COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
1st Lt James R. Ransom P CPT 19 SEP 44 SZOLNOK
2nd Lt Keith W. Lamb CP CPT 25 SEP 44 LUDWIGSHAFEN
2nd Lt Francis J. Waldman NAV CPT 19 SEP 44 SZOLNOK
1st Lt Leonard A. Daniel BOM CPT 12 OCT 44 BREMEN
S/Sgt Emmett P. Schmitt ROG CPT 25 SEP 44 LUDWIGSHAFEN
S/Sgt Reginald D. Felce TTE CPT 19 SEP 44 SZOLNOK
S/Sgt Leo Wargin BTG CPT 25 SEP 44 LUDWIGSHAFEN
Sgt Carl J. Alban WG CPT 25 SEP 44 LUDWIGSHAFEN
Sgt Norbert J. Benkowski WG CPT 05 NOV 44 LUDWIGSHAFEN
Sgt William B. Bywaters TG CPT 19 SEP 44 SZOLNOK
351st Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group on 30 May 1944
MISSIONS OF LT. JAMES R.RANSOM SN# 0-792742
TARGET & DATES 1944 Aircraft
BOULOGNE 6/4/1944 Super Rabbit EP-F 42-102598
BOULOGNE 6/5/1944 Super Rabbit EP-F 42-102598
FRENCH COAST 6/6/1944 D-DAY (2 missions this day) Both Missions in All American Girl EP-M 42-37936
NANTES 6/7/1944 King Bee II EP-S 42-31256
WILSTER/MISBURG 6/15/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 42-38047
BRUNSBUTTELKOOG 6/18/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 42-38047
FALLERSLADEN 6/20/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 43-38047
RUHLAND 6/21/1944 Yankee Wahine EP-J 42-102677 FIRST RUSSIAN SHUTTLE MISSION
DROHOBYCZ POL. 6/26/1944 Yankee Wahine EP-J 42-102677
ARAD 7/3/1944 Yankee Wahine EP-J 42-102677
BEZIERS 7/5/1944 Yankee Wahine EP-J 42-102677
BOHLEN 7/7/1944
LELENTIE 7/8/1944
MUNICH 7/12/1944
MUNICH 7/13/1944
SOUTHERN FRANCE 7/14/1944
AUXERRE 7/17/1944
SCHWEINFURT 7/19/1944
MERSEBURG 7/20/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 42-38047
LUDWIGSHAVEN 7/21/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 42-38047
MERSEBURG 7/28/1944 Super Rabbit EP-F 43-102598
MERSEBURG 7/29/1944 Fever Beaver EP-O 42-38047100TH LOST 8 CREWS
MUNICH 7/31/1944
LEFERE 8/2/1944
TROYES 8/3/1944
HAMBURG 8/4/1944
LUDWIGSHAVEN 8/14/1944
VENLO 8/15/1944
MAINZ 9/1/1944
CROZON 9/3/1944
STUTTGART 9/5/1944
DUSSELDORF 9/9/1944
NURNBURG 9/10/1944
WARSAW 9/18/1944 Once in'a While EP-M 42-31986 SECOND RUSSIAN SHUTTLE MISSION
SZOLNOK 9/19/1944 Once in'a While EP-M 42-31986
RETURN FROM SHUTTLE MISSION ON SEPTEMBER 22, 1944. MOST OF CREW COMPLETED TOUR THE FOLLOWING DAY, SEPT 25, 1944 LUDWIGSHAVEN.
