Lawrence Newbold’s and the Miller Crew’s Mission to Frankfurt
Continued from previous post, RAF and USAAF, Allies in the World War II Air War, and previous post, The RAF Heavy Bomber Crew in World War II
Recap: During my father’s (George Edwin Farrar, waist gunner of the 384th Bomb Group during WWII) confinement as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft IV, he had a British roommate in the POW camp named Lawrence Newbold. Dad and Lawrence were also companions on the 86-day, 500-mile march of POW’s across Germany from 6 February 1945 to their liberation on 2 May 1945.
Lawrence Newbold, an enlistee in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), served as a wireless operator on an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber with the 50 Squadron based at Skelllingthorpe, England in the East Midlands.
Because of this personal connection my father had to a member of the RAF, I will, in a series of posts, take a look at an overview of the RAF in World War II, the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber that Lawrence Newbold flew in, and the mission on which he became a prisoner of war.
While serving in the 50 Squadron, Lawrence Edgar Newbold participated in his sixth mission over Germany overnight on the night of 18/19 March 1944, with the RAF crew of,
- P/O. W.J.K. Miller, Pilot
- Sgt. C.W.T. Case, Flight Engineer
- F/S. H.J. Rouse, Navigator
- Sgt. J.R. Ellis, Bomb Aimer
- Sgt. L.E. Newbold, Wireless Operator
- Sgt. G.T. Howe, Air Gunner
- Sgt. E.C. Lehman, Air Gunner
According to “The U.K. National Archives Operations Record Book for the No. 50 Squadron for the month of March 1944,” (c) crown copyright, Catalogue Reference: AIR/27/488, Image Reference: 6, the entry for Place: Skellingthorpe, Date: 18.3.44 [March 18, 1944], notes this “Summary of Events: Bombing Attack on Frankfurt [Germany]”:
Eighteen aircraft were detailed to attack FRANKFURT. Unfortunately of this number, one (P/O. Miller) failed to return, and yet another (F/O. Botha) returned early, owing to the failure of starboard outer engine. The remainder proceeded to attack the target. 4/10th cloud at 6-8,000′ prevailed. Target identified by red T.I’s. Markers appeared scattered resulting in a lack of concentration in bombing. A large explosion was seen at 22.17 hours. The effort was considered poor. (18 x 4000 lb., 1614 x 30 lb inc., 22,950 x 4 lb inc., 1142 x 4 lb XIB inc).
The 50 Squadron participated in three previous bombing attacks that month,
- 1.3.44 [1 March 1944] to Stuttgart, Germany
- 9.3.44 [9 March 1944] to Marseilles/Marignane, France
- 15.3.44 [15 March 1944] on a return visit to Stuttgart, Germany
and five more that month following the mission on which the Miller crew was declared missing,
- 22.3.44 [22 March 1944] on a return visit to Frankfurt, Germany
- 24.3.44 [24 March 1944] to Berlin, Germany
- 25.3.44 [25 March 1944] to Aulnoye, France
- 26.3.44 [26 March 1944] to Essen, Germany
- 30.3.44 [30 March 1944] to Nurnberg, Germany
On the 19.3.44 [March 19, 1944] mission to Frankfurt, the W.J.K. Miller crew was noted as “to War Cas. [Casualty] Depot. (N.E. Missing).”
The Miller crew’s Bomb Aimer, Sgt. J.R. Ellis (A.B.), was John Robert Ellis. Ellis attended The King’s (The Cathedral) School in Peterborough, UK as a boy. In 1949, the school dedicated a memorial to all of the former students of the school who lost their lives during World War II and Ellis was memorialized on it.
The King’s (The Cathedral) School in Peterborough WWII Memorial
Photo courtesy of the Imperial War Museum
Many years later, in November 2015, The King’s (The Cathedral) School in Peterborough, United Kingdom published a booklet called “The King’s (The Cathedral) School Peterborough War Memorials” © 2014 Jane King.
