B-24 Pilot's Mission Diary

Recreational Aviation Foundation ^ | 11/12/15 | Drummond

[pabianice]

There are times when you see or read something that you just know you want to share. On this Veterans Day I was fortunate enough to have the following excerpts shared from the logs and diary of a then 23 year old B-24 pilot. Mr. Drummond, who is still with us today and is the 94 year old father of our banker, wrote these words back then and I think they say something to each of us.

To those of us who are aviators they surely speak to how it must have felt to command a 4 engine bomber with less total time than many of us have before we complete our private pilot training.

To those of us who wonder what it is like to step up to the table and accept a task, Mr. Drummond's words have to ring true,

And to those of us who wonder why we live in the greatest place on this planet, we have Mr. Drummond and the many more like him to thank.

If, after reading these remarks you feel as thankful as I do to be able to exercise the privileges we do, perhaps you can join me in extending appreciation for the job they did. We are happy to forward all comments and good wishes to Mr. Drummond if you send them to contact@theraf.org

The intro to the remarks below are by Jim Drummond Jr., Mr. Drummond’s son:

Last week we were going through my dad’s military box looking for a picture of him for the Chronicle Veterans Day publication. In the box was a 1944 diary he kept during his 50 missions piloting a B 24 liberator bomber. I have shared a few of his entries below.

I have to remind myself that in 1944 my dad was just 23 years old. He was one of thousands of Montana farm and ranch kids who were called to defend the world from the relentless march of Nazi Germany. In his case he was recruited from the ranch, given 6 weeks of basic training, then, with only a handful of advanced flight training hours, he along with 10 other crew members climbed into a newly built 4 engine bomber and soared into the sky to fly alone over the ocean to a home base in Italy. My dad was the pilot and head of the crew at his young age. The crew included a copilot, bombardier, engineer, navigator, radio operator, gunners in the front, bottom and top turrets, tail gunner and two waist gunners. At 23 he was the oldest member of his crew. At the beginning of World War II the air crews were required to complete 35 missions. By 1944 so many crews had been shot down and couldn’t be replaced that the number of required missions was increased to 50. Statistically a third of all allied airplanes were shot down each mission so the odds of completing 50 missions were extremely low.

My dad’s diary did make me think about what a 23 year old today would answer if asked, “How was your summer?” Or when someone is asked in a job interview, “what was your biggest challenge in life and how did you handle it.” I wonder how the veterans mentioned in his diary, or for that matter veterans from all our conflicts, would respond.

When my 94 year old dads weathered fingers were turning the pages of his re-discovered diary last week he got a bit teary eyed. I suppose he was thinking not only of his lost youth in the skies above Europe, but also his young comrades who never came home. I think that is why all Veterans hold Veterans Day so sacred. They know about the commitment and sacrifices made in the sky and on the oceans, on the beaches of France and in the forests of Germany, on small atolls in the Pacific, throughout the jungles of Asia and in the sands of the Middle East. That is why the rest of us need to remember that those sacrifices are why we enjoy our freedoms and lives we live today.

Veterans Day shouldn’t ever be viewed as just another day off. Let’s remember and honor those veterans who didn’t make it home and especially those who came home but have the scars and memories of war and service. If you see a Veteran on the street next Wednesday, please make it a point to shake his or her hand and say, “thank you for your service.”

May 11, 1944

Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Mission carried out by 484th bomb group to date. Flak extremely heavy, intense, accurate. Ships ahead of us, on our right and on our left shot down and left us as a single plane. Hydraulic system shot out. Landed with no brakes. Large hole in left rudder, large hole in left aileron. All scared but no casualties. 48 missions to go.

May 25 1944

Sagreb Yugoslavia

Flack heavy to our left and in front. Made a 360 degree turn over target with weather too bad to locate target. P 38 fighter escort ran low on gas and started for home. 461st bomb group made run on target without fighter escort and lost two planes and wounded 12 men when jumped by German 109 fighters. Earned Air Medal today. 43 to go.

May 29, 1944

Assigned to Wiern Neustadt, Austria but had to turn back when lost oil in number 3 engine. Had to feather. Dumped our bombs off of coast of Yugoslavia and accidently set off German minefield and exploded 30 to 50 mines. No mission credit since we didn’t drop on target.

May 31, 1944

Ploesti Rumania

Hit oil refinery on edge of Ploesti. Flak extremely heavy. B-17 pilot with 35 missions said there was more flak than all his missions put together. Hit target and oil spouted flames up to 18,000 feet. Four squadrons lost two planes apiece that we know of. Two planes made it to home field but were too shot up to land. Everyone baled out. Copilot of one jumped with unconscious engineer and pulled his rip cord then pulled his own. We were lucky as usual and only got one little hole in Aileron. Getting used to flack cause we get it on all raids but we are darn lucky, so I guess we will make it. This life is doggone hard on your nerves. 40 to go.

