Fourth mission: Hengstey

Sixty years ago today, Daddy made his fourth trip to Germany:

Although this mission was a milestone (#300) in the chronicles of the 96th, it passed as a run-of-the-mill mission. It destroyed supply centers and marshalling yards near Hagen. And it was a fine effort when one realizes that excessive prop-wash caused many problems for the lead bombardier of the C Squadron. The excessive prop-wash interfered with his synchronization of the bombsight as his gyros were constantly fluctuating. The death of another bombardier marred this otherwise successful strike. S/Sgt Leonard Clements was killed when flak destroyed the nose of Lt McCoy's 338th 43-39017. McCoy maintained control and emergency-landed at newly-liberated Woensdrecht. And Capt Wynn, 338th, who was leading the Group in A Squadron, also received flak damage and landed at St Trond. Lt Hal Sullivan's last two bombs hung up on him. But eventually he got them, unshackled and dropped them--two 500-pound M17s--on Betzdorf. -- Snetterton Falcons

Briefing today was nothing out of the ordinary, but it now appears that the top brass is concentrating on railroad marshalling yards. Our fighter protection was perfectly coordinated, we often hear of these skirmishes with enemy fighters but few are in evidence these days. With the aid of field glasses, I had a front row seat in watching two fighters shooting up a train. The train was racing madly for a tunnel with bullet flashes all over the engine, and the 51's were making continual passes. The train made it into the tunnel, then the fighters made low approaches along the tracks and let their wing tanks go directly into the tunnel. With this there was fire and smoke at each end of the tunnel. With no opposition at the target, a successful run was made, and it will be many days before they can move a hand car through the Coesfeld marshalling yards. -- Charles Hudson, 91st BG

After the bomb run on March 23, 1945, Ol' Scrapiron dropped from the 4th Bomb Wing formation and joined the 34th Bomb Group formation returning to England from its mission to Geisecke. Near Koblenz, one of the 34th aircraft (43-38971) was struck by flak, losing its wing. The damaged aircraft first rolled into a plane from the 487th, which remained flying, before colliding with Ol' Scrapiron. The plane from the 447th with the Bruckman crew onboard was broken apart at the waist. Tailgunner Byron Schlag was the only member of the crew able to bail out, after riding the tail section down to 8,000 feet -- at times losing consciousness from lack of oxygen. Amazingly, Ed Shibble survived the fall (though sustaining serious injuries), trapped in the ball turret until it broke free of the aircraft as it crashed through some trees. The two gunners were captured. The rest of the crew perished along with the entire crew from the 34th. -- 447 BG