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

Mission 8
Oil storage and processing facilities at Hamburg, GE
08 February 1943
(due 21 November 2004)

FIGHTER COVER EXPECTED

Flight Log Gazetteer

	Group Pathfinders (callsign "Packer")		Whoopie! Sanderson On/30%

Turning around we got attacked by 3 109s and only managed to damage one of them. The other two scored to good hits. Bomb site got hit, Flight Deck compartment heat was knocked out, stbd waist gun got knocked out, oxygen in the tail, My co-pilot 1Lt Segotta received a small shrapnel wound on his shoulder, port wing aileron got hit, engine #2 received a hit, port empennage got hit, tail guns got hit, and the waist port suit heater was knocked out.

Then in zone 2, 2 110s and a 109 attacked but they seemed  uninterested in us and attacked once and left us alone. The landing was a little rough but I was able to put her down. We all made it home safe a little dinged up but safe.
1Lt Zaragoza

BOBBI JO'S BOYS (Poulos crew)
Germany!!!  This time even deeper than before.  A long mission but a break from the last two missions.  The horror of the last mission to Amsterdam abides with us still as the new guys get their gear settled into the empty bunks of our former mates.  We hear the flak and fighters promise to be thick.  Thank the Lord for telling us the little friends are at least going to try and be up in force and for longer than normal. Take off went smoothly.  The crew felt some relief not being down in the low squadron this time. 

A couple of 190’s jumped us out in zone 3 but a p-47 drove one off and our new bombardier clipped one enough to throw off his aim. No further fighters were experienced by us until we got over Germany.  A Ju88 came at us from 12 High. We missed and  so did he.  Over the target 3 110’s jumped us from in front and behind.  In the front, the closure rate was too great for everyone and bullets and shells filled the air around our nose but none impacted anywhere on them or us.   The story was different in the rear where Robby ripped a 110 apart with his twin .50’s  that made six for him and he cut loose with a yell of victory over the intercom.  

Flak bounced us around quite a bit.  Our port wing had a couple good sized chunks taken out of it along with a nice sized piece from our port aileron.  But it didn’t seem to affect our flight capabilities.   A piece of flak punched through the windscreen and landed in Mel’s lap.  After we both quit yelling in terror and surprise and it cooled he put it in his pocket for luck. 

Norm managed to put about a third of our eggs near the smoke markers those pathfinders laid out for us.   Not bad for his first time.  On the way out of the target we were jumped by a few 190’s   all missed except our navigator chewed one up pretty bad with the starboard cheek gun.  No more fighters were experienced till we were almost home.  But 47’s drove them off.

Just as we were about to cross the English coast  a bunch of 109’s attacked along with a 190.   47’s drove the 190 off and two of the 109’s.  Out Top Turret destroyed the third 109. Landing was uneventful.
Maj. Alex Poulos

RHINE EXPRESS (Billings crew)
Rhine Express was observed to be maintaining formation 40km north of Emden, but offering little resistance when its starboard wing suddenly separated from the main fuselage. Only one parachute was observed.

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(Post War testimony of TSG Bristol: Things didn't get off on the right foot as the nose and top turret both jammed when three 190s attacked us over the Channel. They also knocked out the tail turret. Two zones later, another batch of bandits knocked out the tunnel gun, plus the starboard waist gun jammed. 2LT Brownsville said something about the Express having more jam than a county fair, but it wasn't very funny.

Zone 6 we got jumped by three 110s, but they were crappy shots. By Zone 7, the only guns we had operating were the cheek guns. Five 190s took care of those, and punched a serious leak in the #2 oil tank. Then they came back for a second pass. Next thing I know the Express jerked over on its side, slamming me against the ring of my turret. I must have got knocked out for a second, because the next thing I knew I felt hands shoving me out the exit. That's the last I saw of Billings, San Pedro, Brownsville, Mishicot, Convey, Stein or Wheldon. All things considered, I was pretty damn happy to be fished out of the water by a passing S-Boat.

S-1 Addendum: Purple Hearts awarded to 1LT Billings, 2LT Brownsville, 2LT Mishicot, SGT Convey, SGT Stein and SGT Wheldon. 1st Oakleaf Cluster to Purple Heart awarded to 2LT San Pedro and SGT Bickle. Based on testimony of TSG Bristol: 1) A Bronze Star with V device is awarded to 1LT Billings, for heroically continuing his mission despite his aircraft having few means of defending itself. 2) A Distinguished Service Cross is posthumously awarded to SGT Convey, radio operator, who disregarded his own safety to ensure that an unconcious crewmate was able to exit his stricken aircraft. SGT Convey gave his life so that another might live, and reflects great credit on himself and the US Army Air Force. 3) POW Medal awarded to TSG Bristol.

