Flying Backward in '44 Chapter 4. Part 3.

by Ron McInnis

Berlin, Germany... 2-3-45 The 385th was the last group in the bomber stream today. As luck would have it, we had to feather engine #1 just before the I.P. and consequently couldn't keep up with the Group. We were ALL ALONE in the Berlin area. We dropped the bombs early, skirted the flak area and headed for the R.P. (Rally Point) to intercept our formation on the way out. We flew alone for some time and encountered meager flak. Several “little friends” (P-51s) remained near us while alone over Berlin... Thank God for our fighters. We rejoined the bomber stream at the Rally Point, and tried to stay alongside as about 1300 heavies passed us coming home. It was a LONG RIDE. Most of the return trip was over the North Sea and we were running low on fuel. Abe sent in two CHIPP messages to Air-Sea Rescue to keep a fix on us in case we have to ditch in sea. Abe says “old ONE-ONE-Eight was just about the last B-17 to get home that day”... Jerry says “Made it back on three engines with very little gas”. #43-38118 Miss Fortune.

Chemnitz, Germany 2-6-45 Navigator Joe speaking: Entire mission badly executed. Failed to make flak corridor at Dutch Coast on the route in and was fired upon by flak defenses while at 14,000 and in a climb to altitude. Excessive winds, extremely adverse weather conditions. Solid overcast above and solid undercast beneath. We were in a low visibility pocket between them. We bombed through overcast PFF. After bombing, our lead squadron pulled away from us. Many formations, including ours, were lost over Germany. The given winds were wrong. In our weather situation we could not see the ground to take a “wind-drift reading”, because of the solid undercast... We could not take a “sun-shot” which would have established a rough estimate of our position, because of the solid overcast above. Our “Gee-Boxes” were jammed by the Germans and were temporarily useless. We were in a navigational vacuum!!! On the Command Channel navigators were having a conference. Someone suggested that we were over the Zuider Zee flak corridor. The headwinds against us were also very high, as it turned out. The leader opted to drop down to 12,000 feet, which was a poor decision since we were still assumed to be over Germany. Our navigator Joe, kept trying to get a “gee” fix and finally did. He called the crew, and advised us to immediate put on our flak suits and helmets, because if his Gee Box was correct, we were going to come out over Cologne in about two minutes (he also gave this info to the leader). Exactly two minutes later we broke out into the clear at 12,000 feet over Cologne bucking a-headwind that cut our ground speed to less than 100 mph... The visual flak was smack-on and tight to our formation. Again it sounded like heavy doors slamming... Mort was flying the airplane at the time, (Pilot and Co-pilot alternated) and we went into an abrupt climb that almost became a stall before Jerry grabbed the controls. Mort had been hit by a large piece of flak about the dimension of ones middle finger which entered entered endwise into the right kidney area of his back (this later from the surgeon). Jerry took us into a series of diving turns to get out of the flak. No one else was hit. We radioed Ninth Air Force Command telling them we needed to land immediately for medical emergency. They directed us to A-78, a fighter base at Florennes in Belgium... Don (Bombardier) and Joe (Navigator) got Mort out of his seat and into the nose where they administered morphine. Rocky (Engineer) climbed into Mort's seat to help Jerry with the Co-Piloting. We were headed for A-78 when two fighters approached our tail. They brole at the last minute -- P-47s...

We landed at Florennes expecting ambulances at the end of the runway, but no medics in sight. A B-17 blocked one side of the perimeter track and a C-47 blocked the other side with no way to get off onto the perimeter track. Jerry kicked #118 around in a tight 180 and we got back up the runway the wrong way, so that we can get off onto the cross runway and find the medics. Just then the medics came screaming down the runway towards us. Jerry cut the inboard engines and stopped on the runway so that they could get Mort out of the nose hatch. At the same time another crippled B-17 came in on the same runway we occupied. The control tower fan fired red flares at the landing B-17, but he had someone in the nose with a red aldis lamp flashing back. He couldn’t go around again. He's coming in regardless. Jerry had no choice. He revved up the the outboard engines while the medics shoved Mort back into the nose and slammed the door. Everybody scattered. Jerry took #118 off the runway and into the mud. The #4 prop shaves a metal and plywood top off on of a parked jeep. The crippled 17 rolled by OK. The medics took Mort by ambulance to a surgical hospital in Charleroi. Mort died of his wound after two days. The surgeon said the internal damage was so great they couldn’t stop the bleeding. That's how Mort gave his life in W.W.II.

