The Laurence J. Lazzari
Crew
351st Bomb Squadron. 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
26 September 1944 Through 23 October 1945
The initial organization of the crew occurred at Lincoln Army Air Field, Lincoln, Nebraska on 26 September 1944, per Special Order Number 183, dated 26 September 1944, as Crew Number 8686.
| Pilot |
2nd Lt (1091) Laurence J. Lazzari |
0779904 |
| Co Pilot |
F/O (1051) Guiher G. Greenwood |
T-4912 |
| Radio |
Cpl (757) Robert J. Steele |
3673064 |
| Engineer |
Cpl (748) Charles A. Weiss |
3277275Z |
| Togglier |
Cpl (612) Richard H. Heritage |
16086881 |
| Filler Crew |
| Ball Turret |
Sgt (611) Lawrence W. Donnelly |
35456990 |
| Tail Gunner |
Daniel J. O'Connell Jr |
36891409 |
This Special Order transferred 54 B-17 combat crews listed on this SO to AAB, Rapid City, South Dakota. Departing on or about 28 September 1944, the train trip took about two days, traveling through the pristine and picturesque hills and mountains of Nebraska and South Dakota. While at Rapid City, the crew received its Navigator, 2nd Lt. Charles W. Staiger, (1034) 020' 2589 and Cpl. Joseph C. Allen, 19110337, Waist Gunner. During the crew's training at Rapid City, a Bombardier was temporarily assigned to and flew with the crew, 2nd Lt. Hays or Hayes. Designated Crew Number I-41, the Lazzari crew flew day and night missions practicing bombing and gunnery, and learning combat procedures. Even though the crews would be flying B-17G's in combat, training was in B-17F's. In this older model, the supercharger waste gate position which controlled manifold pressure at altitude, was controlled by four levers on the throttle quadrant which positioned the waste gate with engine oil pressure. At altitude and in cold temperatures, sometimes the oil would congeal, making it difficult to control the waste gate and thus the manifold pressure. If the waste gate should close shut, that engine would develop an extremely high manifold pressure incurring extensive engine damage, sometimes blowing off cylinder heads. Fortunately, the B-17G's that would be flown in combat were equipped with the Minneapolis-Honeywell electronically controlled waste gate, which allowed for more accurate power management, and was therefore, much safer and simpler in ultra cold temperatures. As the name implies, Combat Training prepares the crew to perform as a team in various operational modes. All members were brought to a peak of efficiency in their respective position. However, the principal task was honing the pilot's skills with an Instructor Pilot in the right seat. Nearly all of these instructor pilots were combat veterans mostly from the 8th Air Force. On one night mission with an Instructor Pilot, Captain Roy Claytor, formerly of the 100th Bomb Group, in the right seat, and the Co-pilot, F/O Greenwood standing between the two pilots, the pilot's artificial horizon had not been fully uncaged, therefore giving an erroneous airplane attitude indication. Neither the pilot nor the instructor pilot had noticed the problem, until the co-pilot noticed the lights of Rapid City coming up on the left side of the airplane. The aircraft was in a descending left spiral while the uncaged artificial horizon indicated to the pilot that the aircraft was flying straight and level. Larry remembers, " In an attempt to hurry the take-off, I neglected to center the trim which added to the down spiral." The co-pilot yelled at the pilot and pointed to the lights coming up on the left side. Corrective action was quickly taken. While at Rapid City, it was not all work. As Larry recalls, he and Greenwood together with 2nd Lt. Ernest Hageman and his co-pilot F/O Jack Schwartz rented a car and went sight seeing up in the Black Hills visiting Custer Park and Mt. Rushmore. 2nd Lt. Staiaer spent his free time in Rapid City with his wife and daughter. Rapid City provided an acceptable, but limited, night life. After the Lazzari crew and the other crews in this class completed the combat training, Special Order Number 350. dated 18 December 1944, ordered them back to Lincoln AAF, Nebraska for "subsequent shipment overseas". On 20 December 1944, F/O Greenwood received a Direct Commission as a 2nd Lt. It is interesting to note that throughout Greenwood's 30 plus years in the Air Force, all records indicate his source of commission as "direct appointment from military life", not as a graduate of the Pilot Training Program as a Cadet. The crews left Rapid City by train on or about 22 December 1944, arriving at Lincoln AAF on 23 or 24 December (Christmas Eve). It was a cold miserable day. 2nd Lt Greenwood's home was in Winterset, Iowa, 120 miles east of Lincoln. He caught a train that night and spent Christmas with his family. He arrived back at Lincoln AAF about 0200 hours on 26 December, and found the tar paper barracks without heat and Larry Lazzari nearly frozen. Larry and crew had spent a terribly lonely, unhappy and miserable Christmas on the Air Base Lt Staiger, Cpl.s Heritage and O'Connell spent Christmas with their families in a Lincoln Hotel. Lt. Greenwood discovered how it felt to be hit by a train. Riding into Lincoln one evening with classmate. Lt. Lyle Lingel, in his 1941 six passenger Ford Coupe, just as we left the Base's east gate and crossing a rail road track, a freight train hit us on the right rear side, throwing the car over to one side of the track. Had the train hit us one foot forward, none of us would have had to worry about flying combat. Fortunately, there were no injuries and we continued on to Lincoln and partied most of the night. Per Movement Order FA-555-FA 1-26 Incl, To Overseas Destination, dated 1January 1945 26 B-17 crews were shipped, by train. to Camp Miles Standish (Just outside Boston.) Lazzari's crew number was 21. The only time that the train stopped was for fuel and water; there were 60 B-17 crews aboard, all replacements for the crews shot down during 31 December 1944 8th Air Force bombinq missions in which 27 crews were lost in the 3rd Division alone; 12 in the 100th Bomb Group. After 2 or 3 days at Camp Miles Standish, the B-17 crews were boarded on the Isle de France, a French ship, taken over by the English after France fell to Germany. The ship carried 13, 500 other troops, mostly infantry replacements for losses incurred during the "Battle of the Bulge." About 3 days at sea on 9 January 1945, 2nd Lt. Greenwood celebrated his 21st birthday. Then on 11 January, the troop commander visited the air crew section of he ship explaininq that his Infantry officers had had very little sleep or no sleep for 5 or 6 days in their attempt to console, or supervise or command their very young troops. Apparently, there had been self inflicted injuries and threats of suicide. He asked us to give him a hand by going down below and sitting with the troops. Of course, the Air Corps officers volunteered to help out. Lt. Greenwood drew an Infantry Company that was quartered on E deck, which is the lowest deck in the ship, just above the double bottoms and well below the water line. He recalls that these young men were very unstable, all "scared out of their skin" with the term "we're just cannon fodder" frequently used. Being an old 2nd Lt. barely 21 years old, he recalls the task of calming these men down a formidable task, to say the least and a task that was far removed from bending throttles in an airplane. However, as he recalls, he explained to them what it would probably be like sitting in a bomber 25 thousand feet in the air with thousands of flak guns firing at you along with hundreds of German fighter aircraft all with one purpose and that was to kill you. He then asked these young troops if any of them would like to trade jobs. None took up the challenge and the remainder of the voyage sitting with the Infantry troops went without incident. After zig-zaging unescorted and solo across the Atlantic, the Isle de France headed into the Irish Sea. Just south of Ireland she picked up an escort of 3 British destroyers. Just as she was making a left turn to the north to go up the Irish Sea, a German submarine fired a torpedo possibly at the Isle de France. One of the British destroyers took the hit; the extent of damage to the destroyer was never known. What was known to the air crews is that they had just experienced their "first shot fired in anger." All of the air crews realized that this was a prelude to what lie ahead for them. They knew full well that the exploding torpedo soon would be replaced by the German 88mm flak gun and 20mm cannon from ME109's or FW-190s. Anchoring in the Firth of Clyde, the Isle de France unloaded her passengers aboard small ships which ferried them to shore at Greenock, Scotland. Apparently being high priority replacements, the air crews were quickly loaded on a train bound for Stone England, where each crew would receive their Bomb Group assignment. It was in the Greenock Rail Station where we got our first glimpse of those very British looking passenger rail cars. And this was also our first encounter with the people and their accent and our first encounter, but not the last, with the children who would greet us with the "got any gum chum?" Our indoctrination into wartime cuisine was with the can opener that we kept on our dog tag chain and used to open the "K" ration tins. We discovered that the "k" ration was the only item on the menu while riding the railroads in Britain. After a few days stay at Stone Replacement Depot (40 miles north of Birmingham) the crew received their Bomb Group assignments. On