Mission

ON THIS DAY…JUNE 24,1944

On the 24th, the 3rd Division would fly to Bremen as a Primary target with Bremerhaven as its Secondary. Only the 390th BG however, would fly under Field Order 286, as the High group in the 45CBW. The 95th and 100th BG would fly under Field Order 287, to another secret ‘No-ball’ target, an emplacement where buzz bombs were being launched towards England.

Still flying out of the 95BG’s base at Framlingham, twelve of the crews were briefed that morning. The crews of Delaney, Dickert, Greiner, Herres, Houghton, Jones, Kassebaum, Miller, Roth, Scott, Smith and Zapf would fly in one squadron of 100th’s aircraft behind the 95th’s squadron and would have the Primary target of Crépieul, France in the Pas de Calais area. The 95th would target Beaumetz-lès-Aire, seven miles NE from Crépieul. Anticipating the short mission across the Channel, all of them thought the mission would be a “milk run.”

Lead by Major Channing Emberson flying as Command Pilot with Neal Scott, the 100th’s B17s were loaded up with twenty 250 lb bombs, taking off without incident and headed the short distance towards France after forming up behind the 95BG.

Flying through flak at the enemy coast, the formation continued toward the Primary target, where it was found to be covered by 10/10 clouds. In fact, bad weather forced the 95th’s entire formation to abort their target and return back to Framlingham. The 100th however, would not be denied and according to NAV, David Shoss on Roth’s ship, “Flew around 40 minutes looking for a hole.”

Flying down towards Le Havre, a target of opportunity at Grand Couronne, eight miles SW of Rouen was found. On the way, a dummy identical air depot was spotted two miles northeast of the real Rouen air depot and recorded for intelligence. With cloud coverage at only 6/10, the 100th set up to attack a “gasoline and oil storage depot” near a factory. Again, the B-17s absorbed continuous fire put up by the Rouen defenses with all but Zapf’s and Herres’ ships receiving battle damage.

Making a first run on the target without dropping, the 100th returned for a second run. At 1154, George Roth’s ship flying the 2nd element lead position in the ship named 'Return Ticket', was hit by flak just before bombs away. His #3 engine had been shot out and was on fire when it dropped off his wing. A few seconds later, his right landing gear dropped off. The twenty-three year-old Roth and his twenty year-old CP Warren LeBaron appeared to have control of their aircraft as they peeled off to the right and out of formation.

Bombs were away from the remaining eleven heavy bombers at 1156 hours from 21,000-21500 feet but ultimately missed the target. On the route out, Roth’s ship was observed trailing behind the formation while the crew bailed out. Inside, Roth’s navigator, David Shoss stated, “Our togglier, Schultz refused to jump and I threw him out the escape hatch in the nose of the B-17.”

While over the target area and flying #1 position of the Low element, William “Pete” Greiner’s ship had also been seriously damaged by the flak. With no hydraulic system, he and his copilot safely landed ship #867 and crew at Woodbridge, the RAF base built in SE England to assist damaged aircraft on their return from missions.

Flying the #2 position in the High element was pilot Richard Miller and his crew. Also heavily damaged by the flak at the target, Miller’s engine had started shaking violently. Able to follow with the formation over the channel, as Miller neared the English coast, a ‘May Day’ call was issued and acknowledged. TOG James Biggs, CP Ivan Ferguson and TTE Melvin Brooks bailed out over the channel while rescue boats were observed heading towards the men soon to be in the water. Miller, the twenty-four year old pilot from Stockton, California crash landed his ship, “with a wing aflame” at Kings North, thirteen miles from Dungeness. This was their #4 mission. Although all crew members survived, the ship was reported a wash-out.

Safely returned to base, pilot Leslie Kassebaum, having completed his #7 mission, felt as if he had to blame someone when he wrote, “Supposed to be easy-We lost a ship-Damned lead navigator .“

Ultimately, three ships and crews did not return to base that day from the ‘milk run,' although soon the 100th would hear of the safety of the Greiner and Miller crews.

However, for George Roth’s crew, on their #25 mission, Roth and his copilot LeBaron would be killed in action when the ship crashed landed near Dieppe. Reynolds, Hunter, Carlson, Allen and Rulong would all become POWs while Shoss, Schultz and Yates would evade capture due to help from the French Underground. When finally interviewed, David Shoss recorded, “Controls shot away possibly injuring pilot and co-pilot by burst of flak….FFI stated that all parachuted safely but Pilot was injured…When I parachuted I was shot at by two German privates and was captured. While en route to Rouen via 3/4 ton weapons carrier I was forced to kill one guard and made my escape by jumping off the truck. Times in enemy hands about 30 minutes. Walked about 60 kilometers before contact was made with underground. While with underground I worked with them by burning German lorries at night - sent 3 pigeon carriers with target location. Mined forest and booby traps placed in forest south of Rouen….” It would not be until August 25 that Shoss would run into American units, eventually getting to the Ninth Air Force and then back to England where he would see Yates and Shultz, the other two evadees again two and one-half months later.

Meanwhile in Russia, the shuttle crews were still in Kharkov and Harry Crosby tells us, “Since the Germans knew where we were, we couldn’t stay there for long. Sometime or other our small remaining force would have to make a break for it.”

Some of the Officers including Jeffrey and Bowman were in Kirovogard and Bowman recorded into his journal, “Spent the day here (at Kirovograd) inspecting Russian Yaks, Lags, Stormovicks and so forth. The Generals took us swimming in a nearby river, and it was an interesting occasion. Several more B-17s arrived during the day. Spent the night in the Russian barracks again.”

At Kharkov after several meetings about the status of the field at Mirgorod, Crosby added, “And then at the final meeting we were alerted for a mission for the following day. We were to leave Kharkov that evening and go to the nearby field where our planes were parked, sleep until day, then return to main base, and be briefed while our planes were bring fueled and loaded with bombs.”

Shuttle Mission Remaining Crews: Allen, Chadwick, Clark (PFF), Cumming, David, Dille, Eichen, Elbel, Evans, Farcht, Gustafson, Harding, Helmick, Kemp, Kincannon (PFF), Lischer, Mylius, Ransom, Rice, Rogers, Schomp, Schwank, Simmons, Steussy, Townsend, Williams, Wolf, Zeller