Mission

ON THIS DAY...September 1,1944

After the Stand Down on the last day of August, twenty-five crews, including two Pathfinder crews, had been roused from their warm cots early that morning for their next mission. Seated at the pre-dawn briefing, they learned that they would be heading into Germany, to Mainz, on the Rhine River, southwest of Frankfurt and with a Primary target of an ordnance depot.

The 13CBW would fly two wing formations: 13A and 13B. The 13A, to fly 4th in the 3rd Division’s column, would be led by the 100BG, flying as its Lead and High formations while the 95BG would fly as its Low. Flying as Command Pilot for the 100BG would be Major Joseph Zeller while Major William H. Thompson would fly command in the second PFF. Captain Henry F. Smith would fly as Pilot with Paul Spurgeon as his copilot. The 13B would be led by the 390BG, which would also fly as its Low formation while the 95BG would fly as its High.

By the end of the briefing, the crews’ assigned aircraft had already been readied by the ordnance and armament men, who had been roused out of their warm cots by the Squadrons' Charge of Quarters (CQ) long before the flying crews were awakened. Captain Leonard Rosenfeld, the 100th’s Group Armament Officer tells us that the ordnance men’s “ bomb service trucks will be whizzing out toward the munitions dump” while the armament men “will head out to the line to rig hoists on the bomb racks.” And for those working at the bomb dump, “munition crews are loading bombs onto trailers; in huts closer to the line NCOs are readying fuzes, arming wires and fins. Every fuze that is issued has been inspected by an Ordnance officer, for fuzes must be kept safe while our men are handling them and carrying them to the target, and yet must be sure to arm and effectively detonate the bombs when they drop.” Working together at the B-17 hardstands, Rosenfeld continued, “Ordnance men may attach shackles to the bomb suspension lugs, Armament men may help tighten fins. Both will pitch in at cranking the hoist and locking the shackles in the racks.” However, only Ordnance has the responsibility of fuzing the bombs and Rosenfeld added, “It is a job requiring an understanding of, and a feeling for, the touchiness of high explosives…The role is anything but glamorous and… anyone who works with bombs and fuzes is constantly risking his life.”

By the time the aircrews were trucked out to their B-17s, the ordnance and armament men had already loaded the mission’s specified bomb load of four 1000# general purpose bombs and four 500# incendiaries into the Fortresses. Beginning at 0635 hours, all twenty-five ships made a successful take-off and began their climb to group assembly. After being joined by the 95BG, the completed 13A wing formation soon folded into the Division line before departing the English Coast at 0909 hours.

As the 13A wing flew over the Channel, it climbed to 17000 feet, passing through layers of thin clouds. After crossing the French coast, a large weather front forced the wing to make two 360 degree turns in an attempt to climb above the system. After completing its circling at 23000 feet, the formation flew deeper into France, where the high cloud tops reportedly reached 30000 feet, forcing the 13A to climb even higher to 24000'.

Thirty miles from the target, Thomas Anderson pulled his B-17 out of formation due to an oil leak in his #3 engine. His ROG Glenn Smiley tells us, “Came back alone. I contacted base station from France and got two places to drop our bombs but we didn’t have enough gas to go either place so we carted them back to base and landed with full bomb load on 3 engines. Lucky that there was 10/10 coverage because no fighters spotted us. Were afraid we were going to have to have to ditch in channel a while, so I got on MF/DF Section too had four 1000 pounders and 4 incendiary clusters for a load. I had to change no. 4 supercharger amplifier out over channel over open camera hatch…”

Fortunately, at 1048 hours, the entire mission was recalled and the 100th’s operations narrative tells us, “At this time we were in Cirro-Stratus clouds which extended up to about 35,000 feet. Dense persistent contrails were forming, altitude 25,500 feet.” Emmett Schmitt, ROG on James Ransom’s B-17 recorded, “Alt 25,000 ft had a hundred mile an hour tail wind which gave us a ground speed of about 325 M.P.H…We could see the rain falling beneath us but none at our altitude, no flak, no enemy fighters… we had as escort at P-51’s.”

Turning and ’s’ing’ to allow the 95BG to regain proper wing formation, the 13A departed the French Coast close to Caen and recrossed the English coast at Brighton, having lowered to 11,500 in altitude. After a seven hour mission, at 1251 hours, the formation was observed over the field at Thorpe Abbotts. Fortunately, all of the pilots landed their fully loaded aircraft safely and another credited mission was in the books.

That evening on base, there was something to really look forward. To celebrate the end of the 8th Air Force’s bond drive, Thorpe Abbotts would host Major Glenn Miller and his American Band of the AEF. Playing at the 445BG between 3:00 and 4:00 P.M. that afternoon, the musicians were trucked over to Thorpe Abbotts where they would first have dinner. Spending some time with Glenn Miller, Frank Siebert, the 100th’s Mess Officer, recorded, “One of our majors told him of our bakery and ice cream plant. When he finished eating, he said why not take a look. So we went over and had a new blend of cherry. We found him to be just another American wishing he too were able to be entertaining us back in the States.”

The concert would take place in the large hangar #2 and in addition to the 100BG, personnel from the 95BG, 390BG and the 65th General Hospital had also been invited. In preparation, one of the 100BG’s squadron diary tells us, “The hangar had been cleared out. Mess benches and bomb-crates were arranged in concentric semi-circles whose diameters was the stage of red and white. Although it did not start until 2000 hours, the hangar was crowded by 1900. MPS set aside the entire centre segment of seats for officers.” TG Robert Kazee remembered “men everywhere, even hanging from the supporting structure."

A drawing for the Bond Drive’s prizes was held first, after which the famous big-band leader came out to the deafening roar of cheers from those in attendance. The squadron diary entry continued, “Then Glenn Miller took over and put his band through their paces. All old favorites: "In the Wood" "String of Pearls" "Tuxedo Junction" "The Anvil Chorus,” the crowd really liked it. There was a soft almost imperceptible throbbing during his playing. It took a moment that this sound, more felt than heard, was the result of these many feet tapping in time to his playing. His playing furnished subjects for small talk for several days to come." Robert Kazee adds, "The “Modernaires” were also with the band and it was a terrific show.” Playing for an hour to an hour and one half, three thousand attendees would remember that concert for the rest of their lives.

That evening, bad weather moved in over East Anglia and the 100BG received a Stand Down order. Glenn Miller and his musicians, who were scheduled to be trucked back to London after the concert, remained at Thorpe Abbotts for the night due to the bad weather.

Crews flying the mission on September 1: J Williams, Heironimus, Elbel, Frazier, Daniels, Kassebaum, Kemp, Spurgeon, Anderson, Chamberlain, Grigg, Holladay, Ransom, McLaughlin, Harris, WB Kennedy, M Johnson, Lundquist, Darby, P Jones, Fabian, Ivosevic, Armstrong