Mission Date: April 7, 1945
BUCHEN, OIL STORAGE
100th BG Mission #: 296
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...APRIL 7, 1945
At the morning’s briefing, the crews learned that their first Priority visual target would be the oil storage area at Büchen, East of Hamburg. Their Secondary target via H2x would be the main rail station at Neumunster. According to pilot, Gene Greenwood, « All present at the briefing thought that it would be a ‘milk run.’”
The 3rd Division would lead the 8th Air Force, with the 13th CBW flying second in the Division’s column. Leading the 13th Wing would be the 390th with the 100th flying as its ‘B’ group and the 95th flying as its ‘C’. The 100th’s formation would be under the command of John Gibbons flying with David E. Hutchinson, the High led by Wilson/Ellis, the Low by Hellerich and the Low Low by Wieland.
The scheduled take-off time was delayed due to the poor weather once again over Thorpe Abbotts with the pilots’ visibility cut to two to three thousand yards. Pilot Gris Smith remembered, “The ground fog was very bad and you couldn't see twenty yards and since the target has such a low priority, they were thinking of calling it off. First came a thirty minute delay, then a four hour delay. We lay around in the crew chief's tent hoping and praying that the mission wouldn't be scrubbed as it was supposed to be a milk run with no flak…” However, at 1030 hours, thirty-eight ships rumbled down the runway, each carrying six 1000 lb. GP bombs.
The 100th's formation assembled over Buncher 28 at an altitude of 8000 feet and by Check Point 3, the Group had climbed to their bombing altitude of 14950-15000 feet, lower than normal.
As the American bombers were crossing the coast of Holland, elsewhere at the Stendhal Luftwaffe base, Hans Hermann had given the ‘Stand By’ order to the fighter pilots in his secret Rammkommando plan. In a desperate attempt to buy time for jet and fuel production, the plan called for ramming attacks on the American bombers with the goal of inflicting heavy damage and intimidating the crews. With only two guns protecting a bomber’s tail, the German pilots were expected to dive at a high speed into an American bomber while firing, bailing out and ramming the tail if necessary. When Herrmann gave the ‘Go’ signal, one hundred twenty of Germany’s inexperienced volunteer fighter pilots would take-off, going up against the long stream of American bombers coming their way.
With enemy aircraft reported in the area, the 100th stayed in formation for its turn at the IP. East of Hamburg and just after the IP, ten to fifteen German fighters began their attacks on the 100th’s formation. The first attack was made by a strafing ME-262 on the High squadron. Opening fire, the enemy plane was destroyed but not before it damaged William Howard’s ship, forcing him out of formation. After feathering his engine to put out a fire and salvoing his bombs, the twenty-one year-old Bill Howard made a 180 degree turn, and dove into a cloud bank with his wheel well still on fire.
Pilot Gris Smith remembers the next attack at 1302 hours. "The first pass was made from seven o'clock low — up through "C" Squadron and on to us. Baugh and Anthony Russo were the first in the squadron to open fire. This Me-109 put a couple of slugs into us — one went through the nose and almost got Wilk and Turnip the Navigator. The ship went past us and turned back down on us -- Wilk and Stanley Szalwinski were pouring 50's into him from their two turrets and John O'Leary got in a few from the waist. I think he was diving directly for us, but he came just in front and knocked the left horizontal stabilizer off the ship in front of us. That Me-109 diving into the formation spurting flames all over presented such a vivid picture I’ll never forget it. When he hit the ship in front of us his wing flew off and went over my wing and knocked one of the horizontal stabilizers off the ship behind us in the ‘diamond’ “
After shooting off Arthur Calder’s left wing, the Me-109 exploded, shot down by the 100th’s gunners. Calder’s ship spun down and it too exploded. The ‘diamond’ position was flown by Joe King and crew, who were not originally scheduled to fly that day. Hearing that the mission was going to be a ‘milk run,’ King had finagled his way on to the line-up.
At 1323, a plane crashed into the tail of “E-Z Goin,” flown by Joe Martin and copilot Hank Cervantes. Cervantes wrote,“Instinctively Carl and I kicked hard right rudder — both pedals disappeared under the instrument panel then returned to dangle uselessly; the control columns were violently jerking back and forth, the number one engine was streaming white smoke, and all the radios including the intercom were dead. We had no way to ascertain the crew's condition or to get their damage assessments…” Gene Greenwood adds, “As the fighter collided with Martin’s tail, his B-17 ‘s nose went up in a 45 degree angle, and I thought that he was going to spin in, but he got the plane stabilized” With exceptional piloting skills and a B-17 that Hank described as a “stubborn old war-horse unwilling to give up the fight,” the two pilots continued to the target.
Gris Smith continued, “We were flying at 15,000 feet as no flak was expected; however, there was plenty at the target. I never thought I would be glad to see flak but I was that day because it meant the fighters wouldn’t come in. We started out with ten ships in our Squadron and on bombs away, there were six.”
According to Joe Martin, “All the other planes dropped their bombs and quickly gained altitude. We lacked the engine speed to keep up, so we dropped out of formation, drifting off to the left, losing altitude, and finding ourselves alone and vulnerable to additional attacks. Flak exploded all around us as we made a wide right turn back toward the Holland coast.”
Back over the base at Thorpe Abbotts, Arthur Leader’s ship landed with wounded aboard. Attacked by enemy aircraft, his twenty-three year old TG Leon Barnes had been killed.
This mission would be the last major effort by Luftwaffe fighters against the 8th Air Force. The 3rd Division lost five B-17s to the ramming tactics of the German fighters and a total of fourteen B-17s to enemy aircraft, two of which were from the 100th Bomb Group. Both Joe Martin and twenty-two year-old Joe King would receive the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for their piloting skills in bringing their fortresses and crews home safely.
The now declassified Wing's Intelligence report for the Buchen mission states, “From all reports it appears that this was a desperation attempt on the part of the enemy and although e/a fought aggressively and made determined efforts to get through to the bombers our losses were comparatively light while more than half the enemy force was destroyed or damaged. Signs of desperation are evidenced by the fact that FW-190 pilots deliberately rammed the bombers, baling out before their planes went into the bomber formations and making fanatical attacks through a murderous hail of fire. Tactics were thrown to the wind and attacks were made from all positions, mainly in ones and twos. A few attempts were made to draw off fighter escort but P-51s and P-47s were not fooled and did a good job of dispersing and destroying e/a.”
William E. Howard Crew:
The men on Bill Howard’s ship bailed out and the ship ultimately crashed. Bill Howard, Genaro Delgado, Douglas Jones, Edward Hall, Samuel Lunsford and Russell Bolding all survived the crash, becoming POWs. The surviving crew members believed that the three enlisted men, Michael Maty, Louis Lehrmann and George Thomas were killed by German civilians after being captured.
Arthur Calder Crew:
Sadly, all but one crew member from the Arthur Calder Crew were killed in action: Arthur Calder, Kenneth Carr, William Burbach, Victor Hoffman, Joseph Haller, Leonard Piepgras, Dwayne Cary, Carl Donnell, Leon Briggs.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: POOR
Aircraft Lost: 2
Crew Lost: 19
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 8
Aircraft Returned:
