The 381st as a group, began under the command of Lt. Col. Joseph J. Nazzaro on January 1, 1943 in Peyote, TX. It was here that the four bomb squadrons (532, 533, 534, 535th) began their training together as a unit in preparation for war. By March 13, 1943 the group had completed it's first long range training mission together and shortly thereafter the group moved it's base to Pueblo, CO where final training missions were carried before the move overseas began May 2nd. On June 2nd the 381st established it's headquarters at Ridgewell, England on an old RAF airfield. Twenty days later the 381st flew their first wartime mission with twenty one B-17's targeting an airfield in Antwerp, Belgium.
A ceremony with RAF brass on August 2nd transferred the Ridgewell base to American control and it's American numbers and B-17's steadily increased.
Finally on August 17th the 381st participated in the infamous raid on the ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt, Germany putting up twenty two aircraft. Of those twenty two aircraft, eleven were lost as well as ten complete crews, one of the crews made it safely back to the Channel before ditching their damaged plane in the water. The 381st was officially now a part of the 8th Air Force.
April 25, 1945 marked the 381st's last mission. All in all the 381st completed 297 combat missions with Berlin bombed 20 times. They were officially credited for the destruction of 223 enemy aircraft, but members believe that number to be much higher. By the 297th mission they had dropped more than 22 thousand bombs.
November 3, 1943:
30 Missions
At its inception, B-17 crews were initially required to complete 25 combat missions. Hit the 25 mark and you were done. Crews consisted of 10 members in varying capacities. Due to a high attrition rate and the addition of fighter escorts later on in the war, the 25 combat mission target was increased to 30 and eventually B-17 crews lost a waist gunner bringing a crew number down to 9.
By the time 2nd Lt. Austin Simmons arrived at Ridgewell the 30 combat mission rule had gone into effect.
Below are his missions as recorded by Cpl. Ray Ingham.
March 4, 1944 2nd Lt. Austin Simmons arrives at Avon Park Army Air Field, Florida for B-17 Pilot and Co-Pilot training. This is his first formal introduction to the plane that will define his military career.
May 26, 1944 He is issued orders to transfer to Hunter Fld, GA on May 28, 1944 reporting upon arrival to Combat Crew Center, Third Air Force Staging Wing for assignment to Project No. 3AF MY-39.
Crew No. 2 consists of:
P 2nd Lt. 1091 Simmons, Austin W
CP F.O 1091 Muth, Arthur E., JR
CN 2nd Lt. 1034 Motto, John J.
B 2nd Lt. 1035 Keller, George E.
S/Sgt 748 Johnson, Angus N.
S/Sgt 757 Myers, Charles T.
Sgt 612 Groll, Victor H., Jr.
Sgt 611 Monahan, Richard E.
Sgt 748 Sewell, Michael A.
S/Sgt 611 Gray, Robert W.
F/O Arthuth E. Muth, Lt. John J. Motto, Lt. Austin Simmons, Lt. George F. Keller, Lt. Marken (sp?)
Ridgewell, England 1944
Lt. Simmons at Ridgewell waiting for his 535th insignia jacket. Here he's wearing 'Burt's' jacket.
July 14. Three new crews were assigned today: 2nd Lts Edwin L. Stuart, Norman M. Jones, Harry E. Richards, Burton N. Newell, Jr.; S/Sgts Thomas H. Sprung, Peter A. Haramzian, Sgts Alvis D. Kindall, Roy E. Long, Millard C. Neely and Louis A. Perrilloux.
2nd Lts John J. O'Connor, Arthur E. Rehm, James Scott, Stanley A. Milewski; S/Sgts Arthur J. DiMartile, John E. Riley, Sgts Frank W. Brown, Marion O. Heilman, James C. Smith and Ralph T. Stout.
