Mission No. 6
Date – June 8, 1944
Assigned Target – Railroad Bridge, 5 miles east of Tours, France.
Target Attacked – As briefed.
Results – Good.
Aircraft Number – 7190-L
Bomb Load – 12 500 lb. Demos.
Position in Formation – Lead of High Group.
Time – 7 hours.
Altitude over Target – 18,000'
Casualties – None.
Damage – None.
Losses – None.
Loading List
C.A. – Capt. Miller, Jean B.
Pilot – 1st Lt. Arlin, Alan A.
Co-P – 2nd Lt. Stallings, Harold O.
Bomb. – 1st Lt. Baxter, Morris V.
Nav. – 1st Lt. Waaramaa, A. E.
Nav. – 2nd Lt. Walkup, Charles A.
Eng. – T/Sgt. Chmielewski, Raymond J.
Radio – T/Sgt. Buchsbaum, Louis
L.W. – Cpl. McCort, Joseph J.
Ball – Cpl. Carter, Charlie M.
Tail – S/Sgt. Hoffman, Arnold W.
Mission No. 6
Date – June 8, 1944
We led the High Group. Jean and Art flew with us again. This was our first mission since "D" Day and our first tactical target. We were to knock this railroad bridge out to delay the enemy moving up troops and supplies to the beachhead.
We had quite a bit of trouble getting formed because of weather and heavy contrails in the area around Debden. We were briefed to form at 15,000' but ended up forming at 5 angels, 20,000' [one angel is 1000', phrasing probably meant up 5000' from original plan]. After leaving England and starting across the Channel, the weather improved and we were able to let down to our briefed altitude of 18,000'. We still had an undercast, but the weather was good at the higher levels.
We entered the French coast just east of our beachhead and flew directly south to the I.P. [Initial Point], which was south of the target. The sky cleared below us at the I.P. and the visibility in the target area was unrestricted. We were leading the High Group, the last group of this wing to hit the target. As we turned off the I.P., I spaced our group behind the low group and Bax took over and made the run on A.F.C.E [Automatic Flight Control Equipment]. Here, we hit the first and only flak we encountered during the mission; it was light and ineffective.
Our formation was too loose and sloppy for good bombing. The pilots were not doing a very good job of keeping the formation closed up; they were wide and lagging behind. Although Bax made a very good release and planted our bombs on our assigned M.P.I. [Maximum Point of Impact], the south end of the bridge, the bombs from the rest of the formation were scattered out. Most of them went into the river. The mission wasn’t a complete loss for us because we got a couple of bombs on our end of the bridge, and quite a few hit on the approach, putting the bridge out of commission for some time. The Lead Group was to hit the center and the low group was to hit the north end. Their results were worse than ours.
The Lead and Low Groups went over the target ahead of us but didn’t drop their bombs on their first run. As they circled around to come in again, I kept my formation just out of the flak area and to one side of them and watched the show. It was interesting to watch them come in through the flak, drop their bombs, then follow the bombs down and watch them burst. This was the first time I have had a chance to sit one out and watch; usually I am too busy on the run or dodging flak to take much notice of other things. After they dropped their bombs, we reformed the wing and headed for home.
There was no weather at all on the way back. The sky below stayed clear giving us a clear view below and a chance to let down to a much lower altitude. We could really see what was going on on our beachhead as we flew directly over it. We could . . . [The next page is missing from diary. The Team is searching for it]
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