| ...AFTER ACTION REPORTS...
Mission 15 - Amiens, France
MAIL CARRIER - (Post crew)
Everything was good until we reached the target area. Fighters kept the
enemy at a distance and only one 110 made any effort at us. We missed him
and he missed us. It was the flak that hurt us. The flak was thick, heavy,
and accurate! Our port rudder took a solid hit and our waist gunner was
lightly wounded in the thigh. Our starboard ailerons were hit but kept
working. We took some solid hits in the port wing but everything kept
working as well. Even through all this, my bombardier kept us on target. He
felt he really smacked the target good. 3-109s came at us right them from
all over and my tunnel gunner got one dead to rights. He went down on fire
and bailed out. Fighters kept everything off us even though the Luftwaffe
was trying hard to get to us. I counted at least 9 or 10 enemy planes that
could have hurt us if is wasn't for the P-47s out and about. The enemy's
attacks dropped off big time once we crossed the channel and we landed
safely.
HARRIET'S CHARIOT (Klippert crew)
Take-off was fine and we slid into our position in formation. We had
good fighter cover...Over France we saw P-47's chase off a gaggle of
Me109's. Things were going well until the bomb run. The flak must have been
radar controlled because in short order we got hit in the port wing, blowing
a large hole in the #1 engine oil tank. Our tail got peppered with a lot
holes that really didn't do much damage, and our waist gunner took a piece
of shrapnel in the hand (Lwia). Despite a rather large stream of oil flowing
out of the engine, we stayed in formation and dropped on target. (30%) Right
after the turn for home we got hit by 2 waves of ME109s. These were driven
off by our little friends, except for 2 who dove in on us from 3 and 9 high.
Back in the waist our radio man and gunner hosed them down, and they broke
off without firing. Just over the Channel we feathered #1 and watched the
P47s chase still more 109's and an ME110 back to France. Landed safely.
SACRAMENTO SUE (Knotts crew)
All Systems check our turn on the flight line. Throttle up smooth, "Call out
air speed Copilot every 10 ". "Rodger" .... "10...20...30..40 ..." "Elevator
controls a bit sluggish give me a hand!!" " 100 .. Man Earl you're right
they are really sluggish..120 nose pitching up". CRACK SPROING POP. The nose
of the Sacramento Sue slams into the runway popping the nose wheel and the
Sacramento Sue Slides down the runway missing this mission.
25 AND OUT! (Brainard crew)
No damage to aircraft. No Damage to target. Not hit by enemy aircraft.
Did not his any enemy aircraft. Accomplishment: Zip. Squat. Nada.
TWIN TAIL (Libby crew)
This was a quick and quiet mission. We encountered no enemy resistance
and flak over target did not affect our bomb run. If more missions were only
like this...
FLYING BUFFALO (Loomis crew)
The was a short and easy mission. The only enemy resistance encountered
was outbound near the coastline. A pair of FW-190s attacked and did minor
damage to the fuselage and starboard aileron. Lt. Norendale got a lucky hit
using the cheek gun and damaged one enemy fighter. Although we flew through
the flak unscathed, Lt. Stackpole still missed the target. - Capt. Loomis
DIXIE JEAN (Jefferson crew)
Quite the milk run. We saw three 110's over the target on the outbound
leg but our little friends chased them off. These guys were followed by five
190s that only did superficial damage. Flak was very inaccurate with only
one superficial hit taken to the Bomb Bay. Our bomb run was excellent with
Lt. Hayes placing 60% on target as reported by Sgt. Washington. On the way
home, only one 109 and 110 got thru. Only doing superficial damage and
taking out our rafts.
Respectfully
Lt Thomas Jefferson
Dixie Jean 207th BS
REICH BUSTER (Salyer crew)
Take off went well but we had issues getting into formation. We were
loose the whole way in and out. We saw around six enemy fighters but our
little friends chased all but one away. That one was a probable as Lieut.
Marr nailed the krauts wing hard. Flak was inaccurate causing no damage at
all. For no apparent reason we were way off the mark on our drop. Sgt. Heron
saw the eggs land well short of the mark. The trip home was a bit boring,
could use more of these. We didn’t encounter a single enemy fighter.
Respectfully,
Lieut. Marvin Williams
200th BG(V) 221st BS
Reich Buster
TERRI G II (Gerber crew)
On the way there a couple of 109's managed to slip by the Jugs over the
target. Needer and Andrews each got one. Flak put a couple of holes in our
starboard wing and knocked out the port waist gun much to Andrews' surprise.
We managed to dump a good number of eggs in the basket and the Jugs kept the
Krauts off us all the way home. Landing was a piece of cake. So glad to be
landing back where its green grass not brown sand.
1st Lt. Gerber
SATAN'S LITTLE SISTER (DeFilippo crew)
This mission went without any major problems, we encountered enemy
fighters only once and Sgt Atkinson laid into him. The Me109 was hit in the
engine and started burning. Sgt Alfaro reported the pilot bailed out after
passing under our ship. The remainder of the Jerrys failed to press their
attacks. Over the target flak was light and we were able to hit the target.
The return leg home went without any problem.
1Lt DeFilippo
221st BS
Satan's Little Sister
BOBBI JO'S BOYS (Poulos crew)
Take off and formation went smoothly. It was good to take off w/o sand
blowing around. Our little friends kept the Germans at bay the whole trip
but the flack did the fatal damage. Number one was hit and we were able to
feather and flack also took out our port gear and gave us two fuel leaks in
our starboard wing. Our Starboard rudder was shot up too. Luckily we were
close to home and were able to stay in formation. Somehow we managed to hit
the target too. However I decided I didn't want to land and burn on only 1
main gear. I contacted base and air/sea rescue. Waited till we were near
base and had most of the crew bail out. Mel and I then flew her toward the
channel set the auto pilot on a steady slow decent and hit the silk
ourselves. We then hitched a lift back to base. We await Bobbi Jo's Boys Mk.
2
Maj. Poulos.
BATTLEWAGON (Hughes crew)
Up, across, back and down. Our little friends kept them off our back, and
Barrett hit the target. Beers all around boys!
TRY, TRY AGAIN (Whitehorse crew)
22 Aug 43: 41-28446-DT MACR: Approaching Amiens, Try, Try Again was
swarmed by numerous German fighters of all types. She was seen to be giving
a good account of herself before suddenly exploding, disintegrating in
mid-air. French underground reports no remains recovered. S-1 Addendum:
Purple Hearts awarded to 1LT Whitehorse, 2LT Capistrano, 2LT Midland, 2LT
Crabdon, TSG Murfree, SGT Moreno, SGT Dayan, SGT Coulthard, SGT Voorhees.
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Target for Today...
