Mission

ON THIS DAY…OCTOBER 3,1944

After being awakened at 0300 for their next mission, twenty-six crews had checked in with attendance man stationed at the briefing room door. Checking in was 6’ tall pilot Cecil O. Daniels, from Pittwood, Illinois, a town with no traffic light and a population of one hundred and twenty-eight. The twenty-two year old married man, “Danny” Daniels was a long way from home. More than half way through his tour of duty, the first pilot felt grateful that he and his CP, Gordon Hansen, had beaten the odds stacked against them and brought the crew back safely after seventeen missions. They were unaware that this mission would start a string of bad luck.

The Allied ground forces were making an offensive push on the Siegfried Line north of Aachen and the 8th AF would be sending its three Divisions in four forces to target Luftwaffe airfields and motor transport plants.

The 3rd Division’s column of ten wings would be led by the 13 CBW, whose primary targets would be the Luftwaffe airfields in Giebelstadt and Illesheim, 40 miles west of Nürnberg, (Nuremburg). Used as intercept bases for lines of defense in protecting Germany, Giebelstadt was reportedly also a test base for the Me 262 and Me 163 fighter jets. If visual bombing of the primary target was prohibited by cloud coverage, then secondary targets utilizing the PFF method had been identified in Nürnberg.

The 13CBW would fly two wings, the 13A and 13B wings, led by the 390BG and the 95BG respectively, The 100BG would be split up between the two wings, flying as the low group (100A) in the 13A and the high group (100B) in the 13B, a fact that did not give the 100th's airmen much comfort, preferring to fly under the command of those they knew and in whom they had confidence. Following behind the 13th’s two wings would be the 93rd, 45th, 92nd and 4th CBWs, each flying two wings at two minute intervals.

With a gas load of full Tokyo’s, the high group’s B-17s were loaded with ten 500# general purpose bombs while the Low’s B-17s would carry ten M-17 incendiaries. Taking off first between 0645-0654, the 100B’s twelve aircraft and one Pathfinder formed over Buncher 28 and proceeded to the 95BG’s buncher for assembly into the 13B CBW.

Meanwhile, the 100A’s thirteen B-17s had taken off between 0655-0701 hours and proceeded to the 390BG’s buncher where the 390th's High group had already experienced assembly difficulties due to a cockpit fire in the Deputy Lead’s Pathfinder, burning out the gee-box and interphone to the tail. With wing assembly eventually accomplished, the 13A CBW proceeded to the Division assembly area where its high group was knocked out of position due to a collision course with another entering group. Eventually catching up to the rest of the wing at Felixstowe, all wings in proper formation and order, departed the English coast.

Crossing the Belgian coast on course, the formations commenced the climb to bombing altitude but as the undercast grew thicker, the 13A CBW flew left of the briefed course and within range of the Koblenz gunners. Tracking the lead formation from below, exploding flak knocked out two of the 13A’s command ship’s engines, forcing them to abort the formation and turn the lead over to the 390B. The exploding flak caused the break-up up of the 100th's low formation and the 13B CBW, flying behind, to take evasive action, lengthening the interval between the two wings.

Adjusting back to the briefed course, the formations continued to the Initial Point for Illeheim, with the 13A CBW ‘ess’ing’ along to let both the 100A and the 13B CBW to catch up. As the IP was neared, 5-7/10 cloud coverage was reported. With no functioning mickey equipment, the 13A CBW attempted a visual bombing first on Illesheim and advised the 13B to proceed to secondary target.

Flying through moderate but inaccurate flak at Nurnberg, bombs were away on the 13B's PFF flare at 1117 hours from 26000 feet. Raymond Mainka, TG in Joseph Ricker’s plane recorded, “Bombed Nurnberg, Germany with ten 500 pound bombs at 26,500 feet. PFF bombing as the undercast was pretty [heavy]. It was a tank factory and rail yards in the center of the city. There was heavy flak on the target but we ran into flak before we hit the IP and several times again. We got two small flak holes.” While his WG William Crozier added, “First target was to have been airfield and storage depot outside of city but heavy undercast caused a switch to #2 target and bomb by PFF radar…We were expecting many E/A but our escort was too much for the Germans.” Also flying in the 13B’s high group was Donald Jones whose NAV Art Juhlin recorded, “Primary target was an airfield at Illsheim, but due to 10/10-cloud coverage we bombed the secondary, which was a tank factory at Nurnburg. Was over target at 26,000’ and bombed through clouds by PFF. Flak was moderate and fairly accurate. On way to target we encountered considerable flak while crossing the front lines and the Rhine River at Koblenz…”

Meanwhile, the 13A, unable to bomb visually on Illesheim, ended up attacking targets of opportunity. The 100BG’s bombers dropped at 1140 hours on Ludwigsburg, 100 miles SW of Illesheim. Wanting to get the hell out of there, Glenn Smiley, ROG on Thomas Anderson’s Fortress tells us, “wandered all over Germany and everybody shot at us. Picked up 18 holes… Almost were in midair collision by upper element - missed us in inches-saw them coming but was petrified and couldn’t move. Sure thought I wouldn’t see this mission out, never saw so much flak.” The 390BG, still carrying its bomb load and with low fuel levels, would ultimately drop on a town in the Black Forest.

Heading west and over the front lines, the formations flew through continuous paths of flak from Strasbourg to Nancy, France. Flying in the 13A’s Low group, the 100th’s NAV Roland Hetrick on Walter Radke’s ship was disgusted with the mission and recorded, “Today we started for an airfield near Nuremburg or a P.F.F. target in the city. We never got to either. The lead Navigator got lost and while doing so got me lost too. The first thing he did was get north of course & take us through a flak field. S-2 says there was no corridor, but still think it was his fault (I know it was). All in all he took us through 3 flak areas when we started out for a flak free target. To tell the truth I was a little bit angry so I just got some sack time on the way home. We dropped on Ludwigsburg near Strasbourg on the way home.”

Letting down over the Channel, the English coast was crossed at Clacton at 1430 hours. After an eight and one-quarter hour mission, all planes were accounted for as they flew over the field at Thorpe Abbots. Although all of the 100th’s B17s made it home safely from the mission, there were problems. Luck had run out for Cecil Daniel’s crew when a flare shot from his aircraft’s roof, indicated that he had wounded on board. Daniel’s Radio Operator, thirty year-old Howard Dralle, had been severely wounded by exploding flak. Fondly called “Pappy” due to his status of being the eldest on the crew, Dralle would ultimately lose his leg, remaining in the hospital for the next two months before returning to a hospital in the States.

John Fabian landed that day with a lost engine, and Thomas Anderson landed with a flat tire with Glen Smiley telling us, “almost ground looped but went off runway and wheel stuck deep in the mud.” In Donald Ellison’s B-17, replacement TG, Lewis Martin reported an “ample” hole in the vertical stabilizer, as well as flak in the waist. Not sure how long, he would be able to stay at the TG position, Martin recorded “Was sick again over England - worse than sea-sickness; tail is rough.”

That night the mission light alerted the crews once again for the 100th’s next mission.

Crews known to have flown: Ivosevic, Jones, Radke, Ricker, Anderson, Daniels, Darby, Downing, Fabian, Frazier, Furrer, Geller, Jenkins, MacNab, Marmorine, Spurgeon, Thompson, Ellison (8 crew names missing)