Mission

ON THIS DAY...OCTOBER 9,1944

On October 8, the 100BG had been alerted but the mission was scrubbed and the bombers had been grounded for the day. The next morning, thirty-eight crews were awakened later than usual and were glad for the few extra hours of sleep as they headed to the 0700 briefing in the murky weather.

When the S-2 Officer pulled back the curtain back from the map, the pinned route stopped west of Frankfurt and more than a few of the men breathed a little easier. The 100BG’s primary visual target would be an ordnance depot located at Weisbaden and if clouds prohibited the visual bombing, then the primary target via H2X method would be the marshalling yards at Mainz, six miles to its south.

Seated and scheduled to fly their #1 combat mission were the crews of Jean DePlanque, Charles Blanding and twenty-seven year-old Ethan Porter from Mississippi, a weather observer for the Army before becoming a Fortress pilot. Porter’s crew had originally been assigned to the 95BG in September but were transferred to the 100BG after the September 11 losses. Also seated was the David Armstrong crew, a lead element crew. Scheduled for their #20 mission and then a seven-day flak leave, they had been praying for an easier mission but knew that it was a roll of the dice.

The 13CBW would be flying last in the 3rd Division’s column, flying two wings: the 13A would be flown by the 100BG while the 13B would be flown by the 95BG flying with the 486BG as its low squadron. The 390BG would be stood down. The 13A CBW would be led by Lt. Colonel Frederick Price, flying in the lead pathfinder flown by John Ernst and his crew.

With expected poor weather and not wanting to repeat the gas shortages of the previous mission to Böhlen, orders called for “full tokyo’s topped off” and the B-17s had been loaded with five 1000 lb bombs. At the 1100 take-off time, the weather over Thorpe Abbotts had not improved much, requiring the pilots to utilize their instruments as they took off, forming up as the 13A over buncher 28 at the higher altitude of 17000 feet.

Division assembly was made and the 13A assumed its position behind the 93CBW, with the 13B echeloned to its right. Led by the 45CBW’s three wings, the Divisional column of three hundred eighty-one B-17s departed the English Coast and proceeded across the channel, beginning its climb to bombing altitude.

Crossing the Dutch coast at Cadzand-Bad, the 10/10 undercast along the entire route and over the target would require the H2X bombing method via Pathfinder. However, the 13A’s lead H2X system had not been operating since take-off so at 1410, the lead group changed positions with the high group and the Deputy leader took over as the 100BG’s lead before the IP was reached. Walter Bailey’s TTE, Calvin Dollar tells us, “We were flying No 2 position off the lead ship of the Lead element. The lead ship had to abort before the I.P. so the deputy Lead took over, then we went up and lead the High element.”

At 1501 hours, the formation had reached the IP and the turn was made onto the bomb run in group formation with no fanout procedure executed and with bomb bay doors opened. Scanning the sky for fighters, none were observed in the area and the flak over the target area was considered low and inaccurate.

Bombs were away on the Mainz marshalling yards at 1512 hours and as the 418th Squadron diary noted, “Today was a day for the "Mickey Men" the blind bombing technique lads. Photographs showed naught but cloud.” Unable to observe their results through the clouds, the 100BG made the turn off the target and proceeded to the Rally Point where reassembly into the 13A was accomplished. With the 13B echeloned once again to the right of the 13A, the pilots headed their aircrafts home.

With two pilots, including the lead of the low squadron, returning earlier due to mechanical and oxygen problems, the remaining thirty-six ships came in over the “socked in” weather at Thorpe Abbotts again requiring the pilots to utilize instruments through descent and landing. Although flying for six and one-half hours, four and one-half of those hours were spent attached to their oxygen masks. Nonetheless, most of the crews thought it a “milk run”.

The men missed their lives in the States terribly, including the great American game of baseball. October held the World Series and the men that day at Thorpe Abbotts were thrilled to listen to the final game of the match up between the St Louis Cardinals and the St Louis Browns being broadcast on the Armed Forces Network radio. With more than a few bets taking place, the Cardinals beat the Browns in the sixth game with the score of 3 to 1 with the players on the winning team receiving $5000 each while the losers would receive $3000.

That evening, the 100BG was under another mission alert.

Crews known to have flown this mission: Armstrong, Ivosevic, Kennedy, Miller, Schaffhausen, Sherrard, Urban, Anderson, Bailey, Darby, Ernst, Furrer, Geller, Hempy, Hopkins, MacNab, Marmorine, Williams C, Rojohn, Porter, Ross, Baker Carl, Hughes, DePlanque #1, Blanding#1 (13 crew names missing)