FROM J.R.RANSOM JR. (mpf 2001)
Subj: Re: 100thBG Feedback Form
Date: 4/7/2002 10:46:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: ctate@jps.net
To: MPFaley@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Hello Michael:
I have my Grandfather with me here now and he has provided some new information for me. According to his information, he flew his last mission (the Russian Shuttle Mission) and went home with Captain Ransom on the same date (19 September 1944). He only flew one Shuttle Mission, which was the last one. The first Shuttle Mission he did not participate in because he contracted the mumps and spent a week in the hospital. Also, Captain Ransom asked my Grandfather if he wanted to go home with him after returning to the base and he said yes. Also, with regards to the list compiled by J.R. Ransom, JR, we have found that some of the crew's ranks are not correct. My Gradfather was a Technical Sergeant, Ransom was a Captain, Emmet Schmidt was a Tech Sergeant, and Alben, Benkowski, and Bywaters were all Staff Sergeants. Keith Lamb was a 1st Lieutenant, and further has been deceased since 1998 and is buried in Woodland, CA. We have tried to contact Norman Benkowsski, Leo Wargin, and William Bywaters, but cannot locate them. Do you have any further suggestions for contacting them? If you have any questions, my Grandfather is here with me now looking over the website. Thank you.
P.S. My Grandfather was discharged from San Bernardino Air Base, CA
Chris Tate and Dave Felce
From the Diary of Emmett P. Schmitt..
Radio operator and gunner on FEVER BEAVER, Code letter Square D... Serial number 238047 EP-O
Squadron 351st, Capt. James Ransom Crew.
Flew out of Thorpe Abbotts from June 1944 through Sept 1944. .... mpf 2004
1. June 4th 1944-Sunday-Atl 24,000ft. Bombed Costal defenses at Boulogne, France. Ran into light flak and rockets. Missed the target when bomb release failed to release bombs.
2. June 5th 1944-Monday-Got up at 3:00am went back and bombed the costal defense at Boulogne, France again. After going to Abbeyville, France, which was closed in. Abbeyville is the home of Goerrings "Flying Circus". Come back to England from Abbeyville and recrossed the Channel for the second time. Ran into some flak and rockets . Alt 21,000 ft.
3. June 6th, 1944-(Invasion Day). Didn't get to go to bed last night. Alerted at 10pm and took off at 3:30am. Bombed costal defenses north of Caen. Flew to the western tip of France and then back to England. Could not see the land invasion force because of heavy overcast, which was below us. Dropped bombs about 7:30am. Ran into light flak and rockets.
4. June 6th, 1944-Took off for out second Mission of the day about 5pm, flew the same route as the first mission but went further into France, the town of Falaise.Ran into flack and rockets, came back to England by the same route. Landed about 11:30pm.and got to bed at 1:30am. About 46 hours after we got up Monday night. 3 straight missions without sleep. Sky was full of B-17's and a few B-24's. Both Missions flown at about 15,000 ft.
5. June 7th 1944-Alt 22,00ft. Got up at noon and took off at 3:30pm with Two 2000 lbs. Bombed a large Bridge at Nantes, in South Western France. Ran into a lot of accurate flak, got 3 flak holes in our right wing and in the radio room. Got some perfect hits on a large concrete bridge in Nantes. Came back to England by the same route. Landed at 10:30pm. Just as we shut off the engines, we had a red alert and a German plane strafed the field at about 50ft altitude. The ground gunners threw everything at him but the kitchen sink but he got away. Tracers flying all over like a 4th of July fireworks display. Two men hit while standing near interrogation room. Three unidentified planes shot down near field. Dozen of searchlights. Picked up a B-17 and a B-24 but none of them found the Heinie that strafed the field. Got to be at 1:30AM.
P.S. Couldn't find the piece of flak that came into the radio room. A pile of Parachute Life rafts stopped it and would have got it in one of my legs. As I was laying on the floor looking through the camera hatch and watching the bombs hit France, looked beautiful from 21,000 ft altitude, nearly every field has a couple rows of trees in it like an orchard.
6. June 15th 1944-Got up before midnight and took off at 4 AM, went to Misburg, Germany to bomb an oil refinery 5 miles east of Hanover. Unable to see the target because of 10/10-cloud cover. Also unable to bomb secondary target which was an airfield 12 miles north of Primary target. Went back over the North Sea and went back in for our second run. Dropped our bombs on the town of Wilster and started for home. Had good fighter escort of P-51's and P-38's, no enemy fighters seen but flak was very heavy. Got a piece of flak in our left wing. German lowland near the North Sea was underwater, all farmland around there. Landed at noon, 8 hr flight. Altitude 24,000 ft. fighters were higher yet. 95th Bomb Group lost 2 ships, one P-38 out of control.
