Mission No. 19
Date – September 28, 1944
Assigned Target – Marshalling Yard. Magdeburg, Germany
Target Attacked – As briefed
Results – Unobserved PFF
Aircraft Number – N-8031-K PFF
Bomb Load – 10 500 lb. General Purpose; 2 100 lb. Incendiaries
Position in Formation – Lead of Air Force
Time – 8 hrs. 10 min.
Altitude over Target – 26,000'
Casualties – None
Damage – Major Battle Damage. Flak. Nav. Astrodome, A.F.C.E., Bomb Sight, Radio, Spar in Right Wing, Bomb Bay Doors, Other Minor.
Losses – Ship No. N-2607-F, Lt. Conrow and Crew. Ship No. N-8129-A, Crew O.K.; Crash Landed in Belgium.
Loading List
C.A. – Colonel Hunter, Frank P.
Pilot – Capt. Arlin, A. A.
Bomb. – 1st Lt. Baxter, M.V.
Nav. – Capt. Brown, H. L.
Nav. – 1st Lt. Aune, Arnt M.
Nav. – 1st Lt. Eberhart, J. J. (Mickey Operator)
Eng. – T/Sgt. Chmielewski, R. J.
Radio – T/Sgt. Ruff, C. F.
R. W. – S/Sgt. Wilson, W. C.
L. W. – S/Sgt. Carter, C. M.
Tail – S/Sgt. Hoffman, A. W.
Mission No. 19
Date – September 28, 1944
Today, I had the dubious honor of leading the Air Force. Colonel Hunter flew with me and Major Dailey flew with the deputy.
Our assembly was easy today because we were the first in the line. Didn’t have the usual trouble of finding our position in the division.
Our route in and out was across Belgium and straight to the target. On the way in, we picked up some flak at different places. Just before the I.P. [Initial Point], we had the deputy take over for the bomb run because our Mickey was out. Here, I thought we were all going to get killed. We came in straight and level for miles and miles. When we got to the flak area the first burst knocked our astrodome off. Every burst after that through the rest of the bomb run was right on us. I didn’t think that we were ever going to drop those bombs. After being pounded for some time, we finally got the job done and got out of there.
After leaving the target area, Lt. Conrow’s ship was burning badly in his right wing. I called him up and told him to bail his crew out before he blew up. We counted nine chutes before the ship blew up. Lt. Marias was too badly shot up to get home, so he made a crash landing in Belgium. With the exception of one man who was hit in the shoulder by flak, his crew was O.K.
The trip back was the same as going in: some flak but no more serious damage.
This mission wasn’t too rough, but we did one lot of sweating. The losses at Kassel yesterday were 42 bombers shot down by fighters. We flew right by Kassel on our way in and out and were really keeping a sharp look out for Jerry. We had a very heavy escort and Jerry never did show up – much to our relief.
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