OUT OF THE DESERT

WIENER NEUSTADT (13 August 1943):

The airplanes damaged at Ploesti were soon repaired. Rivets were in short supply and some non-structural patches were made using small bolts. The desert was hot and dry. The air crews were anxious to start flying again. I spent lots of time at the airplane. We decided to make an unauthorized modification to add additional ammunition for the waist guns. We used parts salvaged from Tom Conroy's airplane which still lay on its belly on the other side of the runway. We fabricated two boxes which we installed over the wing and used flexible tracks to feed the ammunition to the waist guns.

Many airplanes, including Blonds Away, were blowing lots of oil from engine crankcase breather pipes. The oil blown from the inboard engines collected on the vertical tails and after the long Ploesti mission, many airplanes had oil dripping from the bottom of the fins. In addition to the dust from operations, the area had been subjected to a three day "khamsin" wind from the desert. At the start of the wind, we had stuffed anything we could find around the engine air inlets and other places to try and keep the gritty dust out of the airplane. The dust from the desert had worn the engines and especially the sleeve bearings for the gear driven superchargers. The air pressure from the intake manifold caused air to leak through the bearing into the crankcase and blow from the breather pipe, taking oil droplets with it. We worked throughout the airplane cleaning out the dust the best we could and trying to insure that the airplane was in the best possible condition. On 5 August, 1943, our leaders scheduled a high altitude formation training flight. The group commanding officer, Jack Wood, insisted on tight formation flying and felt that the low-altitude training and the Ploesti mission had left us deficient. The next day, 6 August, the group flew a high altitude practice mission of 3.3 hours duration. The group was briefed, took off, assembled, climbed and flew over the Gulf of Sidra, let down and landed back at our base. The temperature was well below freezing at our flight altitude. We appreciated our winter flying clothes and oxygen masks. After we landed, the ground crew planned to enjoy ice water from canteens they had hidden in the airplane. As the water got cold, crystals of minerals formed and it was not the expected treat.

There was little to do in the evenings. The navigator and bombardier frequently argued. They debated the worth of the navigator compared with the bombardier on the crew. Bill and I were tired of the bickering. One evening, Charlie was lying on his cot. Herb was cleaning his forty-five caliber automatic pistol when he accidently fired a round which hit the ground not far from Charlie's head. Charlie apparently thought Herb had tried to kill him. Charlie started to plead with Herb not to kill him. This incident convinced Bill to come down hard on Herb and Charlie and stop the senseless arguments. Herb realized the impact his statements were having on Charlie and stopped making senseless comments.

There was actually quite a bit of animal life in the desert. In addition to the millions of "Ferbies", there were lots of scorpions. Even though we shook out our blankets, we would occasionally get stung by them. This was very painful, but we soon learned that yelling did not do any good so when we crawled under our blankets and got stung, we would knock the scorpion from our beds and just grit our teeth for a few minutes. We had a pup tent pitched for our baggage. Someone picked up a bag and noticed a small animal in a burrow beneath the bag. We learned this was a hedgehog. It seemed harmless so we left it alone. In a few days, it gave birth to several baby hedgehogs, each looking like half of a small cucumber with spines. The baby hedgehogs made a little jump when threatened. After a few days, this family vanished into the desert.

We were briefed on 9 August for a combat mission to Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The target was the Steyr Daimler-Puch Werke (Engineering), a major factory for building Bf 109s. The planned mission was to fly north across the Mediterranean Sea, pass between the "heel" of Italy and the coast of Albania, across Yugoslavia, and the very corner of Hungary into Austria. The return route was to fly to Pescara, Italy, crossing Italy between Rome and Naples, then across the Tyrrhenian Sea passing between Sicily and Sardinia on our way to a landing in Tunisia. The mission seemed very long and the pilots felt concern as it was not possible to fly that distance with any appreciable head wind. The mission planners noted with the expected weather pattern during the sumner, we would have a tail wind both going and returning. We were also concerned about enemy fighters as we crossed Italy. We were told there were mostly Italian Air Force fighter units in that area and they were believed to feel that the war was about over for them and would not be aggressive. Since the plan was to remain overnight in Tunisia, we were instructed to take blankets with us. We also took "K" rations to eat along the way.

The mission was cancelled that evening. Some of the groups were still attempting to get airplanes ready. We went back to our relaxed desert schedule for the next three days. We organized target shooting in the desert including the British sergeant from the anti-aircraft gun crew. We were careful to check out where we walked across the desert and to view any equipment with suspicion as we frequently heard about booby traps. We shot up lots of ammunition. The British sergeant was concerned when his Thompson sub-machine gun broke and he was worried how he would explain this to his officer. We took the gun to our armament shop and it was repaired in a few minutes.

Various German and Italian vehicles had been salvaged and placed in operation. Charlie Weinberg, bought a heavy German Army BMW motorcycle from someone who had picked it up out in the desert. The Germans abandoned many vehicles when they ran out of fuel. The German soldiers were supposed to destroy abandoned vehicle, but the motorcycle was untouched. Charlie had no idea how to get the motorcycle in operation. We looked it over and discovered that an intake manifold gasket was not sealing and the fuel line from the tank to the carburetor had split (due to the heat of the desert). We found a piece of hose we could adapt and made a gasket from a "K" ration box. There was plenty fuel available from a captured German fuel dump where thousands of barrels of fuel in drums just smaller than U.S. fifty-five gallon size had been buried in the sand. The German fuel was too low octane for good operation in American vehicles but worked fine in the Italian and German trucks which had been salvaged. Charlie's motorcycle started "on the first kick" after we completed the repairs. We all took turns riding it on the base.

We were told late in the afternoon on 12 August that there would be no mission the next day. Charlie Weinberg, our navigator, took this as an opportunity to drink a bottle of cognac he had purchased at the hotel in Cyprus and saved for just such an occasion. Late in the evening, we were told there would be a mission the next day. We went to work and loaded four one-thousand pound bombs in our airplane and saw that the tanks were full and the oxygen system serviced.

We went to the briefing before daylight. The mission was the same as briefed three days earlier, to Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Some were concerned about the possibility he mission might have been "leaked" by this time and that the Germans would be ready.

Part way through the briefing, Charlie Weinberg whispered to me that he did not feel well. He then stood up and toppled over, like a tree falling. The medics carried him out of the briefing. A spare navigator, 2nd Lt. J. E. Williams was assigned to our crew. The flight surgeon told us Charlie had passed out from the effects of drinking the cognac the previous evening and that he had been taken to our tent and laid on his cot. The surgeon said he would look in on Charlie during the day, but would likely still be laying there when we got back. (He was!)

The replacement navigator said he was pleased to be flying with an experienced crew. He had not flown on Ploesti. Bill Nading and I did not consider the function of the navigator to be too important, especially for this mission. We would be flying in formation in good weather and we always cross-checked the navigator in any case.

Bill Nading had not been feeling well for several days. After we were at the airplane, Bill asked how I felt and if I thought I could fly most of the mission. We were assigned to fly on the left wing of the second element in the second section so I had already assumed I would be flying most of the time since it was easier for the copilot to fly in that position. I told Bill I could handle the flying and was secretly excited to be given this opportunity. (When we got back to England two weeks later, Bill found he had an abscessed tooth. It was removed and he soon felt much better.)

The 389th Bomb Group had twenty-three airplanes take off on this mission. Our airplane lifted off at 07:19 AM. All four of our generators failed during the takeoff. Al Nix was busy under the flight deck and soon had three of the generators back on the line. He could not repair the fourth. I moved into position in the formation and we departed Africa on the longest mission of World War II flown to this date.

One airplane aborted before leaving the coast. The airplane had a fuel leak caused by a gas cap not being fastened properly. He returned to the base where the cap was repaired, but could not catch up with the formation. Another airplane aborted with three generators out. Another airplane aborted due to an overheating engine. Five airplanes dropped out leaving eighteen in our formation.

It was exciting to see the "heel" of Italy and the coast of Albania. From our high altitude (probably about 20,000 feet), the shapes looked just like the maps. There were no enemy airplanes. We could see oil collecting on the bottom of the nacelle on the right outboard engine. It would run back in long streaks and blow off in small drops. Other airplanes had black nacelles and vertical tails from excess oil consumption. It was enjoyable to fly in tight formation. I had studied cruise control procedures and unlike some pilots could stay in formation using the supercharger controls which allowed the throttles to stay in their most efficient position, wide open. I experimented with making tiny adjustments using just the inboard supercharger controls. I knew to keep the manifold pressure high by reducing engine RPMs as the airplane got lighter.

I looked at Bill from time to time and he slumped in his seat and was content to let me run the airplane. We kept the crew at a high level of alertness with regular intercom checks. We were relieved to be over Yugoslavia without seeing any airplanes from fighter units in Italy.

After crossing the mountains of Yugoslavia, we could see the flat countryside around Wiener Neustadt ahead of us. The groups in front were turning at the IP. We were a little behind so our group leader turned just before reaching the IP so our bomb run was a few degrees to the left of their path. Our bomb run was on a heading of 292 degrees and lasted for 120 seconds. Our formation was tight and smooth as we flew toward the target.

We could see heavy anti-aircraft fire along the briefed path to the target. We imagined the Germans knew the flight path and had positioned guns at that location. We received very little anti-aircraft fire into our group until we got close to the target. The bombing appeared to be accurate and the report states, "all large buildings have been hit, more or less severely". The sortie reports mention light flak and uneager fighters. Only one crew reported flak damage and it was minor. The 389th Bomb Group left the target with its airplanes still in a tight formation.

As we approached Pescara, Italy, the formation descended to about 12,000 feet. Ahead of us were large cumulus buildups over the mountains of Italy. Everyone was flying under conditions of minimum fuel consumption thinking of the long distance to go to Tunisia. The formation loosened up as we started to fly between the thunderstorms over the mountains. We came around one such build-up and saw a black three-engine Italian transport airplane (Savoia-Marchetti?) at the same altitude headed toward us. He made a sharp turn and headed away from us. We gave a moments thought to chasing it, but knew it was much more important to conserve fuel and watch out for enemy fighters. We crossed Italy in about half an hour without seeing any hostile action and we were soon away from the coast over the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The airplanes spread out and flew individually the rest of the way to Tunisia. The coast of Tunisia was a welcome sight and our navigation was accurate. The oil pressure on our right outboard engine started to fluctuate as we crossed the coast. I decided to feather the propeller, but the feathering action did not occur even with repeated pressing of the red feathering button. I closed the throttle to prevent the engine RPM from getting too high as the governor lost control of the propeller. We could see the airfield where we were to land ahead of us. As we approached the field, I dropped the landing gear and set up for a three engine landing. On final approach, the oil pressure on another engine started to fluctuate. I was lined up with the runway and landed without needing any power. As soon as we were safely on the ground, I put the mixtures for the two engines which had run out of oil into idle-cut-off to prevent damage. We taxied in and parked.

Al Nix, the flight engineer, and I scrambled out on the wing to check the oil and found that the thirty-gallon oil tanks for two engines were completely empty. We had flown for 12.3 hours, much of it at high altitude where the supercharged air bled through the worn sleeve bearings into the crankcase and carried away oil vapor and droplets from the crankcase. We checked the fuel and found we had over five hundred gallons left. It turned out we used less fuel than any other airplane on the mission. My efforts at cruise control resulted in less fuel consumption.

We serviced the airplane using about ninety gallons of oil. We filled the main fuel tanks and the airplane was ready to leave in the morning for our home base. Bill Nading thanked me for doing a good job. I was so tired that I ate some "K" rations and took a blanket and went to sleep, laying on the ground by the landing gear of the airplane. I had flown almost the entire mission by myself.

We learned that some airplanes had ditched in the ocean or tried to land on the beach. Others had landed in wheat fields between the coast and the airfield. We decided this mission was too marginal and hoped we would never need to fly another mission this tight on range. Some of our leaders noted the fuel economy on Blonds Away and I ended up arguing with some of the more senior pilots about the technique I used of keeping the throttles wide open and doing the more difficult task of flying formation by adjusting supercharger power.

The two engines which ran out of oil had shown no other distress so we decided to leave the engine checks to when we started up to return to Bengasi. The engines started normally and operated normally on our pre-f light. The flight back to Berka 4 took 5.3 hours. After reaching our base, Al Nix and I climbed out on the wing and checked the oil consumption on the right outboard engine and decided we would not be able to fly any mission of more than ten hours unless the engine was replaced. We reported this fact. We also discussed the fact the propeller would not feather and quickly realized that there was no provision for oil other than from the main tank to be used by the feathering pump. Tom Landrum and I discussed the problem and prepared a redline "UR" (unsatisfactory report) describing the design defect. All the airplanes were eventually modified to include a "stand pipe" in the oil tank which would leave about one gallon of oil for the feathering pump in the event the engine used up the rest of the oil. This was the first of many "URs" I prepared during my later career as an engineering officer and test pilot.

I enjoyed working with the Group Engineering Officer, Tom Landrum, the line chiefs and the crew chiefs in solving technical problems. I thought about my contribution as helping to get the job done and to keep the airplanes flying. It was exciting as a young pilot to have association with capable people in the technical field. It was disturbing to me when some of the senior pilots did not want to listen to ideas which I considered beyond argument. The surviving records of equipment failures which we managed on our airplane and the instances where we used the least fuel on missions of any crew show that we understood the technical challenges of operating B-24s.

The comparison of the Wiener Neustadt mission with Ploesti was startling to us. All the airplanes got safely back to our home in the desert. We went swimming in the Mediterranean.

FOGGIA, ITALY (16 August 1943):

The 389th Bomb Group air crew members, along with all others trained by the Army Air Force, had expected to use the famous bombsights which could "drop a bomb into a pickle barrel" for aiming the bombs. All air crews trained extensively by dropping individual practice bombs against "bull's eye" targets near the training bases. Under ideal conditions, some practice bombs landed within the one hundred foot circle and on rare occasions, the bombardier could claim a shack, the small wooden building at the center of the ''bull's eye". The first missions attempted to "uncover" the formation so that each airplane could bomb on an individual basis, making use of the bombardier and bombsight. The reality of combat demanded that the airplanes stay in formation as much as possible for mutual defense against the enemy fighters. In actual practice, the bombs strung out for great distances, before and after the assigned targets. It was obvious that only a small portion of the bombs were hitting in the target area.

By the Rome mission, the 389th Bomb group decided to keep in section formation (six airplanes) with the lead airplane bombardier and his bombsight handling the track across the target. The bombardiers in other than the lead airplane then only controlled the time when the bombs were released. We were surprised at the difference in time at which the bombs were released from the airplanes in the formation. The bombing was more accurate but bombs still strung out across the target. We realized that the bombardiers had differing skill levels and that the wing airplanes were subjected to more maneuvering and speed changes. There seemed to be no way the airplanes could remain in tight formation and still use individual bombardiers.

The previous mission, Wiener Neustadt, used the practice of having all the airplanes in a six-airplane section drop on the section leader. It was obvious from observing the target that the bombs were much more concentrated in the target area.

The group leaders decided to carry the bombing practice one additional step and have all the airplanes drop on the group lead aircraft. Some of the bombardiers were very unhappy about this decision since it reduced their function to observing the lead aircraft and toggling their bombs without using the bombsight. There was some unhappy discussions about the decision.

On 15 August 1943, the bomb groups in Libya were ordered to prepare for a mission the next day. The assigned load was twelve 300-pound GP bombs and 2,700 gallons of gasoline. The assigned target was near Foggia, Italy, part of the complex of airfields in that area. The 389th Bomb Group target was the Foggia Tortorella Dispersal Area where the Italian fighter airplanes at this satellite airfield were parked. The large number of smaller bombs were intended to destroy or damage as many enemy airplanes as possible. The estimated mission time was within the oil consumption limits of airplanes such as Blonds Away where engines damaged by the desert sand used excess amounts of oil. I was satisfied Blonds Away was ready for the mission.

The mission planning called for formation assembly to be complete by 0900 hours between Driana (Daryana) and Tocra (Tukrah). The mission was to fly to a point in the lonian Sea at 39 degrees 50 minutes north latitude and 19 degrees 15 minutes east longitude, between the "heel" of Italy and Albania. The formation was then to fly up the Adriatic Sea to a point at 42 degrees north latitude and 18 degrees east longitude, about forty miles south of Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. The formation was then to turn left almost ninety degrees and fly to the IP at 41 degrees 35 minutes north latitude and 15 degrees 55 minutes east longitude near the coastal city of Manfredonia, Italy. The planned bomb run was approximately twenty miles to the southwest, past the city of Foggia, Italy. After releasing the bombs, the formation was to turn to the southeast and after flying over the western part of the Gulf of Taranto to Point Alice (Punta Alice) at 39 degrees 22 minutes north latitude and 17 degrees 9 minutes east longitude proceed direct to Tocra (Tukrah) in Africa.

The early morning briefing was completed and we went to our airplanes. Our crew was assigned to fly on the right wing of the leader of the second section, Tom Conroy. Our takeoff time was logged as 08:19. The group got into formation and joined with the other groups for the departure from Africa. The 389th Bomb Group had twenty-five airplanes in a tight formation.

Part way across the Mediterranean Sea one airplane dropped out of the formation and salvoed his bombs into the water. The mission proceeded as briefed. The heel of Italy and the Albanian coast looked just like the map in beautiful clear weather. There was nothing to disturb the peaceful day. Soon after making the turn in the Adriatic Sea, we could see the coast of Italy. The perfect visibility made it easy to see the IP as we flew just to the south of Promontorio del Gargano. The air was perfectly calm as we flew in tight formation on the bomb run. We could see the airfields around Foggia including our target. Most bombardiers were able to see the bombs leave the lead airplane and toggled their bombs. Herb Newman, our bombardier, also operated the salvo lever to insure that bombs were gone. We were impressed to see the large number of bombs falling together.

The group leader turned to the southeast and we could look to the left and see the bombs exploding together in the target area. It was not obvious that any bombs fell before or after the target. It appeared the bombing had been a huge success. Some crews reported seeing airplanes taking off from the airfields during the bomb run, but none attacked our formation. The operation had been uneventful.

We could see the Gulf of Taranto ahead of us. As we approached the gulf, we could see the wakes of ships steaming out of the harbor at Taranto. We remembered the accurate anti-aircraft fire from the cruiser off Anzio on the Rome mission and were glad the ships this day were far to the east of our track.

Our leaders made a small change of heading at Point Alice (Punta Alice) and we flew peacefully across the Mediterranean Sea to the coast of North Africa. The visibility was limited due to sand and dust as we approached Africa. Our leaders were headed slightly east of Tocra (Tukrah) which was our practice since we did not want to come too far to the west and end up flying down the Gulf of Sidra.

We had watched our oil leaks during the entire mission thinking about how quickly we would need to feather propellers if there was the slightest fluctuation of oil pressure. Everything continued to work normally and we landed at Berka 4 at 17:34 after an easy nine hours and fifteen minutes. The right outboard engine (#4) was virtually out of oil and we concluded we could not fly any more missions without an engine change. The left outboard engine (#1) also used extra oil, but this was caused by leaks which could be easily repaired. The left bomb bay door control also needed adjustment.

