Guido Bucelluni turned 18 on April 25, 1943 & went with a friend to inlist in the Air Force at Decatur Illinios. He never passed the weight requirment & was sent home & told to eat lots of milk & bananas & come back. He did & threw it all up when he got there. The recruiter said if you want in that bad sign here. He was sent to Texas for training but flunked pilot school. My brother Jack Colquhoun was there too altho he had left school to join the RCAF but came back when we got into the war so they were together for several weeks. Jack ended up on B 29's & continued flying cargo planes when the war ended. Guido arrived in England via the Queen Mary in November 1944, flew as a Toggilier with more than one crew altho mostly with Lt. Paul Lang.. .Paul Covington was radioman & only crew member at the reunion with us in Bossier City La. 2 years ago. When Guido passed away last April, I had a call from James Blessing now in Florida who was Guido's pilot. He told me on one mission Guido saved his life when they, were trying to kick a bomb loose that had stuck in the bombay. Jim lost his goggels, parachute & oxygen tank while trying to kick the bomb loose & Guido was there to help him attach another oxygen tank or he would have died in a very few minutes. We never talked much about Guido's overseas time.i unless somethng came up on the TV, altho after we married in 1948 it was a good year before the bad dreams stopped that had him fighting those air battles over & over. Anyone who reads this may have experienced the same thing. That's our story. Married 1948-2003. Who would have thought it.

————————————————————————

Hot springs. Arkansas august 4., 1995

Guido’s overseas service in england he was nineteen.

1944

November 9 arrived in scotland. Firth of Clyde via Queen Mary.

Nov. 13 — Sudbury, England. assigned 486th bomb group
Nov. 17 — Flew practice mission.
Nov. 18 — Flew plane in formation flying
Nov. 28 — Flew two more practice missions
Nov. 29 — Made operations ???

First mission December 04

To mainz..had to salvo half our bombs 4 miles from target...switches were reversed from the way they were in training. Marshaling yards (railroad terminals).

Second mission Dec. 10

Bombed Cobleng [sic] marshalling yards. Ran into bad weather and had to land in France as two motors failed due to flak. Stayed at the Cheshire once Rommel’s headquarters. Field manned by USAF maintenance who made repairs.

Dec. 11

Left base in France. Got off course and went over dunkirk at 700 ft., held by germans, severe flak and machine gun fire. Damn near got us.

Third mission Dec. 12

To Darmstadt. No flak holes in plane. Ran low on gas again. Left formation and made for home in low ceiling. Landed with one engine out of gas. Low ceiling, missed field and almost crashed because of prop wash. Lucky.

Dec. 15

48 hour pass to London. Quite a time.

Fourth mission Dec. 16

Just remembered, made seargant Dec. 1st. To stuttgart on marshallin'g yards mission. Barrage type flak. Flew 17,000 ft. In thick clouds. Visibility zero for one hour and fifteen minutes.

Fifth mission Dec. 28

Coblenz was target. No fighters encountered. No flak

Sixth mission Dec. 31st

New years eve. Went on my biggest mission today to Hamburg. Flak heavy. 4 flak holes in plane. Some groups got hit by fighters. 29 planes lost.

1945

January 1st.

Got up at 2 am for mission to central Germany. unable to get plane off...two engines bad. Same thing happened on Christmas. Bowman, our engineer, grounded himself, too nervous, couldn’t take it anymore. All i did was get up at 3 am, got scrubbed, came back at 10:00 am and slept until 3:00 pm. Boys are coming back now.

Seventh mission Jan. 2

Attacked Lauterburg. A wooded area where enemy tanks were concentrated for repair and to reinforce ground personnel. Direct hits made No opposition encountered. Plenty of prop wash over target. Visual run.

Eighth mission Jan. ?? [editor’s note: Jan 3rd mission]

Target was marshalling yards at achaffenbourg [sic]. No opposition met. I got the air medal on my 6th mission. [new years eve ...hamburg.]

Ninth mission Jan. 8

Jill was 19 yesterday (1-7-26). Went thru Happy Valley today. The big marshalling yards at Frankfort [sic] (railroad terminals). Plenty of Flak. It was close & accurate – tracking us all the way over the target. Coldest day for flying ever been on. 50° below. Going to London tomorrow night for two days!!

Tenth mission Jan. 10

To Karlsburg today. Plenty of flak. Piece of flak went thru #3 engine. No fire started. Had to salvo. One bomb hung up. Three of us in the Bomb bay trying to kick bomb out. 53° below zero. What a mess. I never want to go thru another day like today. Bomb run 26000 ft.

Jan. 15

To London the 12th. Had great time. Got back last night. Casey’s crew going on flak leave tomorrow. Also general partridge coming for field inspection.

Eleventh mission Jan. 18

Kaiserlautern. Easy target. We led the 8th air force. When I say we I mean our group. We were told to land in France but the group leader wanted to come back. Soup all the way. Storm at base. Rest tomorrow. Temp. 40°. Bomb run 25000 ft.

Twelfth mission Jan. 20

Rough day today. Easy target. Hellbornn [sic] germany masrshalling yards. Weather terrible. Temp. 54° 26000 ft. Tomorrow will be 13th mission

Thirteenth mission Jan. 21

Went over the hump today. Mannheim germany tank factory. 275 flak guns. I sweated that mission out. Crew chief took our picture. Went down to get my air medal. Temp. 53° 28000 ft.

Jan. 26

Grounded last two days. Bad weather. Not much doing.

Jan. 28

Had to abort. Feathered one engine...#2 went bad. Couldn’t stay with the formation. Salvoed bombs in channel. No credit for sortie

Forteenth mission Feb. 3

Berlin...mpi... City of berlin. About 1600 fortresses bombed the city at will. Lots of flak encountered but it hit the low squadrens [sic]. Smoke from the target rose thru the clouds. 44° degrees below. Going on pass tomorrow. Have been taken off my crew to become rcm operator...radar counter measure...

Fifteenth mission Feb. 14.

My first mission as rcm operator. Target chemnitz. Middle of city was mpi. Temp. 39°. Flew with Lt. Stearrat [sic - Sterret]. 8 hrs. 45 min. Long. Four flak holes.

Sixteenth mission Feb. 15

Rhine target in Flak Valley. Last result [sic - resort] oil refinnery. 1000 lbs. RCM operator. Flew with Lt. Jackson on their first mission. What a mess. Got a cluster for my air medal 2/13/45. Flak meager today. 23000 ft. 39 below

17th mission Feb. 16

Three days in a row for me. Went to Hamm today. Marshalling yards. Divided squad into six plane formation. Plenty of flak over target. Plane got hit in the formation behind us. Target hit. Mpi. Rcm operator. Flew with Lt. Menster 24000 ft. 38 degrees. Heat suit wouldn’t work Damn near froze.

18th. Feb. 26

Berlin...my second time to Big B. It was rougher than on Feb. 3 altho it was PPF. We got three holes. I flew with Lt. Manhelm. We almost crashed in the channel. We called air sea rescue to put a fix on us and follow us down. Lucky the wind changed towards our tail and carried us to the field. Fighters were up but we had plenty of fighter support. Jill wrote yesterday that she has entered MacMurray college.

19th Feb. 27 Kassel today. It wasn’t a bad mission. We led the 8th Air Force today. Col. Overling [sic] group leader. I flew with Lt. Braun on his second mission. Good pilot. Six chaffe planes were used. Lang was one of them. Meager flak for us. Second group got it.

Feb. 28

Started to Liepzig [sic] but aborted over the battle line. Flew with Lilly. He was all excited [ new crew] because one engine was feathered.

20th. Feb. 20th.

Dresden Germany. Got flak at primary target. Air field south of Madenburg [sic]. Clouds covered target. Went to secondary Dresden. Whole group got off course so we went on to prague, Czekosyvokia [sic]. About a ten hour mission. Flew rcm with Lt. Williamson. Little flak at the secondary target. 26000 ft. 6-500 lbs. 6 M17 Lang [orignal pilot] lost two engines. Had to salvo ball guns, flak suit etc. Got back OK.

Twenty one Mar. 4

Jack Colquhoun’s 22nd birthday [Note: Guido’s brother-in-law]. He was on B-29s. We were attacked by German fighters last night at 11 O’clock. They straffed the bomb dump...no casualities...but i didn’t get any sleep. Got up 2 am for the mission. We were to hit the air field near Munich but clouds prevented that. We formed at 17000 ft. In France something new. No flak. We aborted after coming back across the lines because of gas. Saw the Danube river and the Alps MTs. Flew with Mintzer. 27 below. Ingolstadt target, heart of town. Made staff [sergeant] first of month.

Twenty two Mar. 11

Hamburg..my second time. Not as rough this time because it was PFF. Plenty of flak tho. Came out by route of Holland. Hit by fighters on the channel. No planes lost. 35 below. Bombing alt. 25000 ft. Oil refineres...

Twenty three Mar. 14

Mienhagen [sic – Nienhagen] 5 miles north of Hanover...a visual run. Flak was meager. We could see the first division hit Hanover. Flak thick as hell. We led the 8th Air Force today. No fighters intercepted. Rcm Lt. Pancow.

Twenty four Mar. 15

Berlin...my third time. Gets rougher every time. I go there. First time we ever carried 2000 lb. Bombs. Berlin was in flames time we got there. Flak intense and accurate. A piece went through the wing right near my seat. The biggest flak hole in any plane I have been on. Flew with Lt. McLurie on his fifth. I hope I never go back to Berlin. Casey finished up today. 25000 ft. RCM

Twenty five Mar. 17

We didn’t bomb our primary today. A cloud bank was about 30000 ft. High so we came back near the lines and bombed Fulda marshalling yards. Primary target was 40 miles from russian lines. East of Liepzig [sic] clouds were thick. A plane ahead of us crashed into another plane. 20-250 lb. Bombs. I Flew with Lt. Lilly. 27000 ft. Bombing alt. Enemy aircraft over home field now???

Twenty six Mar. 1 8

Berlin again...4th time to Big B. Damn I have been to Berlin more than any other target. It was visual today. Plenty of flak. Four holes in plane. Flew with Lt. Robinson. MPI...Berlin...all three divisions went there. We bombed at 25000 ft. 48 temp. The missions are really getting long and hard. Berlin must be in flames. Carried 12-250's flew RCM.

Twenty seven Mar. 21

We got a break today. I went on my shortest Mission since i have been here. 5 hrs. 30 min. We bombed air field in Holland near Narx. Every group had an airfield to bomb. It was visual and for once we hit the target. I flew with Lt. Gibbs..in 007. Flak meager. They didn't shoot at us after the first squadron dropped their bombs. 38-110 lbs. The boys [ my original crew] are back today from flak leave. 25 degrees 23000 ft.

Twenty eight no date

Mulhiem...it was a short mission today but plenty rough. We hit a area near Mulheim. We lost an engine and blew a cylinder head on another. We didn't know that our hydrolic [sic] system was punctured by flak. We made it back. Landed but couldn't stop the plane so the pilot made a sharp turn at the end of the runway and ground looped her. The left landing gear collapsed. No one was injured. It was their first mission.

Lt. Barrcani crew 3/4 ac...

Twenty nine no date

Invasion of Holland today. Our armies crossed the Rhine today. We bombed an airfield. Visual run 25000 ft. We had more than 40 groups in the air. Lots of 51's as escorts. Lang monitored the Rhine River.

Thirty No date

My last mission today...finished. I am really happy!!!

Diary continues with Jill’s comments:

A v-mail letter dated April 2 said he was waiting for orders to come home. Next one dated April 10 said not to write anymore and no need to worry anymore. I knew he was on a ship coming home. The U.S. Grant. When he learned germany had surrendered. After a month of R&R [ rest and relaxation] in Taylorville he was ordered to Santa Ana, Calif. Where he would have begun training for service in the Pacific. But the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and when Japan wouldn’t surrender a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It was a horrible weapon that killed many innocent people. But it saved many lives too. Japanese as well as our soldiers. As a result we did not have to invade japan and Guido and all our friends and prisoners of war and everybody got to come home. Glory be. What a happy time.

I well remember when he came to our door on Webster Street...I fell in love then...it was june 1948 before we could get married.

Signed,

Jill

Copyright © 1998-2024, 486th Bomb Group Association.