The 44th Bomb Group in World War II: The "Flying Eight-Balls" Over Europe in the B-24

268 Pages·2003·53.36 MB·English

by  Ron MacKay

The 44th Bomb Group in World War II
The "Flying Eight-Balls" over Europe in the B-24
Alsoby Ron Mackay
Ridgewell:'iFlying Fortresses.' The38/Sf BombardmentGrollp(H) in World Wor11
The 44th Bomb Group in World War II
The "Flying Eight-Balls" over Europe in the B-24
Ron Mackay & Steve Adams
SchifferMilitary History
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Copyright©2003byRonMackayandSteveAdams.
LibraryofCongressCatalog Number: 2003105589.
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Contents
Chapter One Preamble 6
Chapter Two Parlous Beginning 20
Chapter Three Low Road to Ploesti 47
Chapter Four More Hard Knocks 62
Chapter Five Autumn Build Up 74
Chapter Six Build-up to 'Big Week' 93
Chapter Seven 'Big B' 107
Chapter Eight The Transportation Plan 119
Chapter Nine 'And Morning shall Come ' 138
Chapter Ten Breakout to Stalemate 156
Chapter Eleven The Accent on Oil Targets............................................................. 169
Chapter Twelve The Run-up to Victory 182
Chapter Thirteen Victory.... 196
Appendices
Appendix 1: 44th Bomb Group (H) Missions 209
Appendix 2: 44th Bomb Group (H) B-24 Loss Index 214
Appendix 3: 44th Bomb Group (H) B-24 Serials 218
Appendix 4: 44th Bomb Group (H) Roll ofHonor, 1942-1945 250
Index 268
CONRAD SCHAFRAN
NEW YORK CITY
Chapter One
Preamble
T
herelativelyshort-termbutextremelyeventfulhistory very best that the Luftwaffefighter and flak defences system
ofthe8thUSAAFduringWorldWarIIhasthrownup could set out. However, one could be forgiven for believing
some important misnomers ever since. The that it was the Boeing bomber that was the major, if not the
circumstancessunoundingthissituationwereoriginallycreated sole, participant in the skies over Europe. In the more than
(inadveltentlyorotherwise)bytheAmericanmediaofthetime. fifty years following World War II, both cinema and literary
A majorexample concerns the heavy bomber designsjointly presentations have tended to lean towards magnifying the B
tasked with implementing the daylight precision bombing ITs presence and influence upon the campaign. Conversely,
campaign, namely the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 far less attention in general has been granted the B-24. This
Liberator. imbalance has not only provided real grounds for.natural
Bothdesignscaniedouttheirprimaryfunctioninasolidly frustration amongthesurvivingcombatcrewandgroundcrew
efficientmannerinthecourseofa lOOO-dayBattleagainstthe veterans whoflew and servicedtheConsolidatedbomber, but
Col.FrankRobinsonandHQ44thBGstaffofficersatWillRogersFieldinJuly I942.Thiswouldbethefinal makeupofthe44th'sHQstaffpriortoleavingforthe
UK.
6
Preamble
is also materially inaccurate in military aviation terms. (The
British media is similarly prone to such over-simplifications.
Judgingbymostofitseffortstodate,onewouldthinkthatthe
BattleofBritain was wonby the Spitfire, while the Lancaster
was the sole provider of RAF Bomber Command's Night
offensive).
TheseedsforthisimbalanceintheAmericanpublic'smind
weresownearly on during the firstparlous months ofthe 8th
USAAF's existenceinEngland. Ofthebomb groups onhand
duringthisperiod,fivewereoperatingontheB-17andtwoon
the B-24. With one notable exception, the bases allocated to
thesepioneerunitswerewartimecreations,hastilyhackedout
of the East Anglian countryside. Their living quarters and
supportstructures werelargely of'tin-shack' quality,offering
minimal internal comforts and coke-stove heating.
Cpl.QuinnieCrews67th BSarmamentssection.PhotowastakenatBarksdale
Bassingbourn, in contrast, was a pre-war RAF station
field.
possessing brick-builtand centrallyheated facilities, with the
91stBGbeingthefortunatetenant.Itislikelythatthesuperior conductedfromairfieldsawayupinthefurtherreachesofEast
airfieldfacilities coupledwithits goodrail androad access to Anglia- alongwayawayfrom 'mediacountry' intheformof
London attracted the U.S. military correspondents more than Britain'scapitalcity!
did the other USAAF bases. Certainly the 91st BG has a Whatever the reason or reasons for the imbalance, the
prominent place in post-war circles ranging from the cinema tendencytohighlightandeveneulogisetheB-ITsparticipation
totheaircraftmodellingfraternity. Inaddition,fortheduration inWorldWarIIoveritsB-24contemporary still persists, and
ofthewaralarge proportionofthe B-1? groups werelocated needs to continue to be corrected. In effect, the successful
within reasonable striking distance ofLondon. Contrast this conclusion to the daylight offensive must be viewed in the
with the 2nd Air Division's B-24 units whose service was contextofapartnership, notasoloeffort.
The44thBombGroupminutemanguard.ThisphotowastakenatBarksdaleField,LA
The44thBombGroupin WorldWarII: The "FlyingEight-Balls" overEuropeintheB-24
In the Beginning ... Gearing up to War
One of the two B-24 groups on hand as the 8th USAAF By the end of 1940 the American public's stance upon the
commenceditsCampaigninanuncertainmannerwasthe44th growingconflictwithinEuropewasstillfirmlyagainstmilitary
BG.TheGroupalreadypossessedanunofficialtitlethatwould involvement. This was a natural reaction based on several
immortalise its place in history - 'The Flying Eight Balls' probable factors. Firstly, when viewed in the context of the
butthiswasatitlewhoseoriginprovedlessthancomplimentary, 1930s and into the 1940s, the continent of Europe was far
atleast when first taken on board.Almosttwenty months had removedfromAmericanshores,somakinganInvasionoreven
elapsedwhenthepersonnelandtheiraircraftlandedinBritain, encroachment upon the North American continent a highly
activationhavingoccurredon 15January 1941.Inthatperiod, unlikely prospect. Secondly, many ofthe current population,
the Group had initially been assembled, only to find it or their elders, had emigrated from Europe simply to escape
subsequently acting as a training unit after an element ofits from thedespairinglyregularoccurrenceofregionalconflicts,
personnelhadbeenhivedofftoform thebasisfornoless than as well as the deprivation orpersecution that often emanated
five othernewly activatedgroups. from such events. The failure of the Versailles Treaty as a
Duringthefirstsixmonthsof1942thedesperatesituation successful postscript to 'The War to end all Wars' was yet
existing in the Battle of the Atlantic had necessitated the another likely strong influence against taking any form of
launching ofanti-submarine patrols over the GulfofMexico military action - why should America bailout Europe for a
bywayofcombatingtheU-Boats'severeassaultsuponAllied secondtimeinless than aquarterofacentury?
merchant shipping. The combat crews were involved in this Set against these strands of negative reasoning- at least
duty whileservingatBarksdale Field. (Afellow B-24trainee insomepoliticalandmilitarycircles- was thegrowingthreat
group, the 93rd BG, not only shared this vital duty, but was from Germany's Axis partner Japan. Should the latter ever
also destined to constitute the otherhalfofthe 8thUSAAF's declare War against America, and simultaneously persuade
'pioneer' strength in Liberators, arriving afew days ahead of Germany to follow suit, the result would be a twin military
the 44th BG). Whereas the 93rd BG was temporarily housed assault.ThisactionwouldnotevenhavetoinvolveanInvasion
at, and operated from, Alconbury plior to transferring to its ofAmericainordertoreapitsreward.Instead,anavalblockade
permanenthomeatHardwick,theinitialairechelonofthe44th ofAmerica'scoastline,coupledwithattacksuponhershipping,
BG(66thBS)headedforwhatwastobetheGroup'spermanent couldbeultimatelyfataltohercontinuedindependentexistence.
