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2nd Lt. Robert J. Horn

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Related Pages: 1st Lt. Donald J. Stuke  |  2nd Lt. Paul A. Martin
 

Robert J. Horn Crew (left to right)
Back: Aubrey Slimm, Jr. (LWG), Russell A. Priester (BTG), Albert J. Shubak (TTG), Victor T. Saabye (RWG),
Kenneth H. Mueller (ROG), ? Paul (Replaced by William T. Graser after picture was taken.)
Front: Charles E. Conner (BOM), William A. Newell (NAV), Bart E. Mahoney (CP), Robert J. Horn (P) 
100th BG Photo Archives
 
2ND LT ROBERT J. HORN P POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
2ND LT BART E. MAHONEY, JR. CP POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
2ND LT WILLIAM A. NEWELL NAV POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
2ND LT CHARLES E. CONNER BOM POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT KENNETH H. MUELLER ROG POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT ALBERT J. SHUBAK TTE POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT RUSSELL A. PRIESTER BTG POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT VICTOR T. SAABYE WG POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT AUBREY SLIMM, JR WG POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH
SGT WILLIAM E. GRASER TG POW 18-Mar-44 MUNICH

418th Sqdn.. Crew, joined 100th BG in Feb 1944 as above, taken from MACR #3232, which is in poor condition and difficult to read. This was the crew’s first mission.

A/C #42-3508 "BASTARD'S BUNGLOW II" LD-P
MACR #3232, Microfiche #1104

Much of the following information was conveyed by crewman of a/c 42-3508: Charles Conner-BOM. Russell Priester-BTG, Ken Mueller-ROG and Aubrey Slimm-WG, who attended the 100th BG Little Rock Reunion in 1993, and later updated by Lt Charles Conner in late 2004 as new information became available;

"In 1994 Lt Charles Conner was informed by a letter from 100th BG Historian Jim Brown that apparently CB Harper was Deputy leader and while the Group was still over the Channel outbound toward their target in Germany on 18 March 1944, He had to abort because of planetary gear failure on his #3 engine and its "cherry red" hub. It seems the Group had just completed its formation adjustment for the Deputy's departure as the formation flew over the Dieppe region when the Group Lead a/c took severe flak hits at 1210 hours so he also aborted and turned for home with wounded crew aboard. Speculation indicate the High and Low Squadron Leads may not have been aware that the Deputy Lead had just aborted the formation and assumed the Group Lead merely turned to avoid the heavy flak area and this led to the High and Low elements following the Group Leads turn. "

"With the previous departure of the Deputy Lead plus the Group Leads abort, the entire 100th BG found itself in the unenviable position of heading back towards England before someone realized that the Wing was continuing eastward toward the target, while the entire 100th had departed the formation. Perhaps that relatively quick sequence of events probably led to miss-communication and apparently delayed the decision by the new Group Lead to take command, who in turn, led the 100th in a complete 360 degree turn. That was a costly move as two more 100th BG a/c had to abort due to serous flak damage from the heavy defensive concentration around the Dieppe region. By the time this maneuver was completed the rest of the Wing was miles ahead of the 100th. During the groups second re-assembly before resuming flight towards the target, Lt Horn had to pull the throttles back on his a/c #508 to avoid becoming the "meat of a sandwich" as Lt Paul Martin's #830 descended over Lt Horn's #508 just as Lt Donald Stuke's a/c #913 climbed from below #508 and those two a/c pancaked directly in front of Lt Horn. The debris from that collision resulted in noticeable damage to #508's fuselage and undetected damage to the engines so Lt Horn stayed with the Group formation which began a "sprint" to re-join the Wing. "