SCATTER MAGIC (Dollins crew)
Well pretty hairy for little return. Nearly the whole crew are newbies so I can understand their jitters. We got tagged a little on the way there but except for the control cables being nailed by flak as we were going in to target and our ailerons being U/S, we were in good shape.

Dingus(Engineer) and Simons(Navigator) got a light wound each but they were just scratches really. Mickelson(Bombardier) got a 109 but that didn't stop him feeling really bad about being off target due to the control cables. Simons got a 110 but then, who can miss those flying barn doors? McHenry(Tail) winged a brace of 190's, Dingus nicked a 190 and Mickelson added a winged 110 and hurt a 190 pretty badly.

Landing was aced (rolled a '12'). Pity about the bomb run but a good mission to blood the boys and let them know that this isn't some game in the sandlot.

4 LEAF CLOVER (O'Neill crew)
Another dark day for the O Neill crew. Yet another crew member was lost, the new tail gunner Merry wouldn't see another day. The 4 Leaf clover was harried all the way to the target and back by enemy fighters, the flak finally taking its toll.

O Neill only just managed to bring the bomber back, to his credit the "landing" went quite well despite the nose wheel being shot away and the port landing gear being reduced to a piece of twisted metal. The crew chief took one look at the belly landed bomber and scratched her off his list! She would never fly again.

CLOUD CRICKET (Schneider crew)
Yeah well , we heard the bailout bell ring and I could see all these flames streaking down the side of the port wing , so me and Dillion the radio op jumped together real quick .The plane almost clipped us , we saw Frediksen fall through the flames and his chute caught fire  I think .He just vanished below us .It was a Me109 that got us I think must have set fire to the fuel tanks I guess.Boy that water was cold but tommy had got to me in the water .We hung on together until we got picked after an hour, seemed like for ever.I guess.The other planes musta radioed our position huh.

The sea was rough , the rescue launch had both Lt Moore the navigator and Lt Helder the bombardier on it when they picked us up , they had stuck together in the water as well . I guess.The rest of the crew, Paris, Baldy, Freddy, Lt Olsen, and Major Schneider, well the launch searched but we never saw then again.Guess they musta drowned, I guess.Frediksen was a dead man with no chute thats for sure. That was the end of cloud cricket......one stinking me109. We had just shot down 2 planes too.Screw it.
Sgt Kernan, Tunnel Gunner

SCUTTLEBUTT (Carraway crew)
We first encountered the enemy about half way to the target. They stayed with us until just after we had turned for home. We put 30% of our eggs in the pickle barrel on this one. "Scuttlebutt" was shot to hell but she kept on flying and we belly landed at base because our starboard landing gear had been shot out. 2nd Lt. Firth was killed by enemy fighters after bombs away and Sgt. Marks was seriously wounded. He will recover but never to fly again.
LT Carraway

PEGGY SUE (O'Conner crew)
Not a bad trip. Better than the last time out anyway. She's a new ship, still smells and handles beautiful. There were plenty of Krauts, but the only scare was when the bomb controls were damaged. No problems for the bombardier, Lt Segal, though - he put most of the eggs near the target. The fighter boys kept us safe on the way back, and landing was a breeze. Time for a drink in the OC boys, on me!
Lt Murphy O'Conner

BIGAST BOYD (Jamision crew)
Bigast Boyd exploded over the ocean while under heavy attack by enemy aircraft. No chutes were seen.

FLYING BUFFALO (Loomis crew)
Encountered e/a over the North Sea but no major damaged other than a wing root and Lt. Lane being hit in his left foot.  Lt. Stackpole and Sgt. Gaydos each claimed an Me-109.

During the approach to the target, we fought through 3 enemy waves.  The first 2 waves only caused 3 superficial holes.  The last wave, 3 Me-110s, knocked out the #1 engine.  The flak knocked out the #4 engine, forcing us to jettison the bombs and to fall out-of-formation to 10,000 feet.

From the time we left the target area until we reached the coast of England, we were harassed constantly by numerous e/a attacks due to our slow speed and being unable to take any evasive actions due 2 engines out.  Just pass the German coast entering the North Sea again, Sgt. Crawford, the tail gunner, shot down 2 Me-109s, while Lt. Stackpole got another Me-109.  During this time, the navigator, Lt. Blunder, was killed, Lt. Stackpole was wounded, Lt. Lane was wounded again, Sgt. Gaydos was wounded twice, and I (Loomis) was wounded in the lower arm.