535th Bomb Squadron ID photos:
2nd Lt Austin W. Simmons his crew: F/O Arthuth E. Muth, Jr., 2nd Lts John J. Motto, George F. Keller; S/Sgts Charles T. Myers, Robert W. Gray, Sgt Victor H. Groll, S/Sgt Angus N. Johnson, Sgts Richard E. Monohan and Michael A. Sewell.
AW Simmons on the left outside of the 535th Bomb Squad Operations Bldg, Ridgewell, England.
As you can see from the flight order, Lt. Simmons quickly rose up quickly, not only in rank but also position within the mission until his crew became lead plane. You'll also note that as he gained more and more respect from his commanding officers they quickly flocked to his crew when required to participate on missions. It seemed that either due to skill or sheer luck, Austin Simmons had a reputation for bringing crew members and planes back alive.
First Mission-July 20. In perfect weather but rocked by intense and accurate flak, ten 535th pilots and crews participated in the group's attack on an aircraft engine facory at Dessau. Bombing results looked like PA1. Our fighter escort was perfect and no enemy aircraft showed up. No claims, no casualties.
Pilots for today were: Lts Beackley, Myerscough, Tuz, Demagalski, Rollins, Dann, Marbury, Miller, Metts and Davison.
Capt Saul B. Schwartz, squadron S-2 and Group and Station Public Relations Officer and Historian, today received the Bronze Star medal, most recently authorized military decoration, for a year's "meritorious achievement" as a PRO. So for 15 years' newspaper experience - it tends to make good public relations men.
July 24. Today's mission, in support of American ground action south of St Lo, France, brought forth what should be called a maximum effort even in these days of growing bomb groups. We put 54 ships up from the group, with the 535th providing 13 of them.
Lts Schobert and Gnatzig led one group to a tactical target lightly defended by flak. Bombing results - with the job done on a grid plan - remain in doubt. This is fairly new stuff for us.
A year ago we had perhaps 30 ships flyable, or less if losses over nearly two months' operations are considered. Now we put up, without straining too much, the equivalent of the old combat wing. Three battle groups fly from our group almost every mission now. Participating today, in addition to the leaders were: Lts Beackley, Tuz, Myerscough, Rollins, Herman, Dann, Miller, Metts, Demagalski, Davison, Marbury and Lang.
July 29. Back to the same target, at Merseburg (Germany), over the same route today. The weather was worse, if possible, than yesterday, but breaking clear over the target. However, Jerry had the big, thick smoke pots out all over the place, so the boys bombed PFF anyway. We experienced little trouble, although flak was heavy to our left. A wing ahead was jumped by 40-50 enemy fighters.
Participating squadron pilots were: Lts Schobert and Barnicle; Tuz, Marbury, English, Hermann, Lang, Simmons, Davison and Stuart, with Lt Broderick flying in the lead PFF ship again.
August 1. The squadron put up 10 crews and nine Forts for today's double-target mission to Meulan/Villa and Etampes/Mondesare, airfields, in France. Three hit Etampes and seven went with the Meulan contingent. Flak caused little trouble and there were no enemy fighters encountered or seen. Bombing results were undetermined.
Participating pilots were: Lts Beackley, Lang, Hermann, Albers, Stuart, Demagalski, Simmons, Todd, Miller and Hatherley.
August 6. The group lost a Fort from one of the other squadrons today as our ships attacked an aircraft plant at Brandenburg, 25 miles SE of Berlin. Major Briggs, 534th, led the formation which circled Berlin to line up for an excellent visual run on the target in perfect weather for good results.
No enemy aircraft attacked our ships, although some of the men reported seeing dogfights between Jerry and escorting fighters at a great distance as this group came off the bomb run. Today was the outfit's 166th accomplished mission out of 276 alerted or briefed.
Nine squadron crews and 11 Forts participated. Major Briggs used "Sunkist Special", Johnny Dirrane's PFF leader for the fourth trip in as many days. The 533rd borrowed another. Our pilots were: Lts Beackley, Lang, Miller, Rollins, Hatherley, Roberts, Jarvill, Simmons and Stuart.
