Target for Today...
200th Heavy Bombardment Group (virtual)
8th Air Force
United States Army Air Forces

Mission 17
German industry at Paris, France
31 August 1943
(due 31 October 2005)

FIGHTER COVER EXPECTED

Flight Log Gazetteer

Mission 17 - Paris, France

SHOOT HIM! (Redd crew)
Smooth sailing until the target zone. "Only" one wave, four 109s. All got hits, all over the ship. Oxygen fire in the radio room; elevator
controls shot out. SGT Hakkinen in the waist yelled that he'd been hit bad. The Krauts came around for another pass, and again hits all over the ship. #2 engine ran away, so I had to shut it down. Luckily, that control still worked. Despite the damage, 2LT Arthur, the bombadier, kept us on
course, putting 40% on target. With no oxygen in the radio room, I was then forced to descend to 10,000 ft. -- a real chore with no elevators. The Krauts were waiting for us on the other side of the flak box. Chewed us up some more.

Luckily, we picked up some escorts the rest of the way, that chased off the half dozen Germans that followed us. Despite heavy damage, landing was perfect. Crew Chief Report: Replace elevator control, port control cable, port elevator, starboard aileron and radio room oxygen; repaint radio room; patch the usual assortment of holes. (216 Peckham Points)

S-1 Addendum:
Bronze Star w/t V awarded to SGT Hakkinen.
1LT Redd and 2LT Arthur awarded Air Medal.
Purple Hearts awarded to SGT Hakkinen and SGT Dominguez

BAD HARE DAY (Roberts crew)
We got hit in Zone 4 and lost the Norden. The bombardier had pieces of it stuck in his face so I asked the crew if we should bug out or not. They said Hell yes, let's go home. Bad move. We got laced in Zone 2 and the port outer fuel tank caught fire. We couldn't get it out so we hit the silk.

All of us got out ok but we lost 6 waiting for the rescue launch during the night. Miserable bloody war.

HARRIETT'S CHARIOT (Klippert crew)
Take off and formation went well. Over the French coast Jerry hit us with continuous fighter attacks all the way to the target and about 50 miles beyond. Our fighter escort and good tight formation drove them all off except for 1 coordinated front and rear attack by FW 190's and an Me110.Our Tail gunner, TSGT Wright, shot down a 110 trying to hit us from dead astern, then got an FW190 with a passing shot. Over the target everybody was trying to see the Eiffel Tower, and there was some talk about linking up at the Moulon Rouge should we be shot down. We laid 40% of our load on the target, then turned for home...no flak to speak off, just a few bad shots. Landed safely.

BOBBI JO'S BOYS (Poulos crew)
Take off went on schedule. From the tail Robbie told me that they were forming up pretty well. Jerrys jumped up soon as we crossed into France. The 38’s chased off a couple of 190s but a 109 and a 190 came through them at 12 high. We missed and so did the 109 but the 190 did damage. Three superficial hits and one that knocked out the auto pilot. When I fond that out I had the bombardier find an open field and jettison bombs. From then on we were a leading gunship.

Fighters chased off the 190 so he made no further attacks. Things were clear till over the target. No fighters got near us but then came the flak. Two burst pretty close near us. One near the tail and one near the starboard wing. Robbie got a light wound as a red-hot piece grazed his lower right arm and bounced off the plexi-glass. He picked it off the floor and kept it. The Starboard rudder took a hit too. The one that burst near the Starboard wing hit Bill in the waist section giving him a serious wound in his chest. Norm was up from the bombardier station to man the guns. He was able to give first aid. Doc says Bill will make it but hes heading home. That same burst also put a hole in the wing tip.

We made the turn after the bomb run with in the tail and in the ball turret commenting that they thought we (the 207th) could have done better. Then watch out for fighters again. Coming off target was a 109 at 12 high and a 190 at 6 high.

Robbie peppered the 190 and sent him away minus a few chunks of armor after he shot from too far away and turned. Top and Nose both fired and missed the 109. But the four lines of traces must have thrown off his aim too. No more fighters harassed our plane till after we crossed the coast.

Three 109s came at us. The fighters chased off two. But one still came in from 12 high. Our Nose gunner tore him to shreds. Good kill. We landed a bit rough but made it down in one piece.
Submitted.
Maj. Poulos.

DIXIE JEAN (Jefferson crew)
This mission was quite different than the past missions. Enemy opposition was light and sparse. We saw only eight Enemy aircraft and only four got close enough to take a shot. Three of them missed and Sgt J.Tyler at the belly station and Sgt G.Washington in the tail combined their shots
to destroy a Me.109. Thanks to our little friends that was about it for enemy fighters.