It was a long,long day for everyone. Jerry Steil showed great leadership for a 23 year old. We must credit the competence and the perseverance of John Joseph, and the calm care of Don Collins, and the coordinated willingness and actions of the rest of the crew.

We were billeted in Charleroi, Belgium... #43-38118 Miss Fortune was to stay at Florennes for repairs. Most of the crew went back to Great Ashfield on a 94th Group B-17 on 2-9-45.

Chemnitz, Germany 2-14-45. Flying a brand new B-17 G #44-8762. Target is a marshaling yard near the Russian front. Flak at three points with one burst accurate. Tore a small hole in plexiglass and struck the bombardier but was stopped by his flak suit. Joe (Navigator) suffered bends, acute headache and airsickness. We had left Al (Ballgunner) and Rocky (Engineer) at Florennes to look after #118. Consequently we flew with a substitute Ball-Gunner and Engineer.

Our newly assigned Co-Pilot is Captain Reeder. Abe was not happy with the new Ball Gunner. “Had a new jerk in the Ball Turret. Ralph and I had to pull him out TWICE” (anoxia).

A few hours after take off, I had to heed nature's call. I hadn't noticed that our new B-17 was lacking an essential part of it's equipment...the relief tube. Well, as they say, “when you gotta go.” So I peeled through the many layers of flight clothing and aimed at the open cartridge ejection chute down under the guns. Well, I failed miserably and as a result had a pool form in recesses of the fuselage under the guns. What a terrible baptism for our new plane. As I was pondering how to take care of this insult, it froze before my eyes. I took one of the spent cartridge cases from test firing, Chipped the frozen pee, and swept it with my glove out the ejection hatch. End of problem!!!
Navigator's time log: Time of Flight 8:15.. Time over enemy territory 4:15...Time on oxygen 6:00. Weather Terrible...

2-15-45 Rheine, Germany. Briefed for Bridge over the Rhine at Wesel. Flak meager at last resort target Rheine. Good weather for a change. Short mission 5 hr 10 min. No fighters. Easy mission. #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

2-16-45 Wesel, Germany. Bridge over Rhine. Flak heavy and accurate. Again had to bomb last resort target because of bad weather in target area. Weather over England very bad. Diverted to a landing in France. While coming down channel coast and saw a V-2 Rocket take off from Holland. Landed at Chantilly, France. Remained in France until 2-18-45 because of bad weather. #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

2-22-45 Neustadt, Germany. From Joe's (Navigator) Log: “Extremely long, arduous, mission. Flight plan called for several climb and descend phases. Bombing altitude was to be 12,000 feet. Near target layers of clouds extended from 20,000 feet down to less than 11,000 feet. Formation went down into weather. We became separated and climbed out of soup back to 20,000 to find scattered planes and remnants of formations all over the sky. Bombed with one of these formations. These were very anxious moments as many other planes were in the vicinity and visibility was extremely poor. We occasionally flew though “propwash”, but could see absolutely nothing except “white Blank”. While in soup our position was uncertain, but it was known we were in the vicinity of small flak areas. Visibility also very poor on return. Time of flight 9hrs. 10 Min Arose @0330, landed @1640. Abes (Radio Operator) log: “Really sweated it out today. Weather over Germany was terrible. Many near collisions” Jerry's log: Neustadt PFF. No flak, Low altitude. Very adverse weather. Lost formation. Target: Marshaling yard #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

Ansbach, Germany 2-23-45 Low altitude bombing plan... Selected target of opportunity, because primary target under 10/10 cloud. Observed direct hits on target and drew accurate flak fire under visual conditions at 16,000 feet at front lines just south of Strasbourg. Effected evasive action and escaped damage. Some wounded. Briefed at 0430. Airborne at 0810. England closed upon return. Squadrons peeled off and did 360s 50 miles out in channel. Each plane came into Great Ashfield singly from that point. Flew in at approx. 200' with visibility Zero/Zero. Rain obscured vision... Unable to observe ground above 200 feet. Hopped over high tension lines. Narrowly escaped collision with a B-24...