August 7. The group put up 51 Forts, the top mark to date, for a two-target attack near Paris. Lt Gnatzig led the squadron with the formation that attacked St Florentine, south east of the city. The second contingent struck at Bourron-Malott, due south. In both cases the target was oil storage tanks.
There was light flak, which caused neither group any trouble, going in and bombing results are believed to have been good in both cases. No flak at all in the target areas and no fighter opposition.
Squadron pilots were: Lts Beackley (with Gnatzig), Marbury, Demagalski, Metts, Simmons, O'Connor, Todd, Hatherley and Jarvill.
August 8. The group went in for infantry support today, with Col Halsey leading a combat wing to bomb German lines near Caen. This is a direct tie-up effort with the British-Canadian offensive in the Caen sector. Germans have been trying for two days to cut out a wedge between the British and Canadian units and ours in the Avranches sector, but have been held so far. The Allies are tying up a great amount of German armor here while Gen. Patton runs the right end, threatening to encircle the German Seventh Army where it fights.
Our planes bombed from under 14,000 ft today and flak was rugged. Capt Barnicle, flying deputy to Major Halsey, is down somewhere behind Allied lines but as yet not definitely reported. The boys saw gun flashes, convoys and vehicles on the ground near where they bombed. However tracking flak, which holed most of the ships but caused no casualties, kept them ducking in the target area, which was designated simply by co-ordinates.
Certainly we could use a stand down, for maintenance purposes. The ships are flying flak patches. Today's is the sixth consecutive mission, most of them rough for flak.
Pilots today were: Lts Yates (with Halsey), Beackley (with Barnicle), Demagalski, Dann, Simmons, Stallings, Roberts, Miller and Sweetland.
August 11. This morning was clear and warm, with an absolutely cloudless sky. Planes did not take off until 14.30 hrs, however, scheduled for a 17.00 hrs ETA. The target was harbor installations and fortifications across from Brest. The mission was ideal, with neither flak nor fighters to oppose our bombing.
The primary objective was the fortification from which beseiged Germans have been lobbing shells over Brest on top of American troops trying to take the city. Bombing was good and the men returned satisfied they had done a good support job.
Capt Gnatzig led one contingent. Other squadron pilots were: Lts Demagalski, Stallings, Simmons, Davison, Hermann, Metts, Stuart and Sweetland.
B-17 formation over England taken by AW Simmons.
August 14. Col Halsey, who led a combat wing today, called the operation the "perfect mission", as our group hit the Metz/Frescaty airfield in clear weather unopposed. Neither enemy fighters or flak stood in the way, and Col Halsey emphasised the fact to his bombardiers were able to pick up their targets more than 20 miles away. Everyone made the distance without incident, escorted fully all the way.
This has been a hot, gorgeous day throughout, just the sort of weather we've needed from D-Day on. The sky is filled with the thunder of planes - Havoc, Forts, Marauders, Libs, by day, and the RAF by night. Everything's thundering eastward.
Pilots who participated were: Lts Yates (with Halsey), Myerscough (with Gnatzig), Miller, Hatherley, Long, Todd, Simmons, Stuart and Davison.
August 16. In CAVU weather and meeting only moderate, but accurate flak, the 532nd led 36 group Forts to a PA1 bombing of an aircraft assembly plant on the north edge of Halle, Germany today. Fighters hit the wing behind ours, downing five before the area escort got back there. This was in the target area, but we were not attacked all day.
The boys figure it was quite a day for everyone. Men report seeing eight or more targets down the west side of Leipzig hit hard and smoking or burning heavily. One officer reported noticing what at first looked like a flak battery firing at our formation, suddenly he realized he was flying directly over a newly-hit ammunition dump, still burning and exploding, throwing off heavy smoke.
