| ...AFTER ACTION REPORT... WHOOPIE (Sanderson non-player pathfinder crew)
Another tough mission leading the assault. While the pathfinder mission is
important, it is taking a toll on the crews. Whoopie barely got home again for the second
mission in a row. Two men on board were KIA with one severely wounded and will be sent
home. We may need to look into sending up more than one pathfinder to ensure the effort
gets threw the enemy's defenses...
WING AND A PRAYER (Missoula crew)
42-7035-FO MACR: Wing & a Prayer was under attack by three FW-190s just
outside the Romilly S.S. flak box when its wing suddenly burst into flames. Other 214th
radio operators report 42-7035-FO's last transmission was "F***ing s**t!" Nine
parachutes were spotted.
SCOTCH MIST (Spiers crew)
Excerpt from Debriefing of Sgt. Sean Flaherty after his escape from Occupied
France.
We took off and formed up with the rest of the formation no problem. The skipper (Lt.
Spiers) warned us to watch for fighters. As if he had to. We were all a little nervous on
our first mission.
We didn't see an enemy plane the whole way to the target. I thought
it was going to be a piece of cake. As we approached the target the flak was all around us
but all it did was make a few more holes for the crew chief to fix.
Lt Hustler, our bombardier, managed to drop about 40% of our load on
target. Then just after we cleared the bomb run and headed for home, we were jumped by
three Me109's.I missed the one coming in from 6 o'clock level and he got two solid hits on
us. Then WHOOSH. The port inboard fuel tank ignited and the skipper couldn't get it out
and screamed for us to jump.
I got out and I saw another seven chutes open and a failure. He went
straight into the ground. When I landed I headed towards where I thought I had seen the
others land. I discovered the body of our Radio Op. (PhilYates) in a field. He hadn't
stood a chance.
I was picked up by local resistance fighters and was taken to a
local safehouse. I heard from them that the rest of the guys had been picked up by the
Germans. I was transported into Holland and then brought back across on a fishing boat to
the English Coast......
CACTUS ROSE (Harrison crew)
Piece of cake if that flak hadn't hurt Lt Helder in the leg. Most enemy fighters
were driven off by little friends fighter cover , hit twice by heavy flak with minor
damages. A good run on the way home with enemy fighters scattered and disrupted.Only one
Fw190 manged to shoot us up pretty well from 3 o'clock high over the white cliffs of dover
but he disappeared. Tail gunner shot down what we think was one of them yellow nosed
abbeville boys Me109's. Tunnel guns knocked out and some wing root , rudder damage but
otherwise a-okay.
ACES HIGH (O'Neill crew)
Aces High returned safely after a relatively "quiet" mission. German
activity was sporadic. Our co-pilot will return to duty after a light leg wound.
PEGGY SUE (O'Conner crew)
Something of a milk run, we dispatched the Jerries that made it past our little
friends. Some flak in the waist and the nose, nothing serious. Looking forward to a stand
down, so we can get some carousing done in London town!
Bobby Jo's Boys (Poulos crew)
We formed up well on Loomis and were fairly tight. I was satisfied with our flying on the
way there. On the way out the only fighters we saw were being taken care of by our Little
Friends. The flack chewed up Number four engine but we did get it to feather ok. All other
damage was superficial. Holes in our tail and waist. We dropped our bombs and at least
half of them fell true. A few 109's jumped us and missed just before the flack and then
flew off to re jump us on the way out and missed again. They had yellow noses. Barnes
swears it was the same ones. They missed us and then he watched them go after Scotch Mist.
Robby watched helplessly as thier port inboard tank burst into flames. He counted he
thought 8 good chutes and a failure. We flew home in silence except for some muttered
prayers for the crew of Scotch Mist. No further Germans were seen. Landing was uneventful.
Terri G (Gerber crew)
Take off for our second mission was a lil tense as for some reason it
just seemed like there wasn't enough runway but we made it off the ground just fine.
Formed up on Flying Buffalo to the 4:30 of the Skipper. In the back row. Kind of exciting
and tense to be a part of the lead squadron.The Good Guys kept the kraut fighters away
from us till we got over the target. A few 109's made some passes but our bullets were the
only ones to hit as our engineer Andrew nicked one up pretty bad and shot the tail clean
off another. We did see the German's parachute was good. Flack bounded us around a bit. It
put a hole in the nose section right under planes name, and a couple holes in the
starboard wing but all without serious damage. Our waist gunner got a nick in his thigh by
a chunk. He dug through the spent casings after we landed and finally found it to keep as
a good luck piece. Johnny managed to put a decent percentage of our eggs in the basket or
so we think. On the way out a couple more 109's jumped us and Dave on our tail guns put
one out of commission permenantly. Its buddy put a hole in our number 4 engine and we had
to feather it. It missed on it next pass and flew off to greener pastures. We didnt
encounter any more resistance on the way home and landed safely.
Flying Buffalo (Loomis crew)
We encountered no enemy aircraft until after the bomb run. During the run, flak
was heavy and accurate. The Buffalo was bracketed by 3 bursts that destroyed the port
waist gun, knocked out the #3 engine, and put three superficial holes in the port wing,
nose and tail. Thanks to the pathfinder plane, Lt. Stackpole reports that a good portion
of the bombs landed within the main factory buildings. I believe the flak was a
contributing factor that scattered the lead formation causing it to become loose and
sloppy. That was like sending an engraved invitation to the Luftwaffe saying 'come and get
us.' Luckily, enemy resistance was very light and only a single FW-190 & ME-109
attacked us while the group withdrew from the target area. The gunners didn't even see the
109 as they concentrated their fire on the 190, which our new navigator, Lt. Norendale,
claimed he hit repeatedly. But the enemy pilot still pushed onward, hitting the starboard
rudder, peppering the nose with holes, and grazed me in the left knee. The 109, although
ignored by our gunners, managed to miss us. For the remainder of the mission, no further
enemy attacks was experienced. Landing back at base was routine. - Capt. Rick Loomis
Battlewagon (Hughes crew)
Couldn't have asked for an easier mission. Our little friends get free drinks from this
crew tonight. We took some flak damage to the port wing, and TSG Reese got him a 109 as
well as a light wound from some sharpnel (he'll be fine). After the hell of last mission,
the Big Guy upstairs dispatched a flight of angels for this run.
Little Miss Michie (Williamson crew)
This was a Milk Run. We only saw five enemy fighters during the entire mission and Mike
Morris got his second KIA on one of the 109s. We were on target with 30% and no damage to
Little Miss Michie. |
Target for Today...
