Excerpt
Much bad weather prevailed in early January. On January 8th after taking off in a snowstorm we got within 40 miles of our target at Neuerberg but had to turn back because the cloud cover extended to over 26,000 feet which was the practical altitude limit for a bomb laden B-24six hours of laborious flight time wasted.
We didnt fly again until January 14th when we took Doris to Brunswick, Germany. Our target was an ultra high priority oil storage depot, and our route in took us across the North Sea, almost to Denmark before turning southeast into Germany, and making a feint toward Berlin. Then we turned west to the I.P. point and got on the bomb run to drop 12 demolition 500 pounders from an altitude of 24,000 feet. Flak was all around us, but we survived without damage to Doris or ourselves. At the target we were only 40 miles from Berlin, which was always well defended, not only with AA fire but also by ME-109 and FW-190 fighters (German Messerschmitt and Foche Wulfe fighters).
Enemy fighters didnt hit us on this foray because of great protection for the 2nd Division by six groups of P-51 escort fighters. However, our P-51s had a field day with the would-be attackers, and bagged 190 Jerry fighter craft that were trying to intercept us. The P-51s could range deep into Germany by using disposable wing fuel tanks. Usually, the fuel in the wing tanks was consumed first on the route into Germany, and then the empty tanks were jettisoned before engaging the Jerry fighter planes. Often some of the P-51s would hit the deck and strafe the Jerry airfields before streaking home. They always hoped to catch aircrft in takeoff mode.
The Luftwaffe had been flying some of their ME-163 rocket engine craft and ME-262 jets since November 1944, but those craft were limited to short ranges because of low fuel carrying capacity and high fuel consumption. They waited in seclusion at highly camouflaged airstrips so they could spurt up and jump lagging and crippled bombers, or slip in behind the P-51s. They simply hit and ran. They could easily out-maneuver and out-distance the P-51s for a short while. On two different occasions I saw a ME-262 shoot a P-51down, and then zip away before other P-51s could get near it.
No problems were encountered on our return flight to England, but our briefings included warnings that enemy intruders might follow us back to base, and we were glad to see replacement fighter escort in the air on our return.
The bad weather continued, and we didnt fly again until January 28th when we sallied forth on our 26th mission. It was a Heller from the beginning. We took off predawn from an icy runway and into soup, which was solid from the ground up to 10,000 feet. When we broke out of the cloud cover the sun was shining brightly and B-24s were all over the sky trying to get into formation. Half of our 389th Group did not get off the ground, and the remnants still flying joined to form two squadrons.
We invaded the Ruhr Industrial Valley to strike a benzol plant at Dortmund. Our course took us out across the North Sea, then over the Zuider Zee in Holland before heading south into Germany east of the Ruhr. It was a diversionary tactic that wasnt too effective. The industrialized Ruhr Valley contained the heaviest concentration of anti-aircraft batteries in the World, and they were ready for us, as we turned westward to drive to the target. We bombed visually under cloud cover at only 22,400 feet altitude, and 105mm flak was intense, accurate and ate us up.
We flew deputy lead off the right wing of the 566th squadron leader. At bombs away, the lead ship and his left wingman were shot out of the formation and we took over the lead position.
The pilot of the 453rd Group lead was killed by flak, but the co-pilot got the crew home safely. The lead plane of the 445th Group landed on the continent. Tuning into the VHF radio, I could hear myriad laments of many pilots and co-pilots as they battled the controls of shot-up aircraft; took toll of killed and wounded, and in some cases contemplating abandonment of ships.
A direct flak hit took off the end of the right wing of Berthelsens ship and the crew bailed out. Berthelsen and co-pilot Riggles were berthed in our barracks, and it was a shock for us to come back to empty bunks in our quarters that night. Later, we heard that Berthelsen, Riggles, the tail gunner, the nose gunner and the radio operator were taken prisoners-of-war, but German civilians killed the rest of the crew.
Our ship suffered holes in numbers one and two engines, hydraulic lines and all over the fuselage, but none of the crew was injured and none of the engines failed.
To cap things off we had to land in a snow shower and on a slippery runway at our base in England.
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