7. June 18th, 1944-Took off at 5 AM to bomb an oil refinery at Osterburg, Germany (Ostermoor..mpf) our primary target, bombed the secondary target instead which was only a few miles from the primary. Hit some warehouses at Brunsbuttelkoog, Germany, which is along the Kaiser Wilhelm canal near the mouth of the Elb River. Ran into very heavy flak around the target area we got one long jagged hole in the left wing and two in the right side by the copilots seat. Co-pilot got a small piece of flak high in his right leg. He pulled it out himself and just had a small 1/2-inch triangular wound. We had P-47 and P-38 fighter escort. Altitude 22,000 ft. One ship went down in the North Sea (not 100th BG…mpf) nine men bailed out. At least 3 ships aborted because of wounded men onboard. We flew in the Purple Heart Corner again, landed at 12 O'Clock noon.
8. June 20th, 1944-Took off at 5 AM to bomb a factory at Fallersleben, Germany factory manufactures armored cars and wings for JU88's. While rendezvousing at 6,000ft we got a hard jolt when a B-24 exploded on the ground while taking off. Flames shot 3,000ft into the air. I could see burning pieces of the ship spread out over a large area. We climbed to 26,000 ft over the North Sea and crossed the German coast at 8:20 Am. One supercharger went out over the North Sea but we stayed with the formation. We ran into some light flak at the German Coast that did not do any damage. A couple minutes after we crossed the German coast, number 4 engine started throwing oil and got hot so we aborted. We were ready to bail out if it caught on fire. Prop wouldn't feather and threatened to tear the right wing off when it started wind milling. Ran into some more light flak as we were leaving the German coast. We got ready to ditch as we were losing altitude but remedied that by dropping the two 2,000 lb bombs in the North Sea. Sighted a convoy just off the German coast near the Heligaland Islands. We dropped to 10,000 ft altitude and started back for England. Got plenty of Radio work by sending messages to a direction finding station and getting fixes for the navigator to check our position. Go back to England at 10:30 AM and went down to about 50 ft altitude for the trip back to the base. Landed at 10:40, rest of the formation went on and made some direct hits on the factory that threw burning wreckage all over the countryside. One ship from the 390th Bomb Group went down from a direct hit by a flak shell. No enemy fighters seen by our men. A lot of light flak reported in the target area.
9. June 21st 1944-Took off at 4:30 AM on a Shuttle Raid to Russia. Climbed to bombing altitude over the North Sea and Crossed the enemy Coast in northwestern Germany. Passed about 40 Miles west of Berlin. One group left us and went to Berlin. We could see Heavy black clouds of flak over Berlin. We continued on Southeast and bombed a synthetic oil refinery at Ruhland, Germany, 65 miles south of Berlin, made excellent hits on the target and started a lot of fires. A little while after we left the target area, we were hit by 15 ME 109 German fighters. Our P-51 escort saw them coming and were ready for them. They knocked down 7 and the other 8 left. We continued on across Poland and landed at Mirgorod, Russia just 12 hours after starting our engines in England. We crossed the Dnieper River and saw the town of Kiev, Russia, was all badly shot up and there were fox holes, trenches and gun emplacements in every field. Lots of Shell holes and bomb craters. That night some German planes were over the field and gave the anti aircraft gunners some practice. Some more came over the next day, so we left for Kharkov, about dark. At midnite the Germans came over and bombed our field and the one at Poltava. We were all gone so they didn't do much damage. Nearly all the planes at Poltava were destroyed on the ground. Only saved 6 our to 70 ships. We stayed at Kharkov for 3 nights and 2 days and returned to Mirgorod. Our mission was scrubbed so that night we flew to Kirvograd and slept in our ships on a Russian airfield. The next morning we returned to Mirgorod and loaded our bombs again during the morning.
