed. (One. again sans power. landed with its chute deployed.)

But to U S Airmen, this all translated into strange puffs of smoke and attacks from I2 o'clock low at speeds that sent the enemy skidding through a formation within a few hundred feet or so below his target so fast the tiny plane was merely a blur.

According to Tolliver and Constable, later Komets "were equipped with a rocket version of the upward firing Jazz Music canon. The tubes pointed upward, and the rockets fired automatically when the Komet flew under enemy aircraft. The optically guided missiles could shatter the largest of bombers." Conventional machine guns, in conventional aircraft, could not track such a fast-moving target, but the 17th Bomb Group netted one on a subsequent mission, we think.

Someone called out, "Jets 12 o'clock low," the entire formation fired forward, and the Me-163 ran into our fire. Or,that's what we thought at the time. You see, he went by so fast we never knew. We rationalized that a man in his full senses never would attempt such a maneuver.

On one of these missions, the 17th observed the jets and/or Me-163s taking off on the Autobahn between Munich and Augsburg. A mission was scheduled to bomb the highway but was scrubbed because of weather. That literally was days before the end of the war in Europe, and the Me-262 and Me-163, along with some other German jets, faded into obscurity.

U. S. jets didn't really surface until the Korean War.

To be contemplated out of all this is what might have occurred if Hitler had not thrown his tantrums and allowed mass production of jet lighters, even with all their dangers perhaps rocket ships and guided missiles, away back in 1939, when neither the U. S. nor Great Britain had anything remotely competitive.

Author Robert Forsyth, of Tunbridge , Wells, England, thinks the 17th was hit by the unique German fighter group. In a letter in connection with the 17th's April 24 missions, he wrote me:

"For the past seven years, I was involved in researching and writing a history of the formation and operations of Jagdverband 44 (JV 44) which was a unique Me-262 jet fighter unit established at Brandenburg-Briest, Germany, in February 1945 by Generalleutnant Adolf Galland following his dismissal from the post of General der Jagdfieger by Goring in what was a clumsy attempt to quash an attempted 'rebellion' by several leading figures within the Luftwaffe 's fighter force."

"The reputation of this unit (JV 44)was elevated to almost mythical status because of the high number of skilled ,yet disillusioned 'experten '-young aces, many decorated with the Knights Cross and with years of experience in fighting in the west, over North Africa and Russia -who flocked to join it in an attempt to fly the revolutionary Me262 before the end of the war. "

Galland was shot down April 26, and thus ended the Squadron of Experts.

To be learned from Hitler, men with dictatorial powers make mistakes that rarely are corrected for fear of offending their creators and getting killed. Sometimes this all works to the advantage of normal people

(November and December 1942)

Ronnie Macklin

34th Squadron -World War II

Crews did not stay together while flying overseas. Our top turret gunner and the tail gunner were taken off at Natal, Brazil and flew by commercial aircraft (Pan American) or military aircraft to Telergma, Algeria.

The routes of these gunners and the airplanes were entirely different. The gunners got into Telergma many days before the aircraft arrived. They were first flown from Natal, Brazil, to Ascension Island, to Accra, Gold Coast then to Tafarouri near Oran, Algeria. Tafarouri was the largest airfield in North Africa. This was supposed to be where the 319th Bomb Group was, but they had since been moved to Maison Blanc near Algiers.

The gunners were kept at Tafarouri a few days and then sent to Maison Blanc to try to meet the 319th who had again moved, this time to Telergma, Algeria. By the time the gunners arrived at Telergma the 319th had lost most of their aircraft either from combat or the trip from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tafarouri was the ultimate in disorganization. When we arrived, they had no beds, no blankets and very little drinking water. I spent the first night in an engine box in one of the bombed out hangars using my flying suit to keep warm. During the night we had an air raid. This was the first time I had seen German flares and ack ack. I figured I would stay in the box. It might be as safe as running from one point to another. I was right.

