The Unheralded Black B-24 Secret Missions
During April 1944, I started flying high altitude B-24 day bombing missions, from Rackheath Air Base near Norwich, with the 788th Bomb Squadron, 467th Bomb Group, 2nd Air Division. The missions of the 2nd Air Division were highly publicized in the local newspapers and the military newspaper "Stars and Stripes". The day after a mission there were headlines in the papers such as "1,000 Bombers Blast Targets in Germany"; "Berlin Bombed by 8th Air Force"; "Heavy Bombers Strike Again". There were long articles describing targets, damage, losses, etc.
The personnel assigned to Headquarters 2nd Air Division and all of its' B-24 bomb groups, did nit know the existence of a top secret B-24 group which was located about 100 miles southwest of Norwich, at an airbase named Harrington, bear the town of Kettering.
When the crews and support personnel of the 2nd Air Division were going to bed at night, prior to an early morning wakeup call for a mission briefing, the crews of the 801st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, were taking off from Harrington in their black painted B-24's for low level flights to secret drop areas in occupied Europe. A typical flight took off at 10-11 pm at night and returned about 4-5am in the morning.
The mission of the 801st Bomb Group (code name "Carpetbagger") was to drop spies/ saboteurs and military supplies into occupied countries to assist and develop resistance (underground) forces. These clandestine flights were in support of the American OSS (Offices of the Strategic Services) which was led by General "Wild Bill" Donovan.
This covert operation worked closely with the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) flying RAF aircraft from their bases at Tempsford. The high degree of security was such that only those personnel with a "need to know" were familiar with these operations.
The black B-24's had many modifications to adapt the planes for long night flights over enemy territory. The nose and ball turrets, and the two waist guns were removed, as well as all oxygen equipment. The nose section was enclosed with plexiglass. The pilotage navigator (former bombardier) sat at that location. In addition to doing pilotage navigation, he verbally assisted the pilot in lining up, at low altitude, with the target (drop zone). He also dropped the supply canisters (instead of bombs) and gave the dispatcher in the waist the signal to drop the agents. This was done through a trap door opening in the waist of the plane where the ball turret formerly had been located.
The navigator had an extra classified electronic navigational aids. There were flame dampeners on the exhaust manifolds of the engines. The pilot and co pilot had blister windows to enable them to look straight down. The pilot had a special radio altimeter that gave the height above the ground. It had two ranges, 0-400 feet and 0-4,000 feet. There were many other changes made to the aircraft to assist the crew in accomplishing its' mission undetected.
Each crew made its' own flight plan and route to be flown after checking flak maps and receiving a weather briefing. Altitudes to be flown varied from 400 to 7,000 feet. The pilots changed altitudes at their own discretion depending on terrain, visibility, weather conditions etc. Agents were dropped at 600 feet above ground and canisters were dropped at 400 feet. Airspeed was reduced to 130 MPH with half flaps during the approach for a drop.
A target (drop zone) was identified by three small fires in a row and by a prearranged Morse Code letter sent by flashlight from the downwind of the fires.
During May, 1944, the 788th Squadron from the 467th Bomb Group at Rackheath, Norfolk, and the 850th Squadron from the 490th Bomb Group at Eye, Suffolk were transferred into the 801st Bomb Group (Carpetbagger). This increased the number of night flying B-24 squadrons at Harrington from two to four, in anticipation of additional requirements prior to and after the invasion at Normandy on 6 June 1944.
I had an excellent eight man crew. My navigator, Lt. Bob Ricketts and my pilotage navigator (bombardier), Lt. Joe Fox, did superior jobs in getting us to and from our drop zones. We never missed finding any of them; we were successful on 27 of 29 missions. We did not drop our loads on two flights. On the first miss, the ground reception team was not at the drop site (we never were told later why they were not there); on the second unsuccessful drop, the wrong Morse Code letter was transmitted visually to us. We returned to base with a team of four U.S. agents that were to be dropped in south central France. Their objective was to support the Allied invasion forces moving northward from southern France.
The Carpetbaggers had missions to Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and France. Some crews, dressed in civilian clothing, flew across Norway and landed in neutral Sweden to drop off or pick up VIP's. Major William E. Colby, who in later years became director of our Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was dropped by a Carpetbagger aircraft in France during August 1944 and dropped again in Norway about March, 1945.
Some aircraft losses were caused by German night fighters and small caliber anti-aircraft guns. Some were also lost by mid-air collisions and aircraft hitting hillsides when flying too low. A couple were shot down by allied gunners after the invasion of France, and another was lost over Murmansk, Russia. This aircraft was severely damaged by German anti-aircraft fire over northern Norway. The crew elected to fly on to the "friendly" Russian port of Murmansk. Since the Russians did not have any flight information on the incoming aircraft, they shot it down. One aircraft was shot down at 3:00 o'clock in the morning, by a German night fighter, while on a training mission over England. Due to damaged parachutes on board, the navigator and pilotage navigator bailed out successfully, piggy back style, using only one chute.
I never knew how to close my plane came to being detected by enemy night fighters, hit by anti-aircraft fire or hitting the top of a hill (the radio altimeter could indicate the distance directly below an aircraft, but it could not detect a hill in front of the plane). I do know, however, that on a couple of missions, the sudden brilliance of German search lights scanning the sky looking for us got my immediate undivided attention. On two occasions, we got in the prop wash from unseen, undetected aircraft in front of us while on the final low altitude approach to drop sites. We finally detected one of them but never saw the second one. This was hard on the nerves, at least on mine.
An incident happened one night at Harrington that I have never forgotten. We had been briefed in the afternoon that our drop site was in Belgium and that we would be dropping two agents. As a general rule, air crews did not mingle with the agents to be dropped. I, as pilot, usually introduced myself to them, time permitting, and asked if they had any questions about the flight or drop.
As I approached he two agents, who were standing near the nose of the aircraft just prior to boarding, I noted that one of them was a lady about 20-25 years old. Just before I got to them, I saw their escort hand them some capsules. These capsules contained poison and were to be swallowed by the agents to kill themselves, if they so desired, if they were captured. If they were captured, they would have been tortured as spies and put to death by the Germans. Seeing this young lady voluntarily embark on such a dangerous mission, knowing the consequences if it failed, has been etched in my memory ever since.
In early August, 1944, the 492nd Bomb Group at North Pickenham, which had been flying high altitude day bombing missions in the 2nd Air Division, was deactivated. Immediately thereafter, the 8th Air Force, for administrative reasons, reassigned the group number 492, along with its' four squadron numbers, to the Carpetbagger operation. The 801st Bomb Group then became the 492nd Bomb Group at Harrington with all four of the old 492nd squadron numbers, 856th, 857th, 858th, and 859th.
To differentiae between the two 492nd Bomb Groups (the first, day bombing; the second, night flying Carpetbaggers), he present Carpetbagger Association is known as "The 801st/492nd Bomb Group Association, Carpetbaggers".
An excellent book has been written by Mr. Ben Parnell, entitled "Carpetbaggers"- America's Secret War in Europe. He wrote this book in memory of a brother who was killed on a Carpetbagger mission.
Major Kenneth L. Driscoll
U.S. Air Force- Retired
Feb. 94