This squadron sent nine crews and ten Forts, with Lt Angevine, mickey-navigator, flying in the deputy lead ship with the 532nd. Our pilots were: Lts Myerscough (with Gnatzig), Davison, Simmons, Hatherly, Stallings, Marbury, Stuart, Todd and Long.
August 25. Our Forts took off at 08.30 hrs today for an attack on the Focke-Wulf assembly plant located on the edge of a wood on the north of the airfield at Neubrandenburg, near the western Baltic Sea. Flak was moderate to meagre going in and none of it was aimed at our formation. Weather was fair but there were some clouds and haze.
The escort was perfect and the bombing believed to be PA2, with some patterns a bit of centre, but the location of the target, with the camouflaging effect of the woods, made accurate observation of results difficult.
These nine pilots participated: Lts Demagalski, Stallings, Stuart, Long, Tuz, Jarvill, Davison, Todd and Simmons.
August 26. Lt Col Halsey this morning led an 09.00 hrs take-off on a mission to Gelsenkirchen, in the Ruhr Valley; our first trip to the "Happy Valley" in some time. Flak was heavy but our ships weathered it well. Lt Nevius bombed visually through broken clouds, into the smoke of a previous attack, No fighter opposition but we had a mammoth escort.
Taking part were: Lts Yates (with Col Halsey), Marbury, Roberts, Mitchell, Todd, Stallings, Hatherley, Davison and Simmons.
August 27. The 532nd led today's mission, briefed for Berlin, but bad weather over the Continent imposed the necessity for choosing a target of opportunity, Emden, which was bombed by PFF. Flak was bad, with enemy gunners working by radar. Many ships returned with battle damage, one, in another squadron, with one dead and four wounded aboard. This squadron had no casualties. There were no enemy fighters and bombing results undetermined.
Participating were: Lts Stallings (with Gnatzig as squadron lead), Metts Stuart, Davison, Simmons, Myerscough, Long, Jarvill and Mitchell. We borrowed four ships from other squadrons.
Combat officers recently promoted were 2nd Lts: Howard M. Carter, Fred Davison, James F. Grey, Jack A. Keating, Robert O. Long, Edwin W. O'Neill, Austin W. Simmons, Charles P. Stormer and Edwin L. Stuart, all to 1st Lts.
Note: This order/promotion was issued on paper August 21st.
September 1. Squadron Forts took off with the group formation for Ludwigshafen this morning but the efforts was recalled while planes were over France. Weather was the cause.
September 3. The group attacked synthetic oil refineries at Ludwigshafen today through a 10/10th undercast, bombing by PFF. Flak was moderate and accurate at the target but no enemy aircraft were encountered.
Participating pilots were: Lts Stallings (with Capt Barnicle), Myerscough, Jarvill, O'Connor, Todd, Stuart, Roberts, Simmons and Max Miller. "Mickey" operators 1st Lts Broderick and Angevine flew in 534th lead ships.
AW Simmons in the pilot's seat of his B-17.
September 8. Seven squadron Forts and nine crews participated in today's PFF attack on Ludwigshafen. Bombing was accomplished through solid undercast, with no enemy aircraft to oppose the job, flak moderate to intense in the target area and our escort numerous, but occupied, if at all, only with stragglers.
Our pilots were: Capt Yates (with Col Halsey as combat winger leader), Lts Stallings (with Capt Gnatzig), Myerscough, Lang, Hatherley, Todd, Smith, Bowser and Simmons. We flew two 532nd ships and the 533rd borrowed one of ours.
September 9. Today's PFF missions took the crews to Mannheim, where, unopposed by enemy aircraft, and in the face of moderate flak, bombardiers worked through solid undercast.
Participating were: Lts Stallings (with Major Taylor as observer), Metts, Davison, Jarvill, Hatherley, Mitchell, Marbury, Smith, Bowser, Todd, Lang and Thornton. We furnished 11 of the 12 ships our pilots flew.
