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To Dad's 29th mission.Personal Mission Log of
Bernard L. Prueher
And
The 8th Air Force
This is the combined log of both Brenard Prueher, Navigator on the missions that Dad was on, and the 8th AF log which also has the rest of Air Force missions that were going on at the same time. Keep in mind that what I have included here is ONLY the missions of the 8th Air Force. There were lots of other missions going on by other groups.
The first set of notes came from Prueher.
There are some personal notes and they are in ( ).
By reading both sets not notes you will get the "big picture" of what was going on. Keep in mind that when it says xx number of bombers lost, there are 10 men on each one.
(Keep in mind what we learned about the first mission of a new crew was taken with only the Pilot and the Navigator of that crew. The rest of the crew on their first mission was a seasoned crew from another plane. So Dad would NOT have been on this flight. Also, if you remember, Prueher was asked to fill in for another guy who was sick at one point. I have not looked up to see which mission that was. If you find out, let me know and I will make note of that mission because Dad would not have been on that one either. It would be kind of neat to know which one of these that was.)
February 21, 1944
My first raid - flew with Lt. McCarthur and crew. Dropped 12 x 500 ponders on Me 109 factory near Osnabruck. Flak was light but I thought it was heavy - found out later that it was very moderate. Saw no enemy fighters but plenty of friendly fighter support. Target smashed - Big flak hole over radio operator position.
(This would have been Dad's first mission. What a way to start! If you were to think "If this is what it is going to be like each time we go out, I will never make it out of here alive". Look at the numbers they lost from their own section this day. What were they thinking as they watched planes going down all around them?)
February 24, 1944
Flew with my own crew. Dropped 10 x 500 pounders on Me 110 component parts factory at Gotha. Flak heavy and plenty of enemy fighters attacked us. Me 109s, Me 110s and F. W. 190s. Nearly got our ship as they had picked off the 3 planes in the element behind us and we were next. Friendly fighter support n. g. as we were 15 minutes ahead of our ETAs. Saw at least 5 bombers go down. One B-17 exploded and I saw tail go down in one piece and wing in the other. Three men parachuted out. Target was smashed. Rhodes got Me 110 (Way to go Dad), Sawyer claims 2 Me 109s. Out of 23 ships from our group only 16 returned. We were one of the 4 ships that got back out of 2nd Section. Ten started out, 6 went down.
(First record of holes in their plane - 12. That must have put fear in their hearts.)
February 25, 1944
Flew with my own crew. Dropped 240 x 20 lb. fragmentation bombs on air field at Furth which is near Nuremberg. Saw plenty of enemy fighters but they didn't bother us much as our support was fairly good and our formation large. Saw B-17 spin in and explode. We passed Stuttgaart on way in and it had just been hit. Large pillars of smoke coming from the city. We encountered heavy and accurate flak in spots, especially over Nuermberg just after bombs away. Got about a dozen flak holes in our ship. Picture of bombing showed good results and most of the 60 enemy planes on field either destroyed or damaged. (They had to feel good about this.)
March 9, 1944
About a week ago we started for Berlin, called back before we got to Helgoland on account of weather - nearly -60 degrees c. Plane crashed while forming as did two others a few days ago which hit in mid-air directly over us. (If Dad was in his top gunner position when this happened he would have seen it all.) Kurtz and crew killed. (You know they had to have known the other guys. They would have all been together at the briefings in the morning before they took off.) Today we started for a place 35 miles west of Berlin. Complete undercast so we never got there. Bombed Hanover through the clouds. Whole mission SNAFU. Flak was intense but we only got 14 holes. Spoils the fun not to see the bombs hit.
March 13, 1944
Strictly a noball to a place slightly north of Amilns (Amieus) @5010-0159. Meager flak, flew at 19,000 and complete undercast so we didn't even drop our bombs.
March 15, 1944
Flew to Brunswick. Complete undercast again so we bombed the city by P. F. F. instead of visually. Results believed to be good. Flew at 20,000 with -37degrees c. temp. Flak moderate and inaccurate - 1 flak hole - gunners saw only 3 Me 109s. P38s shot one down and other 2 disappeared into clouds.
