Journal Kept by Ralph M. Brown
Ralph M. Brown, Pilot
95th Bomb Group
Horham, England
1944-45
Sept. 27, 1944
Today we flew our first mission over Germany, hitting the city of Mainz. For us it was a pretty easy mission as we saw no fighters and the flak was very inaccurate. However some of the other groups were hit and Al Burns was forced to crash land in Belgium.
Sept. 28, 1944
Flew again today but things were considerably different. We bombed an oil refinery at Merseberg in the Leipzig area and these targets are always well defended. For this target we were briefed for 240 A.A. guns and I guess they were all in action. Just after “bombs away,” I heard a particularly loud burst and the cockpit filled up with a cloud of fuzz. Since I was flying wing on my left, I couldn’t look around to see what had happened but in a couple of minutes I heard Burt call Gene and ask for help as he had been hit. Gene and Chuck took him down in the nose and gave him first aid; he was hit in the right shoulder and arm. He then returned to his seat but was unable to fly anymore. By this time we were well out of the flak area and I began taking stock of the rest of the plane. Number 3 engine was running with low oil and manifold pressures but as it continued to function, I ceased worrying about that. We also discovered our hydraulic lines were hit and wouldn’t give us brakes; also we discovered later that the flaps were hit and wouldn’t lower. When we got back to the field, I put the engineer in co-pilot’s seat to operate emergency brakes, put the bombardier and waist gunner in the waist with a parachute in case the brakes failed. The rest of the crew took crash positions in the radio room and I brought her in for a fast no-flap landing. Fortunately emergency repairs made to the brakes by the engineer held and we made a safe landing. Burt was immediately taken to the hospital and the rest of us taking stock of the plane, found we had been hit 86 times, resulting in heavy damage to the plane.
Oct. 6, 1944
Went out on mission number three today, after a lay-off of over a week. Burt is not back from hospital and won’t be for at least a couple more weeks, so they gave me a fellow by the name of Painter for a co-pilot. This time we went to Berlin or “Big B” and our target was the Spandau aero-engines factory. Our load was 100 lb. incendiary bombs which we got away safely and it seemed we would get out of the target without being hit, though the flak was fairly heavy. However we were hit by one of the last bursts and we had to feather #3 engine, forcing us to fall back out of formation. This left us easy prey for fighters, but fortunately the Luftwaffe didn’t show up today. By drawing maximum power from our three good engines we managed to slide back from one formation to another all the way out of Germany, then we set our own course back to England. We had another hit on the hydraulics but didn’t discover it until after landing when we rolled gently off the end of the runway. Discovered after landing that we needn’t have feathered #3 as it was only the instruments shot out and not the engine itself. However there wasn’t any way of telling; since everything came out O.K., I’m not kicking now.
Oct. 7, 1944
These missions seem to come in pairs; we flew #4 today to a little place called Bohlen in the Leipzig area, with a factory as the target. I had a first pilot by the name of Philpott as my co-pilot and this was his first mission. Since this target was in the Leipzig area, I was expecting a rough trip and we got it today in the form of Jerry fighters. Just after turning on the I.P., we were hit by M.E. 109s, F.W. 190s and the new jet jobs, F.W. 163s. They pounded our formation pretty hard in about two passes and it was here that Captain Waltman went down. We were very fortunate as our ship didn’t take any hits from the fighters’ 20 mm, and we went on into and off the target safely. When I saw that 20 mm bursting in little bright flashes, I sure shoved my wing into the tightest formation I ever flew and thanked my lucky stars I was flying wing on the lead ship, as that is a easy place to fly. After we got back Philpott thought it was a easy mission but since that was his first, I guess he didn’t realize how rough it was. Seems like we draw all the rough trips.
Oct. 15, 1944
After another week’s layoff and a pass to London, we flew our fifth mission today. We went to Cologne with the railroad marshalling yards as our target. We bombed by instruments through a solid overcast and I expect the results won’t be especially good. The flak was fairly heavy but inaccurate and we came out O.K. Al Burns flew with us as co-pilot, this being his first mission since crashing in Belgium and I guess he was really sweating it out.
Oct. 17, 1944
Well it seems I was right about the results of our last mission to Cologne, as we were sent there again today. This was our sixth mission and the one for which we are given the air-medal. Speaking of the results before, these today were even worse, as we brought the darned bombs back home. Things seemed to go completely haywire; the lead ship tried to abort at the target without letting anyone know, so the formation followed and we didn’t bomb the primary target. Then the leader changed his mind and we made a run on the secondary target but still didn’t drop. Lastly we went over the last resort target but still we kept our bombs. By this time the air was filled with guys cussing the lead ship and they really told him what they thought of him. The flak was fairly heavy again and we were in it for a hell of a long time. Luckily it was inaccurate again, which may be due to the new anti-radar equipment we now have in our planes. Our co-pilot today was Joe Miller, another boy who was putting in his first mission, since crashing in Belgium.
Oct. 18, 1944
Flew again today, which make two in a row again and our seventh mission to date. We went to Kassel to hit railroad yards supplying the German front lines. Gus Lenox flew as co-pilot and he is another pilot who has lost his own crew, by bailing them out over Berlin, Oct. 6. The flak today was moderate but quite accurate and kept us sweating over the target. We picked up several small holes but were very lucky and none of them were serious.
Oct. 26, 1944
Well we have moved to a new Squadron and this was our first mission with them but the eighth as far as our total count goes. Burt was back with us today after having flown one yesterday as co-pilot for another pilot. We went to Hanover today with an oil refinery as our target. However since bombing was through an overcast, I suppose all can hope for, is to at least hit the city. The flak was fairly heavy but we got out with only a few holes again. We are now flying a plane which has been assigned to us and I like to bring it back in good shape.
Oct. 27, 1944
A month ago today we flew our first mission and today we are flying number nine. That’s a very good average; wish we could keep it up. Also looks like we may get to be a lead crew in this Sqd and today we lead the second element.
Today was another one of those days when nothing seems to go right. The weather was supposed to be favorable but became very bad. We were flying at 25,000 ft. just before the target and the contrails were so heavy we got lost in them. The formation couldn’t drop down as the tops of the clouds were at 24,000 plus, so we just flubbed around as best we could. After bombing we dropped down into the clouds and lost our wing leader.
The flak over the target was moderate and I think everyone got through that safely. However after losing the Group formation in the overcast, our Sqd. leader couldn’t do accurate navigation and took us into a couple extra flak areas. Flying in the clouds was bad enough as we could hardly see each other but then we finally broke out at 21,000 over Osnabruck and Rhine and then the flak started coming. They put the stuff right on us and every ship in the formation was hit. The lead ship got a fire in number one engine and his ball turret gunner bailed out immediately. The formation became badly scattered but we finally dragged together and came on home O.K.
Nov. 4, 1944
Flew number ten today and it was quite uneventful. We flew in tail-end Charlie position and was plenty glad to have things go easy. When we were over the target I didn’t see a single burst of flak, though the crew said there was a little, far below us. As far as I’m concerned it was what we call a “No ball” target, meaning there wasn’t any flak. The only thing of interest was the fact we nearly made a second bomb run. One of the groups ahead of us didn’t bomb the first time; also our high Sqd. didn’t bomb because the Micky equipment failed. However they couldn’t get it working so gave up the idea of a second run. The target was Saarbrucken but some of the navigators say we hit Neunkirchen [Neuenkirchen] which is very close to Saarbrucken.
Nov. 5, 1944
Today we flew what should have been number eleven but because we had to abort, it is doubtful if we will get credit for a mission. However whether we do or not we were trying and nearly made it.
We were briefed to hit one of four German forts near Thionville. These forts are holding up Patton’s advance and had they been hit an American offensive was supposed to start. However the forts could only be bombed visually and when we got there it was completely undercast, so we had to go to Ludwigshaven as our secondary. About this time our #4 engine started giving us trouble and we lost most of the power from it. We had to fall back of the formation and when I tried to crowd some extra power from the other three engines they also began to go bad. Seeing that under these conditions I couldn’t get back with the formation, there was only one thing to do and that was return to base. Maybe we were lucky at that because Ludwigshaven proved to be pretty rough. The other crew in our barracks, Wright’s, failed to come back from this raid and the barracks seems awfully empty.
Nov. 13, 1944 [later entry on the Nov. 5 page]
Wright and his bombardier Levin came back today, having landed in Belgium. The rest of the crew bailed out over Germany and are probably P.W.s.
Nov. 8, 1944
Well we received credit as a mission for the day we aborted from Ludwigshaven, so today was mission number twelve. We were briefed to hit one of those forts near Thionville that we were unable to bomb on the fifth. However we were unable to hit it again today because of clouds and so we went on to the secondary which was Saarbrucken. At Saarbrucken the target was the railroad yards. We flew low element lead today and had a pretty rough time with the formation flying. We were carrying an overload of bombs today, having 6-1,000 lb. bombs slung under the wings on external racks. The flak was very light and didn’t give us any trouble at all, for which we ae thankful.
Nov. 11, 1944
Celebrated Armistice Day this year by flying mission number thirteen over Germany. The target today was railroad yards again, this time at a place called Oberlahnstein very near to Cologne. We used a new type of bombing by instrument called micro-H. Today we were leading the high element in the low squadron and had a fairly good time. The flak was very light again today and we were not hit by any of it. Wish all of our targets could be as easy but expect we will be going back soon to the rougher ones.
Nov. 21, 1944
Well my prediction of rough targets ahead was borne out today when they briefed us for Lutzkendorf in the Leipzig area. Then to make sure it would be rough they gave us Merseberg as the secondary. We have all been hoping, since our second mission, that we would never go there again.
However as it turned out we didn’t hit either but went to the last resort target at Giessen. There’s quite a difference between two hundred odd guns at the primary and secondary and the 40 guns at the last resort. The first two targets were oil refinerys [sic] while the last was railroad yards. We saw flak in numerous places today but was able to go around most of it. While the flak at the target was light and inaccurate, not giving us any trouble to speak of, I was leading the low element in the lead squadron and the formation went very well.
We had some trouble of our own today when the Gee-box caught fire in the nose. The navigator finally stopped it by pulling out all the wires leading to it. Then when we came to open the bomb-bays they were frozen and wouldn’t open. Chuck tried to drop his bombs by salvoing [sic] them but after the doors opened the bombs didn’t drop. By this time it was too late to hit the target, so we kept the bombs. Later when passing over a small town we dropped 8 of the 12 bombs and saw 2-250 pound bombs get direct hits. The other 4 bombs wouldn’t drop so we came back with them still in the racks. We believe the town to be Friedberg.
Nov. 26, 1944
Today the target was to have been Hamm, in an attempt to hit a railroad bridge. This bridge would have stopped all traffic in or out of Hamm and would have tied up supplies to the German front line.
Once again this Group bungled up the job and we hit some little town which didn’t contain any kind of military target whatever. We were briefed for Hamm with 40 some guns and hit Gutersloh which hasn’t any. Thus over the target we didn’t get a single burst of flak, which is nice but doesn’t help to end this war.
Since this Group was leading the third Division on today’s mission, it was our job to fly a couple chaff ships. Therefore when we approached the target our high element peeled off and went over the target first. It is the job of these 4 ships to go in and drop several thousand pounds of chaff to foul up Jerry’s radar equipment. Today 3 of the 4 planes were also carrying a load of fragmentation bombs in an attempt to make the ack, ack gunners take cover. I flew the low element again and all went well.
Dec. 2, 1944
Today we flew mission number sixteen and it sure was an easy way to get one. The target was the railroad yards at Coblenz, which are protected by about seventy guns.
However the mission was recalled by division headquarters about the time we reached the I. P. They said that the weather over the target was too bad for the formations to go on. So we turned around and brought the bombs home again. When all the formations started turning back they had quite a time keeping out each others way. I was leading the low element again and we especially had a hard time with prop-wash. The best thing about the whole affair, is that we went far enough into Germany to get credit for a mission.
Dec. 4, 1944
Today makes mission number seventeen and the second one this month. Target today was the railroad yards at Giessen, which we tried to hit as a last resort on Nov. 21. Once again we didn’t bomb our primary target but I believe it was hit by some other Groups. We were unable to bomb the primary or secondary targets because the Micro-H and Micky equipment failed.
We were very lucky to find a target of opportunity which could be bombed visual. The sky was about nine tenths covered by clouds but in passing over Friedberg, we found a nice big break and there was the railroad yards as nice as you please. The lead ship made a run on this target and we got some very good hits. The flak today was very light and scattered; in fact we never directly crossed any flak areas. The roughest part of the mission was the formation flying, and it was terrible. I was leading the high element of the high squadron and had one hell of a hard time. The squadron lead was flying at such a reduced airspeed, he had us continually on the verge of stalling out. When he wasn’t stalling us out, he was going so fast we couldn’t keep up and the formation was strung out for a couple of miles. Incidentally the town of Friedberg we hit today was not the same one we dropped our bombs on, Nov. 21. This one today is the large and more important one of the two. Today, also, was the last mission for Captain Sherwood and we are losing a good lead pilot.
Dec. 5, 1944
We are getting off to a fast start this month, having flown three missions in five days and a good possibility we may fly again tomorrow. This was mission 18, which puts us over the hump, even though it is still a long way from the end.
The target today was a factory in Berlin, making tanks and anti-aircraft guns. I sure hope we got this factory; they have too many of those guns as it is. The bombing was by instruments through a solid under-cast so we can’t know now how good results we got.
We were briefed for a hundred guns at the target and a possible 800 enemy fighters. We saw both, the flak close up and the fighters in the distance. The flak was moderate and not quite accurate, which means it kept us sweating but didn’t do any damage. We saw the fighters in the distance, after leaving the target and they were engaged in dog-fights with our escort of P-51s. Saw several burst into flames but at that distance couldn’t tell whose they were. I flew high element again today and must say it was 100% better.
Dec. 24, 1944
It has been quite some time since my last entry and probably be quite some time till the next. The reason for this time gap is that since Dec. 5 my crew has been given a chance to be a lead crew and check out as a P.F.F. crew. If we make good it will be a great break for myself and to a lesser degree the rest of the crew. It means 5 less missions for all of us and for me a good chance of making Captain. However I had to lose my tail gunner and take on a new officer as micky operator. Anyway we have been off operations training for lead crew, so haven’t had any missions lately.
Today we flew number 19 and was very glad to get it in. It was a screwed up mess however as we flew a lead plane but in a wing position. Today the 8th airforce [sic] put up the biggest force of the war so we went as a spare in case a lead ship aborted. The target was an airfield of Bibilis [Biblis] near Frankfurt, in an effort to stop Luftwaffe attacks on our front lines. We had our usual success and missed again. The sky was entirely clear of clouds so we got some very accurate flak, which fortunately was fairly light. However I did see my first B-17 going down in a spin and it was not a pleasant sight. Several others went down in flames but I did not see those. Also today I let Burt fly it over the target, while I took in the sights for a change. I expect it will be some time till our next mission as we need plenty more training as lead crew. The next entry I should be able to say “I’m now a lead crew.”