Bremen, Germany 2-24-45 Relatively short mission. Heavy flak at target which was partially visual. Flak accurate. Considerable propwash in target area and on route out. Difficulty in maintaining satisfactory formation #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

2-25-45 Munich, Germany. Deep Penetration. Light flak at battle lines below Strasbourg. Perfect visual conditions at target. Direct hits observed on marshaling yards. Entire city appeared to be in smoke and flame, visible for over 100 miles. Flak at target moderate and accurate. Low visibility on return. Temporarily lost formation in clouds over channel just off the Belgian coast. Airborne 8hr 45min. #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

2-26-45 Berlin, Germany. Flak over target surprisingly light for Berlin. Inaccurate... Target under 10'10 overcast. Seven hours on oxygen #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

2-28-45 Kassel, Germany. Moderate to heavy flak relatively inaccurate because of undercast. Route in and out crossed heavy flak areas on front lines north of Frankfort and south of Koblenz. Plans for the day provided for artillery shelling of front line flak positions during time of passage of Bomber Stream. Front line areas largely covered by overcast, however very little flak appeared #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

3-2-45 Dresden. (Navigators Log) “Dresden 2 Mar. 45. Dresden bombed as secondary target. Shortly before I.P. West of Berlin near Magdeburg. Group was struck by enemy fighters (30 FW 190s in immediate vicinity). Low squadron in which we were flying was badly out of position and the fighter attack was largely centered upon us. At that moment our P-51 escort was absent. According to later reports it had gone down to attack enemy fighters seen taking off. All gun stations on our plane fired on enemy aircraft and one E/A was claimed. The destruction was shared by Ball Turret, Tail Turret and Top Turret and R.O. At least four planes in our squadron definitely destroyed. Attack began at 1015 hrs and persisted until approx. 1040, Bombs Away at 1027. (4 to 5 planes of Group thought to be lost) Author: Confirmed 385th lost 4 out of group. P-51s eventually reappeared and broke up attack. We suffered no battle damage but many others were riddled with 20MM. Mission duration 9h. No flak over target which was covered by 10/10. Meager flak from Hanover and Frankfort defenses. Crew performed splendidly. Tail Gunner especially calm despite successive waves of “company front” attacks. Largely from 6 o'clock level. We in the nose fired on 3 attacking from 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock level and medium high.

Tail-gunner’s version: On looking out to 9 o'clock level, about a mile out I saw a “gaggle” of fighters proceeding on a course opposite (180 degrees) to our course. They were dark in color, and flying loosely in a swarm rather than any orderly formation. Our fighters always flew in a “finger four” formation of four units. These dark fighters, though flying level, had a slight nose down tilt. I knew they weren't ours. Also, at this stage of the war most of our fighters were bright natural aluminum not camouflaged... I called the Bombardier telling him we have bandits... He says how many? … I counted 18 of them. They started to turn in toward 6 o'clock. They were out of range at this time. When they were dead astern they turned toward us, still out of range, and went into the “company front”. I flipped the safeties off. Don says “ give 'em a burst to let them know you're there.” I sight on one and give a short burst with extra elevation. They increased speed and I waited until they were within range. Effective range for the cal .50 is about 600 yards. At 600 yards I opened fire on the one directly behind with continuing short bursts. When they were about 400 yards they opened up with their 20 MM cannon. The Cannon shells were a combination of armor piercing incendiary, exploding shells and timed explosive shells. These timed explosive shells burst on their way in, and were used instead of tracer rounds. Gunners saw them as exploding puffs of smoke “walking up” to the formation. These FW 190s were flown by experienced pilots and they came in very close, in fact, the 190 that I had fired at all the way in came almost into our formation. I believe the ball turret got a good shot at him. Al saw him go into a flat spin. I had to fire into the rest of the attacking formations so I concentrated fire to the rear. The whole attack seemed to last only seconds...

When this attack began I knew I was going to die. The feeling was not of fear but of total resignation; like a numb acceptance of the inevitable. It's hard to explain to anyone who has not gone through a combat experience of facing imminent death. My mind was clean and purposeful. I was very calm and deliberate. My training came to the fore... I clicked off the safety's. Don't mistake this for bravery. I was like a cat trapped in a corner by a huge dog... The guns were my claws... There was no place to run, no place to go. My thought was to fire my best to be effective... If I was going, then somebody was going with me. I concentrated fully on firing the guns..., I felt no panic... As soon as the “company front” attack was over... and it appeared there was a chance of surviving... I experienced the worst fear of my life. My mouth dried out completely. My tongue felt like a blotter. I didn't think I could speak... But this passed in seconds. Must be ready for more attacks. Subsequent attacks did come from the nose sector but did not hit us. Joe and Don fired at these 190s.