March 16, 1944
Flew to Freidrichschafen on Lake Constance. Target covered with haze so instead of bombing pinpoint target - factory buildings - we bombed center of town. Hell of a long haul - 21,000', -30 degrees c., and my heated boots went out. Nearly froze my feet besides being sick with bad cold and sore throat. No enemy fighters, good fighter coverage all the way, and flak was moderate. Target was on one side of Lake Constance and other side was Switzerland. Quite a temptation to keep on going to Switzerland and then the war would be over so far as I was concerned. Interned for duration. Scenery was beautiful, especially Lake Constance, Alps in distance, and along Marne & Rhone rivers near Paris. Couldn't see Paris due to haze - only 20 miles away. Must have blasted hell out of city as we carried 5 x 1000 pounders and I saw them hit in center of town.
March 20, 1944
Started for Frankfurt with 40 x 100 lb. G.P. bombs. Everything going fine until we got to 5005N - 0545E, where we ran into soup - couldn't get over. Suddenly came barreling thru formation which scattered in a hurry. We got the hell out and came home alone. (ALONE! How would that make you feel?) Four beautiful P47s escorted us to the Channel. Didn't drop our bombs as we were still in Belgium, 10 miles from German border.
March 26, 1944
Noball to Ciracourt, France - near St. Pol - rocket installation - 10 x 500 lb B.P. Used chaff, and flak was not so hot as far as we were concerned. No enemy fighters and friendly fighter cover was good. Over enemy territory only 1 hour - 22,000 feet, -20 degrees c. Bombing results were good. Would like about 22 more missions just like this.
March 27, 1944
Pau, France - damn near to Spain - 10 miles. Nice trip but we had a hell of a time getting formed. Joined K Group - very poor formation so we joined J Group. Nose gunner sick so Bill had to go in turret. I salvoed the bombs as toggle switch didn't work. The J group carried 500 pounders and we carried 52 x 100 pounder incendiaries, which of course hit right after the demolition bombs. Hit the target, which was a large group of buildings, and what a splash. Never saw so many fires in all my life - could see gas or ammunition dumps exploding after we left. That airfield won't be used for a long time. When we got to the Oleron Island flak guns opened up on us and knocked lead ship down - 7 chutes got out (10 guys on a crew) = all because we were too close to the land instead of off-shore a few more miles. When we got back to England, the whole island was fogged in. We went to Excter in West England, but that was socked in too - saw a small break in clouds and down we went. Landed at a Navy base - good chow. Sure would like to be one of those little Navy heroes. Fly at 2,000', never see any flak or fighters - just fly out over the sea for awhile and then back - do that 50 times and then go back to U. S. Came back to Hethel next day.
April 8, 1944 Sat.
Brunswick -airplane factory - 52 x 100 pound incendiary bombs - 21,000' - Took same old hiway thru Zuide Zee & Holland. Saw lots of flak hit groups near us but none hit Naughty Norma. Fighters hit ground ahead of us - made one pass and got 4 B-24s. Saw 3 going down at the same time. They also hit group behind us and got at least one. P47s had quite a scramble with them and did very well, but there must have been too many to take care of. Saw about 5 fighter planes go down. Covered the target with bombs. I got several pictures of flak, formation, and target with George's camera but broke the film so they probably won't turn out. Bill still in hospital so I toggled the bombs. My boots and gloves out - nearly froze.
(This had to have been one bad day. Late start, weather extremely bad, SOS sent out, fighters attack them, crew member wounded, plane damaged, lost 2 crews of friends, 3 planes run into each other - all killed.)
