B-24 Mitchell Bomber (Page 3): :sm13: :sm13: :sm13: :sm13:...

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

bw79st wrote:

My stepfather flew 29 missions as a waist gunner in B-24 Liberators with the 506th Sq 44 Bomb Group, The Flying Eightballs.

Here is his diary entry for March 18, 1944

This was one of the worst missions for sometime, one would think they were tipped off. We had the greatest loss since Wiener Neustadt, which took place some time back. The target was Friedrichshafen. I flew with Lt. Grow and crew, co-pilot was Lt. Davis, bombardier Lt. Ray, navigator Lt. Dyer, engineer Sgt. Williams, radio Sgt. Bolton, ball Sgt. Elliott, left waist Sgt. Heger, tail Sgt. Thompson and I flew right waist.
We just got into enemy territory when the tail gunner reported the colliding of two "Libs" in a formation far to the rear, both went down in flames. It wasn't a good start, anyway we kept on to the target with no opposition.
On the bomb run I was busy throwing chaff, flak started to come up in every inch of space or so it seemed. We were about to drop our bombs when another formation on our right slid under us, very close, it's a wonder we didn't all crash.
Our leader turned from the target and made another run, ships were going down all over, and by the time we came out of the target our escort was gone ahead. Chutes were going down all over, some were trying to make Switzerland but were being blown back into Germany. One "Lib" tried to ditch in Lake Constance on the Swiss side, he circled and seemed to be trying to slide it in, but when he turned he hit an embankment and blew up.
We were coming out of all this flak (which was very intense) when the ship just outside my waist window was hit. Number four engine started to smoke and number one burst into flame. This ship was from our squadron and flown by Lt. Alberts, the letter was "Pea Bar".
He slid under our ship from right to left for a short while, then came back and started to lose altitude, gradually, then the left wing blew off and it started to spiral, when it hit the ground it blew up. I didn't see anyone get out but some say they saw a few when the ship went from my vision. The crew had plenty of time to bail out, or so it seemed, and they were quite a way down before the wing blew off.
We were out of range of flak by this time, and things were pretty quiet, there were sighs of relief over the interphone. All of a sudden the pilot and those in the nose started to describe an attack on a formation up ahead (392nd Gp). They saw about fifty FW190's attack the rear of this formation and knock out three ships.
We waited for our turn, but they only made one pass on the left, the side the sun was on, when about twenty P38's came diving out of the sky. The Lightnings went diving right through them. The left waist (Heger) was firing like mad and his tracers were all around the FW's. Bomb load-eight tons.

My stepfather flew 29 missions as a waist gunner i... (show quote)

bobforman Loc: Anacortes, Washington State

We have a B-25 that flies once and a while out of Everett, WA. What is interesting to me is when taking off the beast sounds as though it is idling. Beautiful plane, though.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nice photograph, Rob. However, it's a B-25.

B-25s were the featured stars of one of, in my opinion, the greatest opening scenes of any movie, "Catch 22".
--Bob

Rob48 wrote:

16 B-24 bombers took off from the carrier U.S.S. Hornet on April 18, 1942 and struck Tokyo. This raid was planned and led by Lt. Colonel James (Jimmy) Doolittle. The bombing raid was not so much a strategic success, but it was a huge psychological and morale boost for the U.S. and her allies. The Doolittle Raid was followed up in June, 1942 by the Battle of Midway, an overwhelming victory for the U.S. Navy and a turning point in the war against Japan.

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Beautiful photo and airplane.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Tinker wrote:

B-25 is the correct designation for these aircraft. B-24s were four-engine heavies in WWII.

Correct! My Wife's Father was a nose gunner on a B-24, the Liberator. Stationed in Northern Italy he seems to have flown on one or more of the raids on the Polesti refineries. Those raids must have been absolutely terrifying. He did survive; sadly he died before I could have met him.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Rob48 wrote:

16 B-24 bombers took off from the carrier U.S.S. Hornet on April 18, 1942 and struck Tokyo. This raid was planned and led by Lt. Colonel James (Jimmy) Doolittle. The bombing raid was not so much a strategic success, but it was a huge psychological and morale boost for the U.S. and her allies. The Doolittle Raid was followed up in June, 1942 by the Battle of Midway, an overwhelming victory for the U.S. Navy and a turning point in the war against Japan.

Wow

They don't make them like that anymore

willaim Loc: Sunny Southern California

I think you meant B-25 Mitchell bombers that took off from the USS Hornet aircraft carrier. The B-24 Liberator was a 4 engine heavy bomber. Very nice photo.

canberra Loc: Top of the (Chesapeake) Bay

Rob48 wrote:

16 B-24 bombers took off from the carrier U.S.S. Hornet on April 18, 1942 and struck Tokyo. This raid was planned and led by Lt. Colonel James (Jimmy) Doolittle. The bombing raid was not so much a strategic success, but it was a huge psychological and morale boost for the U.S. and her allies. The Doolittle Raid was followed up in June, 1942 by the Battle of Midway, an overwhelming victory for the U.S. Navy and a turning point in the war against Japan.