base (Shipdham) after an over-night stop at Cheddington. It (ThecurrentthreattoBritain'straderoutes across theAtlantic
was largely from these East Anglian bases that each was posed by Germany's U-boatfleet was agrim portentofwhat
destinedtoleaveitspermanentandrichlydeservingmarkupon could occurtoAmerica).
theconductofthe airwaroverEurope.
ThisaerialshotshowshowtheindividualSitesofStation I15weredispersedintotheNorfolkcountrysideThemainSiteintheforegroundwouldlaterbeusedas
the 14thCombatWingHQ.
8
Preamble
ThisaerialshotshowsSite3homeforthecombatcrewsofthe67thBS.The67thwassomewhatluckierthantheotherthreesquadronsinthatallaircrewwereon
oneSiteandtheground personalwere locatedonSite Iinthenextfield.
TheAwakening Giant function was to be stultified by the hiving-off of Group
As 1941 was enteredAmerica's military resources were still personneltonolessthanfivenewlyconstitutedBombGroups,
alarmingly weak, at least in terms ofitsArmy andArmyAir anditsparallel downgrading to an operational training unit.
Corps.Itwasthereforeallthemorefortunatethatpositivesteps There were twin problems facing the squadron cadres of
weretaken during thecourseoftheyearto bringbothentities officers and seniorenlisted men. Notonly were they faced by
to a point where America could at least prosecute a War. In theprospectoftraininganddiscipliningagrowing numberof
spite of the nation's geographic isolation from both Europe new recruits, but also the facilities atMcDill were still in the
andAsia, itsAirCorps hadbeen pursuingdevelopmentofthe first stages of construction. In fact the first two weeks were
heavy bomber element into a strategic rather than a tactical spentintentedaccommodationatDrewFieldbeforethetransfer
function.TheB-17CandDseries'werealreadyinserviceand intopermanentbarracksfrom whatquickly becameknown as
werebeingjoinedbyGroups assigned to operateontheB-24. 'BoomTown'occurredinearlyFebruary. (Therelativeluxury
Justamatterofdays after the 1941 New Year's celebrations, ofthesefacilitieswiththeirair-conditioning,amplewashrooms
orders were cutfor the creation ofboth the 44thBG and 93rd and screened windows would contrast noticeably with the
BGs.InthecaseoftheformergroupitcameintobeingatMcDill accommodationexperienceatShipdham!)
Field, Florida; however, the initial cadre offour officers and Theexperience ofthe 67th BS was typical regarding the
ten enlisted men werefrom theranks ofthe 2ndBGand 29th 44thBGasawhole. S/Sgt.Bellerassumedthepostof1stSgt.
BG.Foursquadronsweretoconstituteitscurrentstrength,being
the66thBS,67thBS,68thBS andHQ. Lt.Col.MelvinB.Asp
assumedoverallcommand,whilesquadroncommanddevolved
toCapt.TedTimberlake,MajorGeorgeR.AchesonandCapt.
Samfordrespectively.Thisseeminglyneatcommandstructure
wouldwitness numerouschangesbeforetheGroup wasready
to go into combat, however. This confusing situation was in
partto be broughtabout by the accelerating expansion ofthe
AirCorps.Inaddition,theGroup'sprogresstowardsacombat
The44thwasoneofthefew8thAirForceGroupsthatcarriedasingleGroup
marking inthe form ofan eight ball with ayellow bomband bluewings.Each
Squadronwasgivenacolorforthebombnose:redforthe66th,yellowforthe
67th,whiteforthe 68th,andgreenfortheS06thwhen itjoinedthe 44th BG.
Thisexamplebelongstothe68th BS.
9