23-Sep
Saturday
Made my first combat mission today. Flew over parts of Belguim, France and Germany. Our target was marshaling yards at Dusseldorf, Germany. Was not able to drop bombs because of clouds and we lost formation. Came home alone. It is terrible uncomfortable in turrets with all the equipment - - I got air sick today too - second time! As a whole it was not too bad but I was plenty nervous at times especially alone over Germany.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Geez. Can you imagine? That takes some major courage.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young (or younger), I remember hearing part of this story. Dad said that their plane lost formation and became isolated over Germany. In order to improve their chances of getting back to England, they flew low and took a route that was out of the way so there would be less guns looking for them in unexpected places. What a way to get immersed into combat missions, as this was Dad's first one.
ReplyDeleteDuring a recent visit to Show Low, Dad added some information about this mission I had not heard before.
ReplyDeleteThey flew over Germany and ended up in a thunder cloud, where they lost visibility. The plane that Dad was in lost control and went into a spin. With no frame of reference to get bearings, the pilot could not get control of the plane as it spun-out. When it finaly came out of the bottom of the cloud, he was able to see the ground and gain control of the plane. This is how his plane lost formation and became isolated over Germany. The others turned around and went home. His pilot kept them just above tree tops and went a round-about way of returning to England in order to not be flying where they might be expected to be.