Afterward, looking down over the guns, I saw one of our B-17s close below us streaming fire from about eight feet of his left wing. His tanks were afire and his right main landing gear was down. He appeared to be on auto pilot so his crew would be able to bail out. I believe this was Vaadi.

In retrospect, I believe we survived because of our high element position to the formation. The fighters swept the lower elements and took out three crews, Tripp, Vaadi and Tipton. Krahn was taken out of the lead squadron by the subsequent head on attack. In a flash 36 men M.I.A..... #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”.

Our P-51 escort returned to the area. Thank God for the “little friends”.
Our crew jointly could have claimed a FW 190, but lets leave that to the heroes.

3-4-45 Ulm, Germany. Recalled at battle lines below Strasbourg as a result of impenetrable weather. Encountered meager but accurate flak at the lines #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”....

3-5-45 Fulda, Germany Primary target Ruhland Oil Refinery. Deep penetration. Contrails dense and persistent to the extent entire sky became cloud covered. A long mission. Our squadron become separated from Group and temporarily lost. At one time we were over Prague. Flew over Brux flak defenses: bombed Fulda and a target of opportunity on return trip. Bandits reported in the area of Dresden but none sighted... this was our 34th mission. One more to go!!! When we landed back at Great Ashfield and pulled into our hardstand, the 549th Squadron Commander, Major Charlie Reid, came around to congratulate Jerry on finishing his 35 missions. Then he came to shake our hands. We said “thanks but we have one more to go...” Major Reid said “No, No you're all finished with your pilot. You don't have to go on anymore”!! It was like a pardon from the Governor. We still couldn't believe it.. but it was true. Hugs and handshakes all around.... Now we could go home.... #44-8762 “Seven Six Two”

This happy occasion prompts me to remember a paragraph about another crew of the 385th who were also very joyous in finishing their final mission. It tugs at the heartstrings.

“On the afternoon of 2-21-1944, B-17s from Great Ashfield coming home from Germany made landfall near Great Yarmouth and were letting down through the weather, when another B-17 emerged from cloud at 3000 feet in a steep decent, and smashed into the left wing of the flight leader. Both bombers plummeted down into the bleak Reedham marshes before anyone had a chance to escape. 21 men died instantly. Captain Hutchinson and crew in the lead fortress had just completed the 25th and last mission of their tour. Incidents such as this did more to sicken an airman's soul than any losses in combat.

Now we had to get our Bombardier and Navigator over the last hump. Officers had to do the full 35 missions with no exceptions. Don went to Hanover, and Joe with to the U-Boat yards in Hamburg. The rest of the crew were there to greet them at the hardstand. We were a happy band of warriors. Crew #343 had done it!!!!

Our officers threw a dinner party for their enlisted crew in London at the Savoy. It was a First Class Affair with all of the amenities.

We left Great Ashfield on 3-24-45 a memorable day. The sky was full of C-47s and Short Stirlings towing gliders east. It was the day of the allied airdrop across the Rhine. We pondered for a minute how fickle fate can be. Here were thousands of Airborne glidermen going into combat to face wounds and death and here we were Going Home.

Abe had chosen to stay at Great Ashfield for a while. He wouldn't be flying but would take a ground job, probably something in training or in the squadron orderly room. The rest of us went to Bamber Bridge, a processing center. Shortly thereafter we boarded the Queen Elizabeth in the Firth of Clyde. She was going home as a Hospital Ship with casualties from our Infantry. It was not a gentle scene. There were many, many amputees and very few were ambulatory. We were the “Go-Fers” for these men, and there was not one grumble from us Air Corps Types. We were more than happy to be of help in bringing their meals, ect. When you have TWO good legs, you don't mind using them, not at all.

After reaching New York and Camp Kilmer, we split to go our separate ways on furlough home. Who knew what the future held for us? The Pacific War was still on. In any case, our memories after starting out as crew #343 will always be with us.

A few statistics about the Eighth Air Force.

350,000 men served with the Eighth. 26,000 or 7.42% were killed in WWII. Measuring mortalities rates for 210,000 air crewmen the rate was 12.38%. 21,000 from the Eighth had to bail out and wound up in P.O.W. Camps. The Eighth lost 6,537 B-17s and B-24s and another 3,337 fighters destroyed. More airmen with the Eighth lost their lives than were in the entire U.S. Marine Corps in WWII Fatality rates for the U.S.M.C. 3.29%, U.S. Army 2.25%, U.S. Navy .4.1%.
For a 25 mission bomber tour in 1942-43 only 35% survived.
For a 30 mission bomber tour in 1944, 66% survived.
For a 35 mission bomber tour in 1945, 81% survived.

