Mission Date: December 13, 1944
OSNABRUCK BAD WEATHER
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 13,1944
The 100th was to lead the 13CBW and for this mission, the 100th’s Commander, Colonel Thomas Jeffrey, would fly as the command pilot. Mother Nature, however, had other plans for the Group that day.
As the pilots circled the buncher through heavy fog to assemble, a process that took hours to accomplish after take-off, the mission was recalled. According to the 418th’s squadron diary, “A mission was put up this morning, but was recalled about 1030 hours. We led the 13th wing. On the V.H.F. we could hear the ‘Fireball Able’ calling ‘Cleanup’ for instructions about 1130. Outside the ceiling was so near zero it wasn’t useful. When the weather didn’t improve, Col Price went to flying control and called the planes over the V.H.F. instructing them to divert to bases in Southern England near Lands End, about 250 miles to the south. The transmission ended with the non S.O.P. ‘Adios Amigos.’”
William ‘Red' Crozier, the ball turret gunner on the Ricker Crew had only two more missions to go before he finished his tour of duty. Flying in a PFF ship that morning, he remembered, "We and another ship were to fly to six degrees over Germany and report the weather back to our base. We started out twenty minutes before the rest of the formation but at the Europe continent we ran into a high cloud bank and had to turn around and come back. Before we and the bomber formation could get back to Thorpe Abbotts the ground became 100% socked in so we all started flying west to find a place to land. We ended up in Wales at an RAF Coastal Patrol Airfield. Nearby was an American G.I. Infantry hospital and all of us bunked in there…We flew back to Thorpe Abbotts the next day."
The Wood Crew had their own problems after take-off on what was to be their #2 mission. Their ball turret gunner, Frank W. Volk remembered that on the Osnabruck mission, "The engine caught fire when starting and then we landed in Manchester, England."
According to Vernon Sheedy with the quartermaster group, he reported, "Thickest fog we have seen in eighteen months overseas today." Captain Marvin ‘Red' Bowman, S-2 Intelligence Officer for the 100th noted, "Forty of our planes landed in Cornwall after solid fog shut in most of England. Stand-down - we have seven ships here. Major Rosenthal made his first operational flight since his near-fatal crash landing in Belgium."
The 100th was to lead the 13CBW and for this mission, the 100th’s Commander, Colonel Thomas Jeffrey, would fly as the command pilot. Mother Nature, however, had other plans for the Group that day.
As the pilots circled the buncher through heavy fog to assemble, a process that took hours to accomplish after take-off, the mission was recalled. According to the 418th’s squadron diary, “A mission was put up this morning, but was recalled about 1030 hours. We led the 13th wing. On the V.H.F. we could hear the ‘Fireball Able’ calling ‘Cleanup’ for instructions about 1130. Outside the ceiling was so near zero it wasn’t useful. When the weather didn’t improve, Col Price went to flying control and called the planes over the V.H.F. instructing them to divert to bases in Southern England near Lands End, about 250 miles to the south. The transmission ended with the non S.O.P. ‘Adios Amigos.’”
William ‘Red' Crozier, the ball turret gunner on the Ricker Crew had only two more missions to go before he finished his tour of duty. Flying in a PFF ship that morning, he remembered, "We and another ship were to fly to six degrees over Germany and report the weather back to our base. We started out twenty minutes before the rest of the formation but at the Europe continent we ran into a high cloud bank and had to turn around and come back. Before we and the bomber formation could get back to Thorpe Abbotts the ground became 100% socked in so we all started flying west to find a place to land. We ended up in Wales at an RAF Coastal Patrol Airfield. Nearby was an American G.I. Infantry hospital and all of us bunked in there…We flew back to Thorpe Abbotts the next day."
The Wood Crew had their own problems after take-off on what was to be their #2 mission. Their ball turret gunner, Frank W. Volk remembered that on the Osnabruck mission, "The engine caught fire when starting and then we landed in Manchester, England."
According to Vernon Sheedy with the quartermaster group, he reported, "Thickest fog we have seen in eighteen months overseas today." Captain Marvin ‘Red' Bowman, S-2 Intelligence Officer for the 100th noted, "Forty of our planes landed in Cornwall after solid fog shut in most of England. Stand-down - we have seven ships here. Major Rosenthal made his first operational flight since his near-fatal crash landing in Belgium."
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: RECALL
Aircraft Lost:
Crew Lost:
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS):
Aircraft Returned:
