| James W. Taylor's WWII Experiences |
| Donor | Original Source | PIMA ID | Donor ID | Category |
| Richard P. Ellinger | James W. Taylor | NA | RPE-44046 | OCR-DA-P |
| ~ continue DZcks account ot ~is~ion ~ 11)
~
at 16:20. We cro~sed the bomb line at 16:41 and were only three
minute~ in when we caught flak. It was moderate accurate. It hit one
ship in the last flight and i~ engine caught f~re. It started down in a
~pin. The engine dropped off and it began to spin faster. The wing
fell off and just ~en one c~nute was observed. The ptane hit near a
small town and exploded. Just ~en one more plane from ~e same
flight was hit. I~ engine started smoking and it aborted. It still isn't
back. We didn't catch any more flak fill the Larget. We dropped our
bombs and hit the bridge. We then made a second run and all went
well. Everyone dropped. We saw heavies gettig shot at by rockets.
We then started out and all was clear till ~e bomb line. We caught 8
bura~ of flak. It wa~ weak and inaccurate, way below ~e
formation.We hit base at 19:15. All was O.K.
March 28, 194S, Mi~ion #12, A1t 12,000 The target today waa a honey. We were told it wa~ a very important target that was ~uppo~ed to be pre~y well t~id. It was 6,000 ton~ of ga~ and oil in a wooda at Neuenha~e. We took off at 07:45. I gueas the ceiling was about 6500 feet We climbed ~rough ~e overcast and headed on course. We got about one half hour on course and I pulled pins and went to tt~e tail. We just had tall fuses today. We met our fghter e~cort at 09:43 and then cro~ed the bomb line. We had 9/10~ covering over Germany. We made our bomb run and dropped all our bomb~. We [urned off to ~e left at {he target and I saw black oil ~moke arise througl~ the clouds, which were already 5,000 feet high. We mu~t l~ave made a direct hit It was a complete milk run. We cro~ed tt~e bomb line and headed for home. We ran into mean ctoud bank~ and were forced to drop lower. Finally we ran into rain. We were flying 500 feet above ~e ground, and going lower. I could see peoples faces looking up at us. We ~en lowered to 200 feet We hit the fleld and peeled off. Two planes collided, one hit the other and cut the tail completely off. They both went down and exploded. Men were thrown all over and ~e ambulance went around covering the bodies and picking up heads, arm~ and bodies of men it was horrible. Our crew ~watted out a landing. Vi~ibility about 100 feet Thank God I can write about it Two Ack-Ack gunner~ wounded by [ail ~ection. ( I had earlier asked if anyone could recall which mission it was when we iced up and fell out of control. Dick and I were pinned up against the ceiling we were falling so fast Bamey pulled us out and we were then on the floor with several ~G'sM Dick said that he had talked with Bamey and they believe this mission of March 28 was the one. I am not sure---l wish that I could find my diary ! J. Taylor) I am happy that Dick didn't lose his records ! W45-47 P.46 |
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