In the forward, Jane King writes,
The memorials that hang in the school’s library and within St Sprite’s Chapel at Peterborough Cathedral record the names of former pupils and staff of The King’s School, Peterborough known to have died in the service of their country in the course of the First and Second World Wars. This booklet has been written in honour of every Old Petriburgian, known or unknown, who made that ultimate sacrifice. The details have been compiled from a variety of sources, including records held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the General Register Office and The National Archives. Some information has also been extracted from contemporary local newspapers held by the relevant Library and Archives Sections, and from other publications. Many details are from The King’s School’s own archives, including photographs and information kindly given to the school by relatives of those who died.
The school’s memorial booklet, which includes memorials and biographies from their losses in both WWI and WWII, includes the story of the 18/19 March 1944 mission on which Ellis lost his life and crewmate Lawrence Newbold became a prisoner of war.
The section of World War II memorials begins on page 39. It notes that the WWII memorial, a wooden plaque crafted from English oak, to “The King’s School old boys who died in World War 2 was unveiled in the school library in a ceremony which took place on the evening of Thursday 14th July 1949.”
The inscription of the memorial in the school library read “SCHOLA REGIA PETRIBURGENSIS To the Glory of God and in remembrance of the old boys of the King’s School Peterborough who gave their lives for their country in the Second World War,” and included the names of the school’s WWII twenty-nine dead, including J.R. ELLIS.
The King’s School memorial that hangs in Peterborough Cathedral was unveiled a year later, on 10th October 1950, includes one additional name, for a total of thirty boys from the same school lost in WWII.
The biography of former student John Robert Ellis of the Miller crew begins on page 50.
John Robert Ellis was born in Peterborough on 28/2/1922 [February 28, 1922], the eldest son of Frank Joe and Lillian Mantle Ellis. He graduated from The King’s School in 1939 and became a journalist, but later worked for the Income Tax Collection Department. He married Betty May Jellings in 1942, in the Battersea District and their son was born later that year.
On the same page, the document relates the events of the 18/19 March 1944 mission on which Ellis lost his life and crewmate Lawrence Newbold became a prisoner of war.
(On the evening of 18th March 1944, 846 aircraft from Bomber Command, comprising 620 Lancasters, 209 Halifaxes and 17 Mosquitoes, took off for their target of Frankfurt. Twenty two of those aircraft were lost during the operation. (The Bomber Command War Diaries, An Operational reference Book 1939-1945, by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, has more details). Avro Lancaster I serial number ED308 VN-J was one of the aircraft which took part in that operation).
Lancaster serial number ED308 VN-J took off from Skellingthorpe at 19:15 hours on 18/3/1944 [March 18, 1944]. The crew comprised Pilot Officer W.J.K Miller, Sergeant C.W.T. Case, Flight Sergeant H.J. Rouse, Sergeant J.R. Ellis, Sergeant L.E. Newbold, Sergeant G.T. Howe and Sergeant E.C. Lehman RCAF. According to the research of Hans L. Grimminger, it was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at 22:20 hours (German time) at Gross Gerau, NW-Darmstadt, Hessen in Germany.
John Robert Ellis, George Tennant Howe and Edgar Clarence Lehman all died on 19/3/1944 [March 19, 1944]. They were originally buried at Gross Gerau. After the War they were reinterred in Durnbach War Cemetery in Germany, where they now rest in adjoining graves. The remaining members of the crew survived the crash and became Prisoners of War. Pilot Officer W.J.K. Miller (service number 54175), Flight Sergeant C.W.T Case (service number 1819583), and Flight Sergeant H.J. Rouse (service number 1317908) were all held at Stalag Luft 1 West in Barth Vogelsang in Germany. Flight Sergeant L.E. Newbold (service number 157628) was held at Stalag Luft 4 in Sagan and Polaria, Poland.
John is buried in grave 1.H.16 at the Durnbach War Cemetery. (Edgar Lehman is in grave I.H.14. George Howe is in grave I.H.15). On 7/4/1944 [April 7, 1944] the Peterborough Standard reported him as missing. He is named in the Book of Remembrance at Peterborough Cathedral and on the Wentworth Street Methodist Church War Memorial (which was removed to Westgate Chapel and rededicated in November 1984).