The mission to Foggia seemed a great success and easy compared with the previous two missions. It seemed almost too easy. There was lots of discussion about the Italian Air Force and most people understood Italy no longer wanted to be in the war.

The Group Engineering Officer, Tom Landrum, wanted us to fly a test flight on Blonds Away before the engine was changed. The next day, 17 August 1943, after the airplane had been repaired and serviced, we flew a three hour test flight at high altitude over the Gulf of Sidra. We were impressed with the miles of reefs we could see in the shallow water. Tom Landrum went with us on this flight. After we landed and checked the oil, Tom agreed we should have a new engine before another mission.

There was always a shortage of engines while we were in Africa. The Pratt and Whitney engines were overhauled near Cairo and were then called "Pratt and Wog" (Wog was a disrespectful tern for Arabs.) We were authorized to fly to Egypt for a two day pass to Alexandria. The airplane was scheduled to have the engine change after we returned. We had seen other engine changes in the desert and I realized I would have plenty of opportunity to help since the job would be done by our crew chief, Guy Pannel, and his assistant with whatever support we could have from the Squadron Line Chief, Dave Wisehart, and our crew members.

We looked back on the Foggia mission as a big success and easy for us although some of the other groups lost airplanes and we saw one airplane from another group crash into a hillside. We did not know we had flown our last mission from Berka 4.

FINISHING IN AFRICA (19 August 1943 to 30 August 1943) :

We watched eighteen airplanes take off for a mission to bomb the marshaling yards at Foggia and later in the day watched all eighteen airplanes return. The crews reported poor to fair bombing results. One airplane flown by Lt. Wilhite was damaged, accidentally, by gunfire from an airplane within the group. It was accepted procedure for the gunners to test fire their guns before getting to the target area and with all the guns, it was surprising that there were not more incidents of this type.

On 20 August 1943 we flew a test flight of 1.3 hours and then got ready to go on leave to Alexandria, Egypt. We were assigned to travel with another crew in a different airplane leaving our ground crew to start working on the engine change on Blonds Away. The balance of the group got ready to fly a mission the next day. We left the next morning, Saturday 21 August 1943, before the other airplanes took off on a mission to bomb a German Air Force Depot at Cancello, Italy. When we got back from our leave, we learned the mission was a success and that "uneager attacks by Bf 109s" caused no damage.

We flew to LG 91 (landing ground 91), close to Alexandria, Egypt. Current charts show this airport, now called West Alexandria International. We parked the airplane and were soon on our way to town, riding in the back of a British truck. We were impressed with the beautiful curved waterfront of Alexandria and the blue Mediterranean. We were assigned to a hotel overlooking this beautiful place. The other crew members were interested in finding places where they could drink and carouse while I wanted to look around and relax. We decided to eat at the hotel and then to meet there by noon on Sunday to return to LG 91.

There did not seem to be any danger so I went for a long walk down the boulevard with the sea on one side and many beautiful buildings along the other side. We were dressed in our British desert uniforms and we carried our Colt forty-five caliber pistols in shoulder holsters. In addition, I had my twenty-two caliber automatic pistol. Since we were young and armed, we paid minimum attention to the stories about soldiers being robbed and murdered in the African cities.

After dinner, we discovered that Alexandria was totally blacked out. We walked to a nearby French candy store and found our way through the blackout curtains to the inside. In spite of the war, they had the most wonderful chocolate in all forms. I bought some to eat and a supply to take back to the ground crew at Berka 4. The rest of the crew left for their evening of drinking and I returned to the hotel.

I was up and outside by six the next morning walking along the street. I was the only person on the street as far as I could see in either direction. Soon, an Egyptian with a horse drawn carriage came clop clopping along and drove alongside me. He spoke English quite well and asked if I was one of the Ploesti pilots. He then offered several things to do at very reasonable prices including a visit to King Farouk's palace and a place where the Egyptians built dhows, a single masted Arab sailing ship with a lateen sail used all over the middle east. I had misgivings about accepting the offer, but with my youth and guns, I felt I could handle any situation so I was soon riding west along the boulevard in the carriage. The driver was very pleasant and told me about Alexandria and about the effect of the war on this city.

