Mission 15 June 7, 1944 D-Day plus 1

Oh, what a day!  I must say this was the most interesting so far.  It was our first since moving to Hardwick.  We led our old group, the 458th to the town of Lisieux, France just past our troops.  The bombing wasn’t very good as the G.H. Beacon wasn’t working and it was a little too cloudy for visual bombing.  We didn’t encounter any flak or fighters but we had to feather #2 because the prop ran away.  It was clear just at the beachhead.  Below was the most exciting scene I ever expect to see.  The Channel was full of ships, boats, landing craft, etc.   There was all kinds and sizes with hundreds of allied fighters giving them cover.  The battle ships were shelling some coastal target and some coast gun must have returned the fire cause I saw some hits very close to one of our large ships.  I hope we get to go back tomorrow!

Mission 16 June 8, 1944

Today we led the 2nd section of the 458 flying Yard Bird with Capt. Freeman as Command.  The target was a bridge at Averanches, France.  The weather was bad and we had a lot of trouble forming.  We went ahead even though most ships turned back.  It was overcast so we bombed G.H.  #3 threw oil so bad we finally had to feather it.  “No flak, no fighters”  We flew over London which was the most interesting part.

Mission 17 June 11, 1944

We were a little late getting off this morning cause they had to change plugs on #1 at the last minute.  We flew “R” with a capt for a command pilot.  We led the 467th  leading the 2nd div.  The target was an airfield north of Paris.  We went in on a G.H. run but Hoobler could see the target so he took over.  Well he found out his bomb sight wouldn’t work so he told Haley to take it on G.H., but it was too late so we made a 2nd run letting the deputy lead do the bombing.  We hit the target okay.  “No flak, no fighters” but the next group got some flak.

Mission 18 June 13, 1944

Today was a long day.  We got up at 0200 AM for a mission which was canceled.  We finally took off at 1615 leading the 489th to a bridge in France.  We were flying “Z” a new silver ship with Lt. Goodfellow as command.  The bombing was visual with fair results.  “No flak, no fighters.”  We got back about 2335.

Mission 19 June 16, 1944

One of the group’s ships cracked up when it landed from a training flight.  No one was hurt and you should’ve seen them get out and run.  The left landing gear gave way.  We flew a new silver ship called the Latrine Rumor today.  It was a noball raid and I hope we did some good cause the Germans have been sending over the pilotless aircraft or rockets on the London area.  They are about equal to a 1,000 lb bomb.  We led part of the 489th.  We bombed by G.H.  “No flak, no fighters.”

Mission 20 June 17, 1944

We went in at 23,000 feet today flying our new silver job “K”.  We led the 458th to an airfield southwest of Paris.  Capt Ollem flew command.  We couldn’t get our bomb racks unlocked so we had to bring our bombs back.  “No flak. No fighters except gobs of P51’s”

Missions 21& 22 June 19, 1944

Today was a busy day.  We flew our new ship on two missions to the same target.  It was a noball target.  Major Heaton flew command.  The last mission he flew pilot & Lt. Clark rode on the flight deck.  On the first one we got some bad flak at the target and it really scared me cause Donovan was in the bomb bay to make sure we got our smoke bomb out for the rest of the ships to drop by.  It was bursting right beneath us so close we could hear it.  We got flak at two places the 2nd mission.  There wasn’t so much but it was very, very accurate.  Too accurate for comfort yet we only got one hole.  I saw one bomber from another group go down in flames and crash in the city of Bruges, Belgium.  I don’t think anyone got out.  We bombed G.H. but it was clear this afternoon.