10. June 26th 1944-Took off from Mirgorod, Russia at noon and started for Italy. Bombed another refinery at Drohobycz, Poland. Got some good hits and started fires that we could see for nearly 100 miles. The bombs that missed the buildings, hit storage tanks. We got some flak in the target and some in Rumania and Yugoslavia. Landed at Tortorella, Italy about night, which is only a few miles from Foggia and the Adriatic Sea. While in Italy we either went swimming in the Adriatic Sea or went into Foggia.
11. July 3, 1944-Got up at 4 AM and took off at 9 to bomb a marshalling yard at Aard Rumania. This was our easiest mission as we only saw 34 bursts of flak over a town in Rumania. Saw the Danube River again, which looked very muddy. Came back to Italy again about 6 hrs after we left. We spent the 4th of July by sleeping late and went to a rodeo in Foggia in the afternoon. At nite we went to the Club and drank cherry brandy as usual.
12. July 5th, 1944- Took off about 8 AM for our trip back to England. Passed a little south of Rome but was able to see most of the city through the clouds. Flew over the Mediterranean Sea to Southern France and bombed a marshalling yard at Beziers, France on the Southern Coast. Made 2 runs over the target before we dropped our bombs. Got some good hits and started large fires. We were flying at 21,000 ft. After we left the target we were hit by 3 FW 190's but they only made 2 passes at us and then the P-51 escort fighters either chased them away or shot them down. We ran into moderate flak in southern France. They did not do any damage. Landed in England at 5 PM, escorted by P-38's, P-47's and P-51's.
13. July 7th, 1944- Took off at 4:30 AM to bomb a synthetic oil refinery at Bohlen, Germany about 10 miles from Liepzig. Got some good hits on the target, this was a large raid with over 1,000 bombers hitting targets in that area. Our Altitude was 27,000 feet, some rockets and a heavy barrage of flak at the target. The Heaviest flak we have seen yet. Lost a couple ships out of one of our formations. Flak knocked out one of our superchargers. The fourth time we have been hit by flak, no fighters seen at any time, flew directly into Germany from the west over Holland. Landed at 2:30 PM, a ten hour flight escorted by P-38's and P-51's.
14. July 8, 1944-Took off at 3:30 AM to bomb a bridge at Clamecy, France about 25 miles from Paris. Flew at 19,000 ft altitude, did not bomb target and finally dropped our bombs on a road junction. No flak or fighters seen. Landed at 8:10 AM. Our shortest and easiest mission "So Far"
Escorted by P-51's.
15. July 12, 1944-Got up at 5 AM and took off at 8:30AM to bomb the Jet propelled aircraft engine factory at Munich, Germany. Carried 4-500 lbs demolition bombs and 6-500 lb incendiary bombs. Altitude from the mission was 26,000 ft escorted by P-51’s and P-38's. Ten tenths cloud cover made bombing by PFF necessary. One figher went down below the clouds to see the results of the bombing and reported that we missed the main assembly building. Very heavy flak and some rockets at the target area. Landed at 5:30pm. A 9 hr mission, no ships lost from our group.
16. July 13, 1944-Got up at midnight and took off at 5:45 MA to bomb the same target as yesterday at Munich Germany. Carried the same bomb load as yesterday and bombed by PFF again. Altitude was 24,000 ft. Escorted by P-38's, P-47's and P-51's. Heavy Flak and Rockets again at the target area. Unable to see the results of the bombing because of 10/10 cloud cover again. Saw the snow-covered Alps between Germany and Switzerland. After we left the target, #2 engine went out. Started throwing oil so had to feather the prop and come back on 3 engines. Able to stay up with the rest of the group fairly well but at a lower altitude. Landed at 1:45 PM. An 8 hr mission. One ship from our group went down over the target and one went to Switzerland.
17. July 14, 1944- Took off at 4:30 AM with a load of 12 metal containers full of supplies for the French Guerrilla forces in Southern France. Our altitude for the trip was 17,000 feet but dropped to a couple hundred feet at the target. Bonfires marked our target, which was an open field near the town of Orgentot, France. Orgentot, is in the rough country near the Pyrenees Mountains, which is the borderline between France and Spain. People stood in the streets and roads and waved at us as we passed over them. Each container had a different color parachute to identify the contents of the container. Some ships went way down and did dome hedgehopping. We were escorted by 51 fighters. No flak or enemy fighters seen. Returned to England at 13,000 ft altitude and landed at 12:45 PM. An 8 1/2 hr mission.
18. July 17, 1944- Took off at 6 PM to bomb an ammunition dump at fourmont France. Our bomb load was two 2000 lb bombs. Altitude was 23,000 ft, missed the target and dropped our bombs I a wooded area. Had a very good P-51 escort, no enemy fighters seen. Flak was light but on the way to France a battery opened upon us that was very accurate. One new ship on its first mission was badly shot up, one shell exploded in the bomb bay, knocking the bomb racks off. Another came through the nose and put a large hole through the astrodome. Our ship got a direct hit, had a tiny 3 inch hole in the wing, one in the bomb bay and another through the floor in the waist that put a large hole in the top above the ball turret. That one also went through a brace throwing a lot of metal in the radio room on the table ahead of me. One piece went through the top of the radio room through the Plexiglas. I got a piece of Plexiglas in my left eye, one piece went through the ball turret mans A-3 bag and ruined his coveralls. There were dozens of smaller holes in the fuselage and wings but we didn't take time to count them. Landed at 10:30pm, just before dark. At 4 1/2 hr mission. The fifth time we were hit by flak.
19. July 19, 1944-Our 19th mission on the 19th day of the Month. Took off at 5:45 AM to bomb the ball bearing factory at Schweinfurt, Germany. Carried five 1,000 lb bombs. Altitude was 25,000 ft. Escorted by P-38's, P-47's and P-51's. No enemy fighters seen got some good hits on the target. A heavy barrage of flak over the target. Hit a Lot of ships. We got some holes in the wing fuselage and horizontal stabilizer. Two small pieces came through the waist above the ball turret, one piece cut a wire and the other smashed the emergency power switch for the ball turret, which made that inoperative. We found both pieces in the ship. The 6th time we have been hit. Saw some flak and rockets on the way out, over Belgium and Holland that did no damage. Landed at 12:45 PM a 7 hr mission.
20. July 20, 1944-The 20th mission on the 20th day of the month. Took off at 6:40 AM to bomb a synthetic Oil 'Refinery at Merseburg, Germany. Our bomb load was a twenty-250 lb bombs. Altitude was 25,000 ft. Had a good escort and no enemy fighters were seen. Heavy flak and rockets over the target. A lot of ships were hit but they all came back. We got some flak holes in our wing making the 7th Time we have been hit. Landed at 2:30 PM about an 8 hr mission.
21. July 21, 1944- The 21st mission on the 21st day of the month. Took off at 6AM to bomb the ME 109 assembly plant at Regensburg, Germany. Bomb load was 10 500lb incendiary bombs. Alt. 26,000 ft. Got out over Germany and Ran into high heavy clouds and had to break formation and climb above them. By the time we formed again we didn't have enough gas to make the trip so we bombed our last resort target, an airfield at Ludwigshaven, Germany. Had a good escort , no enemy fighters seen, flak was moderate. Landed at 1:30pm. A 7 1/2 hr mission.
22. July 28, 1944- Took off at 5:15AM to bomb a synthetic oil refinery at Merseburg, Germany. Bomb load 10-500 Lb bombs, altitude 23, 500 ft. Heavy overcast at the target, so we did not see the results of our Bombing. Heavy flak at the target area and a few light bursts on the way out. No enemy fighters seen, we had a good P-51 escort. Landed at 1:15PM, an 8 hr mission. While rolling down the runway the co-pilot pulled up the landing gear instead of the flaps and we skidded down the runway on our belly. All the props were bent, the chin turret damaged and most of the ball turret was torn off, no one was injured. Got a few flak holes in a wing.
23. July 29, 1944 -Took off at 5:30 AM to finish the job on the synthetic refinery at Merseburg Germany. Carried 20-250 lb bombs. Altitude 26,500 ft. Had an exceptionally good escort of P-38's, P-47's and P-51's. Ran into about the heaviest flak we have seen yet at the target. A couple of ships blew up over the target, Enemy fighters got about 7 ships. Our group lost 8 or 9 ships. 2 from our squadron. We got a large flak hole in the root of the right wing and 2 small ones in the tail making the 9th time we have been hit. Landed at 11:30pm, an 8-hour mission.
24. July 31, 1944-Took off at 8:40 AM to bomb the factory that manufactures fuel for Jet propelled aircraft engines. Bomb load eleven 500 lb incendiary bombs, altitude 24,000 ft got some good hits on the factory at Munich, Germany and also on the airfield adjoining it. Flak was heavy; we got one hole in the nose and one in the narcelle of the #3 engine making the 10th time we were hit. We had a good escort of P-51's and P-47's, no enemy fighters seen but some were reported in the area. Landed at 5:25PM and 8-2/4hr mission.
25. Aug 2, 1944 Took off at 2:30 PM to bomb a bridge between Chauney and Compiegne, France. Bomb load 6-1000 lb bombs, altitude 21,000 ft got some good hits and destroyed 2 bridges that paralleled each other. Saw a little flak at the coast, got a small hole in the left wing making the 11th time we have been hit. Had good P-51 escort, no enemy fighters seen. Landed at 9:30 PM A 7 hr mission.
26. Aug 3, 1944 -Took off at 12 Noon to bomb a gas storage tank in France. Bomb load 20 250 lb bombs. Altitude 15,500 ft saw a little flak in two places but no one got hit. Had an escort of P-51’s, made 2 runs over the target but didn't drop our bombs, as they were afraid of hitting the town. Went on to bomb a railroad yard and bridge at Troyes, France. Landed at 7:00 PM. A 7 hr mission.
27. Aug 4, 1944 Took off at 9:10 AM to bomb an Oil refinery at Harburg Germany which is 8 miles South of Hamburg. Bomb Load 20-250 lb bombs. Altitude 24,000 ft. could not see the results of our bombing because of clouds and a smoke screen at the target. Moderate flak at the target, saw one ship explode after we dropped the bombs. Saw 4 or 5 parachutes, no enemy fighters seen. We had an escort of P-47's and P-51's. A couple of our ships were hit by flak and some men wounded. Landed at 3:45pm. A 6 1/2 hr mission.
28. Aug 14, 1944-Took off at 8:00AM to bomb the I G Farben chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany. Bomb load 20-250 lb bombs. Alt 24,000 ft got some pretty good hits at the target area but don't know if we hit the chemical plant. Had a light escort of P-47's and P-51's. No enemy fighters seen, flak was heavy at the target and we got a hole in our right wing. Making the 12th time we were hit. We flew deputy back again, landed at 3:30pm. A 7 1/2 hr mission.
29. Aug 15, 1944-Took off at 8:45AM to bomb an air field at Venlo, Holland, 34 one hundred lb bombs, altitude 21,000 ft. Got some good hits on the target, no flak at the target but we saw a little on the way in and out. Guns were mounted on railroad cars. Had an escort of P-47's and P-51's, some British Spitfires were near us part of the time. They were escorting the RAF, which was bombing three airfields in the same area. A couple of British ships went down but we didn't lose any. We flew Deputy lead again today. Landed at 1:45 PM, a 5 hr mission.
30. Sept 1, 1944 -Took off at 6:50AM to bomb some were houses at Mainz, Germany, 18 miles SW of Frankfurt. Bomb load 4-1000 lb demolition bombs and 4-500 lb incendiaries. Alt 25,000 ft had a hundred mile an hour tail wind which gave us a ground speed of about 325 M.P.H. Ran into high clouds and bad weather, we were about 20 minutes from the target so we came back. We could see the rain falling beneath us but none at our altitude, no flak, no enemy fighters; we had as escort at P-51's. We flew deputy lead postion, landed at 2PM.
