These two photos were taken by Charles F. Hollenberg, a 2nd Bomb Group veteran.
He told me the following story:
"We did have contact with the flight engineer that evening. He did not indicate there had been any consideration of 'stepping out'. The flak burst was at the port side of the ship (not a direct hit . . . ). He related that there was no wire contact with the waist, tail or ball turret location. Therefore they did not know the condition of the ball turret man or tail gun. (As we were informed later the man in the tail had only one wound a flak hit through the spine just below the back side of his flak vest - fatal instant).
"As my log indicated we were informed the radio operator had forty separate wounds (a nice round figure which I'm sure may have been enlarged as the word came down the line). The flight engineer noted that the fin and rudder had a slight horizontal swing of about half a foot. On touch down as they lost speed the ball turret became a skid . . . "
The symbols on the tail are the 2nd Bomb Group's "Y in a circle" over traces of the overpainted 99th Bomb Group diamond and the short-lived "Y in a square" marking that was intended for use by all Fifth Wing groups. The yellow "split arrow" below the serial is the 429th Bomb Squadron's unique symbol. The overpainted circle is where a white ball with a blue "3" (indicating 99th Bomb Group) in it was once painted. The white rudder with a blue stripe is another 2nd Group marking.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