Near the west end of the city, we stopped in front of a beautiful palace. We stepped across a flower bed and looked at a fancy train under a shed. This was the king's private train. It was not possible to enter the palace. I picked a flower and put it in my billfold and I still have it.

We then went a little farther where there were a number of dhows being built on the beach. I had already learned that the Muslim holy day was Friday so this Sunday morning was a regular workday. The ships were being built by craftsman who could shape the various parts and then assemble them with a minimum of tools and fixtures. My driver knew some of the ship builders and introduced me to them. It took a few seconds to figure out why these craftsmen were so interested in me. My driver was telling them I was one of the famous Ploesti pilots. One of these master builders who could speak a little English explained how he built his ship and answered questions. I wished I could figure out how to go for a sail in one of these interesting ships.

My driver then asked if I wanted to visit the catacombs. I told him I did not even know there were catacombs in Egypt. He told me the early Christian people built catacombs and lived and worshipped in them at times when they were being persecuted. The catacombs had only recently been found and were on private property. We had lots of time left so I agreed to go. We drove to an area by a wall and he called over the wall to a caretaker. He said I would need to pay a fee (tip?) which again was a very small amount. The caretaker opened a little door in the wall and took us inside and down into the catacombs which were still being excavated. One place in the catacomb was a small chapel which had been decorated in a Greek style and then plastered over and redecorated in a Roman style. This was an interesting experience.

The driver then suggested driving through the native quarter, the Casbah. I discussed this with the driver as we had been told many times of the hazard. He patiently explained that soldiers got in trouble when they would drink or approach Arab women and we would be perfectly safe among his friends and in the daytime. We drove through the area and to my embarrassment, the driver told his friends I was one of the Ploesti pilot and some of them wanted to shake hands and some clapped. We came to an area where there was a festival going on. The driver told me this was in honor of two daughters of a rich man who were marrying one man. The feast was to last three days and, shortly, I was invited to attend. By this time, we needed to start back to the hotel and I was glad for this excuse to leave, but appreciated the good will and friendliness of all these people.

We got back to the hotel in good time and I was happy to pay the driver the negotiated fee along with a generous tip for a very interesting morning. I compared my experience with that of the other crew members who were somewhat tired and bleary eyed. We were soon at LG 91 and got back to Berka 4 late in the afternoon.

Blonds Away sat out in the desert looking crippled with an engine removed. The ground crew had completed building up the new engine with the accessories from the old engine. I was excited to get to drive a British truck, right hand drive, to pick up an A-frame and hoist. I was happy to help the ground crew move the engine into position. By the end of Monday, we were able to start the engine and check it out. We hoped the test flights on Tuesday would go well as we had been told the group was to leave on Wednesday, 25 August 1943, to return to England.

We flew the airplane for 0.8 hours at low power on Tuesday morning and then landed to check the filters for metal particles and change the oil. We then flew an additional hour and declared the airplane was ready for the trip back to England.

Our navigator, Charlie Weinberg, wanted to take his German arny BMW motorcycle to England with him. We took the handlebars off and hung the motorcycle on a bomb rack. One bomb bay still had a fuel tank. We installed baggage carriers in the other two bomb bays and then loaded all our personal equipment and remaining spare parts. We were assigned five "passengers" including our own ground crew.

Early the next morning we said "goodby" to Berka 4, having more than a few thoughts about our friends who had been killed flying out of this strange place in the desert. The airplanes took off and flew individually to Oran, Algeria where after servicing the airplanes we remained overnight.

We were interested in the French Air Force airplanes on the field. A young French pilot who could speak some English asked if he might look at our airplane. His eyes glowed when he sat in the pilot's seat and said the French might be able do something if they had B-24s. He was a LeO (Liore et Olivier) 451 pilot. I walked with him to look at his airplane, one of about fifty parked in a nearby area. The LeO 451s had two radial engines which rotated in opposite directions. The bomb bay in the fuselage had an "eggcrate" structure with the bombs hanging from a fitting on their rear, fin, end.

