Planes I Flew In

he wasn't too familiar with the operation of the turret and had trouble handling the, guns. When firing them he failed to make sure that no planes were in his line of sight as he pressed the trigger. Some of his 50 cal. bullets hit the engine of a plane flying below us. It was a miracle that no crewmember was hit with his short burst. They had to turn back to the base and land. We continued with the mission -- not knowing what happened to that plane.

The rest is almost like a "B" movie. The plane Bernie hit was flown by our roommate, Capt. Weatherly, and his crew. They later told us that as Bernie would move the tail turret guns in their direction, they would quickly try to get out of his line of sight. Somehow, as he got off his short burst they moved in his way. But they safely made it back to the base. Thank God no one was hit.

Once the shock of what, "almost happened", was over -- we tried to put a little humor into it by suggesting that we have a symbol of a B 24 painted on the nose of the plane -- denoting a "kill". Needless to say, we didn't follow through with the idea. This incident was a topic we kicked around in our hut for a long time.

B 24: #884

June 30, 1944

Today we bombed an airfield in Conches, France. The last few missions we had to drop our bombs by G.H. (radar) because weather conditions prevented the bombardiers from bombing visually. Sometimes the results were unknown.

B 24: #884

July 2, 1944

Back to the launch sites again. Results unknown. We keep trying.

B 24: #884

July 14, 1944

(This was the day before my twenty-third birthday. What a way to celebrate it.)

Our target was the airfield at Peronne, France. It was also my last mission flying with Fred and our original crew. Plus the fact that it was also my last combat mission flying in a B 24 Liberator Bomber.

For the last few weeks our Base began to receive our new bombers, the B 1 7 Fortress. And pilots were quickly learning to handle it, flying practice missions daily. Every pilot I spoke to agreed that the B 1 7 was a lot easier to fly in close formation. We bombardiers and navigators were amazed at all the room in the nose as compared to the cramped space in the B 24. It was a major improvement for us. I never missed flying combat in a B 24.

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