Nice photo of the superbly restored Mitchell bomber, "Panchito". The aircraft is based at the Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown, Delaware and there is an extensive history of it as well as the original "Panchito" on the website of the Delaware Aviation Museum. It is a story unto itself.

The restored Mitchell was "ready for it's closeup" at Oskosh in 2017, where it led the re-enactment of the Tokyo raid with the supporting cast of 20+ other B-25s. At that time, there was one surviving member of the mission, and that was Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot, Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, and he was there at Oshkosh to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the raid. Col. Cole passed at age 103 in 2019.

(Download)

Frank 2012 Loc: Olathe, Kansas

Good picture of the B-25. Many of those planes/engines were produced and/or tested at the Fairfax airport in Kansas City, Kansas during the war. North American Aviation was located there. Location was on Goose Island where the Kansas River flows into the Missouri River. On hot summer nights my brother and I would crawl out our upstairs bedroom window and sit on a lower level roof. We had no air conditioning back in those days and there was usually a cooler breeze blowing across the roof. We would sit and listen to the B-25 airplane engines being tested. They were really loud, no mufflers. It was so quiet at night we could hear the engines from six miles away.

Dave H2

They were B25s. The B24 is a 4 engine heavy bomber much larger than the B25. The anti-submarine hunter killer I flew in the early 60s was very close in size and weight to the B25.

classic320

Great seeing pictures of these wonderful aircrafts and honoring the incredible courage and brilliance of those, like Dolittle, that flew them. I have read (sorry, don't remember the source) of the terrible price the the Chinese paid as the Japanese sought to capture the American fliers.

Gatorcoach Loc: New Jersey

bw79st wrote:

My stepfather flew 29 missions as a waist gunner in B-24 Liberators with the 506th Sq 44 Bomb Group, The Flying Eightballs.

Here is his diary entry for March 18, 1944

This was one of the worst missions for sometime, one would think they were tipped off. We had the greatest loss since Wiener Neustadt, which took place some time back. The target was Friedrichshafen. I flew with Lt. Grow and crew, co-pilot was Lt. Davis, bombardier Lt. Ray, navigator Lt. Dyer, engineer Sgt. Williams, radio Sgt. Bolton, ball Sgt. Elliott, left waist Sgt. Heger, tail Sgt. Thompson and I flew right waist.
We just got into enemy territory when the tail gunner reported the colliding of two "Libs" in a formation far to the rear, both went down in flames. It wasn't a good start, anyway we kept on to the target with no opposition.
On the bomb run I was busy throwing chaff, flak started to come up in every inch of space or so it seemed. We were about to drop our bombs when another formation on our right slid under us, very close, it's a wonder we didn't all crash.
Our leader turned from the target and made another run, ships were going down all over, and by the time we came out of the target our escort was gone ahead. Chutes were going down all over, some were trying to make Switzerland but were being blown back into Germany. One "Lib" tried to ditch in Lake Constance on the Swiss side, he circled and seemed to be trying to slide it in, but when he turned he hit an embankment and blew up.
We were coming out of all this flak (which was very intense) when the ship just outside my waist window was hit. Number four engine started to smoke and number one burst into flame. This ship was from our squadron and flown by Lt. Alberts, the letter was "Pea Bar".
He slid under our ship from right to left for a short while, then came back and started to lose altitude, gradually, then the left wing blew off and it started to spiral, when it hit the ground it blew up. I didn't see anyone get out but some say they saw a few when the ship went from my vision. The crew had plenty of time to bail out, or so it seemed, and they were quite a way down before the wing blew off.
We were out of range of flak by this time, and things were pretty quiet, there were sighs of relief over the interphone. All of a sudden the pilot and those in the nose started to describe an attack on a formation up ahead (392nd Gp). They saw about fifty FW190's attack the rear of this formation and knock out three ships.
We waited for our turn, but they only made one pass on the left, the side the sun was on, when about twenty P38's came diving out of the sky. The Lightnings went diving right through them. The left waist (Heger) was firing like mad and his tracers were all around the FW's. Bomb load-eight tons.

My stepfather flew 29 missions as a waist gunner i... (show quote)

WOW, talk about a bad day at work! Think about that next time things aren't going your way. Thanks for posting.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

GeorgeH wrote:

Correct! My Wife's Father was a nose gunner on a B-24, the Liberator. Stationed in Northern Italy he seems to have flown on one or more of the raids on the Polesti refineries. Those raids must have been absolutely terrifying. He did survive; sadly he died before I could have met him.

Taken from the plane my father was flying - Polesti Flak

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Dave H2 wrote:

They were B25s. The B24 is a 4 engine heavy bomber much larger than the B25. The anti-submarine hunter killer I flew in the early 60s was very close in size and weight to the B25.

Sounds like a P2

oregon don

JUST TO COVER TINKER, IT IS A B-25 THE B-24 IS A MUCH LARGER PLANE