The US Eighth Air Force in Europe: Black Thursday Blood and Oil, Vol 2 by Martin Bowman

Author:Martin Bowman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027140: HISTORY / Military / Aviation
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781783378647
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

When word reached Thorpe Abbotts that the crew of Just A Snappin’ were still alive the sea of despondency that had descended on base operations was lifted. Everyone had thought that the crew were ‘done for’ and that they were yet more casualties on a day of high losses. Though the crew of Just A Snappin’ were not yet aware of it, the ‘Bloody Hundredth’ had lost seven B-17s and seventy-two combat crewmen. At least thirteen more were in hospital suffering from wounds. In all, the 8th lost twenty-six bombers, fourteen of them from the 3rd Bomb Division.14

The four surviving B-17s in the ‘Bloody Hundredth’ formation that made it back to Thorpe Abbotts owed their survival to the 390th leader, Major Robert O. Good, who encouraged them to move in tightly behind his twenty B-17s after the target. Silas Nettles’ crew in the ‘Snetterton Falcons’ were also lucky to make it back in a new Fort called V Packet, which returned ‘somehow’ with over 100 holes and one feathered engine. Nettles’ crew felt like veterans because ‘no mission could be rougher than this’.15 Co-pilot Jerry V. Lefors, who had just flown his first mission, told the crew chief that all the engines would have to be replaced because they had flown for about forty-five minutes at full rpm and maximum manifold pressure. The rule was that an engine should be replaced if run under such conditions for ‘several’ minutes. The crew chief laughed and said that they would fire the engines up and if they ran, ‘the plane goes up again’. There were few extra engines available. Nettles’ crew scrounged for armour plate the next day and discussed carrying more ammunition. They were a green crew but united in their determination to complete their missions. Perhaps Lefors was the greenest, having graduated from the Flying Cadet programme on 6 June 1943 as a single-engine fighter pilot. Though he had no desire to fly bombers his heart sank when he and thirteen other pilots had been sent to become pilots on Forts.

After the P-47 escort had withdrawn, low on fuel, the First Division encountered enemy fighters in strength. Altogether, twelve Fortresses in the First Division failed to return. The unfortunate 381st, flying as low group, lost seven of its eighteen B-17s, including the lead ship. Of the eleven that returned, several were shot to pieces. Our Mom, piloted by Lieutenant Miller, came home to Ridgewell with a shattered nose, which caused fragments of Plexiglas to strike Lieutenant Ed Klein, the navigator, who was on his first mission, in the face. Miller landed with the rudder almost blown off its mounting and an ambulance followed the aircraft as it rolled down the runway. When the aircraft stopped, Chaplain James Good Brown helped the navigator carry S/Sgt Stephen J. Klinger, the tail gunner, out of the plane. He had been killed instantly. They put him on a stretcher and into the ambulance. He still had his oxygen mask on. His neck was penetrated, leaving a big hole.

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