418th Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group on
21/1/45. See p. 166"CONTXAILS" Crew flew final mission of 100th Group on
20/4/45. Leroy W. Duncan from the Appleton crew (Nav) flew a number of missions
with this crew. Including that of 20/4/45. T/Sgt Alfier- toggelier on the
Hellerich Crew until they became Lead Crew (about 5 missions), then went to
spare gunner/tog pool and eventually to Lee Jacobs Crew.
In a letter dated Dec 26, 2007, Angelo (Alexander) A.
Alfier explains his training and combat position:
Alexander A. Affier
Major, USAF Retired
December 26, 2007
I always enjoy going to the 100thBG web site; however,
I would like to comment on my assignment to the Group. (Incidentally, my given
name at that time was Angelo A. Alfier. ) My initial gunnery training was in the
ball turret position, which occurred sometimes in 1944. Sometimes in the middle
of the year I was selected to train as a TOGGELIER. This position was
established to replace commissioned officer
bombardier position. This occurred because the pattern
bombing technique used did not need a bombardier in each plane. Bombardiers and
the use of the bomb site was only needed in the Lead Crew positions. However,
toggeliers did control bomb release but did not use a bombsight. Bomb release
was done with manual switches and signals given by smoke bombs that were
released from the group's lead planes.
Initially, I was assigned to Carl Hellerich's crew and
did crew training in Rapid City, S. D. This crew training consisted primarily of
duties for the pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, and radio operator.
The rest of the crew was there for crew unity and esprit de corps. Our crew went
over seas sometime in December of 1944 and we flew our fist mission in January
1945. On all missions I flew as a toggelier. I never flew as a waist gunner.
After approximately five missions, Carl Hellerich was
chosen to move up to Lead Crew and therefore a bombardier and new navigators
were assigned to the crew. This meant that I did not have a crew assignment.
After a short time I was assigned to a group of people who acted as "spares".
All bomb groups had this structure because of sudden crew vacancies that
continually occurred for various reasons. I flew in this status for
approximately ten missions.
I was then permanently assigned to Lee Jacobs' crew as
their toggelier. Also, incidentally, Lee's bombardier, Anthony Shurba, was
assigned to Carl Hellerich's crew when he was selected as one of the group lead
crews. I flew with this crew until the end of the European War. I flew 21 combat
missions and some food drop missions to Holland.
The toggelier was responsible for all of the armor
(guns, bomb, etc) on the plane, take the periodic crew oxygen check, remove all
fuse safety pins from the fuses prior to arriving at the enemy air space, while
monitoring all switch panels to insure that the bombs were released on time.
Also being able to release bombs manually during electrical failure by walking
out on a narrow catwalk while holding an oxygen bottle in one hand when all of
the bomb bay doors are open. Also he was responsible for dropping the special
anti-personnel time fused bombs that had special release procedures to ensure
that they were released in specific areas when missions were either recalled or
primary and secondary targets were obscured. The bombs could not be left in the
aircraft for seventy two hours. Note that that toggelier also manned the nose
guns and or the chin turret on the late models of the B-17. Again, note these
same duties were performed by the commissioned bombardier.
In reference to the rank of the toggelier, at this
time the 100th Bomb Group Table of Organization (T07E) identified the rank of
the toggelier as Technical Sergeant along with the position of flight engineer.
All of the other ranks were Staff Sergeant. To sum up, I was trained as a ball
turret gunner and a toggelier. I was never trained as a waist gunner and I never
flew combat as a ball turret gunner. I flew as a trained toggelier with the rank
of Technical Sergeant.
