From Ringmasters - A History
of the 491st Bombardment Group (H) by Allan G. Blue
In the early morning of 2 June 1944 the regular procedure
for a practice mission was initiated. The teletype came down with complete
data covering a simulated attack on an English town, crews were thoroughly
briefed and then told to stand by for takeoff shortly after noon. However,
at approximately 1100 the Tanoy announced that the mission briefed earlier
was scrubbed and crews standing by were to report at 1300 for another briefing.
Nobody really believed it but the rumor spread anyway first combat!
It was confirmed at the briefing, an extremely hurried affair in contrast
to the leisurely prepractice mission sessions. Target: Bretigny Air Field,
on the southern edge of Paris.
Meanwhile the ground men sweated over a complete
change of bomb load without the benefit of electrical bomb hoists. Each
squadron was supposed to have four but none had been given to the Group
as yet. Quartermaster was informed that 450 flak helmets were required
and were to be obtained “by whatever means at your disposal.” (They came
up with them.) Confusion, to coin a phrase, reigned but 36
aircraft eventually got off and, after a “fair to poor” Group assembly,
tacked onto the high right of 41 B-24s of the 489th and headed for occupied
Europe via Selsey Bill. Lt. Col. Jack Merrell, Deputy CO, led the
491st.
In the analytical language of the 8th AF Daily Summary
the mission was reported as follows:
“In the afternoon, 242 B17s and 77 B-24s were dispatched
against six railway targets in the Paris area and Bretigny Air Field...
Of the 77 B-24s dispatched against Bretigny, 13 bombed the primary, the
remainder being hindered on their bomb run by cloud and ground haze. Thirty-nine
tons of 2000 lb. GP were dropped on Bretigny A/F from 17,000 feet with
fair results. The remaining B-24s attacked two airfields; 47 A/C dropped
140 tons of GP on Creil with fair results and 14 A/C dropped 44 tons GP
on Villenauve A/F with unobserved results. Five B-24s were lost to moderate-to-intense,
accurate flak over targets and two more crash landed in England. In addition,
58 B-24s suffered minor damage and one major damage. There was no enemy
A/C opposition and 52 P-51s and 48 P-38s provided escort. They reported
an uneventful mission without claims or losses.”
To the green crews of the 491st it was a little
less impersonal.
1st Lt. Bill Evans’ crew was just a little uneasy
about flying the “first one” in one of the Group’s recently acquired B-24Hs
(42-95310) while their own J, the LUCKY BUCK, was out for repairs. Lt.
Russell E. Tickner, a bombardier, was awed at the sight of the massed invasion
shipping that crowded the Southern English coast. First Lts. Getz and Hogentogler
shared the apprehension that accompanies any adventure into the unknown
sharpened a bit, perhaps, by the fact that each of these 852nd Sq.
first pilots was 19 years old.
Sgt. Edward J. Freil, a nose gunner, couldn’t get over how green and utterly
peaceful the shores of France looked as the mission approached them. However,
the peace was soon broken by some light and inaccurate flak. At the same
time some escorting Lightnings made a pass over the B-24s of the 855th
Squadron. “I heard a hell of a bang and told the top turret gunner to hold
his fire those were P-38s. I was a little embarrassed when he said
he hadn’t fired anything what I was hearing was the sound of the
flak popping around us.” (Shy)
The mission had hit the French coast three minutes
early but made the first CP right on the button. However, at that point
things came a little unglued. The leading 489th Group elected to ignore
the briefed dogleg route to the target, located on the southern edge of
Paris, and bored straight in through the flak the original route had been
chosen to avoid. This change in plan succeeded in losing the 854th Squadron
of the 49lst, of which more later.
Leaving the IP the 49lst “tightened it right up,”
rolled up the bomb bay doors, and headed straight and level for the primary
at 19,000 feet. The flak was very heavy.
“We were #2 position in the low squadron –
Lt. Evans was #6 off our right wing. We had fallen into position for the
bomb run and at that particular moment I looked over at Evans and gave
him a wave of the hand. Exactly then, I saw a burst of flak completely
blow the #1 engine from its nacelle. The #2 engine also seemed to be hit
but kept running...” (Stahl)
“We were flying #5 position on Evans’ right wing.
I saw the ship peel off and down, coming very close to the low element
behind us and missing them only because they went into a very steep dive.
The #1 engine had been shot away and there was just a ball of intense fire
in its place...” (Jennings)
“We were lead ship in the low element. All of a
sudden my copilot jammed the wheel all the way forward and as I went ‘up
against the belt’ I saw Evans’ plane slide over the top of the windows
above my head. He was burning and couldn’t have missed us by more than
a few feet. We pulled up and continued our bomb run...” (Getz)
The low squadron of the 489th dropped on the primary,
Bretigny, but the ground haze was so thick the remaining force elected
to try the secondary, Creil A/F, located north of Paris. Again deviating
from the briefed route which involved going around the city to avoid the
flak, the 489th headed directly for Creil by way of the Arch de Triumphe.
Meanwhile, the 854th Sq., led by 1st Lt. William
M. Long, came down the run from the IP all alone. The lead bombardier got
a good visual on Bretigny through the haze and the rest toggled on his
drop.
Bombing at Creil for the main force was fair and
the 489th headed for home again by the most direct route. Unfortunately
this took the formation over Beauvais, Rouen and Dieppe, and through a
great deal of additional flak. One by one, four B-24s of the 489th were
picked off and nearly every other plane in the formation was damaged to
some degree. Nor was it quite over when the Group arrived at Metfield
landings had to be accomplished in darkness and halfway through the operation
a runway change became necessary. After some anxious moments when it seemed
as if every airborne B-24 was heading for the same piece of sky, everybody
got down safely.
The usual telegrams came in. General Doolittle (8th
AF) considered it “...noteworthy that your initial mission was flown eight
days prior to your scheduled operational date.” General Hodges (2nd BD)
congratulated the ordnance and armament section on the “...very great number
and weight of bombs moved in a relatively short time.”
However, Col. Dent, 95th Bomb Wing CO, probably
summed it up best: “Congratulations on the completion of mission #l. In
spite of short notice, inadequate briefing time, change of bomb load and
a night return, your organization accomplished its mission in a commendable
manner. The ingenuity and determination exhibited today, when coupled with
outstanding formation flying and well aimed bomb patterns, will make your
unit well qualified to take part in future attacks on the enemy.”
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad start for
the 491st. However, there were a few afterthoughts. It was discovered that
the 854th hadn’t dropped on Bretigny at all the airfield they had
spotted through the undercast was Villenauve, north of the assigned primary
and within the confines of Paris. Lt. Long and the 49lst brass were called
up to Wing Headquarters at Halesworth to explain why the 854th had ignored
orders not to drop on any target adjacent to the built-up areas. (This
problem sort of evaporated when a strike photo arrived showing that the
Squadron had clobbered the target without a single bomb falling outside
the confines of the field.)
Then there was the fact that one crew was MIA
and the sobering thought that there would be many more in the months to
come. Lt. Evans’ plane had last been seen far below the formation trailing
smoke and obviously in serious trouble but its eventual fate was
unknown.
Actually, the flak burst that had blown the #1 engine
off Evans’ Liberator also shattered the cockpit glass and stunned the pilot.
The plane dropped about 3,000 feet before he regained control, and there
the flak really zeroed in. A second hit knocked out the #2 engine, a third
blasted away part of one rudder and two more holed the plane knocking out
the intercom and severing the rudder and elevator controls. A few minutes
later #3 ran away and wouldn’t feather. The shattered B-24 struggled over
Paris at 130 mph on one good engine, three tons of bombs still poised over
the open bomb bay doors. (All crews were briefed not to salvo bombs over
France.) Losing altitude fast, it became evident that there wasn’t a chance
the plane could make it and Evans rang the bailout bell about 15 miles
north of the city. All got out including Evans, who discovered at the last
moment his chute had come open inside the plane. “I saw shroud lines blowing
all over the place and figured somebody was hung up. Then I saw they were
coming out of my own chute pack. I grabbed as many as I could and just
fell out the bomb bay luckily they all pulled clear.”
All were subjected to German fire from the ground
but only one, the ball gunner, was hit. Pvt. Raymond G. LeMay was dead
before he touched the ground his body nearly cut in two by machine
guns. He was the first man to be killed in action with the 49lst. The navigator,
2nd Lt. Malcolm L. Blue, was killed in landing after
his chute had been partly burned by incendiaries. Of the remaining eight,
four were captured and four were able to escape via the underground. By
a coincidence the plane crashed and blew up on the German airfield at Beaumont-sur-Oise
a target that had just been attacked by 12 B-17s on the same mission.