The next day there was a sniper in a tower taking shots at passing people. Then, some American troops with a 37mm cannon showed up and took one shot at the tower. Bam! -no sniper. I could not believe they did that with one shot. There were American paratroopers and English soldiers in the barracks. They moved out and we moved in and finally had beds and blankets.

There were B-17s and B-24s operating from there. The battle damage was extensive. The B-24s could not cope with the deep mud and many broke off the nose wheel while taxiing. The mud at Tafarouri was unbelievable. I later learned that the Corps of Engineers uses the word Tafarouri to describe the worst mud conditions. They were right. Very few vehicles could move. No jeeps were allowed because they could not cope with the deep mud. The shock from going from peace to war was unbelievable but going from normal to bad rations and then English rations was even worse. We had tea, tea and tea, Hard biscuits and hash. Then mutton stew that you could smell for a mile. Had it not been for the Arabs selling us oranges, dates, almonds, eggs, French bread and sorry French wine, I don 't think we would have made it. Our 1942 Christmas dinner was hard biscuits, hash, tangerines and tea. Had an air raid alarm at 9: 00 pm. December 27. Had air raid alarms at 3: 00, 7: 00 and 9: 00 pm. During the nine o 'clock air raid Cliff Wherley threw a can of what he thought was water on the fire. It was gasoline. We tried putting out the fire with our blankets. We lost our blankets but did put out the fire. Then, everyone made a record 200 yard dash over the hills. No bombs were dropped but the airplanes stayed over us for quite a while circling.

The 3 19th had very few missions after the 17th arrived at Telergma. They moved to Biskra for a short time and then were withdrawn from combat to Oujda and then to Rabat.

On either the first or second missions the top turret gunners decided that they could do better if they took the stops off of their guns that prevented the guns from shooting the airplane. On the next mission an ME-I 09 intercepted the formation and went up high and came down through the formation with his guns blazing. The top turret gunner in the airplane I was in followed him beautifully but managed to shoot off the elevator and part of our horizontal stabilizer. A P-38 pilot saw this elevator going past the formation and said we had better climb slowly to get over the mountains and back to Telergma. This was done and everyone got home. We learned that day that a B-26 will fly with one elevator. The next day the stops were put back on the turret guns and safetied. I was the man in the tail. I know what it is like to have fifty caliber bullets flying by your head.

The first mission of the 17th was on December 30,1942 to bomb the airfield at Gabes, Tunisia. There were six aircraft, five from the 34th Squadron. There was supposed to be an escort but they did not show up at the rendezvous point so the formation went on to the target. The field was bombed successfully and then we were intercepted by a group of ME-109s. Three aircraft received damage. "Thunder" from the 34th bellied in at Telergma. Joe Doyle had his thumbs shot off and Gubanski was blown out of the top turret. At the time of the first mission the 17th was attached to the 319th for rations and they loaded our bombs. The fuellers at this time were English soldiers with small trucks that held about five hundred gallons. They had hand pumps and fueling was very slow. The crews were responsible for getting the aircraft ready. The 319th loaded the ammunition and bombs. The 17th ground crews arrived later and took over these functions.

On one of the first missions that we had P-38 escorts (we usually had P-40s on the early missions)we were jumped by ME-109s and the P-38s led us home. The gunners had to protect the B-26s and the P-38s. Our motto the next day was "Look to Lockheed for Leadership. "

"The Guns of Toulon" --  what memories that phrase must evoke in the minds of some former 17th Bomb Group members.

The Guns of Toulon were a complex of three 340mm gun batteries mounted in turrets on a peninsular in front of the harbor at Toulon. In addition, numerous medium-sized guns were strung out along the coast. Surrounding this complex were seventy-five German 200mm and 105mm Flak guns-all capable of engaging attacking aircraft.

Operation Dragoon-the invasion of Southern France- began on 2 August,1944. Phase III of the operation called for the 42nd Wing's three groups to disable these guns. Despite the admonition by the 42nd Wing, that obtaining direct hits on such small targets in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire would be very difficult, the attack was ordered to go forth.

On 13 August, aircraft of the 17th Bomb Group twice dropped 2000# bombs on the complex, encountering intense, accurate AA fire which damaged a number of the attacking B-26's. On 16 August suring a subsequent attack, RED 34, a 37th BS B-26 suffered so much damage that it belly landed upon return to base.On 18 August another B-26 went down. On 20 August the 37th, 95th and 432nd each lost a B-26.

About the loss of 18 August, 1st Lt Joseph Jennings relates that the first hit was in the left engine, while the next hit was in the bomb bay. Lt. Jennings upon discovering fire in the navigation compartment and extinguished it with a fire extinguisher. When a third strike knocked out the hydraulic system and the emergency system, the co-pilot gave the order to 'abandon ship'. First Lieutenant C.J Olsen remained at the controls while Lt Jennings assisted the other crew members in bailing out. Jennings, who received severe burns, was the last to bail out and was rescued by Air-Sea rescue that evening. Lt Olsen went down with the plane.

Of the 28 raids that the 42nd Wing conducted against this complex only five succeeded in in making a dent in the batteries. The "Battle of Toulon Harbor" cost the 42nd wing eight B-26's and resulted in battle damage to 125 others. During these missions the 17th encountered the heaviest, most accurate Flak it had ever seen.

On 23 August French forces captured Toulon and Marsailles putting an end to this battle.

Toulon proved to be one of the toughest targets the 17th Bomb Group would encounter.

Maurice Walton

I’d like to relate the story and circumstances surrounding the awarding the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross to my World War II tail-gunner, Sergeant Jesse A. Ward.

Jesse, formerly of Woodbury, Oklahoma, was a happy, smiling boy who met and married the civilian PX officers' daughter Shirley while we were stationed at Barksdale Army Air Base, Louisiana.

On August 16, 1944, Phase III of “Operation Dragoon” began. The group was to knockout a series of bridges over the Rhone and Durance Rivers. Also, and perhaps even more significant, we were to wipe out the heavy gun batteries at Toulon. These turret mounted guns were defended by seventy-five heavy flak guns. We lost five aircraft shot down and numerous others damaged during this phase of the operation.

We were flying a B-26 Marauder named Red 34, and were number two on the 37th Squadron CO’s right wing. Capt. Rodney S. Wright, from Washington State, who had formerly been an RAF pilot, was in the lead formation and was dropping GP bombs on the flak guns and emplacements around Toulon. We were well past the IP and had just started our final approach to the target when suddenly aluminum chaff began to flutter and bounce through our formation. I couldn’t believe it! The chaff made the already intense and deadly flak doubly accurate. Historically speaking, Toulon proved to be one of the 17th’s toughest targets of the entire war.

Then, just at bombs away our right engine was hit hard and immediately caught on fire. Luckily, copilot Don Hoover was able to feather it. That action, along with his expending the fire extinguisher on the engine, put the fire out. Worse, although we weren’t yet aware of it, Sergeant Ward way back in the tail position had been hit and his right arm was badly torn open.

When Sergeant Ward didn't respond to our crew check, I summoned Staff Sergeant Brown, the radio waist gunner, to check on Sergeant Ward’s condition. He soon came forward and said that Sergeant Ward had been wounded and was bleeding profusely. Bombardier Tom Richardson then crawled back to Sergeant Ward’s position and gave him an injection of morphine. Staff Sergeant Chuck Zahn, top turret gunner, then helped me move Ward to the radio compartment where Richardson administered first aid.

During this process we alternated holding our fingers under Ward's arm to prevent excessive bleeding. At the same time, Sergeants Brown and Zahn were busy throwing out guns, flak vests, ammunition, anything that was excess weight. All the while, Don Hoover held the aircraft on course at about 170 MPH IAS over the Mediterranean. Once, during our flight back to home base, Sergeant Ward struggled to get up and we had to give him an additional injection of morphine.

We had logged about two hours on one engine when Hoover yelled, “there it is.” We were over an airfield. I jumped into the left seat and soon found that the landing gear wouldn’t go down. Sergeant Brown was in the nose wheel compartment trying to unlock the nose gear but to no avail. As we came in to land, I held the tail low and luckily we didn’t nose over as happened to some of the other crews that had bellied in.

At the hospital Sergeant Ward was given numerous blood transfusions of English blood so we called him “Bloody Bloke.” He said, “call me anything but dead.” And so we did.

He survived the war.

WWII Memories

Jack Gordon

37th Squadron

You guys that were not at Sedrata can count it a blessing you didn’t know about. It was definitely not a garden spot. If you turned a rock over there would in all probability be a scorpion underneath it. Also, there was a small creek at the foot of the hill where we could bathe and that indeed was a plus. The creek also had bullfrogs and I caught enough of them a couple of times so my tent mates and I could cook them in the skillet I acquired in Casablanca. We also used the skillet to cook eggs and onions that we bought from the Arabs.

The only other good thing was that at Telergma we were living in holes in the ground covered with shelter halves and had a mattress cover full of straw to sleep on. At Sedrata we got GI tents and cots. Quite an improvement in the housing conditions.

The runway was on a plateau that dropped off sharply at both ends. Sometimes those short wing B-26s dropped plum out of sight after take-off. My plane was parked just off the end of the runway and a little to one side. We used to have a 2nd Lieutenant who flew a war weary P-38 that was used as a courier plane. Sometimes he would come in so low we couldn’t see or hear him until he popped up from the end of the runway and flew right over our heads and scared the hell out of us.

One day my plane was flying lead and Colonel Greening, the 17th’s C.O. at the time wasn’t flying on the mission. He was sitting on the hood of his jeep talking with the pilot. When the crew got in the plane I asked Colonel Greening for a ride back to the squadron area when he left. He said, “Okay, as soon as they take-off and form up.” After they had taken off we had barely gotten in the jeep when that P-38 came right over our heads at about fifty feet of altitude. Colonel Greening cussed saying he had told that 2nd Lieutenant not to do that anymore. We took off about as fast as the jeep would go, the Colonel cussing the pilot all the way to the rickety two by four tower where he knew the plane would pull in.

We got there just before the P-38 and after it shut down out climbed General Doolittle. The Colonel said, “Good morning General” with a big smile on his face. He looked at me with a silly grin. I sure wanted to laugh, but that definitely wasn’t the time for it so I just grinned back at him.

Later on, in the summer of 1944, the 17th Bomb Group was stationed in Sardinia. Major George Gibbons, the 37th Squadron C.O. and M/Sgt. Bucky Norton, our line chief, flew a war weary B-26 back to Telergma to swap it for a new one.

B-26 number 42-107572 was setting there stark naked and shiny when they arrived at Telergma. Major Gibbons took one look at it and said he would take it. It would be his plane. Bucky tried to talk him out of it but it’s an old military tradition that Majors outrank M/Sgts.

Meanwhile, back at Sardinia, the days mission had just come back and the line folks were busy servicing the planes. The place was nice and quiet with no P & W 2800 engines running when somebody yelled, “What in the hell was that?” Then he said, “Something flashed!” and pointed South. We saw a few more flashes and then it got close enough so we could see it was a plane.

In a few minutes a silver B-26 landed. It was the first silver plane in the Mediterranean theater. The crewchief named it Starduster, and after a few days of preparing it for combat, Major Gibbons flew it on its first mission.

That night Axis Sally said, “If you boys in the 37th Squadron at Villacidro airdrome want to keep that nice shiny airplane you had better keep it home or it won’t be coming back to you.” When she was talking to you it’s a lot different and gets your attention. That was the last time Major Gibbons flew the Starduster.

It 1978 I started to locate people from our 17th Bomb Group Reunion Association and altogether found more that 400 people. Most of them hadn’t seen any of their old buddies for more than thirty years and were very eager to talk. I heard all kinds of stories but was too stupid to write it all down after I finished talking with them on the phone.