Note: Austin W. Simmons flew as co-pilot on this mission.
September 17. In support of the 1st Airborne Division's invasion of Holland in the Eindhoven-Arnhem area, the squadron sent 11 crews with the group's formation which bombed enemy tanks and gun emplacements with good results. There were neither flak nor enemy fighters to stop our bombardiers. The operation was carried out by individual squadrons, each hitting an assigned area.
**Leading the squadron was Major Taylor, flying with 1st Lt Simmons; other pilots being: Lts Myerscough, Tuz, Long, O'Connor, Stuart, Lingenfelter, Bowser, Thornton, Clark and Marbury.
September 27. Back to PFF and no observations today, with nine of our crews bombing Cologne, hoping for the marshalling yards. Flak was meagre to moderate, while there were no enemy fighters.
**Today's pilots were: Lts Simmons (with Major Taylor), Myerscough, Lingenfelter, Max Miller, Thornton, Bowser, Rojohn, Levitoff and Clark.
October 6. Col Leber, flying in the squadron's PFF, "Sunkist Special", led the air division to Stralsund today, with an 08.00 hrs take off in cool, clear weather. The group his Stralsund because fighter weather scouts put the nix on attacking Stettin, the primary. Our bombs hit a bridge near a power station on the river at Stralsund, a last resort target. There were no enemy fighters and flak worth mentioning.
Flying for the squadron were: Lts Stuart, Marbury, Lingenfelter, Lang, Clark, Metts, Bowser, Jarvill and Simmons, who flew a 534th ship.
October 15. Back to the marshalling yards at Cologne today, with the Eighth Air Force heavies in greater strength than the Force attacking the same target yesterday. Same sory -PFF bombing; results unobserved, flak moderate and fairly accurate and no enemy aircraft to contest the operation.
Flying for the squadron were: Lts Simmons, Davison, Miller, Springmeyer, O'Connor, Levitoff, Osborne, Sweetland and Lingenfelter. We lent the 532nd a ship and they returned the compliment.
October 25. It was back to action when Hamburg was attacked PFF by our Forts today, with heavy flak ringing the formation at bombs away, but doing little if any damage. The was no aerial opposition.
Our pilots were: Lts Simmons, Smith, Marbury, Miller, Jarvill, Stuart, Bowser, Lingenfelter and Osborne.
Note: October 31. Stand down last night, weather cold and grey today.S/Sgt Harold W. Hofer finished up yesterday and is the first man in the group to do so without receiving the old automatic DFC for tour of duty, under ruling which recently demanded combat men have 20 missions by 17 Sept 1944 to qualify for the automatic decoration. Missions, it's apparently figured, are getting easier. Jerry still has flak, but higher HQ seldom sees it.
November 2. (Not Listed Under Flight/Combat Log For Some Reason, but looks like he may have gone to the Hospital ‘rest home’). While the Eighth AF heavies today set a record for enemy aircraft destroyed in the air (first report says 208) in attacks on oil refineries near Merseburg and Leipzig, but we had a stand down. The day was clear, with weather improving through a warm sunny afternoon to a clear night.
Personnel notes: Lt Todd's crew returned from rest homes and Lt Simmons' crew made the reverse trip; Sgt Kenneth D. Shaw was promoted S/Sgt and Cpls Louis E. Turner and Robert J. Harris to Sgt. Capt Richard Tansey returned from a 7-day leave.
November 15. (Listed In Flight/Combat Log As Nov 16th). Another tactical operation today, this time in support of Gen Simpson's Ninth Army, and Gen Lodge's First Army, attempting a breakthrough in the Duren-Eschweiler area, near Aachen. Bombing was PFF with briefed release arranged to send explosives down seven to 20 miles ahead of our lines. The run met some flak but ships returned without mentional battle damage, coming in at 14.15 hrs to a "feeler" landing in bad haze.