After being overdue for over 2 hours, and despite the port brakes being out, we managed to safely land The Buffalo back home.

Total repairs needed: 2 engines, port brakes out, top and tail turrets inoperable, flight deck and tail section heating systems out, oxygen instruments controls shot up, icom out, port wing aileron inoperable, port & starboard wing roots damaged, starboard tail plane root damaged, starboard elevator inoperable, starboard waist gun destroyed, 62 other holes needing repair = 337 damage pts.
Plane written off as salvage.
Captain Rick Loomis

BATTLEWAGON (Hughes crew)
Battlewagon looks like swiss cheese after this one, but by God our lady brought us home. Well, all except SGT Curtis. We couldn't get to him to even look at him until we hit the English coast on the way back.

Where to begin? It wasn't so bad, until Sweet Target fell out of the formation. That made us "tail end Charlie" and boy did we catch it. From that point on it seemed like the Luftwaffe singled us out for special treatment.

Wave after wave after wave of the Huns dove in. To be honest I don't even remember the bomb run I was so busy. The chatter over the intercom of target IDs and clock positions was almost constant. We lost the radio right after Sweet fell out, and SGT Brewster ended up manning the cheek guns. Damed if he didn't kill two of the bastards too!

2LT Hoffman will be headed stateside from his injuries. But losing SGT Curtis really hurts. Paul was the practical joker on the crew. Just yesterday he caught SGT Lofton with the old "bucket on the top of the door" trick! I need to talk to the other guys, but I know we shot down a few and damaged more. Right now I have to go write a letter home to Curtis' family.
1LT Joe Hughes

LITTLE MISS MICHIE (Williamson crew)
One hell of a mission.  When we got home we had over 200 holes in the old girl.   And we said good bye to Sgt Barner.  He was killed by a 190.

TERRI G (Gerber crew)
Wow our first mission and it was to Hitler's Backyard.    We made it into the air without too much trouble.   We were attacked by some 109's over the channel but the Little Friends drove them off.   Just after we crossed over into Germany we were jumped by some Krauts and our navigator clipped a 109 throwing off his aim enough to make him miss.  Another managed to put a hole in or waist but it was all superficial damage he made another pass and a shell put a nick in Roger's thigh, he'll be ok.

Over the target our bombardier somehow nailed a 190 and sent him spinning in flames.  What a lucky shot!  Flack bounced us around quite a bit and made our port wing look like the beginnings of swiss cheese.  It also took out our #2 engine. It feathered fine and no fire.   John saw the markers and we're pretty sure we got about a third of our eggs in the basket.

On the way out we were jumped by several 109's       We damaged a couple and Andrew ripped the tail off one from the top turret.  We never saw him bail out.    Just before we crossed the coast back out a 109 holed our bombay pretty good. Thank goodness the bombs were gone.    The same one also nicked Roy in the arm but doc said it wasn't serious and he'll be good to go for the next mission.   The Kraut missed on his next pass.   We didnt see any more fighters till just before we crossed the coast.  A couple 109's pounced us and Andrew damaged one.  Both of them missed.  We landed fine.

JERSEY BOUNCE (Wiggins non-player crew)
Hit target with 40% load. 187 Damage points sustained. Tunnel gunner killed and co-pilot lightly wounded. Engineer shot down ME-109. Knocked from formation on return trip over the ocean about 4 hours from England. Made it home alone.

OUR MAVEN (Twomley non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 115 damage points sustained. Navigator lightly wounded. Navigator shot down a FW-190.

SUPPER TIME? (Gordon non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 106 damage points sustained.

ALL THE KINGS MEN (LeFevre non-player crew)
Hit target with 20% load. Shot down about 5 hours from England. Radio Operator recovered by Air Sea Rescue. Rest of the crew missing in action.

SLEEPY TIME (Brown non-player crew)
Missed target due to bomb control damage. 198 damage points sustained. Tail gunner killed. Navigator shot down a 109 and the engineer shot down a 190.

LADY VICTORY (McCarty non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 38 damage points sustained. Engineer shot down a ME-109.

COALBURG EXPRESS (Nickerson non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 70 damage points sustained.

FIGHTING IRISH (Lee non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 105 damage points sustained. Tail gunner shot down a ME-110.

MISS RUTHIE (Jackson non-player crew)
Hit target with 30% load. 110 damage points sustained. Engineer killed.