What I’m leading up to is that I found a pilot that joined us about the time we acquired Starduster. Most of our early replacement crews thought that the B-26 they flew overseas was going to be their plane in combat. Rarely did it work that way. I don’t remember this guys name but he knew that rookies flew old planes until they had several missions under their belt. This guy flew the right seat with an experienced crew on his first mission, and then the left seat with the same crew. His third mission was with his own crew and they were the last ones on the line truck when it stopped at Starduster. They were certain that they wouldn’t get to fly this nice shiny B-26. They could hardly believe it when the truck driver told them to, “Get your ass off, this is as far as you go.”

The crew waited until just before time to start engines and when nobody else showed up they got aboard and flew the mission. Axis Sally didn’t keep her threat. They went on to fly Starduster for the majority of their sixty-five missions together as a crew and by wars end the plane had about one hundred and fifty round trips.

Personal Account of Jack Gordon

37th Bomb Squadron

Summer of 1945 - Austria

I drove a jeep for Captain Hutton, who had been our 37th Squadron radio officer, and Czech interpreter who could talk to any of the refugees wandering around. He had been an R.A.F. bombardier for five years and I very much regret not having talked with him more about his wartime career.

Our area was from Linz to Pasau on the South side of the Danube River. Every little town had it's own GI occupation group. We had orders signed by a Three Star General to the effect that we could take anything and get any help that we required.

We checked several barges that were tied up to the American South bank of the river. I don't remember any of them being on the Russian north side. Smart people! These barges all had living quarters for the people operating them. One that we checked had a full load of aspirin tablets. They all had a plank walkway between the barge and the bank and as I was leaving one, I looked down and saw a woman's body floating by with her long blond hair streaming out behind her. It's something you don't forget.

The only things I remember liberating were some shotguns and silk parachutes for me and my buddies. One day we were in a very old church that had a sealed glass coffin containing a well-preserved body and a pipe organ. Our executive officer, Major Joe Fox was a very talented artist and musician. We took him there one day and the priest operated the air pump while Major Fox played the organ. It was kind of a weird feeling with our Colt .45's on our hips and the body in the glass coffin.

We had heard from several of the displaced people about a monastery that was a factory, but none of them knew the location. Then we got lucky. One of the DP's had been on a truck twice at night to unload it. He knew where they had started from and the direction they were going at low speed as they were driving without lights. At the monastery, we discovered what they had been assembling were instrument panels for ME- 262's. There was a barn full of new instruments in boxes.

After we were done there, I was sent back with four other guys to inventory the place and also bring back some blueprints that were in a separate room. I "liberated" a compass that I later used in a couple of my cars and eventually donated to the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio.

The German in charge spoke English and I told him that when we left I wanted the blueprints. We were there about a week and I don't remember where we ate or slept. One morning I told the German that we were going to leave about one o'clock and I would stop by to pick up the blueprints at that time. He told me that the man who had the key to the thick oak door was gone and he didn't know when he would be back. I patted my .45 and told him that I had a key that would open the door. When I came back, lo and behold he had found the key. He probably had it in his pocket all the time and just wanted to be ornery and make us wait a few more days.

All you good folks will remember how we never did get along with the ground forces. In 1943 when we went to town in Tunis it could be 100 degrees and we still had to have our shirt cuffs buttoned and the necktie tied, while the ground force GI's walked around with their sleeves rolled up and shirts unbuttoned.

One day in a small town in Austria, Captain Hutton went into their HQ building to get information from their C.O. The Czech and I were sitting in the jeep and were about to open our box of K-rations. An infantry First Lieutenant was walking by and told us not to open them, but to come in and eat lunch with them.