"The primary target at Gablingern was under heavy clouds, so the Group continued eastward to the secondary target at Munich as Horn fought to keep his damaged aircraft in formation. Lt Horn's plane took additional flak damage including destruction of the mechanism to feather the props while in route to the secondary target. Horn was able to stay in formation in spite of the damage and bombed the Munich rail yards. On the Homeward bound leg of the mission, Lt Horn's a/c took more flak damage, which further increased his planes drag and made it highly improbable that #508 could maintain sufficient airspeed to stay airborne. The ever-decreasing effectiveness of the engines and the pilot’s inability to feather props on the damaged engines cause the aircraft to slowly lose altitude and lag behind the formation and made it obvious the homeward flight of "Bastard's Bungalow II" could not be sustained. Flying isolated from the formation as the a/c lost altitude and speed, Lt Horn's crew soon found a P-47 flying escort off their left wing. But minutes later, our "Little Friend's" fuel state forced him, reluctantly, to abandon the stricken B-17. The P-47 signaled that he had to depart and he gave a friendly salute to Lt Horn. Mindful of his circumstance, alone, over enemy territory with a stricken plane losing altitude, Lt Horn radioed his crew of his intentions and lowered his landing gear (this would keep enemy fighters from destroying the stricken plane in the air and force Lt Horn to land at the nearest enemy airfield…mpf)"

Letter to Jim Brown from Charles E. Conner in September 1988. . . . "We crash-landed near Ulm, with Lt Horn making a super smooth dead-stick, wheels up landing in a snow covered field which we thought was a farmers backyard. As we climbed out of the airplane, we were "greeted" by the very irate farm workers armed with pitchforks and pistols. They held us captive for fifteen to twenty minutes until a half-dozen German military men took control and moved us to the town jail. " Lt Horn's Crew members at the 100th's 1993 Reunion in Little Rock, AR related information previously unknown to 100th historians for nearly half a century. The crews’ comments continued:

"An Me-109 and a FW-190 joined our lonely B-17, one fighter off each wing. Those pilots gave Horn a "Thumbs down" signal and pointed to a snow-covered field below to indicate where Horn should land. With no alternative, Lt Horn complied and made a smooth wheels-up landing in the snow. The two fighters circled above, then the FW-190 departed the area while the Me-109 lowered his wheels and landed near our a/c, but his landing gear bogged down in the 6" snow and his a/c flipped tail-over-nose. Farm workers held us at bay with guns and pitchforks as we exited the a/c and prevented our dash into the nearby woods to hopefully evade capture as the Me-109 pilot jumped from this over turned a/c, seemingly uninjured, and ran towards us. Soon afterwards some armed Luftwaffe troops arrived on foot, and Horn and our crew were marched off as prisoners to a nearby building. There we were loaded into a truck and driven to the Ulm city jail for a couple of days before being transported to Dulag Luft at Frankfurt em Main"

"In 1994 Lt Charles Conner returned to Europe and visited the crash site of #508 "Bastard's Bungalow II" in Ulm. According to the MACR, the crew made and emergency landing at Dormstadt and was captured. It seems there was an Airbase at Dormstadt during the war and it had been converted into an old folks home. Upon explaining his mission to the Home's Administrator, she gave Lt Conner and his German friend (a retired NATO pilot from Germany) permission to walk the grounds. We soon found ourselves at the edge of a grassy field with a wooded area some 100 yards of so off to one side, which matched our crews’ mental recollection of our crash site. The retired NATO pilot said that most German wartime fighter bases had grass landing strips and said that because of the very hilly terrain surrounding this former base, that open field was the only flat place large enough to safely land an a/c the size of a B-17 without causing injury to its crew. He also said that the men who aimed their guns at us as we exited our plane were most likely from Germany's Home Guard in charge of farm laborers. Lt Conner and the rest of Lt Horn's crew are now convinced that their crash landing was not in a farmer's backyard as they originally thought but at the edge of what was Dornstadt Air Field. "

Lt Horn ended up in Stalag Luft III, South Compound Sagan, Silesia, Germany after being interrogated at a Dulag Luft at Frankfurt em Main.

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