493d Bomb Group Mission 20 June 1944 – Misburg, Germany
8th Air Force Mission 425: In the morning 1,548 bombers are dispatched to attack 14 strategic targets in N Germany and V-weapon sites in France; 49 bombers are lost:
Of 341 B-17s dispatched, 137 hit Fallersleben, 95 hit Magdeburg/Rothensee and 52 hit Konigsberg; they claim 2-0-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 6 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 116 damaged; 11 airmen are WIA and 60 MIA. Of 191 B-24s, 169 hit Hannover/Misburg and 3 hit a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 89 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA, 6 WIA and 9 MIA. Escort is provided by 98 P-38s, 86 P-47s and 38 P-51s and 81 Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 10-1-10 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 8-0-3 on the ground; 1 P-38, 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost (2 pilots MIA).
Maps and mission strike photos can be found here:
493d Bomb Group Mission 9: The 493d Bomb Group provided 34 aircraft, flying in 3 groups, for this mission. Several other aircraft failed to take off and were replaced by spares and several turned back before reaching the enemy coast, the usual measure for receiving mission credit. The Cook crew was flying their first mission as a lead crew, leading the “C” Group of the 493d contingent which together with the “A” and “B” groups constituted the “B” Wing of the 93d Bomb Wing. Once again they were flying in a B-24J aircraft, serial number 44-40480. Flying with them for the first time was their regular co-pilot Lieutenant Steven Chetnesky who had been bumped by a senior command pilot on the crew’s first mission. Chetnesky still didn’t get his copilot seat, he took the place of the tail gunner in the rear of the airplane. The co-pilot of a lead crew was usually positioned in that position so that a trained pilot could observe the formation and report to the command pilot and lead pilot so that they could better control the formation. This was a hard lesson learned in the 8th Air Force and was a key to successful missions. The command pilot on this mission was Major Richard Sierks of Group Headquarters. The normal tail gunner, SSG Walter H. Miller did not fly on this mission. They also carried an extra Navigator, Captain Donald B. Schulman from Group Headquarters who had flow with them on the 14 June mission.
They took off from Debach at 0430 and assembled at 9,000 feet. Departure from the English coast was at 0643. They climbed at that point to their assigned altitude of 23,000 feet. The group had trouble maintaining formation because the wings ahead of them were not maintaining airspeed. Their mission was the oil refinery at Misburg, east of Hannover. Oil refineries were critical to the Nazi war effort and were fiercely defended, those targets were among the toughest missions of the war. The group managed to get back in a good formation, made their turn at the IP at 0906 and reported a very good bomb run and had good results. 10 aircraft attacked, dropping 12 500 lb Mark 64 bombs each. Group reported that the Cook crew led formation was right on the Mean Point of Impact (MPI) – also known as “in the pickle barrel”. The photos at the link above seem to confirm that. The group turned from the target and made the rally point in good order, landing back at Debach at 1122. No aircraft were lost on this mission.
http://orbat.com/site/sturmvogel/ussbsnat.html
The Deurag-Nerag Refinery at Misburg, 5 miles east of Hannover on the Weser-Elbe Canal, is a typical German refinery. Its capacity input was 27,000 tons of crude per month, and its primary products were airplane oil and other high-quality lubricants, diesel fuel and motor gasoline. On this mission, the refinery was heavily attacked with 103 tons of bombs exploded among its installations, causing extensive damage, particularly to the vulnerable solvent dewaxing process. It closed down but restarted on 1 August at 40 percent of its original capacity for low-quality lubricants and 95 percent of its motor fuel capacity. In a second attack on 24 August, the bombing was less accurate and only 44.7 tons of bombs exploded in the refinery. The plant was back in operation again in 1 September. Another raid on 11 September, in which 54.9 tons of bombs hit the target, closed it down until 15 October. A raid on 4 November missed the refinery but hit a near-by cement factory. On 20 November, the entire refinery was again shut down, and subsequent raids prevented it from resuming operation except for eight days until the time of its capture in early April, 1945. A total of 40,000 tons of raw and finished products were lost as a result of fire and spillage, and the enemy was deprived of an estimated 260,000 tons of petroleum production up to V-E day. This was a very successful mission and the Cook led group with their 30 tons of bombs contributed significantly.
Lieutenant Chetnesky provides a tragic story worth telling. He was the assigned co-pilot on the Cook crew, but because they were a lead crew he would spend much of his combat time sitting in the tail gunner’s position. He was born in Hungary and hailed from Trenton, NJ. After he finished his combat tour with the 493d Bomb Group, he signed up for a second tour and transitioned to P-51 Mustangs flying with the 503d Fighter Squadron of the 339th Fighter Group. He named his P-51 the “Hard Luck Jr.” as a tribute to the B-24J named by the Cook Crew, “Hard Luck”. He was credited with shooting down 1 enemy aircraft. After the war, he stayed in the Air Force and was one of the pioneer pilots in jet aircraft. He was killed in an aircraft accident in May, 1950 piloting an F-86 Sabre Jet. His son, Navy Lieutenant Stephen J. Chetnesky, was a Marine Flight Surgeon who died on August 12, 1987 while flying in a Marine Corps AV-8 Harrier. Their pictures are at the links, along with an image of Lieutenant Chetnesky’s P-51.
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=339&Style=item&origStyle=table&Item=57
http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6725
http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?/files/file/4436-a2a-wop3-p-51d-339th-fg-d7-n-hardluck-jr/
If you go to the last link, you will see that he also named his aircraft for his girlfriend, Irene. They married and she remained a member of the 339th Fighter Group Association until her death.