According to Lawrence Newbold’s story as passed down to family, when the Miller crew’s bomber was shot down, Lawrence bailed out. He landed in a tree, and once he had freed himself from his parachute and the tree, he walked a while to a farm and gave himself up to the Germans.
Recalling his time as a prisoner of war, Lawrence talked of being crammed into railway wagons. His story was once in a book (either he kept a diary during his POW time or wrote about it later), but unfortunately his book of wartime memories cannot be located.
I do hope to hear more of Lawrence Newbold’s stories of the war from Newbold family members and plan to write more about them and Lawrence’s pre- and post-war life in a future article.
Sources
Thank you to Lawrence Newbold’s son Stephen Newbold, Stephen’s wife Margaret, and Stephen’s son Paul for providing information regarding Lawrence Newbold’s service in WWII.
Previous post, Laurie Newbold
“The King’s (The Cathedral) School Peterborough War Memorials” © 2014 Jane King November 2015
The King’s (The Cathedral) School, Peterborough at Park Rd, Peterborough PE1 2UE, United Kingdom
Royal Air Force Acronyms/Abbreviations
“The Bomber Command War Diaries, An Operational reference Book 1939-1945” by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt can be found on multiple used book sites
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2022
The RAF Heavy Bomber Crew in World War II
Continued from previous post, RAF and USAAF, Allies in the World War II Air War…
Recap: During my father’s (George Edwin Farrar, waist gunner of the 384th Bomb Group during WWII) confinement as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft IV, he had a British roommate in the POW camp named Lawrence Newbold. Dad and Lawrence were also companions on the 86-day, 500-mile march of POW’s across Germany from 6 February 1945 to their liberation on 2 May 1945.
Lawrence Newbold, an enlistee in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), served as a wireless operator on an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber with the 50 Squadron based at Skelllingthorpe, England in the East Midlands.
Because of this personal connection my father had to a member of the RAF, I will, in a series of posts, take a look at an overview of the RAF in World War II, the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber that Lawrence Newbold flew in, and the mission on which he became a prisoner of war.
The British Imperial War Museum’s website helped me learn about the differences between an RAF Avro Lancaster heavy bomber crew and a USAAF B-17 heavy bomber crew.
From the Imperial War Museum – Who’s Who In An RAF Bomber Crew
The typical RAF Avro Lancaster heavy bomber operated with seven crew members where a USAAF B-17 heavy bomber crew typically had nine or ten.
- Pilot. On the RAF Avro Lancaster, the Pilot flew the aircraft and was the captain who coordinated the actions of the entire crew. In case of emergency bailout of the crew, he stayed at the controls as the last of the crew to leave the aircraft. The Lancaster did not have a co-pilot. The USAAF B-17 crew had both pilot and co-pilot, two trained pilots in the cockpit.
- Navigator. On the Lancaster, the Navigator was responsible for keeping the aircraft on course both to the target and on the return flight to base. Until 1942, the Navigator also aimed and released the bombs. The B-17 similarly had a navigator.
- Bomb-Aimer. The Lancaster Bomb-Aimer was a new position in 1942. The Bomb-Aimer controlled the aircraft on the bomb run, lying flat in the nose of the plane. He directed the pilot until bomb release and the bombing photograph was taken. A mission was credited to the airmen based on the photo as proof that the operation was completed. The Bomb-Aimer also had some pilot training and could fill in as a reserve pilot if needed. Where the B-17 had two pilots, both a pilot and co-pilot, the Lancaster had only a pilot with his backup being the Bomb-Aimer. The B-17 similarly had a bombardier, although the B-17 bombardier could not act as a reserve pilot.
- Flight Engineer. The Lancaster Flight Engineer position was also a new position in 1942. He controlled the mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, and fuel systems, assisted the pilot with take-offs and landings, and provided fuel calculations in an emergency. He was also the reserve Bomb-Aimer, the lookout for enemy fighters, and the coordinator with the ground crew. The B-17 similarly had an engineer who was also the top turret gunner.
- Wireless Operator. The Lancaster Wireless Operator was responsible for transmitting messages to and from the crew’s base and position signals. He also served as a reserve gunner and addressed minor emergencies aboard the aircraft. He also was required to remain at his post, sending out distress signals, in the event of a ditching into the sea. The B-17 similarly had a radio operator.
- Mid-Upper Turret Gunner. The Lancaster Mid-Upper Turret Gunner was confined to his turret for the entire mission and was separated from the other crew members. His primary duty other than as a gunner was to advise the pilot of enemy aircraft. The B-17 similarly had a crew member who was a top turret gunner, but he was also the engineer. On the B-17, his turret was directly behind the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit.
- Rear Turret Gunner. The Lancaster Rear Turret Gunner was confined to his turret for the entire mission and was separated from the other crew members. His primary duty other than as a gunner was to advise the pilot of enemy aircraft. The B-17 similarly had a tail gunner, although he could come forward into the fuselage if necessary.
The RAF Avro Lancaster did not have a ball turret, and therefore, no ball turret gunner on the crew. The Lancaster also had no waist gunners, where the B-17 had two – one at each waist window – early in the war, but reduced to one gunner who manned the waist guns on both sides of the B-17 later in the war.
So, in comparison,
| Crew Position | RAF Lancaster | USAAF B-17 | Notes |
| Pilot | 1 | 2 | B-17 – pilot and co-pilot |
| Navigator | 1 | 1 | |
| Bomb Aimer/Bombardier | 1 | 1 | Lancaster – also reserve pilot |
| Flight Engineer | 1 | 1 | |
| Wireless/Radio Operator | 1 | 1 | |
| Mid-Upper/Top Turret Gunner | 1 | 0 | B-17 – flight engineer was top turret gunner |
| Rear Turret/Tail Gunner | 1 | 1 | |
| Ball Turret Gunner | 0 | 1 | No ball turret on the Lancaster |
| Waist Gunners | 0 | 1 or 2 | No waist gunners on the Lancaster |
| Total Crew | 7 | 9 or 10 |
To learn more about what it was like for the young airmen who served on a British Lancaster heavy bomber during World War II and to see inside the aircraft, visit the Lancaster Experience at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Or from the comfort of your home, watch this fourteen-minute video, Lancaster Bomber: The Incredible Ability of the Dambuster’s Heavy Bomber.
To be continued…
Sources
Previous post, Laurie Newbold
Previous post, RAF and USAAF, Allies in the World War II Air War
Imperial War Museum – Who’s Who In An RAF Bomber Crew
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2022
RAF and USAAF, Allies in the World War II Air War
During my father’s (George Edwin Farrar, waist gunner of the 384th Bomb Group during WWII) confinement as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft IV, he had a British roommate in the POW camp named Lawrence Newbold. Dad and Lawrence were also companions on the 86-day, 500-mile march of POW’s across Germany from 6 February 1945 to their liberation on 2 May 1945.
Lawrence Newbold, an enlistee in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), served as a wireless operator on an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber with the 50 Squadron based at Skelllingthorpe, England in the East Midlands.
Because of this personal connection my father had to a member of the RAF, I will, in a series of posts, take a look at an overview of the RAF in World War II, the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber that Lawrence Newbold flew in, and the mission on which he became a prisoner of war.
World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Two days later on 3 September, Great Britain along with France, Australia, and New Zealand, declared war on Germany.
The United States did not enter World War II for two more years, leaving Great Britain and the Allies to battle the Nazis on their own.
The British Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Bomber Command had been created a few years earlier, in 1936, and began with light and heavy bomber squadrons.
By 1939, RAF Bomber Command was comprised of twenty-three bomber squadrons with two hundred eighty aircraft. With this number of planes, the RAF was able to bomb military targets like warships and airfields, and they did so in daylight hours, making themselves easy targets, and resulting in heavy losses. In 1939, night missions were reserved for the purpose of dropping leaflets.