What did the Eighth Air Force do? Initially the Eighth conducted a strategic campaign in which certain segments of the enemy's industry was bombed into a state of ineffectiveness. For example, an early theory sought to block the manufacture of Ball Bearings (Schweinfurt). Most war making equipment could not be made without these essential bearings. Bombing these plants would adversely effect manufacturing of tanks and aircraft. The Eighth at that time did not have escort fighters with long range capability and did not have enough aircraft to get the job done fully. Germany was able to disperse this industry successfully, taking it out of harm's way. The Eighth then concentrated on aircraft manufacturing which was slowed but not stopped. The most effective way to destroy the Luftwaffe was by unleashing our escort fighters, and using bombers to draw the enemy fighter force, so that our escort fighters could shoot them down. The most effective consequence was the Luftwaffe lost its veteran fighter pilots, as well as its planes, and a growing inability train replacement fighter pilots. The Germans practically eliminated the Luftwaffe bomber force by converting bomber pilots to fighter pilots, but even this well ran dry. Basic flying training in Germany was a practical impossibility. Student pilots became fair game for our fighters.

The bomber operation that sealed Germany's doom was the campaign against synthetic oil. When these synthetic refineries were destroyed, manufacturing became moot. Producing tanks meant nothing if you didn't have the oil to run them. Why manufacture aircraft, if you had no fuel to fly them? The campaign against transportation (Rail Marshaling yards) assured that movement of materials became impossible. The country came to a standstill.

Because of bomber operations, much of Germany's manufacturing had to be dedicated to home defense. The bombers kept these armaments in Germany protecting the Reich. How many thousands upon thousands of people were tired up manning this air defense system?

When our troops looked up and saw high contrails going into Germany, they probably had no idea of what the Eighth was doing for them. The fighters and bombers making those contrails were keeping the Luftwaffe off the backs of our ground troops. A German fighter shot down could never again be a threat over the front lines. Refineries that were leveled could not produce the fuel for that Tiger Tank that might” have faced them across the lines. Bombed marshaling yards might have prevented that load of 88MM shells from getting to the front. A critical battle might have been won because horse-drawn Germany artillery got there too late.

This is not meant to lessen the praise for our ground troops. Wars are not won until foot soldiers “take the ground”. But consider how much more difficult it would have been for our ground troops, if we had not won superiority in the air? Consider the casualties if the Luftwaffe had gained air superiority over the front. What if those fighter-bombers had not been P-47s, but FW 190s strafing our men?

Thank God it's over and in the history books. Here's to all the men in the air, on the ground, and at sea who won that war. Here's to those who never had a grave and whose names are on the “ Wall of the Missing”at Maddingly, near Cambridge, England. May They All Rest in Peace.

And here's to STEIL'S CREW (old crew $343) who did their best:

Gerald O. Steil, Airplane Commander … Omaha, Neb, Jerry became a Captain with United Air Lines eventually flying Boeing 747s. Couldn't keep away from Boeings. Retired after 41 years in the air. A gallant gentleman.

Morton Feingold, Co-Pilot, Chicago, Ill. Mort gave his life in the air over Cologne. Buried in Chicago, Ill. We owe our lives to him.

John Joseph, Navigator, St. Louis, Mo. An inspiration to his crew. A gentleman. He always brought us back.

Don Collins, Bombardier, He was the REAL reason the rest of us were there. He is one of the finest and a great friend.

Roland “Rocky” Tanguay, Engineer-Top Turret. The Rock, as in Gibraltar. Dependable, Knowledgeable. He kept us in the air.

Don “Abe” Abens, Radio Operator-Gunner. The best R.O. in the 549th Bombardment Squadron. (H). Good humor. Fun to be around. A good Friend.

Al Boltz, Ball-Turret-Gunner. Lively, courageous, good man. Knew London better than any of us.

Henry Clay Brier, Waist-Gunner, Togellier, R C M Operator. A southern gentleman for real. Our loss. Wayne Montgomery's gain.

Ralph Vollmer, Waist-Gunner/Armorer. Totally dependable, Solid in all situations. Would be a great neighbor. Is a good friend.

Ron Mcinnis, Tail Gunner, I learned a lot from these comrades while flying backwards in '44. God Bless 'em All!!!