Jan 20, 1945
Today we did it, flew our first mission as lead crew, leading the low squadron. Our primary target was a railroad bridge at Breisach and the secondary was the railroad yards at Heilbronn. We went to the yards at Heilbronn because of bad weather at the primary. Everything went fine while we were forming over England and until we got out over the channel. At about 12,000 ft. we went into an overcast of light clouds and dense contrails, which lasted until after bombs away. Flying in these clouds was extremely difficult and eventually I lost my lead squadron. Also lost the high squadron and there we were tooling around in the clouds, completely lost from our group. After a time we located the high Sqd and attempted to follow them across the target. We were very unfortunate to get off course and cross a flak area at Stuttgard, where they shot Captain Conover out of formation. The flak was little but extremely accurate and it had me plenty worried. While flying in these clouds we lost several planes from our Sqd. and went over the target with a weak formation. Well we couldn’t get back in formation with the high Squadron so we made our own bomb run and dropped by P.F.F. After bombs away we found our other two Squadrons and after breaking out of the clouds at 25,000 ft. we got back into group formation. Soon after this the other two lead ships had to abort and left us to bring the group out. Well we stayed on top the clouds at 25,000 ft. until nearly the French coast, at which point we decided to let down through the clouds regardless of how thick they were. Luckily they were only a couple of thousand feet thick, after which we had to dodge around a bunch of other clouds. We finally made it back to base and peeled the formation off.
The weather today was definitely bad the entire mission and resulted in a most unsatisfactory day. While we made some mistakes I think it was fairly good and lead crew training seems to be satisfied with what we did. Burt has been taken off the crew, but this morning they didn’t have a co-pilot for us so we got him for today’s mission. I made a complaint about that, so perhaps they will reassign him to our crew for all missions when we don’t have a command pilot. I sure hope so, as I hated to lose him.
Feb 3, 1945
Today we flew our second mission as squadron lead and were leading the low squadron. The target was Berlin, and they weren’t particular what we hit, so long as it was the city. The main object of this mission was to destroy the city and to kill as many Germans as possible. Actually when we got there, we just picked an area that wasn’t burning and dropped our bombs there. The flak was quite heavy as they have around 490 guns at Berlin but fortunately it was not too accurate. This was our third time over Berlin and once again I saw some of the largest bursts of flak I’ve ever seen. I consider this mission as pretty good, as we had perfect weather, came through the flak with loss of only one plane and had no enemy fighter opposition. As command pilot we had Lt. Greer, who is also our Sqd. operations officer. Also we had Burt back with us, flying as tail gunner and it seems probable he will continue to fly that position. The reason for this is that Third Bomb Division has decided to fly a formation officer in the tail of all lead ships.
The only trouble with this mission was myself. I was pretty sick all the way, and was running quite a bit of temperature. As soon as we checked in after landing I went on sick call and was sent to the base hospital. Three days later they sent me to the 65th General hospital with a case of pneumonia. I have returned to the base today, Feb. 22 and this is the first chance I’ve had to write about the mission. Now since I’m still grounded, I believe we will go on our flak pass in a couple of days. These missions are sure coming mighty slow for one reason or another.
Mar. 10, 1945
Flew mission number 22 today, after a lay off of over a month. The target today was railroad yards at Dortmund and we were leading the low squadron. Bombing was supposed to have been by separate squadrons using radar instruments. However our micky set failed to work and we flew in group formation with the lead sqd. and dropped our bombs with them. The mission went off very well until we came to the I. P. where the lead made the wrong turn trying to follow the wing leader. Because of this we were forced to cross some unnecessary flak. This was only moderate but very accurate. We picked up several holes; one piece coming through the Plexiglas nose hit the bombardier in the chest. Very luckily for him, he was wearing his flak vest. The vest stopped a hunk about 2 in. long and as big around as a pencil, which will make him a mighty nice souvenir. At the target itself the flak was very light and was of no consequence. Because of a 10/10 undercast we could not observe the bombs, but believe they were on the target. The rest of the mission was uneventful and at last after seven and a half hours we were back at the base.
