Mission Date: April 10, 1945
BURG-bei-MAGDEBURG, AF
100th BG Mission #: 299
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...APRIL 10, 1945
On the 10th, the crews were briefed for an attack on the Luftwaffe jet fighter base at Burg-bei-Magdeburg with their first Priority visual target of its hangars and runways. Their second Priority visual target would be the Zerbst airfield while the third Priority target, visually or via H2X, would be the railway junction south of Stendal.
The 13th CBW would fly third in the Division line between the 45th and 93rd CBWs, led by the 390th BG. The 95th would fly as its ‘B’ group and the 100th would fly as its ‘C.’
Flying as the 100th’s Command Pilot would be Major Cruver flying with David Hutchinson. The High squadron would be lead by Gunn/Champion with Dixon flying Deputy Lead, the Low by Hellerich and the Low Low by Milling/Wieland.
Carrying eight 500 lb GP bombs and four 500 lb incendiary bombs, the thirty-eight scheduled ships took-off from Thorpe Abbotts, successfully completing Group assembly at 1145 over Buncher 28. Weather was decent on the route to the target and as they neared the Burg airfield, visibility was twenty-five to thirty miles with patchy clouds, good aiming weather for the German gunners below.
As the 100th’s formation neared the target, the peel off began for preparation of the individual squadron runs on the target when ten ME-262s were sighted climbing up from two different airfields to intercept the formation at the IP.
Unfortunately, the Group’s assigned P-51s had been drawn off to engage with the enemy attacking the 390th in the Lead. Lyman Fillingame tells us, “My copilot (LT Halverson) was flying at the time and had begun to take interval for the run. The bomb bay doors were not open yet. The jetties came in and it seems that we were hit the same time as the lead ship and his number 3 man. We were “sweating out” the two ships above us and couldn’t realize that we were hit so badly immediately. I saw number 1’s instruments at zero and heard it winding up, and immediately retarded the throttle and tried to feather. The engine began vibrating badly and slowing us down, so I called the boys behind us and told them we were leaving formation…”
The Me-262s had also shot up Lawrence Bazin’s ship causing an engine fire that had forced him out of formation while he tried to feather the engine. Putting the fire out, Bazin tried to get back into formation when the ME-262s attacked for a second time, hitting Bazin’s cockpit and causing fires in both #3 and #4 engines. Peeling out of formation again, his B-17 began to spin down in flames with five chutes seen before his ship hit the ground and exploded.
The Delbert Reeve ship was also attacked by the ME 262s. After Reeve's #2 engine was hit, his ship made a vertical slow roll on its right wing and burst into flames. Two chutes were observed before the ship hit the ground and exploded. This was the crew’s #1 combat mission.
The remaining ships stayed the course through the moderate and very accurate flak that where hitting the 100th's ships in all squadrons. Wieland, flying the Lead B17 in the 'D' squadron had his radio equipment damaged when flak hit the radio room.
Reaching the Burg airfield target, bombs were away at 1458-1459 hours from 19600-20400 feet. With the Rally Point made good, the remaining heavy bombers returned to Thorpe Abbots at 1755 hours.
Of the thirty-four B17s returning to base, twenty-three of the Fortresses returned with flak damage and one returned with both flak and 20 mm damage. Three ships and crews had not returned: Delbert Reeve, Lawrence Bazin and Lyman Fillingame.
Of Delbert Reeve's crew, Delbert Reeve, Hazen Willet, Steve Poulos, Albert Crabbs, Robert Trueblood, Herman Williams, Arthur Ehrler and Wesley Woods would all be killed in action. George Woodham would evade capture, returning to Thorpe Abbotts five days later.
Of Lawrence Bazin’s Crew, twenty-one year-old Lawrence Bazin, James Dotson, John Gross, Arthur Flowers, Paul Decker and Richard Smith were all killed in action. Glenn Abraham and Richard Long became POWs while Roens Shearwood would become an Evadee, eventually being picked up by the 2nd Armored Division.
It would be the Lyman Fillingame crew that was lucky that day. Just after pulling out of the formation, Fillingame tells us, “the engine caught fire, so we dived a bit to try to extinguish. I told the crew to stand by in the event the fire got in through the hole in the wing between numbers 1 & 2...When we jettisoned the bombs, only one side went away as the electrical wires on the left side had been severed. We aborted there and decided to keep the bombs because I could not contact the formation leader to get fighter aid and I wanted to keep the men on the guns. The escort picked us up about 20 minutes after we left and we luckily encountered no more enemy planes...Just as we hit the coast, east of buncher 28, it began hitting the ring cowling and tearing it loose and slinging small engine parts through the fuselage at the radio compartment. The drag on the left side increased considerably and we began veering off to the left and gradually loosing altitude. We increased to full power and had the controls in the full right position, but it kept turning and loosing altitude. We were at 500 ft. by then, so I had the crew prepare for a crash landing and we spotted an open field straight ahead. We made a power approach with wheels up and got in without too much impact, but major damage to the airplane. We cut the switch and shut off the fuel before hitting, but had a fire after we hit…A short review of the damage showed: the ball turret had disintegrated on the first impact and as the plane skidded along, it scooped about 3 ft of dirt into the radio, practically covering the crew members. The bottom of the fuselage was ripped open and the engines were buckled a bit…The direct hit in the wing had peppered the number one engine with fragments. The bomb bay and waist section had quite a number of holes.
The twenty-three year-old Fillingame had crash landed 'Baby Sweet' at Westleton, Suffolk where he skillfully performed a wheels up landing. There were no major injuries to his crew but the ship was so badly damaged that it had to be scrapped. He added, “Me and Don crawled out the window on his side, because I had a fire on my side…After it was over and I saw that no one was hurt, I had to laugh at the other boys. They are in the radio-room and were braced for the impact. When we hit and started sliding along the ground — it began scooping dirt in on top of them. Two of them got hung together by their parachute harness and came out dragging each other and they were all covered with dirt. I was sure glad that noone was hurt!”
Bombing Results
Bombing Results: EXCELLENT
Aircraft Lost: 2
Crew Lost: 19
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 4
Aircraft Returned:
