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Navigator's Diary: 487th Bombardment Group, B17
by Norman K. Andrew |
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12/11/44 Mission #16 Milk run - grade A all the way. Target: Marshalling yard at Giessen, Germany. We led the high. Had quite a time assembling - had to go higher to get out of the soup. On the bomb run we were briefed to go through the Coblenz and the Limburg flak. So, of course, the bomber stream overshot the IP. Went right over Limburg. They shot at the group ahead but not us. After the target we played along the edge of the Frankfurt flak, no shots close. We were supposed to go over Paris at 10,000 ft on the way home - but weather didn't permit. Came over Belgium at 20,.000 to top the clouds. Peeled off over Splasher #u and came home. Visibility about 500 yds. 12.24.44 (Our narrow escape) The boys had a mission today. We were scheduled to lead the low - but were taken off. The boys led the 8th Air Force today - Harriman led. Were hit by fighters over the lines - lost nine ships, including Reed, who took our place in low lead. Lost 3 lead ships, so we'll probably be up for tomorrow. 12/28/44 Mission #17 Woke up at 3:30 am - when the CQ came after Chuck and Bob. Laid there with a toothache until 4:30 when he came in for Jack and me. Nice mission. Primary: a marshalling yard, visual. Secondary: Coblenz marshalling yard. From Brussels east there was a solid undercast topped at about 15,000. So we hit Coblenz, Germany. Tactical ground support. My Gee box picked up and controlled the Ruhr Chain - but wouldn't make sense. Guess Runstedt's counter offensive must be pretty close to Liege. Used the Rheims Chain from the IP on in. Four burst of flak observed - way down and behind, probably shooting our chaff. I think we threw the bombs east of the river. Got a Gee fix at bombs away that fell in the SE part of Coblenz - so did Whit with an Hxx fix. The target was in NW part of town. 12/31/44 Mission #18 A very rough day! Hamburg-visual. The CQ woke me at 2:45 - I thought it was Politz for sure. Target: oil refinery Hamburg. Took off and assembled in the dark. We had to switch planes at the last minute - late take-off. Went out over the North Sea. About 60 miles out I told Jack we were 8 miles right of course. 150 miles out I called the Air Leader - we were leading the low - and told him we were 20 miles right of course and about to run into the Frisian Islands. The lead claimed that he knew where we were - so - a few minutes later we had several flak bursts about 500 ft off the right wing. As we passed Heligoland the clouds cleared off and we could see Hamburg 60 miles away. Went down the bomb run drifting over 30 deg. |
Chuck changed heading near the target so he would be able to kill the drift. He did - only 245 deg. We had a wind at 15 deg., 110 kts. Due to prop wash the fore and aft bubble was clear forward. We came the closest of our squadrons and we missed by 1500 yds. The flak was moderate to intense and accurate as hell. One of our ships had 60 holes in it. Tonight there are only 8 ships available for tomorrow. After the rally point 6 FW-190s hit the group right behind us. They got 3 B-17s. Two flamers and one spinner. Our ground speed from Hamburg to the coast out was 74 knots. Boy! Did we sweat that out! The Cuxhauca corridor has been shut off - but we had no flak. This one ran Merseburg a close second. 1/3/45 Mission #19 What a long day! Up at 3:00 am. Target: Marshalling yard at Aschaffenburg, Germany, - PFF. Our new C.O. Colonel Martin rode with us. WE led the low. And finally, I really got some help from Lt. Wilkinson, pilotage navigator. It was solid 10/10ths all the way so he ran the Gee box. I plotted the fixes and had time to really navigate. I also gave Whit a workout on his Mickey set when we ran out of range of the Rheims Chain. It was a long drawn-out mission - but an easy one. Entered France at Calais and skirted the Belgium-France border to the Rhine just north of Saarbourg. Turned north to the target just 23 miles SE of Frankfurt. The only flak we had was 4 bursts from Stuttgart and that was about a mile off our right wing. The lead didn't drop on the primary but hit the secondary - marshalling yards at Pforzheim, Germany. They almost ran us into the Heidelberg flak. I took the low way to the left and rejoined them after they bombed. Milk run - only eleven, maybe ten to go. The Colonel told us it was nice navigating and the pilotage navigator (27 missions) told Jack that I was the best he had ever ridden with. Bashful, aren't I? 1/7/45 Mission #20 Another day closer to home. Up at 4:00 am. Target: Primary a railroad viaduct, visual. Secondary Paderborn marshalling yards, PFF. So - of course it was 10/10ths and we hit the secondary. Went right over Bliesfeld and no flak. Only flak we saw was a groups ahead who crowded the Dutch corridor on the southern side. A three-gun battery put up about 40-50 rounds. No hits. We led the group. Had to come all the way home at 20,000 because of clouds. Go to Page 6
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