The squadron sent nine crews flown by Lts: Simmons, Mitchell, Lang, Sweetland, Springmeyer, Bowser, Beine, Rojohn and Stuart.
November 29. The group led the Air Division to Misburg, to accomplish a 10/10th PFF bombing against oil refineries there. Some meagre flak was encountered before the I.P. but there was none on the bomb run or at bombs away. It seems our group managed to slip in between two big flak barrages, with a group behind us catching some of the second offering fairly heavily. No enemy aircraft showed up and our vast escort had another free ride of it.
The target attacked was briefed as secondary, with the primary at Dollbeggen, a tiny village 22 miles east of Hannover, and home of an oil storage depot. Dollbeggen could be attacked visually only. Last resort would have been the city of Osnabruck.
We furnished nine crews and 11 ships, the pilots being: Capt Scarborough, Lts O'Connor, Springmeyer, Stuart, Beine, Osborne, Rojohn, Clark and Thornton. The 532nd used "Sunkist Special" and 533rd "Me and My Gal."
December 11. Fortresses took off at 06.30 hrs, in clear, cold, damp weather, for an attack on the Ludwigshafen-Mannheim railroad bridge. The target was attacked by GH through 10/10th undercast. Weather was fair up to half an hour before the target when clouds and haze forced the group to sacrifice altitude for the bombing.
Flak was meagre but accurate and cost the 532nd a crew and ship, which exploded under a direct hit in the target area.
The squadron had no aborts in this largest daylight mission (1,600 US heavies over the Reich). Our pilots were: Lts Simmons (with Capt Scarborough), Mitchell, Rojohn, O'Connor, McGriffin, Springmeyer, Greenspan, Robuck and Malleus.
1945
Taken right before a mission. He has a piece of hard candy in his mouth that was given to them for good luck.
January 5. Today's mission illustrates that remark about the Weather man being on Adolph's side: nine of our crews took off with the group, 534th leading, but Lt Nugent was forced to abort in "Los Angeles City Limits". The rest went on in VACU heaven, heading for the railhead at Heimbach, Germany. They could see everything above and below to a point about four miles from the target. There they found a nice fat cloud cover over Heimbach, which isn't very big anyway.
So they attacked via GH (radio beams), sending in a PBO strike message. Those clouds offered every bit of opposition there was, for nary a Jerry showed up in a flying machine and if there's a flak gun at Heimbach, it's crew was out for a short one when our planes came over.
All the way over and back for the squadron were: Simmons (leader), O'Connor (section lead), Bowser (flight lead), Sweetland, Greenspan, Robuck, Williamson and Grobe.
Lt peters and all of his bail-out crew but Sgt Chris Gianopulous, radionman, returned to the base via C-47 at 19.15 hrs. There bomber was hit by flak over Koblenz, on Jan 1, but they got her over near Metz before Peters ordered them to bail out. All landed safely but the radio operator, who broke a leg. The rest came down near an American airstrip near Metz. Sgt Knaus, tail gunner, was popped at by a business-meaning truck load of engineers, whose backyard had been strafed by
Jerry only a few hours earlier. They took him for a German paratrooper (so they said) and were shooting first, asking afterward. Fortunately for Knaus their truck was moving and their aim was not the best. The crew was flown home by a B-24 and the Dakota.
Further reports say all of Smith's crew is OK and on the way home, but that S/Sgt Hallstrom and Lt Simpson, of Clark's crew, are seriously wounded and hospitalized in France. Hallstrom has had a leg amputated, and will be shipped home as soon as possible. Simpson will be hospitaized some time. None of this is official. Reports from the continent through channels (It has to be suspected that the English Channel is one of them!) take some time.
January 13. Despite the day being cold, damp and heavily overcast, our bombers took off at 09.30 hrs to attack a bridge at Germersheim, nine from our squadron. Weather was excellent all the way in but - it's beginning to look like fate or some damn thing ! - one solid cloud patch covered the target, necessitating a GH bombing with unobserved results from up front.
