Flying Backwards in '44 Chapter 4. Part 2

by Ron McInnis

My memory of Christmas Day is that we were briefed for a target in the area of the Bulge. But Great Ashfield was absolutely “socked in” that day. We went through the routine and even taxied out for a take off, trusting that visibility conditions would improve. When take off time came, ceiling and visibility were absolutely ZERO. The Colonel wanted to get this one off so badly, that he had the mission leader taxi down the runway to report on visibility conditions. The leader reported zero-zero and recommended against take off. The Colonel then ordered the Deputy Leader to also taxi the runway and report back. He also reported zero-zero and recommended against take off. The mission was then “scrubbed” for the 385th that day. This shows one how desperately they wanted that mission to get off.

On 12-27-44 the weather has hardly improved. We are briefed for Andernach. Pilot says he has considerable trouble taking off. He’s totally on instruments during take off. Take off accidents take a heavy toll. 33 killed in take off accidents this day. Flak at target is meager, no hole. Visual bombing #43-38118 Miss Fortune.

We go to Andernach again on 12-28-44. We are briefed for Coblenz but bombed Andernach as last resort target. We fly this mission in Ruby’s Raiders #44-6483. There had been a contest for the “Most Beautiful WAAC in the E.T.O.”... This was won by R.C. of Long Beach. As one of her rewards they named a bomber after her. Corporal Ploss, the great nose artist for the 385th, did a remarkable likeness of Ruby on the nose of #483. Pictures were taken and it was carried in Stars and Stripes. We will fly her again. Jerry says we did a 360 over target. No flak (PFF). Jerry says we couldn’t keep up with formation.

Mannheim today 12-30-44. Medium flak but inaccurate (PFF). Thank God for chaff. We were the tail end of the Eighth today. Nine hour mission... Miss Fortune #43-38118.

Kaiserslautern 1-5-45. Flak moderate but accurate in target area. Our B-17 very old and in poor condition. Plexi-cover plate of chin turret missing and terrific blast of icy air passed through the nose affecting Bombardier and Navigator. Outside temp. minus 52 below. Bombing altitude 29,000. Six hours on oxygen. Our bomb release mechanism failed completely. We were obliged to carry full load home. Feared dropping them because of the proximity to our lines. Shortly before I.P. Ball Gunner lost consciousness due to anoxia. Waist Gunner also because anoxic trying to assist Bull Gunner. Radio Operator and Tail Gunner combined their efforts to bring these men around. Ralph came around rather quickly but Al Boltz took over an hour to revive. We thought for sure he was gone. We got him around ok but it was close. Used up most of our O2 in revival efforts, so had to leave formation and come home alone at lower altitude. I was concerned for Al’s hand. His glove was off and his hand felt frozen. Put it back into heated glove and hoped for the best. Hand turned out ok. Hank Brier got hit today but is OK. Many planes landed at emergency fields in France. We returned to Great Ashfield with gauges indicating between empty and 50 gallons. #42-32078 Barbara B


1-6-45 Worms, Germany. Rail marshalling yard. Flak medium but inaccurate except for one near burst. Weather terrible throughout the mission, and especially on return. Runway obscured until approximately 200 feet above and 100 yds from runway. Riding in the tail in these circumstances brings about maybe a little “pucker power”. Maybe it’s best that you’re not seeing forward. When we do see the runway, we drop in fast. The main landing gear squeals and smokes, the tail wheel clunks down and we are rolling fast but we are down...#43-38118 Miss Fortune

1-7-45 Hamm, Germany. More rail marshaling yards. Light flak over target. Continent covered by 10/10 undercast. On return group immediately behind is hit by a barrage as a result of being too far off course. We were somewhat off but out of range... and skirted the flak on the coast. 43-38118 Miss Fortune.

Frankfort, Germany 1-9-45. Navigators computations indicate good hit on marshaling yards. Flak moderate but accurate. Shortly after “Bombs Away”, the bomb bay doors would not retract. Rocky grabbed the crank and went out onto the bomb bay catwalk to crank up the doors. This is important because if the doors stay down it cuts into your airspeed and makes it difficult to keep up with the formation. As he was cranking, the whole cockpit filled with smoke, and the cry went out “fire in the upper turret”. Well, if you ever have a fire on a B-17, pray that it’s not in the upper turret, because this is where the airplane’s electrical, oil lubrication and pressure oxygen come together at the turret’s base. Once this ignites, you’ve got a fire that won’t be put out. When the rest of the crew heard this, we thought it was all over. Jerry turned the oxygen valve behind his seat to cut O2 flow to the turret, but it also cut the O2 flow to Rocky, who had just enough energy left to get back to the cockpit. Fortunately, the fire was discovered to be in the Bomb Bay door electric motor... This was switched off and that solved the problem... It scared the hell out of all of us!!!!

This Navigator John Joseph’s account of the incident: “Shortly after Bombs Away a fire of unknown origin developed in the plane at 27,000 feet. Clouds of smoke and an acrid odor reached the nose, and the Engineer stated he thought his turret was afire. Collins and I ripped off our flack suits, snapped on our chute packs and waited expectantly. The most significant thing in my mind was, “I must not forget my shoes.” Of course, together with that, I was thoroughly frightened... The significance of “shoes” is if you plan to escape or evade, flying boots are the worst thing to walk in. We were all told to tie a pair of shoes to the back of our parachute harness. Joe states further.... Visibility very poor on return. Encountered icing and snow showers. #44-6483 Ruby’s Raiders.

1-10-45. Here’s one that didn’t count. From Jerry’s log: Lost an engine over the Channel. Couldn’t feather it at first. Had to abort. A word about “aborting” a mission. The Eighth Air Force was a tough, proud outfit. It prided itself on “never having been turned back from a mission by enemy action”... Whenever any crew came back from a mission alone, without bombing the target, or “got lost” and couldn’t find the group, or had some kind of excuse for not completing a mission, a board of inquiry (The Abort Board) was held. The board consisted of senior flying officers, and they were tough. No pilot could “pull the wool over these eyes”. Any abort had to be totally justified. The Pilot would tell his story. If the reason was mechanical, the Squadron and Group Engineering officers, were often there to either verify the malfunction as legitimate or otherwise. If the cause was proven mechanical, that was that... But if there was any proven incidence of anyone intentionally avoiding duty, regarding a mission, it was considered very serious indeed. We would hear, very occasionally, rumors about first pilots losing their crew and becoming a co-pilot for another crew. We even heard of a few instances where whole crews were split up and sent singly to other bases. Realistically these B-17s were ridden very hard mechanically, so it had to be expected that there would be engine breakdowns on occasion. These B-17s were operating in the toughest air space in the world. Long missions at altitudes approaching 30,00 feet, in temperatures of 60 to 65 below was asking a lot from these machines, AND the hard-working men who had to maintain them, and I feel that almost 100% of our Pilots had impeccable honor.

1-13-45 To Mainz, Germany. The target: Bridges over the Rhine. Target partially obscured by low clouds. Bombed from 24,000 feet. Flak moderate to heavy, however, we suffered no battle damage. Traffic congestion was terrific in the target area. Visibility on return practically nil... Ceiling 200 feet and descended through stratus layer solid from 5,000 feet down to 200’. Broke out just over the field. Considerable icing in the clouds. #43-38118 Miss Fortune...

Kaiserslautern, Germany. 1-18-45... Marshaling Yard... Made a 360 over target...necessitating TWO bomb runs over target... When a formation does a 360 for a second bomb run, the flak guns are really a lot tougher the second time around... They're just waiting for you the second time. Navigator says second run took us over Ludwigshaven flak zone. Most of the time out leaders are on the ball, this wasn’t one of those times. We even had one leader who took us around THREE times. After pass number three there were many “comments” over the command channel... none of them complimentary!!! Maybe the guy was working for the Krauts... Or a West Pointer buckin’ for Colonel... Just Kidding?
We landed in France at A-69 Laon-Couvran due to extremely bad weather over England and the channel... #43-38118 Miss Fortune.

1-21-45 Mannheim, Germany. Another Marshaling yard. This was part of the “transportation campaign” ...Extremely bad weather during assembly.
Contrails dense and persistent, often obscuring formations immediately ahead. Maintaining formations difficult, experience several near collisions... Temp -53C at 25,000 feet. “Gee Box” jammed by enemy. #43-38118 Miss Fortune.

Just a few words about formation flying. Since about our tenth mission, we had been flying as lead plane in the high element. This positioned us just above and slightly to one side and aft of the leader in the squadron formation. This was a very difficult formation position for our pilots to fly as it restricted their view of the lead ship to the small area between an engine nacelle and the fuselage. The pilot’s formation reference was extremely small. The slightest variations in airspeed, altitude, or any kind of shifting in position had to be compensated for immediately, or the pilot would lose sight of the lead ship. The position was so difficult to fly that the pilot and co-pilot would alternate about every 15 minutes. The pilot would fly with the lead ship between the fuselage and #2 engine nacelle for 15 minutes, the the co-pilot would take over and fly with the lead ship between his side of the fuselage and #3 nacelle for 15 minutes. Without a blackboard this is conceptually difficult, I know. We had more than one occasion when either pilot would feel a bit of vertigo (spatial disorientation) coming on and would call for the other pilot to take over the controls...

With this as a background, let’s view the formation from the tail gunner’s position. The High Element had a right and left wingman. The tail gunner facing backwards had a clear and close view of these planes. They were “tucked in” real close. If a wingman flew consistently, he was no bother no matter how closely he “tucked it in”, but if he was inconsistent and flew erratically he became a pain in the neck to the tail gunner who always had mid-air collisions on his mind. After you’ve seen a mid-air, you won’t soon forget it!!! It can turn two B-17s into a flaming ball of aluminum junk in short order, and most times there are no survivors. On this particular day we had inconsistent “charley” on our left wing. Mort was flying our airplane. We got a routine call from the lead, “30 degree turn to the left in 20 seconds”. This is a warning to the formation to be prepared for this 30 degree turn... “charley” had fallen back out of position and sped to catch up to where he should have been in the first place. It’s clear that this jackass is going to overshoot. Just then we start making the turn. I can see that he is going to run into us. I push the talk switch and say “Mort, don’t bank into him...” Mort eases out on the turn. And this dunce recovers right in the spot where we would have been in the turn. Well... I called that S.O.B. every name in the book and a few more... but my mask was on and the finger was off the button so I alone heard the soliloquy. But the crew owes its lives to Mort that day. If he had replied with anything but easing off that banked turn, none of us would be around today. God Bless You Mort.