Mission

ON THIS DAY...OCTOBER 17,1944

The stand down order for October 16 gave the 100th’s maintenance crews a little breathing room to repair the battle damaged aircraft in preparation for the Group’s next mission, alerted for the next day.

On the 17th, thirty-eight crews had been awakened and were seated in the briefing room. In their final mission briefing would be the William Kennedy and George Fory crews, while it would be the #1 for Alvin Meiklejohn’s. Meiklejohn’s TG George Bowles, a twenty year-old farmer from Idaho Falls before the war, tells us, "We were called out at 2:00 a.m. to go on our first mission and briefed at 3:00 after breakfast. In briefing, they told us where were going to bomb, how many fighters we could encounter, how much flak we could expect, and where it would be. They surely had quite an underground system…”

The S-2 Intelligence Officer divulged the day’s target as he pulled the curtain back from the large map and the crews saw that they would be headed to Cologne, forty miles from where the American and German lines were engaged in heavy battle at Aachen. It would be the third 8th Air Force attack on Cologne in four days and the attacks would again follow on the RAF’s nighttime bombing of the city.

Cologne had five major railroad yards and in order to prevent the funneling of supplies to the front, a fifty mile battlefield from Venray to Aachen, the primary targets of the Gereon and Kalk-Cologne marshaling yards would be assigned. The 100th’s Fortresses had been loaded with thirty-four 100 lb GP bombs and two 500# M-17 incendiaries and due to the proximity of the troops below, the men were reminded to take special note of the designated bomb release line.

The 3rd Division’s column of B-17s would be led by the 13CBW, flying in three wings: 95BG as the 13A, 390BG as the 13B and the 100BG flying as the 13C led by Major William H. Thompson, flying as Command Pilot with James Seamans.

Under an instrument take-off and carrying a bomb load of four thousand four hundred pounds and two thousand five hundred gallons of fuel, the 100th's pilots successfully took off commencing at 0519 hours into the darkened sky over Thorpe Abbotts. Forming into the 13C CBW was tricky business. Pilot William Kennedy remembered, “There were eerie, hollow hums and whines on VHF… Try flying formation on instruments. The one at the controls fixed on the lead ship, the other pilot calling out altitude from the instrument panel to help overcome vertigo. For example: "…level, …shallow turn left, …climbing turning right. Formations flying in the soup didn't hold together very long.”

Experiencing difficulty in wing formation, the 95BG (13A) had crossed the enemy coast without its entire Low squadron which had been lost back the assembly point. Unable to locate its own group, the high element of its Low squadron had tacked on to the 100BG’s Low squadron while the other elements attached themselves to other groups.

The wave of approaching B-17s in the 3rd Division column crossed the enemy coast and followed the briefed route to the IP. As the 13A made the first turn onto the bomb run, the accurate, tracking and intense flak coming up from the Cologne defenses damaged the leader’s Pathfinder.

Making a slow turn off the bomb run, the rest of his squadron followed. The intense flak on the bomb run had also damaged the 13A’s deputy leader, so its second element leader assumed the new lead position but as it did so, the formation had flown beyond the briefed bomb release point so the 95BG passed over both the primary and secondary targets at Cologne as well as Koblenz, the last resort target.

Following two minutes behind, the 13B CBW bombed Cologne successfully. The 100BG in the 13C made its turn at the IP at 27000 feet and prepared for bombing via Pathfinder. Flying through the eight and one-half minute long bomb run, the 100th’s Fortresses absorbed the intense flak bursts, while crews observed a B-17 ahead blow up. Eugene Jensen’s NAV Richard Ayesh tells us, “All groups were bombing at the same time which indicated a wide target area. We encountered heavy accurate flak and were bounced around quite a bit by accurate flak bursts. Observed one B-17 blow up. We received a hole in the left flap which was of a minor nature.” 

Dropping their bombs, Alvin Meiklejohn’s TG, George Bowles recorded, “We dropped our bombs at 9:04. There was heavy flak to the left of us, but we only had one dent in the belly of the plane. Had some more flak over Cobling. (Koblenz). One B17 went down. The men got out, and it exploded just before it went through the clouds… I really felt the protection of our Heavenly Father…”

With the temperature at the high bombing altitude reported as minus thirty-two degrees Celcius, the crews, their equipment and windows were freezing up. On his #4 mission, pilot Harold Sherrard reported that his NAV, Aldo DiMascio’s “oxygen froze up and he passed out until emergency oxygen provided.”

