Flying from Italy

In the last interview with Nita and Dick, he described flying the "Nita-Lynn" to Europe. He and his crew were now based in Cerignola, Italy, which opened for combat flying in late 1943 and was part of the larger Allied Foggia Airfield Complex. The location at the “heel” of the boot (just below the little bump on the heel) of Italy made it strategically possible to reach most places in Europe.

My father never talked much about his time in Italy except that they were housed in tents. One day, he ran into someone from his hometown of Camden, Arkansas, a couple of tents over, which I’m sure was exciting for him to see someone from home. (Show here with crew members [back row] Charles Doerring,  and Chester Eide and [front row] Dick Terrell and Phil Crum.)

His bombardier, Red McCrocklin, noted some of their missions in his book, “Combat and Capture.”  (His inscription to me in my copy of the book said, “I hope that you, by reading this book of my WWII experiences, . . . will realized that Dick was only 4 feet from me in all our missions and only one barrack away from me in the POW camp. This is also his story.” Thank you, Red, for sharing these detailed memories!

My father’s crew’s missions included:

Monte Cassino Abbey, March 15, 1944 – The abbey “was on top of a snow covered mountain that was the most important fortress in the German line across Italy that was blocking the Allied advance up the Italian peninsula. All efforts by ground troops to take it were repulsed with heavy losses, so the 15^th Air Force was called in to take it out.”

According to an April 10, 1944 "Life" article, the battle for Monte Cassino began January 16 and lasted two and half months and resulted in a failure. The effort drew criticism. My father's plane was part of a final attack, but the Germans continued to hold the hill. The destruction of the Abbey became an embarrassment to the United States. 

Vienna, Austria, March 17, 1944 – “None of the planes had pressurized cabins so all were open to the cold. The crew was protected by electric wired flying suits, but the plane’s equipment . . . often froze up. (On this mission with a frozen bombsight and bomb bay doors) I, as the bombardier, had to take off my parachute and flak jacket and go to back to the bomb bay, crank open the doors and release the bombs manually with a screw driver . . . The recorded temperature inside the plane that day was 42 degrees below zero.”

Klagenfurt, Austria, March 19, 1944 – (I) “shot down our first German fighter plane on this mission. It was an ME109 that was sent up to radio our air speed, altitude and direction so they could zero in on the B-24’s . . . He was so absorbed in his mission, he got too close . . . My feeling was not exultation of having shot down an enemy plane, but why was he so stupids to fly so close.”

Bologna, Italy, March 22, 1944 – I first saw the devastating effect of mass bombing on this mission. Our target was the railroad yards and station of Bologna . . . The place was jammed with people of all ages. I will never forget the look of terror on their faces . . . As the bombs hit, they and entire trains exploded causing great carnage.”

Alps, March 26, 1944 – “Enemy action was not the only hazard flying over wintertime Europe. On this mission into Central Europe, we ran into an intense cold front with zero visibility. The entire Air Force got lost and scattered all over Southern Europe . . . One time as the clouds opened up a flight of twelve German FW190 fighters were on our wing tip. We saw each other about the same time, but before either of us could react, we were back in the clouds. We finally let down below the clouds and saw the Adriatic Sea and flew south down the Italian Coast arriving at our base after dark and low on fuel.We were lucky to have made it back.”

Red goes on to say that in 1943 and for the first six months of 1944, “the German Luftwaffe (air force) had air superiority over target areas in Central Europe at the time, because our fighters did not have the range to escort bombers all the way to the target. Our losses consequently were heavy. The average number of missions in my group was two. This meant that on your second mission you were likely to be shot down. Some never even got to the target. We were told that our mission at the stage of the war was to knock out the German Air Force in the air and on the ground. The theory was, we can replace our losses, and they can not, so we slugged it out.”

What a miracle that my father's crew successfully completed 13 missions and returned to base from 12 missions.