398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Captain Alan A. Arlin's Diary

Arlin Mission No. 13

August 3, 1944
Target: Marshalling Yard, Saarbrucken, Germany

Arlin Mission No. 13
Date - August 3, 1944
Assigned Target - Marshalling Yard, Saarbrucken, Germany
Targets Attacked - MPI in general area
Results - Fair
Aircraft Number - 7889-B
Bomb Load - 12- 500 lb. G.P. [General Purpose]
Position in formation - Lead of Low Group
Time - 7 hrs. T.O. 10:45 Land 17:45
Altitude over Target - 25,000 ft.
Casualties - None
Damage - None
Losses - None

Loading list
CilA. - Capt. Arlin, A. A.
Pilot - 1st Lt. Dalton, Hollis L.
Co-P. - None
Nav. - 2nd Lt. Schwan, William J.
Bomb. - 2nd Lt. McAllister, John G.
Eng. - T/Sgt. Baker, Cova P.
Radio - T/Sgt. Johnson, Gen
Gun. - S/Sgt. Bigda, Joseph T.
Gun. - S/Sgt. Kanable, Harold W.
Gun. - S/Sgt. Durst, William K.

Arlin Mission No. 13
Date - August 3, 1944

Took on a new job today. Riding as C. A. and breaking in a new Group Leader. I flew with Lt. Dalton and his Crew. A person doesn't appreciate his own crew until he has to fly with someone else's. I guess everyone figures he has the best crew but for my money give me my own.

They really are getting nice to us here. They let us sleep late again, took off at 11:00 today. The business of getting formed and headed out went well in was accomplished on time without any trouble. Going in to the target I saw quite a bit of flak but was able to fly around it. I saw one FW 190 as he passed under us. He didn't attack, I think he was as surprised to see us as we were to see him. He came out of one cloud and as soon as he saw us above him he disappeared into another. That was the only time we saw Jerry.

We had some difficulty on the bomb run. We didn't have a PFF [Pathfinder Force] ship so we had to make a visual run. The target was covered with clouds up to 5/10 making it a very difficult job picking up and making a run on the target. We didn't hit the target we were briefed for. Mac couldn't pick it up so made the run on some large buildings that looked rather important. They looked like large repair shops. The pattern was poor and we fairly scattered bombs all over Saarbrucken. Some of the bombs hit in a canal and some in open spaces but most of them managed to knock down some building or other. As long as the Germans don't know just what we were supposed to hit they will think was good bombing. The flak over the target was moderate and quite accurate. They threw it up in pretty good style. I brought my group right in close behind the Lead Group, by the time to flak gunners had finished firing at the lead we were too far over for them to take more than a pot shot at us, so they let us go and picked up the High Group we got off with extremely small amount of damage considering the amount of flak was thrown up .

The return trip was just like any cross country. Nothing happened. As soon as we hit the Channel I sent Lt. Carter home alone. His navigator had his hand shot off with a hunk of flak and I wanted him to get back to base as fastest possible.

Acronym Note: The term C.A. stood for Command of the Aircraft, or Aircraft Commander in conversations. CilA associated with Captain Arlin above is thought to be a typographical error.

Notes:
  • First Lieutenant Alan A. Arlin of the 601st Squadron was the pilot of Rapid City original crew No. 31. On many of his missions, 1st Lieutenant and later Captain Alan A. Arlin was a lead pilot for his squadron or for the group.
  • The above transcription was provided by Dave Jordan.
  • This transcription is a careful reproduction of the original except for occasional spelling and punctuation changes. In some circumstances, based on relevancy, some material may not have been transcribed.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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