June 8, 1944

Nice France

R.R. bridge on Ventimiglia above Nice. Very heavy flak. High explosive shells. We got hit in number 3 engine and oil line shot out. Landed at Corsica Island for temporary repairs. No one hurt in the crew. Came home and tent all ripped down and clothes burned because of a haystack fire close by. 37 to go.

June 14, 1944

Munich Germany.

Supposed to bomb airplane factory but never got the chance. Half the group turned back leaving only 9 planes in first attack unit. Flak extremely heavy and we got jumped by 30 or 40 fighter planes. We are sure of shooting down 4. That makes 7 planes we shot down in the last 2 raids. The Germans are getting mad and sending up fighters. Six B-24’s’ missing today and 5 the last raid. Only 12 crews left so we have to fly almost every day. 35 missions to go.

June 22, 1944

Bombed Pola Submarine base in Yugoslavia. No casualties but bombardier hit between the eyes with flak leaving only a bruise. 33 to go.

July 8, 1944

Vienna Austria

Second most heavily defended area in the world. Flak very intense. Our target was oil storage tanks and we got no hits. I counted 16 parachutes about 10 miles from target. I think they came from three separate ships. 28 to go.

July 12

Nice France

Flak fairly accurate and heavy. Hit target very well. Came home on three engines. Every time I have flown to France I have come home on three engines. 26 to go.

July 18, 1944

Fredrichshvean, Germany

Bombed Dornier aircraft factory. Did a good job. Right on Swiss border. Might have gotten into Switzerland a quarter of a mile accidentally. Flak heavy and accurate. Got a couple of small holes. 466th bomb group lost 12 out of 22 ships to fighters. 20 to go.

July 20, 1944

Munich Germany

Flew behind lead ship of group. Pilot of ship on our left got hit in hip with flak. Lead ship got controls shot away and bombardiers leg broken by flak. Ship on right got hit in gas tanks by flak. Our bombardier hit in face and shoulder by flak. All ships hit at same time. One, two and three lead ships fell out of formation so we led the group out of flak. Came closest today to being shot down than any other time. This is second time ships ahead and on our wings have been knocked down leaving us up there alone. Bombardier not too badly hit but suffered a little shock. He gets an Oak Leaf Cluster to go with his purple heart. 18 to go.

July 28

Ploesti Romania

Rough Mission but we went around the target cause we got in prop wash and lost two turbo’s. I was sure glad we didn’t go through all that flak. Saw one plane explode ahead of us so completely there was hardly anything left. Never was so scared in my entire life. Saw many ships cracked up on the ground all along the route home. 16 to go.

July 30

Budapest Hungary

Rough mission and I’ll be doggone if I don’t get so scared its pitiful. Bombardier lay on the floor and covered himself up with metal flack suits and navigators knees gave out on him over target and he can’t look out any more. Crew now never looks out to see where bombs hit. I guess 50 missions is about enough. 15 to go.

August 3, 1944

Avignon, France

Bombed bridge. Lost one engine on bomb run and second lost almost all oil pressure coming off target. Had everything ready to throw out in case we lost too much altitude. Made Corsica ok and left our plane there. Needs two new engines. At camp someone said we were last seen heading for Spain so all the enlisted men’s pistols and jackets were taken. They got them all back from some embarrassed boys We got a new plane. This makes our fourth. The name of it is the “Flaming Mamie.” All of its crew finished 50 missions except its pilot who was shot down in another plane and is probably a POW. 14 to go.

August 11, 1944

Ploesti, Romania

Hit a very rough target. Flak heavy, accurate and intense. Flak hit flight deck, top turret and a piece about 4 inches long wrecked the tail turret. No one hurt. We dropped back after we dropped bombs and it’s a good thing or we would have been shot down cause flak started bursting where we should have been and there were about 20 birds there. 12 to go.

August 15, 1944

Fretua, France

Supported invasion this morning by bombing beach. Saw hundreds of boats and troops landing. 5 minutes after we hit the beach the infantry hit it. Big show with lots of planes and boats. They also landed paratroops inland when we were bombing. 9 to go.

August 21, 1944

Vienna Austria

Roughest Raid since my first one. Hit by 30 or 40 fighters and lost one plane piloted by my old copilot on his last mission. Flak was extremely heavy but we dropped bombs and went around it the best we could. Fighter planes laid for us all the way home and flew around us until we sighted the coast of Italy. Hope I never have another mission like today. Too rough. My nerves are getting too shot. Can’t sleep much at night. Flew a couple of new gunners with my crew today to break them in. They’re broke in! 4 to go.

