Total combat time: 123:10 hours

Date: June 21, 1944 Mission #18
Location of target: Berlin, Germany

Load: 2700 gals of gas, 10-500 lb. general purpose & 2-500 lb. cluster incendiaries.
Altitude: 27,000 feet.
Flight Time: 9:10 hours
Escort: P-47s, P-38s, P-51s all the way.

Position: No. 2 of second element of low squadron of lead group of combat wing.

Opposition: Intense flack and fighters, ME-109s, 410s, 210s, 110s, Ju-88s & FW-190s. .

Battle damage: Flack hole through the bomb-bay door and into the front glass of ball turret, but fell into turret. Glass dust in his eyes. There was a hole through the left waist window. Our brakes were shot out.

Results: Bombed as briefed.

Day's losses: 8th AF 43 bombers, 15 fighters and 12 bombers landed in Sweden..

Remarks: We assembled at briefing at 2:15 AM after breakfast. They raised the curtain, and there was the route straight to Berlin.

Note: Some material not appropriate for the web pages was left out of the initial paragraph.

Missions Transcription:
The fighters hit the wing in front of us about 20 minutes before the target. One fighter was ablaze, and dove straight down, and then 3-B-17s dove out of formation, and blew up. Five chutes out of one plane, none came out of the others. Then the fighters hit that wing again, and 2 more B-17s went down. 20 mm canons were exploding all through the formation. Then a series of dogfights took place. Escort was good, but they always seem to get there just a little too late. We turned into the IP [Initial Point] and "Bandits" came over VHF. Our formation pulled in and it was the tightest formation I ever saw, practically solid. About 20 fighters came up and flew parallel to us, looking us over. I guess the formation was too tight for them, for they pulled up to the front formation, our escort then moved up to cover us. They hit the front wing again which was scattered all over, three B-17s fell out of formation, one B-17 went into a steep dive for about 3,000 feet, and it must have been going 400 MPH. Then it started a slow pull out, I guess with turn tabs and that B-17 came right back into a vertical climb. I could not believe my eyes. The wings should have come off. It climbed on for about 4,000 feet, and then just as it was ready to stall out, it sort of leveled out. Four chutes came out and then the plane went into a spin. One of the parachutes went swinging by below our right wing. He looked pitifully helpless. Some reported a German fighter plane gunned him, but others just said they were circling him.

It was more or less quiet for a while, although everyone, and typically me, were excited. When the fighters first hit, I just tore the gun off the wall, strap and all. You seem to have terrific strength, your breathe in long fast gasps, and use most of your oxygen under fire. We hit the IP at 10:03 and went on course to the target. There was a terrific flak barrage waiting for us. A large cloud hung north of the target. About 15 fighters were there about, throwing vapor trails. They turned away from us, so we thought they were our escort, although we did regard them with suspicion.

Just before bombs away, we looked up and there was the high group right over us. It is an awful sight to look straight up into a loaded bomb bay. Well, we did not need any more encouragement. We peeled off to the right. Bombs started dropping off to our left wing. Lowe's plane was just encircled by falling bombs.

We dumped our bombs with the leader, and made a right turn with him into a cloud. Well, nobody could see anybody, and when we came out, the low and lead squadrons were all mixed together. We go back into position and flew with the formation home. A series of dogfights took place all the way home, but the rest was uneventful. I never saw so many stragglers coming home in my life. We could only get 25 planes in the air the next day. We lost the Group leader, no one knows how. Stan saw a body fall out over the target, and others said the nose of his B-17 was shot off. No one really knows anything. Major Killen was the leader. We learned later that fighters made a tail attack at us over the target, but gave up because of the very dense vapor trails we were leaving. We were lucky!