Mission Date: March 31, 1945
BAD BERKA, OIL STORAGE (100TH "A")
100th BG Mission #: 291
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...MARCH 31, 1945
When the crews were awakened at 0100 hours, some just having gone to sleep, they knew that the early hour could only mean a mission deep into Germany. Pilot, Griswald “Gris” Smith, who had fallen back to sleep remembered, “Had 20 minutes to have a cigarette, get up in the cold; walk to the club and shave; eat four fried eggs; get to briefing… I walked into the briefing room just as my name was called. If I hadn’t been the Low low squadron I wouldn’t have made it in time.”
At the briefing, the targets were unveiled. The 100th would be flying to Zeitz and an area of Germany that was the most heavily defended. The Primary visual target for the Group would be specifically the compressor house in the Braunkohle-Benzin A.G oil distillation plant. The second priority visual target would be the oil storage depot at Bad-Berka near Erfurt and west from Zeitz. The Third Priority target would be the center of Gotha, with additional coordinates provided for Targets of Opportunity.
Pilot Gris Smith, preparing to fly his #2 mission continued, “When the briefing officer said we were going after oil today, you could hear a murmur and feel a shiver roll back through the briefing room. Zeitz was the last large oil refinery in production according to intelligence; however, its production was very small due to previous bombings, but that didn’t affect the number of flak guns there… Our load was twenty-four 250 pound general purpose bombs. They could hang only 20 on the shackles, so the other four were slung in the bomb bay – which made an awkward load.”
The 13th Wing would lead the 3rd Division, with the 390th BG in the Lead, the 95th flying as its ‘B’ group and the 100th as it’s ‘C’ Low group. It would be the 390th’s Lead and High squadrons’ job to knock out the thirty-six gun flak batteries near Zeitz before the rest of the bombers followed. Behind it would fly their six chaff ships dropping the tinfoil to block the readings of the flak guns below.
The 100th’s formation would be led by Cruver/Murray while Hensey/Raiford would lead its High, Dawson its Low and Wieland its Low Low squadron.
At 0530 hours, thirty-eight ships took-off but due to clouds over the normal assembly area, the 100th assembled over the North Sea, joining the Wing assembly after the Continental Coast was crossed. As the formation approached the IP, the weather once again became a problem for the pilots with 8/10 to 10/10 cloud coverage.
As anticipated, the formation encountered intense flak nearing Zeitz. Gris Smith stated, “We turned onto the I.P. at 0848 – the boys said the flak was bad yesterday at Hamburg, but here I could have put the wheels down and taxied on it. Turnip (NAV Wilson Turnipseed) didn’t see flak yesterday because he didn’t look out. – he didn’t intend to see any today either. He laid on the floor all covered up with his flak suit, hung his chute on one hook and let it hang between his legs. He was facing the oscilloscope on the "Gee" box; so he couldn’t help seeing the reflection of the flak.” Peeling off, the Group prepared for individual squadron runs.
Flying through the black flak-filled sky, as the 100th’s Command ship neared the target, it encountered violent prop wash that tumbled the Lead BOM gyro. Unable to re-level the gyro in time, the Lead squadron passed over the first target without dropping, following the non-attacking 390th squadrons to the Secondary. All three remaining squadrons of the 100th bombed at Zeitz between 0915-0916 hours with the Lead squadron eventually dropping at Bad Berka at 0943.
Immediately after bombs were away, Smith in the Low Low squadron tells us, “About this time the squadron leader made a steep turn to the right to get out of flak. Just before that flak knocked the number 3 engine off Larson’s (Arthur Larsen) ship. He was flying number 2 off the lead about 50 yards ahead of us. The squadron formation broke up. I had to pull out to avoid colliding with him. Larson’s engine floated back over my wing – it was an eerie sight as it looked intact – the prop still turning – it looked like an engine flying by itself. About this time there were only three ships left in the squadron formation; however, in a minute or so all managed to rejoin the formation except Larson. The last we heard from him on V.H.F, was that he was going to try and make Russia. In the meantime O’Leary had been trying to kick out the bomb still hanging in the bomb bay, without success. He did manage to get a pin in it so I decided it was fairly safe. I closed the bomb bay doors and decided to take it home with me.”
Larsen's ship had been hit twice by flak. TG John Kaiser stated that after the first hit, the ship remained in level flight and the engineer called to see if he was OK. Kaiser said that he could hear noises from the front that sounded like pieces of the plane were ripping away. Hit by flak again a few seconds later, the ship started down in a steep glide. Kaiser fastened his chute, called over the interphone but received no reply. With the waist area filled with smoke and the ship vibrating badly, he bailed out. Kaiser's clothing hung up on the handle of the escape hatch, trapping him for thirty-seconds. Eventually freeing himself, he pulled his chute.
On the return route, the 100th’s formation also encountered rough prop wash from the B-17s returning ahead of them, causing more difficulties for the pilots. However, after an eight hour mission with five of those attached to oxygen masks, thirty-seven out of the thirty-eight ships returned to base safely. Twenty-three of the returning ships did so with flak battle damage.
It would be a busy night for the maintenance crews and a rough one for those who bunked with Larsen. Gris Smith remembered, “Larson and his navigator (Dale F. Watterson) lived in my barracks and slept next to me on my right. It was pretty grim watching the Adjutant pack up their belongings. The navigator kept receiving about three letters a day from his wife for months.”
Thankfully, the mission light indicated a Group Stand Down for the next day, April 1, Easter Sunday.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: POOR
Aircraft Lost:
Crew Lost:
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS):
Aircraft Returned:
