Account of WWII experiences of Ray V. Davila, flight engineer
Obtained as an OCR scan of document provided by Davilla
1449 total words Stored as Davila account.DA409

In answer to your request, the following is my military history.

I was born in Dallas, Texas, November 17, 1919. I was assigned to the 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Sqdn, in Pendleton Field, Oregon. In Nov. 1941 from Jefferson Brks, Mo. After Pearl Harbor they sent several of us to a gunnery school Spokane, Washington - it was known as Camp Seven Mile Gunnery School - graduated in class 1942-B. We returned to Pendleton, Or. and I was assigned to New B-25 A/C with 30 caliber machine guns.

Next thing we knew the whole Group was transferred to Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina, where we first " introduced to steel mats landings. Some of the crews were assigned to patrolling the Atlantic Coast for German submarines. While others were sent *o Myrtle Beach to practice aerial gunnery shooting at tow targets with new 50 Cal. machine guns. Then we got word that Lt. Col. Doolittle needed volunteers for a secret mission. I did not have enough time in service - they took mostly well experienced servicemen. Cadres were being formed . On June 26, 1942, we were transferred to Barksdale, La. to form the 319th Bomb Group - 439th Bomb Sqdn.. Our new C.O., 1st Lt. Tuttle interviewed each one. I *old him that I was still waiting to go to AM school. I was told that I would be sent to A M school when I first came to Pendleton - but all hell broke loose during Pearl harbor. He told me not to worry that I would go to an R.T.U. school here on base for the next 12 weeks. Then I would be a flight engineer and still be on flying status which sounded good. We started training with new A/E (B-26's) after weeks of training - crews were finally picked. Again we left for a new field of training at Alexandria, La.. We learned formation flying and also low level flying, When we completed our flight training, all flight crews were shipped by train to Bearfield [Baer] Air Base in Ft. Wayne, In..

There we received new air craft and were told to name the A/C as we were to fly them overseas. We flew to Westover Field, Ma.. RON then off to Presque Isle, Me., where we waited a week or so taking off the Armament one day and re installing it the Next. Someone said we could save fuel With a lighter A/C. however they finally decided to leave the armament on. We left for Goose Bay, Labrador, where we waited for clear weather and off we go to Bluie West One, Greenland. When we arrived there we could not see the base, all we could see was ice peaks above the clouds - had to return to Goose Bay, twice, with fuel red light flashing. Boy - what a close call we all had, On the third try we finally made it to B.W.1. It was run by the Navy We were snowed in for several days - the weather cleared enough for us to take off to Reykjovik, Iceland - stayed a few days finally they decided to fly single - five minutes apart to Scotland. We landed in Belfast, Ireland, instead. Next day we took off to Scotland - arrived just in time for the 100 Hrs. inspection. My thanks to Capt, Tirk, who sent me to the depot in Manchester to help get our air craft through their 100 Hrs. inspection and ready for the invasion of North Africa. Luckily I was at the depot. Someone got the idea to fly over France low level, where we lost quite a few good A/C and crews, When I returned from the depot we flew south to the tip of England and around Spain to the Rock of Gibraltar where we RON. Next day we took off to North Africa and landed at Oran Air Base. We had to load Bombs and fuel all night long. Went on our first combat mission. Our target was an Airdrome in Gabes, Tunisia - 30 Nov 1942. After we dropped our bombs we were hit by flak and our engine stopped. We circled back to land and lost altitude and crash landed in the desert. Our fighter escort circled above us and saw us get out of the plane. He flew back to the front line and got an A-20 aircraft and landed near where we crashed. He said Ňget aboard and leave everything behind - we don' t have time - letŐs get out of here". Our many thanks to Lt. Humphries of Flint, Mi., who flew his A-20 to rescue us. We stayed at his front line base a day or so before we were returned to our base where everyone had given us up as prisoners.

After we were there a day or so we were asked if we could be interviewed by a newsman on a radio interview. This had to be cleared by our security - it took a few days for our clearance to come thru. We went to the local hotel in town where we interviewed by Charles Colligswood of C.B.S., on radio, on the 6th Dec., 1942. We returned to our Air Base and continued flying other missions. We flew a few more missions but we were short of Aircraft, so we had to fall back and reorganize. On the way back west we were stationed in Ouijda a few weeks. There we rested and played baseball and all Sorts of games that we could think of. We were also asked if we would help assemble some P51 fighters. There was a civilian test pilot who had to take all the assembled fighters up for a test flight before they could be released to the combat 5qdns. What a show did he put on for us while testing these A/C's. Again we were moved further west all the way to Robot. We finally got new A/C's and we headed back to war again. Completed our 40th mission by 22 Oct., 1943. While waiting to be shipped back to the state side - I was asked if I would mind flying a mercy mission to 5ardinia - the Island was secured and no danger. Sure I would go. 0n our final approach we began to lose oil pressure. We had our gear down and locked . I went Back in the bomb bay where oil was coming out of a broken line. I felt the main gear touch the ground and the next thing I felt was the nose wheel collapsed. All of a sudden the crash lading in Tunis came back to my mind - all I could think was to get out before it would blow up - come to find out we had Hit a soft spot in the run way, A bomb crater had been refilled ad our Nose came down on it and washed out the A/C nose gear. The pilot and co-pilot took another A/C (C47) back to Tunis base and left me with the washed out B26. A day or so later another B26 came after 0e. On the way back to our home base we flew near Beserte where the Navy was stationed. Next thing I saw was flak being fired up at us. I called the pilot on the intercom and told him about the flak - he said yes I see it. Another close call. Later I figured that the IFF had not been on. I then returned to the good ole U. S. A.

In the states I was assigned to Lake Charles Air Base, La, as instructor, checking out Flight engineers. After several months I finally asked for Overseas duty - everybody thought that I lost my mind. I told some guys that it's more dangerous flying training mission here than flying combat missions. In Dec., l944, I finally got my orders. I was assigned to a new crew. We were assigned to the 387 Bomb Group 557 Bomb Sqdn.. Again arrived during the Battle Of the Bulge. When we arrived they told us not to unload as the Germans had broken through the line. We were near San Quentin, France. However we stayed there until we moved to Holland. We flew 25 more missions and after April, l945, due to the amount of points that I had, was shipped back to the states. Had to re enlist in the Reserves before they would discharge me. Lucky for me I finally got my discharge in 1965. Now I receive a check every month for as long as I live. Sure comes in handy for the trips to the reunions,

Ray V. Davila