A Ninth Air Force Bomber Base,
France-First Lieutenant Martin Craig, 27-year-old bombardier-navigator, recently had an extraordinary experience-the B-26 Marauder in which he was flying was shot at, by Germans, while attempting to land at an airfield many miles behind the Allies' front lines in Germany. Lt. Craig's wife, Mrs. Marie Craig, lives at 9 Metropolitan oval.
Before entering the Army, Lt. Craig was a patrolman in the New York City Police Department, in the 47th precinct in the Bronx, during, 1942 and 1943. He is currently flying in combat with the 397th Bombardment Group, the Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauder group famed as the "Bridge Busters," commanded by Colonel Richard T. Coiner, Jr.
The "Bridge Busters" mission, on an early-April day, was a railroad yard in the town of Jena, 20 miles east of Erfur,t, Germany. Jena has since been captured by the allies.
Lt. Craig was flying in the Marauder named "Hell Buster Henry." The mission was a very deep penétration of Germany, two runs had to be made on the target before bombs could be dropped, and "Hell Buster Henry" was having gasoline feed-line trouble. Owing to these 'factors, 'Hell Buster Henry' dropped out of formation immediately after bombs were dropped and headed for home alone, losing altitude. Soon the plane's gasoline supply became o low that it was clear that a landing would have to be made soon. Visibility was very poor.
The plane's radios were not working well and it was impossible to get radio directions to locate an Allied airdrome or landing strip. At an altitude of only 1,000 feet, and with three-quarters of an hour of gasoline left, the pilot saw what looked like a fine airfield to land at. He circled "buzzed" the field to a better view of it, and was greeted by vicious volleys of uncomfortably accurate light flak and 5-cal. machine-gun fire.
The astounded B-26 swooped up out of range of the anti-aircraft fire and the crew discussed the sit-, üation over the interphone. They decided that since they knew they Were many miles behind the Allies' front lines, "Hell Buster Henry" must have been mistaken by Allied AA crews for a German plane. They debated the advisability of circling again, dropping flares of the Allied "colors of the day," and trying again to land. The possibility of attempting to land on one of the wide, straight "Autobahn" highways below was also discussedrather gingerly. The gasoline sitna.tion was such that something had to be done fast.
Luckily, just at that instant, the plane's "air to ground" radio began to function again. Contact was established with Allied flying control, and directions for reaching an Allied air strip near Liege in Belgium, half an hour away, were received.
On landing, with two teaspoonsful of gasoline left in each tank, the perspiring crew asked about the airfield that had shot at them. They learned that-due to the bad visibility and their faulty radiosthey had got off course and had tried to land at a German-held airdrome several miles east of Bonn, in the heart of the "Ruhr pocket." "Hell Buster Henry" was gassed up at the Belgium strip, took off, and, that same afternoon, returned home to the "Bridge Busters'" base in France.
Later, Lt. Craig had this to say about his experience, "I thought it was our own troops firing at us and I thought 'looks as though all that aircraft recognition training in the States isn't doing our boys much good.' It certainly was a relief when our radio came back in and we were able to get to an Allied field."