Mar. 15, 1945
Today we made out fourth trip to Berlin, and our twenty-third mission. Actually however our target was a railroad yard about fifteen miles from the city of Berlin, at the town of Oranienburg. The Germans were believed to be loading and shipping troops through this yard, which made it a first priority target. We were leading the high squadron today and made a visual bomb run assisted by the micky operator. However we had a malfunction in our bomb racks and couldn’t drop our bombs. As a result some of the ships in our squadron released their bombs on the primary target and we had to go to the last resort target. Over the primary, the flak was moderate and none of it came too close to us. After leaving the primary we left the group formation, picked up the last resort target and with assistance from the micky made a run on it. This target was a railroad yards at Wittenberg and was supposed to be flak free. However the had a 4-gun battery there which was very accurate and while the flak was very meager, we picked up several holes. In case our bombs didn’t drop this time we instructed the other planes to drop on a red-red flare which we would fire. Once again the bombs hung up and though we fired the flare, it cost several seconds delay which may have put the bombs off the target. Later on we had to have the engineer kick our bombs out and just hope for a 1000 to 1 chance of hitting something besides a field or woods. After bombs away we made a sharp turn and rejoined our group formation which was several miles away and proceeded back to the base without further incident.
Mar. 16, 1945
Saw strike report for yesterday’s mission and while we got ten or fifteen bombs in the yards, it was not good enough to get us any credit for hitting the target.
Mar. 17, 1945
Today we flew our twenty-fourth mission leading the low squadron to an oil plant at Ruhland. It was another one of those weather missions, which are enough to drive a person nuts. We ran into this soup at 16,000 ft. and were in it most of the time up to 25,000 ft.
At the I. P. we ran into some more clouds and contrails and as a result we lost the lead squadron and had to make our own bomb run. Every once in a while on the bomb run we could catch a glimpse of our high squadron, also some other group which was flying a collision course with us. It sure was a ticklish busy [sic] and after bombs away we found the high Sqd. and got into formation with them. It was quite some time before our lead Sqd. found us and we all got back into proper formation.
The bombs were dropped by P.F.F. of course and probably weren’t too good. There wasn’t any flak at the target or if there was, the clouds hid it all.
Mar. 22, 1945
Came back from pass yesterday to find myself already alerted to fly today. This was our 25th mission and once again we were leading the low squadron. The target today was an airfield at Ahlhorn, which had been missed the day before. The mission was strictly a milk-run and the target was a no-ball. The weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud anywhere in the sky and the visibility was as much as 30 miles.
After we turned on to our bomb run we hit some prop-wash from another Sqd., which messed up our formation some. However, Chuck made a good bomb run and we hit the target with good results. Sure would like 5 more like today.
Mar. 23, 1945
Well yesterday I wished for five more easy targets and so today we got another. This was our 26th mission and once again we were leading the low sqd., however today they were trying a new type of formation and there was a low-low squadron. In this formation we fly 4 sqds. instead of three but each squadron only has nine planes instead of the usual twelve. I found that this is much harder to fly; while it may get better with practice, I put my vote against it. The target today was the railroad yards at Unna, a small town just east of Dortmund. This target was to be flak free except for a few guns which we escaped by making a sharp turn after bombs away. We did however run into a little flak over the front lines but it didn’t bother our squadron.
The electrical system to our bombsight failed before we came to the bomb run so we turned over the lead to the deputy lead. He made a fairly good bomb run and his hits looked good. The weather again today was perfect and we could see everything for 30 miles around. After the bomb run, we took over the lead again and brought the Sqd. back to the base.
While coming back over the channel, I witnessed a mid-air collision in our lead squadron. One plane came up under another, knocking most of the tail off the first plane and probably killing the tail gunner. The last report was that eight men had bailed out, leaving one unaccounted for.
I’m closing today’s mission as another milk run and hoping for some more. We are already alerted for a mission tomorrow and rumor has it, it’s a mighty big deal.
Mar. 24, 1945
Today was a big deal as the rumor predicted. This Group flew two missions in one day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was all part of the big air blow, opening the big ground offensive.
Most of the crews had to fly on both missions but lead crews only had to make one. We flew high squadron lead on the morning mission and this was number twenty-seven for us. The target was an airfield at Steenwijk in Holland. It was another milk-run; we went in at 14,000 ft. and never saw a single burst of flak. This field had never been hit before, so we were instructed to make as many runs as necessary to insure absolutely creaming the target. However Chuck made an excellent run the first time and put his bombs smack on the runway.