They were in a large house and had tables set for four with linen tablecloths and napkins, china, silver and crystal. German POW waiters in white coats served the best meal since my Mama's cooking. When we put our coffee cup down it was filled and when we ate the last bite of a roll the waiter was there with a fresh one from a silver container. At dessert time, the cart stopped by with an assortment of goodies. After the meal the waiter came with a box of cigars. He clipped it and held the lighter for us.

The Czech and I were at the table with the Lieutenant and the First Sergeant . After a few puffs I told them up to now we had nothing but trouble from the ground forces and that I really appreciated this, but didn't understand the royal treatment. The Lieutenant laughed and explained that his company was the first to cross a small river and the Germans blew up the bridge behind them. They were alone with no chance of immediate help. Two German tanks and infantry were coming their way when he looked up and saw two P-47's. He got them on the radio and they bombed the tanks and strafed the infantry. The pilot told him they were low on fuel, but more help would be there when they left. Four more P-47's held off the enemy until the rest of their people got across the river. He said, "we love the Air Corps."

After our search deal was over I joined Master Sergeant Jim Sinquafield who was running a rest camp for the 37th squadron at Lake Attersee nestled in the foothills of the Alps. The lake is eighteen miles long and three miles wide with rolling hills at the North end and the Alps at the South End. However, there were no fish since the Germans had used the lake for a practice bombing range during the war.

We had a nice ten-room house and would get ten guys for a week and then get another group. I stayed there until September 19, 1945 at which time I started the trip back to the U.S.A.

I had a very pleasant cruise on the Queen Elizabeth with 15,000 other happy GI's. Being a Technical Sergeant, I was in a stateroom with three Master Sergeants, which was indeed a very good deal. One thing I will always remember is the crap games on deck with nothing but hundred dollar bills. Since then, I've often wondered how many thousands of dollars were won or lost by GI's on troop ships returning home.

Ernest M. Young

432nd Squadron -World War II

Brenner Pass, which is 59 miles long, and 4,497 feet at its highest point, is one of the lowest of the important Alpine passes. Thus, throughout history, Brenner Pass was of strategic importance. In time, 22 tunnels and 60 large bridges were built into the pass. As the Allies successfully pushed the German infantry north, the imposing Alps Mountains impeded enemy troops from reaching the safety of Austria. The only way to cross the Alps was through the mountain pass at Brenner. Brenner was important to the Germans in another way. The pass was the route used to funnel supplies down from Austria to the ground troops in Italy. Because of the importance of the pass, it came as no surprise that the Germans kept the pass heavily armed with artillery of all kinds. Destroying enemy activity through Brenner Pass soon become a prime tactical target for the Allies.

 

The simplest and most accurate route for the B-26 Bombers to fly, was a north-south axis up the pass. With a visibility of over 50 miles through the pass, all the bridges would be visible in the bombsights. Likewise, all the bombers would become sitting targets for the German guns. If the B-26s were to take out the bridges in the pass, they would have to fly west to east across the pass, giving the lead bombardier only 15 seconds to sight the target before releasing his bombs. Flying over mountains more than 10,000 feet high, looking at one peak after another without the defined landmarks of a known city or countryside, a bombardier/navigator would not have an easy time determining his location. This was the situation that Ernest faced as lead bombardier of his squadron on November 17, 1944 at San Margherita, Italy.

Prior to the mission, one of the pursuit planes, a P-47 fighter, reconnoitered the intended route and, with a camera rigged on his plane, took pictures every second for two minutes before and after entering and leaving the target zone. Earnest's objective was simple. He had to take out one of the largest railroad bridges that spanned north-south over water flowing east-west by flying in from the west. Within 15 seconds, he had to spot a particular peak from across the pass on which lay the axis of the bridge, drop the bombs, make a U-turn, and high-tail it out of there without getting shot down. Ernest studied those pictures for hours, because his life, as well as the lives of his buddies, depended on hi s distinguishing one peak from another. Those same pictures were tacked up on a picture board inside the plane so they were available for constant reference. On the day of the mission, the planes flew in a tight wing tip to wing tip formation to insure the bomb clusters would be effective. The first squadron went in, and flew right back out again without releasing any bombs. Squadrons were flying five to ten minutes apart. A second squadron, attempted to locate the target, but could not. Both squadrons were shot at by the German gunners, comfortably entrenched in the crevices of the pass. The bombers were sitting ducks. In fact, one veteran of Brenner Pass described the situation by saying that, for the Germans, aiming their fire at the Allies flying over the pass, was as easy as "shooting trout in a barrel."