Bombs were away from the 100BG at 0904 hours on the secondary target at Cologne but problems occurred with the Donald Jones' bomb release mechanism. Flying in the Lead Squadron, Jones’ BTG Curtis Hooker tells us, “The mission was routine until bombs away. This time it was obvious that the full load had not released. The aircraft did not rise like a cork on release. Rather, it was slow rise. I could see that more bombs had come out of one side than the other.” His BOM, nineteen year-old Ralph Farrell, twenty-two year-old ROG Donald Stewart and TG Sam Foushee went back to the bomb bay to insert the pins back into the unreleased yet still armed bombs. Their Navigator Art Juhlin tells us, “They finally got most of the pins put back in the 100# and removed them to the radio room, but were unable to get the incendiaries out…” With the doors opened and the 500# incendiaries jammed in the bomb bay, pilot Donald Jones stated, “Close the Bays. We're probably over our own territory and we can't take a chance on dropping these babies on our own boys,” He then pulled his B-17 out of formation, soon falling behind the exiting formations.

As the 100th’s formation passed over Koblenz on the route out its pilots took "violent evasive action due to flak and collision courses with other groups."

Crossing the Belgium coast at Ostend after letting down to 10000 feet, the formation crossed the Channel and headed for the English coast.

Over the Channel, the twenty-two year-old pilot Donald Jones and copilot Grant Fuller circled in an effort to dump their remaining bombs in the water. With Farrell, Stewart and Foushee back in the bomb bay working on the bombs, an explosion rocked the crew. NAV Art Juhlin tells us, “It was at this time that one of the incendiary fuses went off with a terrible blast. Our bombardier got hit by several fragments and lost his left eye. The radio operator got several fragments in his leg severing an artery and a nerve. The tail gunner was blown back into the radio room and received minor facial injuries. The bottom of the ship looked like a sieve and there was one hole big enough for a man to crawl through.”

With dangling bombs and wounded aboard, TG Sam Foushee and WG Pat Gillen went back in an attempt to secure the remaining incendiaries. Donald Jones tells us, “They tackled the job in spite of the fact that just a minute before the bombardier had been badly hurt trying to do the same thing…We all held our breath while Gillen and Foushee edged down through the maze of bombs and tied them fast with an arming wire--which minimized the danger and possibly saved the bomber and us, too. I knew I had to bring the plane down, because of the wounded men, and when I asked if anyone wanted to bale out, there wasn't a single reply on the interphone."

After a seven hour mission, all but Jones’ aircraft was seen over the base at 1150 hours. When Jones’ B-17 was spotted coming in over the field, the flares shot by TTE, Al Marcello, told those at the tower that wounded were aboard. The twenty-two year-old Marcello along with the rest of the crew knew that landing in their predicament was highly dangerous and that the bombs could easily detonate on impact. Stress levels were high. They were all counting on their pilot making a smooth landing, something that Donald Jones was not known for. Art Juhlin remembered, “It was a miracle that the whole ship wasn't blown to bits. As we turned on the approach our pilot remarked that maybe we'd all get a big bang out of the landing, but I’m afraid the humour wasn't appreciated at that time. A safe landing was made and the injured removed to the hospital.” This was the last mission for both Farrell and Stewart who were eventually returned to the States due to their injuries.

For most of William Kennedy’s crew, they too were down safely. Kennedy, who had brought his crew through many harrowing missions tells us, “The best way to survive is to train hard and then do what you were trained to do. Of course, luck helped when it was the good kind.” When asked about his last mission, Kennedy replied, “Did we celebrate? I don’t remember. I think I was numb.” Normally recording his missions in detail, Kennedy’s ROG, Norman Edwards was elated upon his return, recording his shortest entry with “Going Home, who cares!”

George Fory and most of his crew had also flown their last mission. Fory, from Shreveport, Louisiana had flown lead on twenty-three missions including September 11,1944. An aircraft mechanic before the war, Fory had been comfortable around planes and their engines his entire life, reportedly building an airplane with a friend powered by a washing machine engine when he was just twelve years-old.

That night, the 100BG was alerted once again but there were two crews who could sleep a little easier knowing that they had survived their tour of duty and would soon be going home.

Crews: Ivosevic, Jensen, Jones, Kennedy, Radke, Sherrard, Urban, Daniels, Dyatt, Frazier, Geller, Hempy, Kramp, MacNab, McGuire, Ricci, Seamans, Williams C, Rojohn, Ross, Ellison, Baker, Hughes, Wilson, DePlanque, Fory, Meiklejohn, Stevenson, Blanding

(9 crew names missing)