Besides being unbelievably easy, this mission was very very short. We were only in the air four hours, and from the time we left England till we got back to the English coast was only one hour and twenty minutes.
This was more like a practice mission than anything else, but I’d sure like three more just like it. Don’t expect to fly for about two weeks as I’m waiting to see if my promotion comes through.
Mar. 30, 1945
Didn’t really expect to fly again quite so soon but due to a shortage of lead crews, we had to fly today and will fly again tomorrow.
The target today was Hamburg; we were leading the high squadron and this was number twenty-eight. The primary target was the submarine pens at Hamburg, while the secondary was an oil storage depot about a mile from the primary.
This turned out to be another weather mission, where we had to fly in the clouds and contrails. As usual on the bomb run there were a half a dozen squadrons wandering around loose in the soup. We were fortunate to be flying high so we climbed on up an additional five hundred feet and got out of most of the soup. Because of the weather we made an instrument run on the secondary and believe we made a good run. Just at bombs away Chuck caught a glimpse of the target and said we must have hit in fairly close.
The flak was heavy and fairly accurate, however they were shooting at Squadrons other than ours and we were not bothered at all. Couldn’t call this a milk-run by any means but will say we were very fortunate since there was plenty of flak up there.
Mar. 31, 1945
We got up this morning at 01:15, for the earliest briefing we have ever had, and as a result we formed our formation before daylight. The target today was an oil refinery at Zeitz in the Leipzig area. This was our third time in that area and I hope the last, as it is usually an unpleasant spot. We were flying our twenty-ninth mission and leading the high squadron again. The high squadron is by far the best one to fly and I hope we get it on our last mission.
The weather over England today was very bad however we managed to get out of it over the continent. Over the target, it was almost solid undercast but Chuck managed to drop his bombs through a small break in the clouds. The strike photos of his bombs looked good and we probably did a good job on the target. Moreover since only three out of twelve squadrons were able to pick up the target, I think it is pretty darn good.
The flak again today didn’t give us any real trouble. There was quite a bit around and it kept us sweating out where it might pop up next. However again today they apparently were not tracking our squadron and we had no trouble.
Apr. 5, 1945
Today was the day; we flew mission number thirty and put finis to our combat flying.
When I went to briefing this morning I was completely surprised to find myself flying a group lead, instead of a squadron lead. It was mighty nice of Captain Sherwood to give us a group lead on the last mission. Since this was our first group lead and our last combat mission, I was in hopes everything would work out perfect. Unfortunately everything went against us and while there wasn’t a thing we could do, it was mighty discouraging. The weather can be blamed for most of our troubles; it was the worst I’ve had to fly in. We couldn’t assemble over England because of it, so we climbed on course singly, to a point over France. Each ship was to go by itself to France and rendezvous at 17,000 ft. over a certain radio station. After I took off, we soon went into the soup and didn’t break out until we reached 25,000 ft. The radio beacons didn’t work, so there were dozens of planes wandering around over France trying to find their own outfits. We barely managed to get a ragged formation together in time to start for the target.
The target today was a railyard at Nuremberg, which had a very high priority. Halfway to the target our Micky equipment burned out and we had to turn over the lead to the high squadron. We followed them in over the target and dropped our bombs with them. All the way into the target we were flying in dense contrails and the squadrons got lost from each other. Over the target the flak was quite heavy and very accurate. It came closer today than any I seen in the last five missions.
After the target we ran into some clear weather and got the group back into formation. However it didn’t last long; while descending from high altitude we run into more soup and didn’t break out until only 900 ft. from the ground. It was impossible to hold the group formation and eventually even the individual Sqds. broke up and everybody came wandering back to England by themselves. We weren’t the only ones who had trouble as we could see single ships flying back from every outfit in the third division and some from the second.
We finally got back ourselves and after landing, I was so glad to be back and finished, I didn’t give a damn what had happened.