Posted on 08/17/2019 6:24:06 AM PDT by fugazi
On 15 August 1944, 2,000 U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force heavy bombers, supported by hundreds of fighter escorts, lifted off to strike 11 Luftwaffe bases in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. One of those targets was Fliegerhorst Weisbaden, which would become a U.S. Air Force base during the Cold War. Intense enemy flak damaged 11 aircraft, but 39 Hell's Angels B-17s were soon over the enemy airfield, dropping 164,000 pounds of explosive and incendiary ordinance on the runway and its facilities. Approximately 45 miles away from Weisbaden on their return trip, shortly after the fighter escorts left, a flight of two dozen Focke-Wulf Fw-190s and Messerschmidt Bf-109s fighters flew out of the sun and pounced on the bombers. In moments, enemy pilots had shot down nine aircraft.
[...]
"Immediately after being warned by tail gunner Sgt. William J. Foley, Lt. Davis began violent evasive action. Two Fw-190s engaged them, making one pass before disappearing. Flying Bison sustained numerous hits, causing Lt. Davis to lose altitude from 22,000 to 17,500 ft. and become separated from the rest of the formation. Fighting to get the aircraft back on an even keel, Lt. Davis began to take stock of his aircraft and crew. The engineer, Sgt. Roy D. Hughes, had been instantly killed by a 20mm cannon shell while flying in the waist gunner position. Radio operator Sgt. Eugene R. Gorman was wounded in his right ankle and tail gunner Sgt. Foley in the leg and foot. The navigator, 2nd Lt. George L. Lange, and bombardier, Flight Officer Fred W. Bryan, were sent back to the waist to administer first aid. Aircraft damage was very severe. The amplifiers and turbos were shot out, rudder controls were useless, the fuselage looked like a sieve, and the No. 4 engine
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
People in this day and time don’t know what war is. My uncle and namesake was captain of a B-17 in Europe named the “Tommy.” He survived his 25 missions, but the Tommy was shot down on the very next mission after he left the crew. He then joined a P-51 squadron out of England. He did not survive this. Army records were so sketchy and inaccurate that only a few years ago did we learn the details of his death.
Wonder if this is where the phrase “rollin’ Thunder” originated .....
Stepfather: 343 Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Group (they were known as the Pyramidiers {https://www.98bg.org}). under Colonel John ‘Killer’ Kane
Assigned 9th AF, 12th AF, and 15th AF
43 Combat Missions, 267 Combat Hours
Ploesti ...
I don’t want to make this a negative post about modern society, but remember that these “men” were teenagers and barely into their twenties. The fate of the free world depended on them.
“43 Combat Missions, 267 Combat Hours... Ploesti”
wow.
Back then ‘men’ of 18 to 20 were more manly than today’s millennial pu$$ies.
OMG if we had to go to war with these girly-men we’d be screwed.
living thru the great depression and organizations like the church and the boy scouts were some of the things that helped mold those boys into the men we needed.
none of which really exists in the lives of young men today
Great article, thank you for posting. The untold stories within that incredible story have to be amazing; POWs, civilians beating airmen to death, and some men escaping. Every one of those is probably worthy of it’s own book and it was just a routine bombing mission.
You worry unnecessarily.
I think it is wise to remember that the CURRENT crop of 18-20 year olds in the US military of 2019 are made of similar stuff.
We tend to forget our forces are always made up of young men. Most served very honorably from 18-22; four years, then moved back into civilian life. They were consistently replaced by more 18 year olds and every replacement did their part, too. I have no doubt todays youths would perform the same.
It’s just like the 1960s. Sure their were long-haired maggot hippie protestors, but at the same time, in the same generation, we had brave boys in Vietnam taking it to the commies.
All this is based on my experiences in the 1970s—90s. I served from the age of 18 through 40. When I retired I was considered an old man by most of those whom I led.
I agree completely that the tough times these boys grew up in, plus the healthy social interaction and strong values, forged them into a great generation. Had our millenials experienced these hard times and had the advantages of church, hard work, and adversity (to name a few), we would be just as proud of our young men.
But PLEASE let’s not make this a negative thread about modern society.
” Every one of those is probably worthy of it’s own book and it was just a routine bombing mission.”
My thoughts exactly.
43 Combat Missions, 267 Combat Hours
Ploesti ...
Ploesti was horror amplified to the nth degree.
Exactly what the socialists/communists/anarchists/marxists wanted to happen, and aided in the social engineering to make it happen, since the 60s.
Arlington with:
At burial service:
one chaplain,
one personal representative,
one Arlington Lady,
one Arlington Lady escort,
one Observer,
one Guard at attention on site,
eight Flag bearers (six flag bearers, or head bearer, and one Air Force honor bearer),
21 marching band soldiers,
1 caisson pulled by 7 horses,
4 horsemen,
8 body bearers,
and one bugler to play Taps.
Distinguished Flying Cross
(Distinguished Unit Citation) Army Presidential Unit Citation -1 bronze oak leaf (two awards)
American Defense Medal (Ribbon)
Air Medal - two bronze oak leaves (3 awards)
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal & Ribbon
WWII Victory Medal
Korean Service Medal, Ribbon & Plaque
United Nations Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal
The perils that US bomber crews faced during WW II are insufficiently appreciated today. One of my high school teachers was a B-24 pilot and was shot down over Czechoslovakia. He declined to discuss the details of his experience as a POW beyond saying that he nearly starved to death and saw fellow American POWs murdered by the Germans.
The Germans were saints when compared to the Japanese and the Russians during WW II, the North Koreans and Chinese during the Korean War and of course the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.
wouldn’t necessarily use the word “saints”. They generally followed the Geneva Convention when dealing with American, Brit, Canadian or French POWs, unless the prisoner was Jewish.
Of course, since the Soviet Union did not sign the Geneva Convention, the German’s absolutely brutalized Soviet POW’s
Their conduct was no different then the way the Soviet’s treated German POWs.
At the end of the war, the German prisoners secretly agreed among themselves to blame Hitler and profess a lack of knowledge or approval of the Holocaust and war crimes. Remarkably, that line prevails in most of the memoirs and histories of WW II, with the German military usually treated as essentially honorable despite considerable evidence to the contrary.
I am not saying who was worse, but my Uncle was a B-25 pilot in WWII. His was one of the squadrons that perfected the "skip bombing" technique and was the squadron that first made field modifications to place eight 50 cal guns firing forward.
He was shot down over China and managed to crash land and save his entire crew. The local Chinese, along with the Chinese Partisans, smuggled them through China and eventually got them to General Chang's line where they were able to get beck to American forces and back to their squadron. It took them around four months to do so and the Japanese were searching for them the entire time.
My Uncle told me that whenever the Japs found traces of them in the villages where they were hidden they murdered the entire village and burned it to the ground. He personally saw at least three villages burn right after they were taken out of them. The Japs were sometimes that close to capturing them.
My uncle hated the ChiComs but loved the Chinese people until the day he died. Hundreds of them died to save his six-man crew.
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