Mission

ON THIS DAY...SEPTEMBER 14-17,1944

For days, preparations had been under way for the 100BG’s participation in the next ‘Frantic’ shuttle mission to Russia. On September 14, at 0300 hours, thirty-nine crews and additional Ground personnel had been awakened and were soon headed for breakfast in the thick East Anglian fog, their last meal for at least the next fourteen hours. At the briefing, the S-2 Officer provided the mission details for their first shuttle leg, taking the Group to Warsaw, Poland where they would drop their ‘bomb loads’, canisters attached to parachutes, loaded with arms and ammunition for the Polish resistance fighters.

Although take-off was to commence at 0700 hours, the mission was scrubbed before any aircraft left the ground. On a twenty-four hour delay, the “boys went back to bed and slept until eleven-thirty am.”

On September 15, the same crews were awakened at 0300 again and once more went through the mission details for Warsaw. This time, while the rest of the 8th Air Force was Stood Down, the 100BG’s Fortresses took-off, although in poor weather.

The 13CBW would fly its three wings, led by the 95BG in the 13A, followed by the 100BG in the 13B and the 13C led by the 390BG. Lt Colonel Thomas Jeffrey would fly as Command pilot with Austin Dunlap’s Pathfinder crew.

Formed into proper positions over England, the 100BG left the English Coast and headed out over the North Sea to Denmark. NAV Art Juhlin with the Donald Jones crew tells us, “Took off in very adverse weather. Shortly after leaving the English coast we hit the soup and couldn’t even see our wingman…” S-2 Intelligence Officer, Red Bowman added, “…the force ran into a bad front, and flew blind for some time. The 95th, as usual, turned around and went home. Soon afterwards, the 390th did the same. The Hundredth, led by Colonel Jeff was nearly to the Eastern coast of Denmark before Division managed to recall them. Everyone was sore as hell because the weather was constantly improving as the flight progressed…” Irritated, Roland Hetrick, NAV on Walter Radke’s Fortress remembered, “We could have had 270 fighters with us. And all the rest except us had turned around. We would have had from 5-10 fighters per plane at that rate.”

When the 100BG finally turned around, the weather heading west had not improved and the crews could barely see their own engines. Art Juhlin continued, “…Really sweated out the trip back, as you couldn’t see a thing and it was every man for himself.” So with no escorts in sight, the 100BG would depend on its gunners, reported to be on the ball when “on the way home some P-51s with a misplaced sense of humor swept in on the planes, who were unescorted. Several bursts of .50 cal told them their ride of fun wasn't appreciated.”

By 1230, the Thorpe Abbotts tower had instructed the pilots for landing on “runway one zero and to watch the cross wind from the right…” but Donald Jones and his copilot Grant Fuller experienced a rough landing, nonetheless. Their NAV Art Juhlin tells us, “Had a little excitement on our landing. Brakes didn’t hold and so we ground looped at the end of the runway narrowly missing another plane and scattering ground personnel all over the place. No serious damage.”

With all aircraft and crews down safely, the 100BG would go be under a Stand-By order until finally the Stand Down was received. That rainy afternoon, Major Bowman ended his diary entry with, “The ships are still loaded but no one knows whether Frantic is on or off.”

On September 16, the ships and crews were still grounded due to the poor weather. The 418th Squadron diary tells us, “Waiting for a break in the weather. The planes are loaded with parachute containers for dropping supplies, but the destination is a well kept secret. We suspect it may be Warsaw for the RAF have tried to supply them with admitted serious loss to themselves.”

Sunday, September 17 saw the continually alerted 100BG still on the ground, while other Combat Wings went on a tactical mission to Holland in support of the Ground troops. The 1st Allied Airborne Army was scheduled to invade Holland and at Thorpe Abbotts, “everything came to a stop as a large formation of C-47s with Hanging Straps passed over the Field. At 15.45 it was announced over the radio, that the 1st Allied Airborne Army had landed in Holland..." That evening, the 100BG was notified once again that the Warsaw mission was a “go” for the next day.