A Fortress and A Legacy: The Gift of a WWII Bombardier's True Story to the Daughter He Never Knew by Greene J. Ross

Author:Greene, J. Ross [Greene, J. Ross]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-06T21:00:00+00:00

Time to arm the ordinance, Bud thought. He grabbed the walk-around bottle in one hand as he turned and exited toward the bomb bay immediately behind and below his position. Next, he gingerly navigated the six-inch wide metal walkway leading to the bomb rack. Each bombardier was well aware that the bomb doors below the walkway would open if he made a misstep and dropped onto them. Three 500-pound bombs hung in the rack on his left and two in the one on his right. One by one, he removed the fuse pin from each bomb, releasing a small propeller in its tip. When the bomb was dropped, this propeller caused the ordnance to fall true and straight without tumbling and falling off target. His task accomplished, Bud turned and retraced his steps back to his seat in the nose of the plane.

Following the enemy sighting, the trip became quiet. I guess this is the calm before the storm, Bud thought. I wonder what Thelma’s doing right now? It’s a little after midnight in Knoxville. That little night owl’s probably banging out a letter to me on the used Royal machine, the one with the “errant 8.” For some odd reason, when Thelma tried to type an apostrophe, the machine inserted an 8 instead, so words like I’m usually came out as “I8m.” Bud smiled as he pictured Thelma in her pajamas and housecoat sitting cross-legged at the dining room table. But Leo’s voice crackled over the interphone, jolting him back to reality.

“Communication check.” The OKs came back one by one.

“I gotta take a leak.” Rogers interjected with a slight laugh.

“Use the tube, Tex,” Vaughn shot back.

Collett was engrossed in the maps on the table in front of him, making sure that the plane was on course. The lead navigator and the Mickey man in the Pathfinder ship at the front of the 381st bomber formation directed the course of the group. Each bomb group (BG) and wing, as well as each division, had a lead ship. But as the craft neared the IP, the navigator and bombardier in each aircraft were charged with finding the visible landmarks that would identify their position relative to it. If the mission was operating by instruments, intricate calculations would replace visual sighting.

Upon reaching the IP, the lead ship would fire a flare, alerting the combat element that he was about to turn. After the flare, the lead pilot would proceed for twenty seconds, then make his turn. Ships in his element would follow. Successive groups would proceed for fifteen more seconds before turning to the bomb run. Through this maneuver, the tight three-element formation would be broken and each element would follow the other in a single-line formation. At that point, the most critical and dangerous segment of the mission began.

Flak began to appear. First it was light, small puffs of smoke that looked like pregnant cherry bombs, no larger than 50mm. Then the explosions were much more plentiful, intense, and larger. Probably 88mm, Bud thought.

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