A 7 hour mission, brought our bombs back.
31. Sept 3, 1944 -Took off at 6:00 AM to bomb a troop concentration on the Brest Peninsula in France the last German occupied territory in Western France. Bomb load 12-500 lb bombs, alt 11,000 ft. saw a little flak behind our group as we passed over a small German occupied Islands near the French coast. No flak at the target no enemy fighters. We had a P-51 escort, made one run over the target at 11,000 but didn't drop our bombs. Mad a second run at 8,000 ft altitude and got some good hits on the target. We led the high squadron in the low group, deputy lead position. Landed at 1:10pm, a 7 hr. mission.
32. Sept 5, 1944 -Took off at 7:05 AM to bomb a truck factory at Stuttgart, Germany. Bomb load 500 lb incendiaries, bombing altitude 22,000 feet, got some excellent hits on the target, flak was moderate but accurate. We got a hole in our left wing making the 13th time we were hit. We had an escort of P-51's, no enemy fighters seen, we were close to the Swiss Border and flew parallel to the snowcap Alps for a long time. Landed at 4:25 PM. A 9 hr mission, we flew deputy lead position again. One ship had 2 engines shot out by flak over the target, as he was losing altitude, enemy fighters hit him but the P-51's drove them off.
33. Sept 9, 1944-Took off at 7:25AM to bomb a gun factory and armament works at Dusseldorf, Germany in the Ruhr Valley, bomb load 10-500 lb demolition bombs, alt 27,000 ft, no enemy fighters. We had a good P-51 escort flak was moderate and very accurate over the target. The leader didn't drop his bombs for some unknown reason so we brought our bombs back. We flew deputy lead again; temp was 42 degrees below zero. One supercharger went out over the target so we had to drop out of our position as High Squadron leader. Landed at 1:45PM. In the air 6 hrs. and 20 minutes.
34. Sept 10, 1944-Took off at 7:15AM to bomb the Mark III and Mark IV tank factory at Nurnburg Germany Bomb load 10-500 lb demolitions. Altitude 25,000 ft, no enemy fighters seen. We had a good P-51 escort. Bombed by PFF and missed the target, moderate flak but we ran into a couple more flak areas when we crossed the Rhine River. We got 3 holes in our ship making the 14th time we have been hit. We flew deputy lead of the group, the leader had 2 engines shot out so we took over as leader. Temp 33 degrees below zero landed at 2:55 PM. 7hrs and 40 minutes in the Air.
35. And last mission at Thorpe Abbotts. Sept 25, 1944…Took off at 6:50AM to bomb the marshalling yards at Ludwigshaven Germany. Bomb load 12-500 lb demolition bombs. Alt 27,000 ft, no enemy fighters seen. We had a P-38 and a P-51 escort. Bombed by PFF and dropped bombs in train 150 ft apart. Results undetermined, moderate flak over the target but no ships were lost from our group. Temp 38 degrees below zero, we flew deputy lead of the high group landed at 1:50 PM A 7 hour mission.
Our 35 missions completed, returned to the States. Certainly enjoyed my 3 weeks furlough. Then returned to base. 5 months later I was sent to India to fly the Hump to China on converted B-24's. We were hauling bombs and gas for the B-29's in China. 40 Missions then back to the States. Discharged Nov 2nd 1945 from St. Field, St Louis. Best Memories…Mail call, passes to London and two appearances from General Doolittle at Thorpe Abbotts. One time he buzzed the field in a P-38 fighter, 50 ft above ground. The other visit to Thorpe Abbotts by General Doolittle, we were unloading still in our flying clothes. He was out by the Hangers doing a formal guard Mount. He Saluted, took off his cap, tie and coat, got a can of beer and a beef sandwich. From then on Very informal…………
(written by Emmett Schmitt and transcribed by my wife Arlene Schmitt, now deceased, may She rest in Peace)
MEMO 2: