Mission

ON THIS DAY…JUNE 18,1944

S-2 Officer, Paul Mackesey and the other briefing Officers were notified at 2330 hours on the 17th that new orders were coming in from headquarters. With a pre-briefing with the lead crews scheduled for 2400 hours, there wasn’t much time to prepare.

The main briefing held at 0100 hours had forty-one crews filing into the briefing room. Copilot Keith Lamb, flying his #6 with the Ransom crew wrote, “Loud and boisterous, we'd file into briefing - trying to cover up that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. At the proper time, an Intelligence Officer would announce from the front of the room, "Well, men, you're going to have an 'easy' today," which never failed to elicit boos from the men. Then, dramatically, he would pull back the curtain to reveal a huge wall map of Europe, where there would be a red tape leading first to a designated point and then, finally, to the target…”

Given the number of crews in attendance, Mackesey confirmed for the men that the 100th would fly two groups that day, an ‘A’ and ‘B’ formation. The 13CBW would also fly two wings: 13B and 13A in which the 100th would fly as the Lead and Low groups with the 390th flying as its High. The 13A would be made up of two groups from the 95th and another from the 390th.

The 4th CBW would lead the Division column, followed by the 13B, the 45A and 45B with the 13A flying last in the line.

Following the red string on the map, Mackesey stated that the 13A’s Primary target that day would be an oil refinery in Ostermoor, Germany which produced asphalt, lube and gas oils and benzine. Their Secondary would be Brunsbuttelkoog. C targets would be any military target in Germany.

Major Kidd flying with Kincannon would lead the 100A formation with Valesh and Rosenthal flying in the second PFF as Deputy Wing Leader. Jones, Chadwick, Elbel and Steussy would complete the Lead squadron. The High would be led by Herres, with Gustafson, Allen as his wingmen. Terminello would lead the 2nd element with Williams and Gallagher. The Low squadron would be led by Gibbons, with Brewer and Rogers as his wingmen and Rosine would fly as the 2nd element lead with Kassebaum and Smith. Spares for this formation were designated as Woodall, Kemp and Harding.

The 100B formation would be led by Gorski flying with Harris with Lischer and Houghton as their wingmen. Ryan leading Roth and Major would complete the 2nd lead element. The High SQ would be led by Monrad with Dille and Zapf in the first elements while Schomp would lead the 2nd with Wolf and Woldt. The Low SQ would be led by Evans with Miller and Rice, Anderson would lead the 2nd Element with Rowland and Ransom as his wingmen. The B formations’s spares would be Delaney and Cumming.

Loaded with two thousand four hundred gallons of fuel and ten 500 lb GP bombs, take-off was delayed by thirty minutes but all ships took-off over Thorpe Abbots at 0500 hours. Group and Wing assembly occurred without incident. Aborting early were two ships from the 95th, ten ships from the 390th and none from the 100th BG, so all of its spares returned back to base with their bombs.

Meager flak was encountered from St. Peter on the route in. At the turn at the IP for the Primary, clouds obscured Target A so the Secondary was set up for the attack - Brunsbuttelkoog harbor and locks. At the target, the moderate to intense flak concentrated on the High Squadron of the 100A formation and then continuous pointed fire at both the 100A and 100B.

Sixteen ships from the 100th were ultimately damaged by flak over the target but none were lost. Pilot Leslie Kassebaum on his #3 mission had his engine shot out. ROG Emmett Schmitt on Ransom’s crew recorded, “Ran into very heavy flak around the target area. We got one long jagged hole in the left wing and two in the right side by the copilots seat. Co-pilot (Lamb) got a small piece of flak high in his right leg. He pulled it out himself and just had a small 1/2 inch triangular wound.” 

WG Carl Carlson on Roth’s crew remembered, “Flak was very accurate w/more than 12 holes in the plane. One went through the waist floor where I had been standing a moment before. Extra large hole in the left wing. Other hits scattered over the plane.”

Over the target, the 100BG attacked from 21000 feet altitude with the 100A dropping at 0904 hours and the 100B three minutes later. Following the route out, the formation encountered more flak put up by the Bremershaven and Cuxhaven defenses, included ground rockets from Cuxhaven but fortunately, no additional damage was received.

After a seven hour and twenty minute mission, the first aircraft landed back at Thorpe Abbotts at 1122 hours, with all ships returning safely. Sixteen of those ships returned with various degrees of battle damage resulting from flak and two of those ships carried wounded airmen.

Home by chow time, after no sleep the previous day, TG Robert Stachel on Ed Wolf’s crew finally “hit the sack 1400 today.” Pilot William Terminello remembered, “Flak was heavy at target and we picked up some holes and the number three vacuum pump was shot out…Home at 11:30, nothing much of news. Oh yes, we are going to be checked out as a lead crew which means plenty of work.”

The Interrogation forms filled out carried more complaints from the crews than in previous missions with Pilot Henry Rosine commenting, “Have done twenty-three missions without a flak leave.” Gerald Brewer, unhappy about breathing in the smoke-filled briefing room commented, “Recommend either smoking be discontinued at briefing or ventilation improved” while William Terminello was not happy about how close the 390BG’s formation came to his ships. “The 390th Group crossed above our Group on route from target causing their low SQ to come much too close to our own high SQ. This is dangerous and entirely unnecessary.”

With the mission light indicating a mission on for the next day, the men hit the sack as soon as they could, knowing they may be soon over Germany again.