Mission

ON THIS DAY...May 23,1944

After a Group Stand Down on May 22, the lead crews scheduled for the next mission were awakened for their 0130 pre-briefing while the rest of the crews had another hour to the main briefing.

In total, twenty-one crews checked in with the attendance man at the door and took their seats in front of the covered mission map. When the briefing Officer that morning, ‘Red’ Bowman, pulled the black curtain open, the airmen saw that the red string stopped in northern France and a small release of tension from the men filled the air. It wasn't Berlin.

The Primary target for the 100th that day would be the marshaling yards at Troyes, France, southeast of Paris and where two marshaling yards and a large engine shed were to be destroyed. Their Secondary target would be three hangars on the boundary of the Chartres airfield, located southwest of Paris and where the men were warned to take every precaution to avoid damaging its famous shrine and cathedral.

Leading the 3rd Division would be the 4A CBW, followed by the 4 ‘B’ CBW in which the 100th would fly. Leading the ‘B’ Wing would be the 447BG with the 100BG flying as its High group and the 452nd as its Low.

Major Reeder would fly as Command Pilot for the 100BG, flying with Charles Stapleton while John Giles would fly with Herbert Howard leading the High SQ. Elmer Ferbrache would lead the Low.

Loaded up with 1900 gallons of fuel and six 1000 lb bombs, the ships lumbered down the runway, with all ships taking-off and assembling after a lengthy climb. WG, Joseph Costanza tells us, “As usual it took three hours to assemble in formation before we took off.” At the coast, the three spare ships flown by Zapf, Siewert and Dille were not needed so they turned back at 0733 hours and returned to base.

Fortunately, the 4B CBW’s formation crossed the enemy coast on its way to the IP without any interference from flak or enemy aircraft. Making the turn at the IP for their run on the primary target, the flak was meager and the target was covered with 6-8/10 scattered clouds. Making a pass over the target without dropping, the 4B Wing leader was hoping for a break in the clouds so the formation made a 360 degree turn and made a second run over the target. Due to the haze and cloud coverage, bombs were once again held.

Heading to the secondary target, the Chartres airfield was covered in a 10/10 undercast. Unable to drop, the formation's ships held their bombs and headed for home. Five of the 100th's crews jettisoned their bombs ‘accidentally,’ before landing while the remaining sixteen ships landed fully loaded with 6000 pounds of explosives.

After shots of scotch whisky had been offered to the returning crews at Interrogation, some of the Officers frustrations at not completing the mission were recorded onto their sheets. NAV Milton Stockton on Lischer’s crew wrote, “Target area was clearing and if we had stayed around for fifteen more minutes, we probably could have bombed.” BOM David Bailey on Noordyk’s crew commented, “Think we should have been able to identify the target well enough to bomb.” Having just completed his #1 combat mission, pilot Martin Hoskinson, was more concerned about the bomber that was above him over the target. He wrote, “Just prior to bomb run there was an A/C hovering directly over this one w/bomb bay doors open; if bombs had been dropped, we would have probably been hit.”

The 100th's S-2 Officer 'Red' Bowman recorded into the mission journal, “No Runs, hits, errors” and the Group would have another chance the next day.

Crews flying that day: Chadwick, Ferbrache, Hoskins, Howard, Keys, Lischer, Jesperson, Noordyk, Rice, Roeder, Rosine, Roth, Rumley, Schwank, Schomp, Stapleton, Wegrzynek, Williamson, Zapf, Siewert, Dille