nws mem B24 1
WW II B-24 bomber and crew.
By Andrew Paul Mele
Special to the Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Many years ago I came into possession of a log written by a young bombardier who flew 25 missions in a B-24 during World War II. Who he was or whether he lived on Staten Island and how I came by this wonderful piece of history has long since been relegated to that portion of my cranium where distant facts fade into forgotten memory, but I will pass along some of his experiences as he recorded them in honor of the thousands of Islanders who valiantly served their country during a time of intense peril.
The fact that the young man survived is cause for elation, but it does not detract from his ordeal over Nazi Europe between September 1943 and late January 1944. The first mission our hero encountered came on Sept. 23 over Vannes, France.
"Today," he wrote, "we begin our small part of the war effort."
The airfield at Vannes was the base for German fighter planes and the job of the "San Antonio Rose" was to destroy the base.
"Upon entering the coast we saw our first flak, it was scary, but uneffective."
Attacked by a lone enemy fighter, "he was last seen running for the coast with four P-47s on his tail. Our target was sighted and bombed...many a German soldier will not greet a new day," he observed. "No. 1 is gone, 24 more to go!"
It was after the sixth mission on October 10 over Munster, Germany, and an attack by the Luftwaffe, that the young bombardier expressed some trepidation. "I am not superstitious," he wrote, " but I don't believe we will be able to complete 25 missions." But by mission number 8 over a German fighter factory he was able to report: "17 more to go with the Grace of God."
On Nov. 13, with the target the heart of the Ruhr Valley, one ship had to leave the formation. Upon returning to England, the tail gunner and the waist gunner in that plane were killed by 20 mm shells. Said our chronicler, "that is the penalty you pay for being in the Air Corps. Show me glory in such a ride and I'll show you a damned fool."
Disaster struck the squadron again as they prepared to fly the 13th mission, this one over Golshenkerkin, Germany, as one of the planes crashed just after takeoff killing all on board.
Later, flying at an altitude of 27,000 feet, the bombardier noted that the windows continually froze up due to the "severe cold, 51 degrees below zero, which has been the worst we have had so far."
B-24 bomber of World War II
The aircraft, known as the B-24 Liberator was designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, and meant as an improvement over the B-17 Flying Fortress. Faster, with longer range and the ability to carry a ton more bombs, it became the most produced heavy bomber in history and retains the distinction as the most produced American military aircraft. Peak production reached one B-24 per hour and 650 per month in 1944. The aircraft carried an array of .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns in the tail, belly, top, sides and nose as defense against enemy fighter planes.
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) took delivery of its first B-24 in mid-1941. By the time our bombardier began his missions in the "San Antonio Rose," the aircraft had been deployed in all theaters of the war.
It didn't mean that all was safe and secure, however. In December, over a town in the Ruhr Valley, population 150,000, they found themselves in the midst of several hundred American and German fighter planes.
"There were dogfights all over the sky," the journal read.
Hit by flak and with their number 2 engine gone, the "Rose" had to leave the formation. "We came out of the clouds and dropped to 12,000 feet," the bombardier wrote.
With their oxygen system shot out and caught in a flak area, they lost another engine. "Flak came through the floor, the window, the wings, and all over the place. I never thought that we would get out of it alive!"
The crew thought they would have to ditch and sent out an SOS, but somehow reached the English coast after lightening the load of ammo and some guns over the Channel.
"This is the 15th," he wrote with some relief, "10 to go with God's help."
Surviving missions over Bordeaux and Paris in France and Bremen and the Ruhr Valley in Germany, the young airman was now counting down, having passed the halfway mark. On mission 17, they obliterated the town of Emden, Germany, with 2,000 tons of bombs.
"Don't believe that we will ever have to return there again," was the observation.
After mission 19, in which a landing gear stuck and they crash landed, he wrote, "only six more to go and we can start to think of the future again."
Mission number 22, on Jan. 11, 1944, took the "Rose" deep into the heart of Germany, "in fact just 30 minutes more and we would have been to Berlin. We picked out a town and blasted it to hell."
One of the bombers in the formation crashed and exploded. "Only one chute was seen to open."
On the next two missions, both over Noboll, France, our bombardier was assigned to lead the group. That meant his plane would go first and he would select and identify the target for the rest of the formation. He never stopped thanking God, without whose help and protection, "I never would have been able to write this 24th mission in."
On Jan. 29, the crew of the "San Antonio Rose" flew their 25th and final mission and it came over Frankfurt, Germany. He thanked God again and the chaplain for all his "prayers and confidence. He sure was a swell fellow and a damned good friend."
In retrospect, the bombardier was philosophical. "This has been a pretty swell place and a damned interesting job." But he maintained a sense of magnanimity now that the job was done.
"But let the other fellows get a crack at them now!"
And a grateful bow to all those Staten Islanders who served courageously and faithfully in World War II.