Night-time bombing missions started in 1940 after the Nazis invaded France. Targets were German industry and especially synthetic oil production targets. However, identification of specific targets was almost impossible in the dark and the nighttime bombing missions were not particularly effective.
In 1941, RAF Bomber Command grew in strength, but nighttime navigation was still a problem. With German fighters and anti-aircraft (flak) guns becoming more effective, RAF losses were heavy.
On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On 8 December, the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan. On 11 December, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Great Britain and the United States were now allies fighting common enemies, Germany and Japan.
In 1942, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris became the new leader of RAF Bomber Command. Also, Bomber Command received the new Avro Lancaster heavy bomber and by June of that year, seven squadrons were using the Lancaster. In 1942, it was also determined that nighttime precision bombing was not working and the British War Cabinet made the decision to authorize ‘area bombing,’ in which entire cities were targeted to destroy both factories and workers.
The year 1942 was also the year that the the first American heavy bomber mission was launched from England. On 17 August 1942, the US Army Air Forces made it first attack on occupied Europe.
Twelve B-17E Heavy Bombers of the 97th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force were escorted by RAF (British Royal Air Force) Spitfires against the railroad marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville, France. Six other aircraft flew a diversion mission along the French coast.
The mission was deemed a success with only minor damage to two aircraft. These first American bombers left from the air base at Grafton Underwood, future home of the 384th Bomb Group.
Budd Peaslee, courtesy of Quentin Bland via the 384th Bomb Group Photo Gallery
Text of the above memorial plaque: The first and last bombs dropped by the 8th Air Force were from aeroplanes flying from Grafton Underwood. With the plaque is Budd Peaslee, first commander of the 384th Bomb Group at Grafton Underwood.
By 1943, an ‘around the clock’ offensive against the Nazis was in place, with RAF Bomber Command continuing night missions and the USAAF Eighth Air Force flying daylight missions over Nazi-occupied territory. American bombers suffered substantial losses due to lack of fighter support over enemy territory. Also in 1943, the RAF Pathfinder Force introduced the use of colored marker flares to guide the bombers to their targets.
By 1944, the combined RAF and USAAF bomber forces began to overwhelm the Germans. By the spring of 1944, Allied escort fighters had been improved to be able to fly deeper into Germany, better protecting the Allied bombers from German fighter attack. RAF Bomber Command was able to begin operating in daylight again, but continued the ‘area bombing’ attacks on entire cities. The Allied fighters inflicted heavy damage on the Luftwaffe (German Air Force).
By 1945, the RAF had one hundred eight squadrons with over fifteen hundred aircraft. The Allied bombings robbed Germany of fuel for their military machine, and industrial city after city had been destroyed. Victory over Germany was declared on 8 May 1945, but once the war was over, RAF Bomber Command had lost over 55,000 aircrew members.
To be continued…
Sources
Previous post, Laurie Newbold
Imperial War Museum – RAF Bomber Command During The Second World War
American Battle Monuments Commision – Beginnings of the 8th Air Force in World War II
Wikipedia – 97th Operations Group
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2022
Alan Purchase and His First Mission with the 8th AF in WWII
384th Bomb Group Navigator George Alan Purchase
Photo courtesy of Fred Terzian
I recently connected with family of 384th Bomb Group, 546th Bomb Squadron navigator George Alan Purchase. Scott Hahn and Fred Terzian shared a story of Alan Purchase’s wartime experiences with me, a story Alan had shared with them and that Fred had polished up as part of a WWII documentary that Alan was presenting to the residents of a senior living center in California.
George Alan Purchase was assigned to the 546th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), per AAF Station 106 Special Orders #18 on 21 January 1945 as a Second Lieutenant. He was later promoted to First Lieutenant. Alan completed sixteen combat missions with the 384th Bomb Group from his first on 14 February 1945 to his last on 20 April 1945.
Alan’s story, “My First Mission with the 8th Air Force During World War II,” is an excellent story and provides a great deal of detail regarding the life of an airman in WWII. It is now a part of the 384th Bomb Group website’s Stories page.
Alan’s story covers his stateside training before entering combat, his journey to the European theater, acclimating to England, his pre-mission routine, details of his very first mission, which was a rough one, details about a few more difficult missions, and a post-war visit to Germany.
While I strongly advise you to take a few minutes and read Alan’s entire story, as it’s a great read and very well written, I am going to concentrate here on the detail Alan has provided regarding the accommodations at Grafton Underwood, the pre-mission routine an airman experienced getting ready for a combat mission, and what participating in a mission was like.
Keep in mind, this detail is from the perspective of an officer and the enlisted man’s routine would be slightly different.
Also, keep in mind the following quotations are from George Alan Purchase as he wrote them and then documented by Fred Terzian.
Alan described his living accommodations in a Nissen hut on his base at Station 106, Grafton Underwood in the English Midlands as,
Officer’s quarters were in prefab buildings with corrugated metal sides and roofs. Each housed 24-32 officers in double deck bunks, heated by a central coal fired potbellied stove. Because the midlands are very cold and damp in winter, I “requisitioned ” extra blankets, folding some double, so I had eight layers to crawl under. They were heavy but I was reasonably warm. Unfortunately, earlier residents had shot holes in the roof of our building, so rain and snow leaked in.
Nissen huts can be seen in this photo of 384th Bomb Group airplane armorer Paul Bureau at Grafton Underwood.
Paul Bureau, an airplane armorer of the 547th Bomb Squadron, with Nissen huts in the background.
Photo contributed by Shaye Bureau, Paul Bureau’s daughter.
Some enlisted quarters were similar, Nissen huts with bunk beds, with or without holes in the roof, but some of the enlisted men lived in large tents rather than corrugated metal buildings. One of those tents housed the enlisted crew of John Hunt. The crew decorated the doorway of their tent with their crew name, Hunt’s Henchmen.
The “Hunt’s Henchmen” tent, living quarters of the enlisted crew of pilot John Hardy Hunt, Jr., 545th Bomb Squadron.
Photo contributed by Todd Touton, son of William Touton, the crew’s co-pilot.
After arriving at Grafton Underwood, Alan Purchase learned to drink “warm, weak, and bitter” English pub beer, and also “had to learn to drink scotch since bourbon was in very short supply.” He explained that the base always had an ample supply of scotch from the regular B-17 “training missions” to Scotland.
After a week of flying around the area to get familiar with the terrain, base location, and weather conditions, his crew was ready for their first mission. By then, Alan could finally consider himself a “fly boy” and was,
…ready to go out and help save the world from the evil empire. At age nineteen the thought of injury or death was not a consideration. I felt fatalistic. What was going to happen would happen.
In his story, Alan goes on to describe what it was like to prepare for and participate in a B-17 combat mission.
Wake up and briefings
Wake up came at 3:30 in the morning, breakfast at 4:00, briefing at 4:30. The briefing room was a long building with folding chairs and a raised platform at the end. A map of northern Europe, hidden by a curtain, covered the wall. The briefing officer pulled the curtain back dramatically and a loud groan came from the audience. Our target was to be Nuremberg, about as far into Germany as we could go, with a route that zigzagged diagonally across the country to cause confusion about what would be our ultimate target. We would be flying over Germany for a long time. That was heady stuff for a wet behind the ears 19-year-old.
The separate navigator’s briefing was at 5:30 where I was issued maps before going to the flight line by 6:00 am. We picked up our flight gear, parachutes and escape packages and reported to our plane. Being the newest crew, we were assigned the oldest and coldest B-17 on the base, but we were excited to finally be flying a real mission.
Get dressed and outfitted for high-altitude flying
First, we put the flight suit over our uniform wool pants and shirt. It was followed by the electrical suit, the insulated flight jacket, pants, and boots, plus gloves with silk liners. It regularly gets to minus 30-50 degrees F at 25-30,000 feet, in an uninsulated cabin with undependable heat. The only thing between us and the outside was a thin aluminum skin. Next came the helmet with earphones, throat mike, the “Mae West” flotation vest and then the parachute harness. Finally, the oxygen mask was clipped to the helmet. The whole process took a while, and everything had to be done just so. It is hard to make corrections in the air.
Board the B-17 Flying Fortress
After pulling ourselves up through the front escape hatch, (something I could never do today), the pilot, copilot and engineer climbed up to the cockpit while the bombardier and I [the navigator] went into the nose compartment. The radio man, waist gunners, belly gunner and tail gunner had an easy entrance to the rear of the aircraft behind the bomb bay. It was time to get organized with maps and other items, and get plugged in. The electric suit went into one jack, the nose mike into another, the headset into a third and the oxygen mask hanging from my helmet will go into a fourth when we reach 10,000 feet. With three or four lines connected I am careful when moving about, but I was able to reach the “cheek” gun across from my navigator’s desk in case of fighter attack.
Taxi, take-off, and join the formation
At seven am we rolled onto the taxi strip with other members of our squadron. After takeoff climbing to higher altitudes, we circled our field numerous times as we formed our squadron and then group formations. Through the clouds we can see aircraft from neighboring fields and hope they are able to keep in their areas of the sky.
After forty minutes of circling, we headed for the rendezvous point to join our wing and other groups participating in the mission. With several hundred planes in the air precision timing is mandatory.
Leave the safety of England for the continent and enemy territory
The English Channel looked rough, France itself was quite pretty, and then, after another hour in the air, we enter Germany. During this time, we had been escorted by what we called “our little friends”, P 51 fighters based in France. But shortly after entering Germany we are on our own. Looking down, the German countryside was peaceful and pastoral with neat farms and small villages appearing from time to time. But we knew we’d meet with hostility if we were forced down.
Into combat
There are heavy concentrations of anti-aircraft guns in the region we entered Germany and “flak” (small pieces of steel) darkened the sky. Fortunately, we are high enough so most of the guns could not reach us. We then faced flying for more than two hours from the northwest to the south east of Germany, with the threat of fighters all the way.
Finally, we saw Nuremberg, surrounded with more anti-aircraft guns. We drop to 23,000 feet in altitude for better bombing accuracy, within range of the guns. Our target was the railroad marshaling yards on the edge of the city. The dangerous part is the long two- or three-minute bombing run [from the Initial Point of the run to the Target] when the plane is under the control of the bombardier. For accurate bombing it must be very steady, maintaining constant altitude, speed, and direction. That day everything worked as planned with a good bomb drop.
During the bomb run, the formation and each plane in the formation could not waver, could not attempt to evade enemy action. They had to maintain their steady course to the target in order to drop their bombs at the right moment in the right location to make the mission count. This action took bravery, courage, and nerves of steel of every airman to carry out his task.
Bombs away and head home
As we turned away from the target, preparing for our flight home, things changed very rapidly. Our far-right engine failed, and we had to drop out of formation since we could no longer keep up with the other planes.
Here, I leave you with a cliff-hanger. To find out what happened to Alan Purchase and the rest of the Leif Robert Ostnes crew of the 546th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group, you may read the rest of Alan Purchase’s story on the 384th Bomb Group website.
And if you want to check out some of the other stories of the 384th Bomb Group, you will find many more presented on the website’s Stories page. You will find many personal stories, diaries, Veteran’s History Project interviews, videos, and more
This kind of information is always best presented by someone who lived it like 8th Air Force Navigator George Alan Purchase. Thank you, Alan, for recording your story to share with future generations. And thank you Scott Hahn and Fred Terzian for bringing it to my attention and sharing it with me.
Sources
George Alan Purchase personnel record, courtesy of 384thBombGroup.com
MY FIRST MISSION with the 8th Air Force During World War II by George Alan Purchase, courtesy of Fred Terzian, as published on 384BombGroup.com
384th Bomb Group Stories Page
With the exception of quotations from George Alan Purchase’s “MY FIRST MISSION with the 8th Air Force During World War II,” © Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2022
The Arrowhead Club 