Mission

ON THIS DAY...AUGUST 4,1944

The early 0430 wake-up signaled to many of the airmen that they were back to flying strategic bombing missions. At the 0530 briefing, the confirmation was made when the S-2 Officer pulled the curtain back from the map and the red string went over the North Sea to Hamburg in northern Germany. Advancing the goal of destroying Germany’s oil production, the 100th’s primary target would be an oil refinery at Harburg, twenty miles south of Hamburg.

Most of the 3rd Division’s B17 groups would target the oil refinery that day. The 13CBW would fly second and third in the Division line in two wing formations with the 100BG flying group formations in both the 13A and 13B wings. The 13A wing would be led by the 95BG and the 100th would fly as its Low group, led in a PFF aircraft flown by William Terminello with either twenty-eight year-old Maurice Youngs or Channing Emberson as the Command Pilot. It’s unclear who lead which formation. The 13B wing, led by the 390BG, would also fly as its Low group with the 100BG flying as its High and also led by a Pathfinder (PFF) aircraft.

Arriving from the 95BG and 13CBW headquarter base, Louis Quijada, ROG on Terminello’s Pathfinder crew had an even earlier start than the other crews. He tells us, “As a pathfinder crew, we were stationed at Horham. Horham was the only base equipped to service the radar equipment in the 13th CBW. On a mission day, we would have to get up early, fly over to Thorpe Abbotts, fly the mission, go through debriefing and then fly back to Horham. This made for a long day and we were now separated from our buddies in the 349th. This did not make us happy.”

With the briefing over, the crews gathered their equipment and were trucked out to their assigned aircraft's handstand, already loaded with the missions "eggs"; twenty 250 lb bombs. Getting ready to fly their #1 combat mission that morning was Gerald Brown and his crew. Brown’s ROG, Bud Vieth remembered, “The entire crew was nervous and excited and thought the name of the plane to which we were assigned that day was quite appropriate: “Fools Rush In.”

Departing the base between 0840-0915 hours, the 100th’s pilots made group and wing formations without any incidents. Taking close to two hours to form up and get into the Division line, the 13A wing departed the English Coast at Lowestoft at 1100 hours and the 13B three minutes later.

Climbing to altitude out over the North Sea, the formations followed their briefed route into Germany, crossing the enemy coast at 1244 hours where fortunately, the flak at Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven was reported as meagre and inaccurate.

At the briefed IP, the turn was made at 1317 hours by the 13A, and at 1323 hours by the 13B with both formations making a visual run to within ten miles of the target, where they encountered smoke and an undercast of 6/10-8/10 cloud coverage. Over Hamburg, the one hundred seventy guns that the S-2 Officer had warned them about that morning opened up and the B17s absorbed the impact from the “intense and accurate, barrage and tracking flak.”

Although bombs were away at 1327-1330 hours by both wings on the primary target, results were difficult to see and the pilots were trying to get their aircraft out of the flak as quickly as possible. Just after bombs away, one of the 95BG’s Fortresses was observed exploding after it had dropped out of formation due to flak damage received.

Making a left turn off the target, the bombers headed to the Rally Point. Emmett Schmitt, ROG on James Ransom’s B-17 tells us, “Altitude 24,000 ft. could not see the results of our bombing because of clouds and a smoke screen at the target. Moderate flak at the target, saw one ship explode after we dropped the bombs. Saw 4 or 5 parachutes, no enemy fighters seen. We had an escort of P-47's and P-51's. A couple of our ships were hit by flak and some men wounded.” And Joseph Ricker’s B-17 was absorbing the flak, narrowly missing Raymond Mainka, now flying the TG position. Mainka recorded, “Bombed Hamburg, Germany at 26,000 feet with twenty 250 pound bombs. Our ship was hit in four places. One piece of flak stopped in my A-3 bag where I kept some of the candy.” Ricker’s WG, William Crozier confirmed the flak when he separately recorded, “No fighters but very much flak. We got several holes in wings and fuselage. One piece of flak hit Monk's A-3 bag. Shattered the box of hard candy Monk had in his bag. Monk took this as a personal insult. Long trip. I am getting tired. So is everybody else.”

Although no enemy fighters were encountered, reports of “27 contrails were counted over the primary target. They were circling the area in formation of threes and estimated to be above 35,000 feet altitude. Some observing crew members believed them to be jet propelled planes, but they never approached any of our A/C.”

Crossing the enemy coast, the 100th began their let down, landing between 1530-1556 hours that afternoon with ambulances waiting for the three men that had been wounded by flak.

That evening, a war bond rally was held for Officers and Enlisted men at the “blister-hangar” on base, launching the ‘Victory Squadron’ campaign. The men bid for prizes under Major Eugene Rovegno who acted as the auctioneer, with Ground Executive William Utley, and the base Adjutant Horace Varian taking over when Rovegno wanted to bid. Items auctioned off included a quart of American bourbon, a chocolate cake, cigars, fresh eggs, steaks, a baseball autographed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, free cokes for the Duration and other desirables. LT Colonel Thomas Jeffrey purchased the bourbon bottle with a $2400 bond, then sold drinks to bond buyers to earn more for the drive - $1,000 per Officer and $100 per enlisted man. “Long before the evening was over the bottle was as empty as Hitler’s hopes.The Colonel’s rationing and price control paid off in bonds and sobriety." As one pilot said after draining his one-ounce, thousand-dollar drink: “Never before in the history of alcohol has so much been paid by so many for so little liquor.” Air Executive, Lt Colonel F. E. Price won the chocolate cake for a $1,000 bond purchase, then sold the slices for $100 bond each. With music played by the base’s own Century Bombers orchestra, it had been a festive night.

With orders coming in during the evening for another mission, the alert light went on and the air executives and S-2 Intelligence teams went back to work planning for the next day’s mission.

Crews flying that day:

Keys, Ricker, Geller, David, J Williams, Everitt, Tiahrt, Carlton, BL Scott, Gallagher, Riegel, Delaney, Roediger, Herres, Daniels, Cumming, Woodall, Streed, Trommer, Dickert, Bennett, Darby, Rowland, Seamans, Ransom, Ricci, Miller, Anderson, Stevenson, McEwen, Hempy, Lundquist, G Brown, Schaffhausen, Armstrong, Kennedy, Ryan, Aske