March 1944 - These things you can't forget

718th Bombardment Squadron (H)
March History

Farther and farther away appeared that day for which practically all airmen yearn – that day when their quota of missions have been completed and their return to the land of their birth is assured. If weather made February a bad month for completion of missions it made March a very miserable one. Just 6 of these were flown and of these 5 were between the 19th and the close of the month.

And, as in the previous month, each take off was an event described best as one of those “times which try men’s souls”. After the engines were pre-flighted and the taxi outs were completed, the crucial moments arrived. Would these huge planes often loaded beyond the safety factor with tons of highly inflammable gasoline and with 10 – 500 lb high explosive bombs, successfully make that take off run? Slowly at first, its four motors pounding and straining, each plane gathered speed, and then faster and faster it sped along that sea of mud which was to lead it into the sky above. It was the moment when the crew members searched their souls as tenseness gripped their bodies. (Except, of course, those blessed with a sangfroid born of an almost fatalistic attitude). Would those narrow wings and pounding motors snatch this Liberator from the sticky, gray, slimy mud which cascaded into the air and spattered the whole plane, and leave the ground for the end of the runway is near. Come on, get those wheels off; quickly, pull back on that stick. Phew! that was a close one – not a foot to spare. Hearts which had either almost ceased to beat or jumped into throats for protection resumed their place and normal beat. But that was a sickening sensation, wasn’t it? So it must have been on one occasion particularly, when the planes of Lts Wood and Staley were barely able to make it, their planes scraping the tree tops on the hills to the North of the field. For all know that at that special moment the failure of one motor would spell disaster and the probability that at least some lives would suffer that finality which few young men contemplate with equanimity.

Now, finally, all the planes are safely airborne, and the journey to the target begins. They rendezvous with planes of other heavy groups, and then later on, with their fighter escorts. Those which had suffered severe mechanical defects or one of whose crew had taken violently ill, had usually turned back to base by this time. The planes are at once climbing high to their bombing altitude, 20,000 to 30,000 feet above Mother Earth, and coursing swiftly towards their I.P. The feeling of being at ease which had permeated the crew since take off was once again replaced by a tenseness borne of the unknown, as that point was approached. Would the flak be bad – that flak with its black puffs breaking all around the plane and creating that “all alone” feeling? Flak was so impersonal – there was nothing with which you could fight back against it – that’s why it is so hateful. You just simply had to fly right through it, feeling so defenseless, watching it break no to your right, now to your left and now right in front of you in increasing intensity and hearing it beat upon that thin aluminum skin, trying to tear its way in to the vitals of the ship and to maim or kill you, yourself. Why in the hell did I ever pick out this branch of the service anyway? And how about fighters? Would there be many of them and would they jump us? What kind of planes and pilots would they be and where and how long would the attacks occur? Damn it, how could a fellow help getting tense? There goes a B-24 down in a slow glide, two of its motors flaming. And there – one exploded in mid air.

Well, the bomb run is completed now and the bombs are hurtling down to help destroy the enemy’s capacity to fight and his will to endure. The gauntlet of “flak alley” has been run, and now its time for the enemy fighters to attack. Here they come, thicker than flies! See their flaming guns as they pounce down to disrupt the formation and then destroy these Libs, and hear the chatter of our own guns in reply as their vibrations shake the ship. It’s really rough, and it seems like hours since the first attack began 30 minutes ago when the JU-88s lobbed their rockets at us from the rear. Two of those four 24’s which had to fall behind when hit with flak over the target were finally shot down by a large group of Me 109s which attacked them unmercifully and unceasingly. Six chutes came out from one and seven from the other. Sure hope the others got time to bail out before the final crash!

But all things – even the bad – come to an end. See our own fighter escorts over there coming to meet us and protect us from here on back to the safety of our own territory. The enemy fighters are leaving now and turning back to their bases. What a grand and glorious feeling to see those twin boomed fighters – the old P-38’s – once more. Two more hours and the B-24s will again descend to that mud-covered field called home.

It’s a big relief to step on old terra firma once more. For the moment (when interrogation is finished) the day’s happenings are forgotten. But not always – sometimes those B-24s you saw go down belonged to your Squadron, aye were your pals and friends – these things you cant forget – they are seared indelibly on your heart and mind. Yet you do hope so hard even against the evidence of your own eyes – that all were able to hit the silk before that final smash into the ground. It could have so happened, you know, and since it could have, you would have it that way.

And now what had been so real and so actual is now reduced to cold mathematical figures. This may planes left the base, and here are the number returned. This many were definitely destroyed and this many are missing, their final destiny unknown. In the process many more enemy planes were shot down.

During the month of March 1944 there were 9 missions planned in which aircraft were airborne. Credit was received for six of these, three being complete returns by the whole formation before reaching enemy lines.

A total of 85 ships from this Squadron took to the air of which 26 were included in the early total formation returns. Of the others, 46 completed effective sorties and 11 completed ineffective sorties, a total of 57 accredited sorties, while there were only 2 early returns. The percentage of early returns, 3.4 was the lowest in the group for the month. During the month Lt Rasbach’s crew was credited with two enemy planes destroyed, while in the whole group credit was received for only 3 enemy planes. The most gratifying statistic of all, however, is the fact that no personnel and no aircraft were lost.

To date the squadron has had 362 aircraft airborne, of which 259 were effective sorties, 11 ineffective sorties, 41 early returns, and 51 in formation early returns. Represented in percentages, the effective sorties were 83.2, non-effective sorties 3.5 and early returns 13.2.

George M.D. Richards,
1st Lt., Air Corps,
Squadron Historian