a cold, foggy, raining, snowy and thoroughly miserable morning, per Special Order 19, dated 19 January 1945, the following crews were assigned to the 100th Bomb Group, Station 139 over in Norfolk County next to the village of Thorpe Abbotts: Hellerich, King, Jensen, Lazzari, Thorkelson, Joe Martin and Munoz. Again, we were loaded on a train along with our "K" rations. Arriving at Diss, we were met by a convoy of trucks and transported to Thorpe Abbotts -- the Bloody Hundredth--. We all had heard about the 100th from Rapid City to Stone. Here we were, apprehensive, with a high level of anxiety, and a pulse rate of about 150. Larry recalls that, after settling in, his one and only check or familiarization ride was with a hard nose Captain "who impressed me with the seriousness of what was coming." Larry also recalls our first mission; target, Weimar. We were already half scared to death, but when we saw all the black puffs up ahead and the ME-163 rocket that went straight up through our group, we all knew that this was seriousness business, dangerous too. Little did we know that in a short 66 days later we would be one of he senior crews in the 351st with 29 missions. Little did we know that we would survive "Big B" on March 18th and a mid-air collision on March 23rd, little did we know that we would experience the agonizing sight of seeing too many of our friends shot from the sky. In retrospect, we probably realized all these terrible events could happen, but our attitude of invincibleness coupled with our youthful cocky attitudes would not let all those possible realizations surface. It did not take long during those 61 days of combat flying to experience a drastic attitude adjustment. Lt. Greenwood made the Air Force his life's career, flying the Berlin Airlift, flying transport missions in the Korean War, flying northern polar routes, flying the Atlantic ocean, and flying combat support missions in Vietnam. Not once did he encounter during these post World War II years, the intense danger, the heart pounding experiences that he experienced during his 29 missions with the 100th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Squadron. And not once has he ever experienced the simple closeness, the comradeship the unit loyalty, the simple pride that he experienced during his combat tour with the 100th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Squadron. He suggests that these "belonging" characteristics manifest themselves every two years at the 100th Bomb Group Reunions. The following summaries describe the 29 missions that the Lazzari crew flew from 9 February 1945 through 15 April 1945. The basic information was derived from a mission diary that Lt. Greenwood wrote on a bomb tag on each mission except mission number 29. Contributions from the pilot, Larry Lazzari are incorporated into the narrative. All details and information contained in each mission entry have been confirmed to the best of the author's ability from copies of official Air Corps orders, and other official documentation; and from Roger A. Freeman's MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY, Richard Le Strange's CENTURY BOMBERS, THE STORY OF THE BLOODY HUNDREDTH, and John R. Nilsson's THE STORY OF THE CENTURY. Any inaccuaracy omission, or down-right exaggeration of the truth is not intentional; however, the reader must realize that as of this writing, 49 years have elapsed since the events were lived, thus the memories have gotten hazy and the war stories get better each time they are told. If any reader does not believe this disclaimer, that reader should attend the next 100th Bomb Group reunion. After take-off, during the initial phases of each mission and using Buncher 28 as a navigational reference. the Group would complete its assembly, then start climbing to altitude and head across the North Sea or the English Channel. As the formation passed through 10, 000 feet and over the water, the order was given to arm the bombs. To accomplish this task, the Bombardier or the togglier, as the case may be, would arm the bombs by removing a cotter pin with a cardboard tag attached from each bomb. T/Sgt Richard Heritage, Lazzari 's togglier, after arming the bombs could then proceed to his combat station in the nose of the aircraft, and as he crawled under the cock-pit, he would reach up and hand one of the tags to Lt. Greenwood, who entered all the pertinent data for that particular mission on the tag. T/Sgt Heritage did the same thing. Therefore, this mission diary is a combination of the two diaries. This history is also a result of letters and phone calls between Larry Lazzari and Gene Greenwood. Each mission is numbered 1 through 29 except that mission 12b replaced 13 49 years ago. Discussion about mission 29's missing bomb tag will be in that mission's paragraph. To facilitate easy referencing, the number in parenthesis to the right of the Lazzari crew's mission number is the 100th Bomb Group's number. Remember, the 100th flew a total of 306 missions As you read these diary entries, you may refer to the map, which indicates the location of the target of each of our 29 missions. 1. (257) Weimar, Germany, 1229 Hours, 2/9/45. 10 GP's. No hits. A ME-163 rocket plane went straight up in front of our squadron. This was our initiation in air battle and it scared the hell out of all of us. Bohlen oil refinery was the primary target, 7+20 hours. 2. (259) Cottbus, Germany, 1218 Hours, 2/15/45 10ea 500 pound bombs, max bomb load. No hits, not much flak, no fighters, locomotive works and marshalling yard, Ruhland oil refinery was primary target, 8+50 hours. 3. (260) Giessen, Germany, 1308 Hours. Z/17/45. 10ea 500 pound GP's. Frankfurt was the primary target; got a lot of flak there. No fighters, but a lot of flak. No hits. 7+00hours. 4. 261 Osnabruck, Germany, 1345 Hours. 2/19/45. 12ea, 500 pound GP's, Target was marshalling yards. No hits, a lot of flak. no fiohters. One jet job. 6+15 hours. 5. (263) Nurnburq, Germany, 1125 Hours, 2/21/54, 26, 000 , 5ea 500 pound GP's and 5 M-17's, no fighters, a lot of and accurate flak. 4 puffs damn near got us, but I took a steep turn to the right and got out of it. Saw French Maginot Line or what was left of it. also Metz, 8+10 hours. 6. 264 Greenwood's Bomb Tag diary states target was "somewhere in Germany. Bombed some cabbage patch, " 47 58 N, 08 32 E. A screwed up mission, supposed to hit a railroad objective. History books have us bombing Kitzingen marshalling yard. 1330 Hours. 2/22/45. 16, 200 feet. 12ea 500 Pound GP. 9+30 hours. 7. (265) Treuchtlingen railway junction, Germany. 1131 hours. 2/23/45. 12ea 500 pound GP's. Max gas load, no flak, no fighters, just a long trip. Bombed at 12, 000 feet. Circled target twice. 7+00 hours. 8. (269) Kassel, Germany. 1423 Hours. 2/28/45. Bombed at 24, 160 feet. 14ea 500 pound GP's, a 7000 pound bomb load; was this a first? Target was a marshalling yard. No flak that was too accurate, but plenty of it. No fighters. A perfect mission. Good formation, the Colonel lead today. Note; this means Colonel Frederick Sutterlin. 7+15 hours. With this 7000 pound bomb load, I have a vague recollection that the Colonel personally briefed us on the extra 1000 pounds, and that he would take off first, and if he made it then he expected everyone to follow. 9. (270) Dresden, Germany. 1030 Hours. 3/2/45. 20ea 250 pound GP's. Primary target Ruhland. Caught 3 flak bursts of flak at Zuider Zee. Bomb tag indicates 900: Note: this probably means 0900 Hours, but the Question is, could we travel the 400 miles to Dresden in 1+30 hours flying at 150 MPH indicated. Answer: We could, assuming that we were flying at 23, 000 feet with an OAT of -30 degrees F. and with a 50 MPH tailwind. German fighters were after us, but were fought off by our escort. A long 9+00 hours. 10. (272) Ulm. Germany. 1014 Hours. 3/4/45. 6ea 500 pound GP"s and 6ea 500 pound M-17 incendiaries. Marshalling yard, no flak and no fighters. Due to throttle linkage failure (unknown cause} we lost #3 engine 10 minutes after target. Larry Lazzari recalls that on this mission a spent piece of flak nearly gave T/Sgt Heritage the Purple Heart. We have some differing memories on this subject; see narrative for mission number 11. 8+00 hours. 11. 273 Siegen, Germany. 1159 Hours. 3/7/45 24, 800 feet. Marshalling yard. Heavy flak, 3 flak holes. We got flak over Dortmund. No fighters. Greenwood's bomb tag diary indicates that Heritage got hit, but his flak jacket saved him. Note: During a visit with Richard Heritage at Greenwood's house in Stuart, Florida on 29 March 1994, this mission was discussed at length. Heritage stated that the spent piece of flak that came in through the nose, splintering the nose plexiglass, did in fact slightly cut his hand. When asked why he did not report it for it would have been a Purple Heart for him, he stated that had he reported it he might have missed a mission or two with his crew. That's the kind of men we had on this crew. This mission took 8+00 hours. 12. 274 Giessen, Germany. 1413 Hours. 3/8/45. 21, 000 feet. 14ea 500 pound GP"s. Marshallings yard. Some flak, one hole through the elevator. No fighters. 7+30 hours. 13. (Z76) Greenwood's bomb tag diary numbered this mission as 12b Dortmund, Germany. 1236 Hours. 3/10/45. 24, 189 feet. 42ea 100 GP"s and 2ea 500 pound M-17 Incendiaries. Some flak, no fighters, Some weather. 7+15 hours. 14. (280) Oranienburg, Germany, no time that bombs were dropped. 3/15/45. 12 bombs with delayed fuses 2-12 hours. Marshalling yard. Lots of flak, and some very accurate but no hits. No fighters got in close. 7+00 hours. 15. (281) Plauen, Germany. 1304 Hours. 3/17/45. 26, 189 feet. 12ea 500 pound GP"s. Not much flak. No hits. No fighters. Primary target was Ruhland. A long 9+10 hours, with 1+10 hours of actual instruments. 16. (282) Berlin, Germany. "big B" 1129 Hours. 3/18/45. 25, 489 feet. Apparently Greenwood was so shook up after this mission, he forgot to record the bomb load on his bomb tag? Lots of flak, accurate. 4 ME-262's got a few of our boys. They were terrible looking things. Deadly. The 100th lost 4 planes today. Lazzari and Greenwood saw 2 Rapid City classmates go down; Rollie King and Merrill Jensen. Duke Guin's crew, on their last mission went down. Mike Griego, Guin's tail gunner was Greenwood's classmate in Primary Flying school at Thunderbird II, in fact, they had the same flight instructor, Woodrow Kramling. Griego, a Native American from the Taos tribe, lives in New Mexico and is a retired school principal. While on the bomb run, and after the ME-262's shot up the squadron, Lazzari was flying alone, or at least a good distance from the rest of the squadron. Both Lazzari and Greenwood remember that they flew back to Thorpe Abbotts solo. Everyone agrees that this was one of the roughest missions that they flew. The Jensen crew landed in Poland and eventually got back to Thorpe Abbotts. 7+35 hours. 17. (284) Plauen, Germany. 1004 Hours. 3/21/45. 21, 100 feet. 12ea 500 GP"s. Ruhland was primary target. We again hit a factory making ME-262 components. "CENTURY 80MBERS" says that the factory made tank parts. Moderate flak and plenty of ME-Z6Z fighters which attacked us from 6 o'clock; but we fought them off. 7+45 hours. 18. (285) Alhorn, Germany. 1148 Hours. 3/22/45. 17740 feet. 38ea 100 pound GP"s. (38 must be in error, we always carried between 5000 and 7000 pounds) Jet air field, good bombing, No flak, no fighters. Shortest mission yet; 5+30 hours. 19. (286) Marburg, Germany. 1405 Hours. 3/23/45. 20, 600 feet. 38ea 100 pound GP"s and 2ea M-17 Incendiaries. This is the most memorable mission that the Lazzari crew flew. This was the first mission that the 100th flew with a 4 squadron 10 plane per squadron formation. Unna, the primary target, was successfully attacked by the first 3 squadrons. The 351st squadron, with Captain Lilinquist as command pilot, Carl Hellerich as lead pilot and Leroy Duncan as lead navagator, was the fourth squadron. (see a copy of the actual Lead Navigator's log) The command pilot decided to bomb the secondary target, Marburg. Immediately after dropping the bombs, the squadron made sharp descending turn to the right. While in the turn, the squadron took at least 3 flak bursts; one hit Larry Guardino, who was flying in the 2nd element, and as the plane fell, his right horizontal stabilizer hit our (Lazzari's) left wing and bent downward, 8 to 10 feet of the wing tip. With the tremendous drag that this damage caused, the Lazzari plane flipped on its back, or nearly on its back, and left the formation in a steep dive to the left. At this point, memories that are 49 years old trigger different pictures of that tense scene. Lazzari said, "I've always second guessed what might have happened had I reacted quicker and helped Gene manuever away from Guardino--but everything happened so fast and we were in such close formation our options were limited. I often regret that I didn't contact Guardino's family after returning to the USA." Greenwood has carried with him for 49 years, the memory of flying the plane at the time of the collision, and postulating many times. the "what if scenario." "What if I had positioned our plane 10 or 20 feet to the right, as Guardino went down, his tail would have missed our left wing tip. However, if I had positioned the plane to the right, then our plane would have taken the flak hit that Jim Lantz took, and since I was on the right side of the plane, I wouldhave been wounded, and not Jim Lantz." Greenwood remembers that instead of rolling the plane back clockwise in order to get the plane up right, he should have let the plane roll on around counter-clockwise and stopped the roll as the plane became straight and level. As the collision occurred, the formation was flying in excess of 150 MPH. In order to keep the plane from rolling to the left, we were forced to fly the plane about 105 MPH back to Thorpe Abbotts, and even at that speed it took both pilot's legs on the right rudder to keep the plane flying straight. By the time they reached home. each pilot's right leg was stressed numb. Within 3 minutes after the collision, the Lazzari plane was limping along at 105 MPH, falling further behind the group. The ME-109's were coming in for the kill. Lazzari or Greenwood broke radio silence and called for fighter protection. Someone heard the call for help for in less than 2 or 3 minutes 4 P-51's came in and fought off the attacking ME-109's. The next decision was; shall we not take any chances and land at Brussels, just in case there was more damage to the wing than we could observe. As we flew over friendly territory, Waist Gunner Joe Allen and Tail Gunner Dan O'Connell kept watching the left wing and reported that everything looked normal and if we kept the air speed at about 105, they thought we could make it home. One of them said, "anyway, there's a dance at the Red Cross Club tonight and if we don't get there, some other crew will take over our girls." So, with all this technical and social information and incentives included in the decision-making process, agreed that we could fly on to Thorpe Abbotts; and we did without incident. However, read on! As we approached the air field and reported our battle damage, the tower would not let us land on the long runway 28 but cleared us to land on the short runway 17. As we were on final approach to runway 17 with the "Before Landing Checklist" completed and about 1000 feet north of the runway and about 300 feet altitude, a black B-25 with British RAF markings flew in underneath us with an engine on fire, and crash landed right in front of us. Needless to say, there was only one thing to do and that was to pour the coal to the engines and go around. It was then that the tower cleared us to land on the long operational runway 28. With the bent wing tip comfortably clearing the runway surface by a foot or so, the landing was completed. It should be noted that Master Sergeant Robert Hargrave, our crew chief, with some superb dedicated technical help replaced the left wing outer panel and the Lazzari crew flew it on two missions the very next day. What a feat! What dedication! No doubt, it was performance like this that the ground crews did day after day that allowed the flight crews to hold so much respect for them. We, the flight crews, of the 351st will always be indebted to Captain Bill Carleton, squadron maintenance officer, Master Sergeant Bob Spangler, squadron line chief, and such crew chiefs as Master Sergeant Hargraves, and their men. Flight time for this mission was 7+15 hours. After the Lazzari crew completed 2 missions on the following day, Doc Kinder, after examining their eye balls, decided that 21 missions was enough, so it was arranged to send them to the "FL4K SHACK" It was during cocktails just before the evening meal at the flak shack, that the Bomber pilot and the Fighter pilot feud heated up. A cocky 20 year old Captain fighter pilot spoke, "let me tell you bomber guys just how stupid you are for flying those things, a few days ago when my group was performing escort duty for you guys, we got a radio call about a lone cripple about to be attacked by the ME-lO9's. When we found him, here he was trying to keep that lumbering hulk of metal flying with his left wing all bent down." Lazzari and I about fainted. Here was the guy who led the flight of 4 P-51's that saved us from certain destruction. Talk about coincidence; this is hardly believable. The story ends with the greatful bomber pilots in possession of a fresh perspective regarding fighter pilots. One last story about this very memorable mission. In April 1985, Greenwood realized that it had been 40 years since he did his big thing in life. His son, Bill would graduate from Emory University Medial School in 2 months and Bill had about 10 days of free time. They flew to England, rented a car in Norwich, and found Dickleburg Road and what is now the 100th Bomb Group Museum. And they found Ken Everett, the farmer across Dickleburg Road from the Control Tower Museum. Standing in the Control with Ken Everett and his son Bill, Greenwood asked Ken to point out the two short runways that crossed the main east-west runway. Ken pointed and explained where the runways were back 40 years ago. Then Ken said, "its strange that you should ask that question for it prompts my memory of a good story. I was 14 years old in 1945, and living across the road, I always watched you come back from a raid. One day a crippled Fort came back with battle damage, and he was attempting to land on this short runway, when all of a sudden a British Mitchell Bomber came in underneath the Fort with an engine burning and crash landed on that short runway causing the Fort to go to another runway. Greenwood's son Bill had heard this story many times before, and he couldn't believe that he was hearing it from someone so far removed from his life. I suspect that the reader will have to agree that this mission created some very unusual events and stories.
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