However, rear element gunners, including some of ours, said they saw bomb bursts bracketing one end of the bridge. This structure crosses the Rhine, was one of several under attack by Eighth Air Force heavies. Flak was meagre and accurate over the target, and there were no enemy aircraft about.
Participating were: Lts Simmons (with Capt Scarborough - section lead), O'Connor (section lead), Greenspan (flight lead), Robuck, Nugent, Malleus, Clark, Williamson and Kuhns.
The planes landed in heavy blowing mists which made the job a difficult one. Everyone came in safely, though, and our first were dropping in about 15.30 hrs.
About 15.30 yesterday a heavy explosion was felt here; another this morning at 07.15. We're still lucky, but the papers are full of deliberately underplayed stories on the toll V-2's are taking.
January 21. Col Leber, group commander, finished up on this one and was awarded the Silver Star on the spot at interrogation by Brig Gen William Gross, 1st Combat Bomb Wing commander. The target was Aschaffenberg, which was attacked on instruments in the face of moderate flak. One crew in the group is missing.
Squadron pilots participating were: Lts Simmons (lead, with Col Leber on Sunkist Special), Mitchell (section lead), Rojohn (flight lead), Stevens, Malleus, Peters, Wulf, Kuhns and Williamson.
In a peel off accident in the traffic pattern just before landing, two ships collided, "Egg Haid" and "Schnozzle", the separate wrecks landing about a mile, in each case, behind Tilbury Fox pub, east of the base. No one survived on either crew.
February 7. (Promotion) Pilots Austin W. Simmons and Charles O. Todd Jr., have been promoted from 1st Lt to Captain.
Note: This order/promotion was issued on paper February 3rd.
February 16. Flak was fairly intense for our 250th mission, to Langendreer today as nine squadron ships participated with the group in bombing an oil plant and fuel dump there. Contrails were bad going over and targets were covered with haze, but bombardiers got away good hits on the dump and refinery, although many bombs were badly scattered. Also hit (unbriefed) was the marshalling yard at Langendreer. Other targets were slightly north of the town.
No Luftwaffe appeared again to trouble our pilots who were: Lts (Cpt??) Simmons, Mitchell, Malleus, Clarke, Beine, Stevens, Springmeyer, Nugent and Schlosser. The 532nd had two men wounded.
February 20. The group, with nine of our crews participating, attacked the railroad station at Nurnberg today, bombing through 10/10th clouds, again with unobserved results, in the face of moderate and inaccurate flak. No enemy fighters showed up, our escort was good and all returned safely.
Strictly speaking only eight of our ships bombed Nurnberg, one dropped on Staden, Germany. This was Lt Stevens, in "Pair of Queens", who lost two engines, dropped out of formation, bombed and returned early. He and his crew got credit for a mission. The others were: Capt Simmons (with Major Krieger), Lts Peters, Bowser, Nugent, Clark, Cotea, Hawley and O'Neil.
February 25. The group attacked the marshalling yards at Munich today, visually, in the face of moderate and accurate flak with very good results. No enemy aircraft, good escort. Jerry's attempt to smokescreen the yards backfired on him when the wind shifted blowing smoke away from instead of over the yards. Bombardiers were able to pick out the objective miles away, very satisfying experience for a change.
Participating were: Capt Simmons (with Major Kreiger), Lts Mitchell, Robuck, Stevens, Hawley, Murphy, Peters, Bowler and Schlosser. The latter landed in Belgium, no report yet, but probably OK.
It is interesting to note that the wrong-way smokescreen interfered with German AA batteries, so that flak did not come up until after the group had bombed.
The End March 6. Non-operational again today, following a stand down order last night.
These tour finished combat men left for home: Capt Austin W. Simmons, S/Sgt Charles R. VanBuskirk, James C. Smith, Merlin K. Klein and Alfred G. Medsey (?).
Cpt. Simmons mission log:
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