Then, it was Ernest 's turn to fly his squadron across the pass. By now, it was safe to say, the Germans defending the pass knew exactly where the bombers were appearing over the pass. Ernest entered his coordinates, including the one for wind, into the Norden bombsight. The wind vector was entered as a steady east-west direction. Within seconds after approaching the gap, Ernest identified a profile in one of the rocks that he was confident lay directly opposite the intended target.

In the 15 seconds it took to reach the edge of his intended drop site, astonishingly, the wind vector changed dramatically from an east-west to a north-south direction, at gale force! With no time to introduce new coordinates into the bombsight, Ernest flipped the switch on his Norden to override his settings, even though the users manual suggested never doing this. Flying the plane through the bombsight, Ernest instinctively banked the plane into a 40-degree turn to compensate for the change of wind. There was grave danger in this maneuver since the angle of the bank was far beyond the stress capabilities of the B-26. Such a drastic maneuver could have easily put the plane into a nosedive. In an instant, just like birds on the wing, the entire squadron banked to follow Ernest 's lead. Until he pulled out of his turn, the anti-aircraft from the ground couldn't touch him. The flak could only hit you when your plane was level. In fact, enemy ground fire had no problem aiming at a plane 's expected position once it had begun the bomb run. The Germans knew to wait for that moment to aim their guns since they knew the plane would not move off course once the PDI had been set by the bombardier. The surprise move of banking the planes at such a steep angle prevented the Germans from locating the bombers in their sights. Just out of the turn, Ernest leveled off the plane, released the bombs, and in an instant, the squadron was back out of the pass.

Every squadron had a photographer. After every mission there was a critique. Back at mission headquarters, Doc Hartwell presented each man with a shot of liquor before sitting down to the debriefing. On this particular day, with 150 men present from four squadrons, the pictures of the mission were displayed. The pictures indicated that the first two squadrons dropped no bombs. The third squadron to go in made a direct hit. The fourth squadron wasted their bombs. When Ernest and his crew realized that it was their squadron that had taken out the critical bridge, they let out a blood-curdling yell.

As a result of his actions, Ernest M. Yonovitz a. k. a. Young was cited for outstanding technical proficiency as bombardier. In his statement about Ernest, Major General Webster wrote that "despite the intense fire from artillery installations defending the target, he performed his sighting operation with great calm and decision, and directed the bomb release of the entire formation with full effect squarely on the target." In February 26, I945 Ernest, along with Irving Goldberg, his squadron navigator, received, for their "brilliant display of presence of mind and professional ability," the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Just days after destroying the enemy supply lines in Brenner Pass, the bombers flew their final mission from Corsica. Italy was now in the hand of the Allies. The Mediterranean Theater was history.

Dedication by Cheryl Young Weinstein

While people are busy living their lives, time goes by. And before long the way of life they had once taken for granted becomes part of an almost forgotten distant past. Though I had been born into the World War II era, for me, the story had always been something I had to learn in school to pass a test. It took this writer almost half a century to realize that World War II had been a real war, fought by real people, one of whom was my father.

The world is made up of kings and queens, presidents and generals. But, the average citizen has just as poignant a story to tell. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to interview my own father about his life at this time in history. The project was not easy. Many of the words he used needed to be explained. The battles he mentioned needed to be researched. But the effort was worth it, because now, for my family, especially, an important story will be remembered.

I want to thank my father for not only the gift of life, but for the sacrifice and dedication to duty, that made my entire generation possible. For that, I salute you.  - Cheryl Young Weinstein