AAR
MISSION #4 - Feb 8th
The Bombgroup left A56 with 6 flights of B17s. Eighteen bombers in all.
Our escort left A22 in fully gased P47s w/ DTs. The route to target was uneventful. The most trouble was maintaining formation,and debating whether the P47s would have enough fuel.
At feet wet I reported to the Luftwaffe we were on the way. Something happened to the DARBAR about 1/2 way there. We werent showing one at 25k. So I begin position reports. We were at the IP before being engaged by a few enemy fighters.
Our escort lead HUSKER reported they werent going to be able to RTB due to fuel. The combat had exhausted their reserves, even though they flew at minimum settings the whole way. They stayed with us until drop.
The B17s did a final calibration, and then it was bombs away. We had lost 1 B17 at this point. One of Stringers to a headon attack. They like him.
Then we dropped.
408 100lb incendiaries rained down on the refinery. Direct hit. 98% of the plant was destroyed. Excellent drop! We each had been assigned a certain path through the target for maximum coverage. It work splendidly!
HUSKER, and his wing mk31 on fumes dove down to finish it off. They got hits effectively finishing off the plant. Alas..that was the last we heard of them. One by one the remaining escort fell out of formation. We wished them luck and flew on alone..unescorted. They got us there, it was up to us to get home.
We chose our egress to take us over every axis field between us and England. They came at us. Over and over we were attacked. Over and over we repelled them. Not without cost. They slowly wittled us down. Depleting our ranks and ammo. SIRB got out in front after the drop, and was skinned alive. We heard his screams for help on the comm. Its a long drop from 25k.
He jumped in my plane as gunner. Then Stringer lost a plane. Then MGD and Teebox. Easyscor and I were in good shape. Suddenly as we neared the French coast and A73 the attacks became more intense. Teebox exploded in flight. He was gone in an instant.
After what seemed like an hour of this, almost out of ammo and mid channel, we were becoming over-whelmed. Stringer and Easyscor called out they were going to make for the deck, in hopes our luring the enemy down to save us.
Easyscor didnt make it. Somewhere, 10-15,000 ft below the clouds and out of sight, his last plane came apart.
After a few minutes MGD called "Lets makefor the base at 55!" We descended rapidly..wings groaning all the way down. Suddenly there in front..England! Mgd with 2 planes caught the attention of a FW190. It was Plink. A dreaded axis pilot. MGD disintergrated before our eyes. But SIRB and I had no time to mourn. I saw the field and made for it. Ispent my last 35 rounds on a 109. Now it was time to fly.
Bam! lost plane #1. Jumped into second plane. Blam...that was gone. With our last plane I banked steeply almost ripping the wings off, stalled slightly and banked into the runway hard. I sheered off my props on 3 and 4. We were down and rolling fast. Thankfully MGD and other had reupped in fighters at that moment and caught the enemy's attention. I rolled back onto the runway with just my port engines. And landed. SIRB was credited with 2 gunnery kills.
But suddenly out of the blue a radio transmission. It was Stringer, on 3 engines limping into A55. He had made it!
Out of the entire flight, only 2 B17s made it home. The 8th AF deemed it a costly success. The U-Boats of Lorient and Brest would be delayed from getting precious fuel for weeks. But what a cost it was.
Depicts total missions flown -!
Depicts kills - *
FiLtH - !!!! RTB 1 ship
MGD- !!!! KIA
Stringer- !!!! RTB 1 ship
SIRB- ! ** KIA (2 kills as gunner for FiLtH)
Teebox- ! KIA
Easyscor- ! KIA (Was lost breaking to deck to drag others down)
* - Depicts landed kills. There were many kills uncounted credited to bombers and the escort that went down. We were just too busy to keep track.
The escort performed beautifully, but just didnt have enough range for the job. It is believed up to 10 escort pilots became POW this evening.
They will be missed. As will the bomber crews that were lost.
The following received the Silver Star-
Easyscor -for his gallant action that saved the remaining B17 crews.
The following received the Airman's medal for gallant action against the enemy-
HUSKER- for leading his flight and performing his task with valor.
SIRB - For 2 confirmed enemy fighters shot down.
OVERVIEW-
It was a long mission. Too long for something outside of a true event. My hats off to all those involved, on both sides! Especially the escorts who didnt see alot of action before they went down. Future missions will be shorter, and with full awareness of limited range.
Thanks all who took part..to the Luftwaffe pilots who gave us a great mission..!
Oldman
KONG
Bruno
MAGIC
PLINK
and others I cant recall.