Flak was not heavy yet accurate. The only damage we took was over the target when a burst went off just above the mid section off Dixie. Taking out SFC. J.Adams top turret. The rest of the damage was superficial. We made it back safe and healthy.
Respectfully,
1st Lieutenant Thomas Jefferson
207th Dixie Jean
 

REICH BUSTER (Salyer crew)
Trip out was very quit. Any enemy fighters that approached the Riech Buster were chased away by our little friends or other ships in the squadron. Flak was present, but none hit close enough to do damage.

Even so, we were off the target, missing it completely. Coming off the target two Me.110s made it through our fighter cover with one going down to Sgt. Brian Ditmer tail Guns. Fifty miles later SFC Jeff Moye Damaged a Me.109 that made him miss hiss shot on us. The last fighter we saw was in the channel when we thought we were safe. Thanks to good shooting by Sgt. Paul Howie in the belly and our new guy in the nose gun, Sgt. Carlos Delorayos, teamed up to splash a FW.190. This was the last action for the day and we made it home intact.
2nd Lieutenant Randy Salyer
221st BS "Riech Buster"

SACRAMENTO SUE (Knotts crew)
Jerry made this Mission a rough one for us. sending a total of 6 fighters after us and giving us a good shake up. They really shook up the
bombardier making us miss the target totally. most of the fighters were driven off by the crew but none were shot down.

FLYING BUFFALO II (Loomis crew)
We were assigned a brand-new B-24H for this mission, the third incarnation of the "Flying Buffalo", a version containing a nose and ball
turret. We were assigned a new gunner, a new 18-yr old kid barely old enough to shave, Larry Russell from Topeka, Kansas. And Terry Riseden
wasn't too happy now having to be cramped in the ball turret instead of lying down on the deck manning the his tunnel gun. But the ball turret
has a 360 field of fire and Riseden said that he'll do his duty and that we could count on him.

The new engines sounded really terrific with barely 40 hours on them and the take-off went smoothly, so smoothly that even Lt. Lane, our usually
fussy co-pilot, hardly complained at all (during the practice flights were another matter but even he eventually came around to appreciate the new plane). The squadron, then the group, then the wing formed and we were on our way to Paris.

We were still over the Channel when the Luftwaffe made their presence known. A trio of 109s, two from head-on plus one we didn't see from
above, made a half-hearted attack, took a quick pot-shot at us, and quickly left the area. I called for a check-in and we had come through without a hit.

Now over enemy territory, the P-38s kept the next wave away from us. Just as we thought we were okay, another 109 dove down from above but
luckily he also missed by a mile as he speed past us to low altitude. We didn't see any more enemy fighters the rest of the mission; the P-38
boys did an outstanding job keeping the enemy away.

Flak over Paris was moderate but our luck continued to hold as we flew through the black puffs without damage. But Lt. Stackpole reported he
was having some problems with the Norden and his load fell off-target; I hope the bombs missed any residential areas.

After the bomb drop, no further enemy attacks were encountered and we returned to base without any damage or casualties at all. Other than
missing the target, this was a good mission for the crew.
Capt. Rick Loomis

TERRI G II (Gerber crew)
Take off and Forming up went pretty smoothly. About 1/2 way to Paris, bandits got through the 38's and one 190 holed our rudder and our
starboard wing but there didn't seem to be any control issues. Needer nicked him up pretty bad on his return attempt and he went away after trying a half-hearted shot that missed. When we reached the target another 190 got through our escort & Needer banged him up before he could shoot and he missed when he did.

Flak too out number one engine. It just stopped and smoked. we looked and there was no prop. Just a non-running smoking engine. It never
caught fire so we were lucky. The bomb run I was ashamed about. I know over half were on target. I am only hoping the ones off hit parking lot and street.

On the way out 3 109's got through. One knocked out the radio and the starboard aileron. Williams got one of the three before another knocked out his tail guns.

On the two's subsequent passes. Needer sent one away smoking and Andrews took a couple chunks off the other so they both missed. No further action was seen. Landing was bouncy but we made it down.
1Lt. Gerber

SECRET AGENT (Longman crew)
What can we say? As soon as we made landfall on the French Coast we were jumped by two waves of 109s. The fighter cover took care of one of the two in the first wave but the other - he must have been an ace - hit us on the Flight Deck and destroyed the Intercom. We wouldn't be of much use over the target so we aborted and dumped our eggs in the Channel.
2Lt Longman