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Mission Number Fifty by G. J. Mayfield - 765th Bomb Squadron July 21, 1944, Crew 36 of the 765th Squadron landed with all but the bombardier Dennis, engineer Mayfield, and radio operator McRee completing their 50th mission. The crew had been drafted for a filming mission with other crews. The mission was uneventful. The bombardier, engineer, and radio operator did make the flight. I was notified that I was scheduled as engineer for the next day's operation with Col. Glantzberg and other group crew members. Col Glantzberg never flew milk runs so I anticipated a difficult mission. At the briefing 22 July, I learned Col. Glantzberg was flying the Fifteenth Air Force lead over Ploesti, Romania, with a B-24J Pathfinder Instrument Bombing Aircraft. I had previously flown three missions over Ploesti and one over Potesti, the oil port on the Danube. According to intelligence this area was defended by 1100 anti-aircraft guns 88 and 105mm. On previous missions smoke screen covered 190 square miles of target area. The same was true today as the target was covered with smoke and we needed the Pathfinder for target bombing. Preflight was normal but without the Crew 36 comradeship which usually consisted of the bombardier instructing the ball turret gunner to climb out on top of the ball and jump in the air if the turret dropped out and that would break his fall. Crew 36 had been to Cairo on R & R and a fortune teller told the bombardier he would be wounded and some of the crew were offering 10-1 that it would happen on this mission. Combat equipment was loaded including the jewel pots. These were regular issued steel helmets which airmen sat on when the flack got thick. There was a saying that they sure got tighter around the waist when the flack got thick. Take-off, climb out and cruise were normal as we watched the Fifteenth Air Force form behind us. We proceeded to Ploesti. I checked the equipment, fuel supply and the right waist gun. My procedure required transfer of fuel from the outboard tanks when we were out of the flack after the bomb run. This was to prevent a wing from being blown off if we were hit in the tank area. As we approached the target at around 26,000 feet we found the smoke screen in place. We hit the I.P. and turned toward the target. From the right waist I saw two bursts of flack bracket the right wing and someone up front called three burst directly in front at our altitude. Almost immediately a flack burst in #4 engine, it set the engine on fire and blew a hole in the top of the right Tokyo tank and it was burning too. #3 engine quit also. The plane started down out of control in the middle of the flack field. The bail out bell was ringing and Col. Glantzberg ordered bail out. Suddenly the side slip pulled the fire out of the engine and gas tank. I started yelling on the inner phone that the fire was out. We had been trying to ride the aircraft out of the flack field before we jumped. Col .Glantzberg got the plane under control at around 4,000 feet on #1 and #2 engines, then asked for a crew count. With all the crew intact we started toward Turkey. After checking #3 engine and finding no damage it was re-started and purred like a kitten. We discussed the fuel situation and to make it to Italy we needed the fuel from #4 tank and the Tokyo tank that had been on fire. Because of the fuel system design on the B-24J, I had to remove a fuel line and plug a fuel line over the bomb bay with 50 caliber shell in order to use the gas from #4 and the Tokyo tank. Everything was thrown over board and even our jewel pots to decrease the weight of the plane and we finally arrived back at our home base 2 1/2 hours after the rest of the Group. We had flown from the Turkish border to Italy at tree top level without seeing either a German or American aircraft. As we landed and rolled to a stop our fuel was leaking all over the aircraft. The B-24J Pathfinder was junk after only one mission, my 50th. When I got back to my tent all my crew I were preparing for R & R in Rome which had just come under Allied control. Col. Glantzberg had me passing information and instructions to newer crews on procedures that had brought the aircraft home. For this mission I received the Distinguished Flying Cross. I didn't find out about it until thirty-nine years later when I attended the 461st & 484th Reunion near my home in Williamsburg, Virginia. Crew 36 departed Morrison Field, Florida, 1 February 1944 flying our aircraft to S.A., Dakar and North Africa to Italy. Flew our first mission 2 April 1944, during April, May, June, and July the 765th Squadron lost 22 aircraft and crews. Crew 36 returned state side on Troop Ship "General Bliss" and arrived in New York on 1 September 1944. |
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