September 1, 1944

Ferrara Italy

Returned bombs to base due to cloud coverage over target. Group separated in a cloud over fighter territory so I stayed with my box leader. We were the only two ships together so the fighters left us alone cause there were lots of single planes up there. Another new crew broke in on a very rough mission. Hit by flak. Mission 50 – FINITO-

Thank you to all Veterans.

[WKUHilltopper]

for later

[Pontiac]

Came home and tent all ripped down and clothes burned because of a haystack fire close by.

That would kind of be the perfect end to a perfect day wouldn’t it?

Survive a ruff mission where you get your plane shot and loose an engine have to land for temporary repairs. Finally make it home and find your home burnt down loosing most of your meager possessions.

Tough kid though just a few matter of fact lines in his diary.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this. We have a stained glass window in our church donated by the family of a pilot killed on a raid over Ploesti Rumania.

May 31, 1944

Ploesti Rumania

Hit oil refinery on edge of Ploesti. Flak extremely heavy. B-17 pilot with 35 missions said there was more flak than all his missions put together. Hit target and oil spouted flames up to 18,000 feet. Four squadrons lost two planes apiece that we know of. Two planes made it to home field but were too shot up to land. Everyone baled out. Copilot of one jumped with unconscious engineer and pulled his rip cord then pulled his own. We were lucky as usual and only got one little hole in Aileron. Getting used to flack cause we get it on all raids but we are darn lucky, so I guess we will make it. This life is doggone hard on your nerves. 40 to go.

[olezip]

Thank you for sharing.

[LS]

A bomber, up until mid-43, was statistically the most dangerous place you could be---even worse than a Marine hitting a beach in the Pacific. It changed some after the fighter escorts came on board.

BTW, is it true the B-24 was not a very good plane?

[jmacusa]

There were giants in those days. God bless them. The B-24 was not an easy plane to fly and couldn’t take the damage the more rugged B-17 could. Still those guys— kids reall,y went up time and again.

[jmacusa]

Yes it's true. It was meant to carry a heavier bomb load greater distance than the B-17 so it's "T'' shaped design, with the wings level with the top of the fuselage meant more fuel storage capacity but it made the plane vulnerable if it was hit in the wing. Pretty much much any size flak hole or 20 or 30mm cannon shell in the wing and a B-24 was toast.

[VMI70]

Great post...Thanks.

Can you imagine? 23 years old and the oldest of his crew. That’s a helluva responsibility for that young of a man.

[Portcall24]

No words can express the respect and admiration for those who went before. The Nation’s finest.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

This was a great little read. Ploesti was a real bitch. Flying at treetop level has got to fry your nerves.

My father flew B24’s in the Pacific, the Snoopers squadron.

[MomwithHope]

Wow. My hubby’s dad whom I never got to meet was also a WWII B24 pilot and flew many missions in Europe. He’s got a great collection up of logs and letters. John Ehrlichman was one of his crew.

[sphinx]

I believe that if I were a college professor these days, I’d print this out, distribute it to the class, and give them a few minutes to read it. And then I’d announce that if there are any hypersensitivity cases in the room, they can either grow up right now, or take a hike.

[freeandfreezing]

Tough kid though just a few matter of fact lines in his diary.

I think the first day on the job toughened every one of those air crew members. When my dad arrived at their base in the Pacific their first job was to pack up the personal effects of the crew whose tent they were taking over - a crew who hadn't returned after their mission.

[Inyo-Mono]

Thanks for posting. My Dad was a bombardier in a B-24 in the Pacific Theater and he wouldn’t talk about it until just a few years before he died in 1988.

[razorback-bert]

My uncle was a navigator on 24’s and would never talk about it.

[Dartman]

Thank you for posting this. What a wonderful tale. Twenty-three years old, and the oldest of the crew. Wonderful.

[WKUHilltopper]

My wife’s uncle...flew B24s and had 3 shot out “from underneath him” in the Pacific. I knew a car dealer who was a waist gunner over Ploesti.

Amazing men...all of them.

[21twelve]

My uncle was a bombardier in Europe. We spent all of our holidays together. I didn't know that's what he was until his funeral!

[pabianice]

My crew in Vietnam, flying P-3s, wasn’t much older. I was 23 and the tactical coordinator/bombardier. The plane commander was 25 — the oldest guy on board. Ages ranged from 19 to 25. It’s a young person’s game.