An American on the base told us the French regularly flew "practice" missions, supposedly to a dry lake south of Oran, but after take-off, they headed in the other direction over the ocean, and returned after several hours, sometimes with battle damage.

The next day, we flew to Marrakech, Morocco. This base seemed very civilized after our nearly two months in the desert. There was a Post Exchange (PX) operated by local girls. They seemed "glamorous" to us. The regular mess hall had wonderful (by comparison) food. They even provided box lunches to take in the airplanes. There was a constant stream of Air Transport Command airplanes coming and going. We serviced our airplane and then spent a peaceful night in tents in an olive grove.

We had an early breakfast and picked up box lunches and started to walk to the flight line. The road had several inches of dust and was used by local people walking and with donkeys and camels as well as military vehicles. A crew member ahead of us dropped a sandwich from his box lunch onto the road. One of the "glamorous" girls we had seen in the Post Exchange walking just ahead of us darted over and picked up the sandwich, dusted it off and was about to put it in her handbag when she saw us looking at her. She then carefully placed the sandwich at the side of the road so someone could find it and use it. We realized how valuable even a sandwich can be to poor people.

To England:

The weather report showed a frontal system laying northeast to southwest across the route to England. We took off and flew the planned route to the northwest to twelve degrees west longitude to provide safe clearance from German airplanes patrolling the Bay of Biscay. We turned north and spent the next several hours flying north, correcting as best we could for the forecast wind and with the navigator taking sun lines. We came to the first crossing of the frontal system and although there were lots of clouds, the air was smooth and we were soon on the other side of the system. As we approached the point to make the turn to the east, I argued to allow an extra twenty minutes margin to avoid missing the south end of England and flying toward occupied France. Charlie was very offended by this suggestion and pointed out "he was the navigator" and he knew where he was. Bill Nading quietly listened and ruled in my favor.

Soon after we turned, we flew into the frontal weather which was much thicker than before and with rain. When we reached the theoretical time to make landfall, there was still nothing but water. We saw a spray covered object which proved to be Bishop Rock in the Isles of Scilly, the farthest south part of Cornwall. If we would have turned in even thirty seconds sooner, we could have missed England altogether. We turned and soon landed at St. Mawgan, our destination. The north component of the wind had been stronger than anticipated. The flight from Africa required 9.3 hours.

We talked with another crew and they had flown into the harbor at Brest, France, nearly one hundred miles south of where they should have been. Fortunately, they recognized their error and beat a hasty retreat without getting caught. Two airplanes did not arrive. We later learned that one airplane 42-40767, piloted by Lighter, vanished and was assumed to have crashed in the ocean. (Recent research showed that the bodies of three of the passengers were washed ashore in France.) A second airplane, 42-40772, piloted by Blackis, was interned in Portugal. This crew, later, returned to England.

It was cold and wet in England as compared with Africa. We waited until 30 August 1943 for the weather to improve enough to continue to our base at Hethel. We were housed in a tourist hotel in Newquay. During the wait, I enjoyed walking on the beach and talking to the fishermen. I tried to arrange to go sailing with the fisherman in their small boats operating out of Newquay harbor. They said the sea conditions were too dangerous for the operation of small boats. Apparently, this area of the ocean near England has very strong currents, beyond the capability of the fishing boats.

When the weather improved, we were able to fly back to Hethel in 2.3 hours. The ground crews who arrived on the Queen Mary were excited to see the airplanes and air crews. Since we did not know any of these people, we felt left out. We tried to get Guy Pannell transferred to remain our crew chief, but he was sent back to his old bomb group. Later, we learned that he did not even get promoted to Master Sergeant, the normal rating for a crew chief, even though he had done a superior job in that capacity for us in Africa.