349TH SQDN.. CREW JOINED 100TH 26 MAY 1944. 

The following from George Tolbert via e-mail 30 Mar 2001: 

"When we first reported to the 100th, we were put in the 349th and flew a few indoctrination flights with them, but, to the best of my memory, we were transferred to the 351st and flew all our operational flights with them, most of them in THE ALL AMERICAN GIRL. The GIRL was 351st all the time we were there, but we got her shot up so badly at Mersburg on Sep 28 that we returned alone half an hour late, and we had to finish our last few flights in the next week in unassigned planes with the aluminum finish. A nagging question is answered, but I am saddened to learn she went down on 10 Jan 45 on her 99th mission, and nobody knows what happened to her. She was a steady and reliable old plane. As a matter of interest, on our last mission, Oct. 6, we found ourselves in the tail end position and the Sqdn. Cmdr., who I think was Maj. Emerson at the time but may have been Maj. Cruver, asked the Ops. Officer, Neil Scott, if he couldn't do better for us on a raid to Berlin on our last mission. He moved us up into the upper squadron and the one plane that was lost that day was the poor crew that moved into our old slot. Fate plays strange games. Lloyd Delaney and Bill Sajonc are both dead; Lloyd from a heart attack years ago, and Bill from kidney failure six years ago. I have lost touch with the enlisted men but understand Keijonen is still around, and heard that Finnegan died in Reno not too long after the war. Spud Moore and I are still in Xmas card contact."

Mission List From George Tolbert 31 Mar 2001:

I do happen to have a list of the missions we flew as a crew.  It is from "The Story of the Century" which has a listing of the 306 missions the Group flew and I made it by checking my Personal Flight Record (Form V) about 50 years ago while still on flying status and ticking off those days on which I was shown to have flown.  Unfortunately, it doesn't tell which plane we flew on that date, but most of our first thirty missions were in The All American Girl.  All were in 1944.

Jun 6 -- Falaise, Town -- (A) -- Our first.  We were in the second wave that day. Just a big traffic pattern and came home with our load.  My thought, "This is easy."

Jun 7 -- Nantes, bridge -- (C) -- The list shows no aircraft lost that day but I distinctly remember the plane in the echelon ahead of us blowing up and our flying through the pieces of debris.  My thought, "Hey, you can get hurt here."

Jun 20 – Fallersleben -- (C) -- Motor transport
Jun 21 -- Basdorf (Berlin) -- (C) -- Aero engines
Jun 22 -- Paris -- (C) -- River docks
Jun 24 -- Unknown -- (C) -- Could have been Crepeuil, noball or Rouen-Grand Couronne, oil depot
Jul 6 -- Fleury-Crepeuil -- (C) -- noball
Jul 7 -- Merseburg -- (C) -- oil refineries
Jul 11 -- Munich -- (C) -- aero engines
Jul 12 -- Munich -- (C) -- industrial area
Jul 17 -- Auxerre -- (C) -- railway bridge
Jul 18   Unknown -- (C) -- Kiel, docks or Hemmingstedt, oil refinery
Jul 20 -- Merseburg -- (C) -- oil refinery
Jul 21 -- Regensburg -- Aircraft factory, don't know if complete or abort
Jul 24 -- St. Lo -- (A) -- ground support
Jul 25 -- St. Lo -- (C) -- ground support
Jul 31 -- Munich -- (C) -- aero engines
Aug 2 -- Tergnier, La Fere -- (C) -- railway bridges
Aug 3 -- Troyes -- (C) -- rail junction
Aug 4 -- Harburg -- (C) -- oil refinery
Aug 5 -- Magdeburg -- (C) -- tanks and aircraft factory
Aug 8 -- St. Sylvain – (?) -- ground def, don't know if complete or Abort
Aug 13 -- Nantes-Gassicourt -- (C) -- roads
Aug 14 -- Ludwigshafen -- (C) -- oil plant
Aug 18 -- Pacy sur Armancon -- (C) -- oil dump
Sep 3 -- Brest -- (C) -- ground defenses
Sep 5 -- Stuttgart -- (C) -- aero engines
Sep 9 -- Dusseldorf -- (C) -- arms factory
Sep 25 -- Ludwigshafen -- (C) -- marshalling yard
Sep 28 -- Merseburg -- (C) -- oil refinery. -- (See note)
Sep 30 -- Bielefeld -- (C) -- ordnance dump
Oct 2 -- Kassel -- (C) -- aero engines
Oct 3 -- Unknown -- (C) -- Could have been Illesheim, Ludwigsburg, or Nurnburg
Oct 5 -- Handorf -- (A) -- Air field
Oct 6 -- Berlin -- (C) -- factory

Note:  Sep 28 was our last mission in The All American Girl.  We were hit over the target and lost our No. 2 engine.  A fire started but Lloyd managed to put it out.  Due to loss of oil, we couldn't feather the engine so it was wind milling and the vibration was alarming.  Then the prop shaft burned through so the engine stopped turning but the prop still was.  Lloyd tried to shake it off by some violent maneuvers but to no avail.  Due to the vibration and wind resistance we could fly at barely over stalling speed and by now the group was long out of sight and we were alone over Germany.  More by good luck than by management we avoided any flak areas and did not attract the attention of some Jerry fighter.  We were losing altitude all the while and debated whether we should try to make it to a field in the American area of northern France or keep on toward home.  The majority voted to go on as long as we could, as we wanted to get back for the 200th mission party soon to be held.  Fortunately, things held together and we were able to land at Thorpe Abbots almost out of fuel and with the engine catching fire again as we landed almost half an hour after the rest of the group had landed.  Needless to say, we were out of it as soon as it came to a stop and the fire was soon extinguished.  When we finally got back to our hut we found our hut mates had already been through our things and sorted out some things they thought they could use, such as bottles of Scotch, cigarettes, chewing gum, chocolate, etc.  That was our last trip in the Girl as it had to go in for major rework and we flew the rest of our sorties in borrowed aircraft.