Easter Sunday, April 9, 1944
Airfield at Lutow - 75 miles northeast of Berlin - 20,000', 10 x 500 lb. Demolition. Got late start so we didn't catch our formation until within 75 miles of Heligoland. Just before we caught them, we had to go through some bad weather. Ship nearly rolled over several times. Air speed varied from 120 to 200. Radio Operator sent in SOS but John and George managed to pull her through right side up. I can honestly say I was never so damned scared in all my life. Finally got in formation, flew across Danish penninsulva coming out about 50 miles below Copenhagen. Enemy fighters attacked us at I. P. which was in southwest corner of Baltic Sea. No damage to us but saw several planes go down. Smashed hell out of target. Just passed target 20 mm cannon shell exploded in waist injuring Kellis. Not bad, we hope, but he was spattered with shot from belly to ankle. Big hole in ship and rudder cable strands were broken. Kellis is first man, and I hope the last, to get the Purple Heart. Ran into some damn accurate flak around Vechta, followed us along for about 10 minutes. Pendergast, Westerbeck and crew went down. Sure was glad to get back on the ground again. Bill still in hospital, so again I toggled the bombs. Reese, Pohl and crew were rammed in mid-air by ship from different group while forming - all killed. Found out later Kellis was hit just before I. P. but said nothing until after we hit the target. (Kellis must not have wanted to scare or worry the rest of the crew. Let's get the job done and then tell the rest. What a hero!)
(Read between the lines here. Three other crews that they knew went down today. Yes, Dad went over on the Queen Mary. Of the 10 crews that came over, only 5 are left. This is their 13th mission so they know they have 17 more to go. If half are gone and we are not half over, what are the odds of getting back? They find out later that this was the heaviest loses in a single day. What will the next day be like?)
April 11, 1944
F. W. factory at Oschershleben. Good weather, easy navigation. Fighters attacked us as we were taking interval at I. P:. Lots of fighters and they threw lot of 20 mm at us. Knocked down Jweid, Wyatt, and Downey from our group. Out of the 10 crews which came over on Queen Mary, 5 are left. We dropped 52 x 100 lb incendiaries on target 5 minutes after the group ahead of us plastered it with 1500 lb. H. E. I dropped the bombs. Mulqueeney got F. W. and so did Rhodes and Sawyer. (Way to go Dad.)
April 12, 1944
Foche Wolfe assembly factory at Zwickau. Called back from pass to navigate for Oras' crew. Had bad weather, in fact 2nd Section lost us in clouds over Channel and turned back. We went on through France and 100 miles into Germany before we finally had to turn back. We lost our friendly fighters when we turned and were immediately jumped by F. W.s. (Their only protection was their own guns. NO fighter support. Bum!) Saw at least 5 bombers go down. Flak moderate. Noticed French coast flooded for about 50 miles below Ostend.
April 18, 1944
Rathenor - 35 miles northwest Berlin - 52 x 100 lb incendiaries. Long haul over Danish Penninsula. Missed target.
April 19, 1944
Paterbonn - 10 x 500 lb G.P. Good job of bombing. Little flak - no fighters.
April 20, 1944
St. Omer - 8 x 1000 lb Noball target. Good bombing job. Plane went down right ahead of us. (Dad would have had a good view of this too.)
April 24, 1944
Augsburg Airfield and depot, 4 miles north of city. 1000 lb G.P. 27,000 gals. Topped off. Saw no enemy fighters but flak was heavy at target area. Good weather.
April 28, 1944
G+ Noball. Just inside Point Gris 4 x 2000 lb H. E. Flak moderate but accurate and about 15 rockets. Missed target.
(What a way to spend your birthday. Wondering if you would ever have another one. Notice the number of planes the 8th lost today.)
April 29, 1944
Happy Birthday - Berlin. Practically complete undercast until we came to target area where the clouds broke. Had a good view of city and the flak and rocket barrage they are able to throw up. What a pasting that city took today - practically the whole 8th Air Force over the city at same time. Scared hell out of me. Took a tour of Eastern Germany after dropping bombs and I soon became completely lost. Saw plenty of enemy fighters and a lot of heavies go down but our group wasn't hit. 8th A. F. lost 64 bombers out of about 900. Load - 5 x 1000 lb H. E. plus 3 x 100 lb incendiaries.
May 6, 1944
Brussels, Belgium - Group ran off 2 miss today. We went in P. M. to Brussels. Shot haul, moderate flak, no enemy fighters, good cover - what a deal. Visibility good but lead ship screwed up, one other ship and ourselves only ones to drop bombs 8 x 1000 lb G. P. Quite sure we hit target. R. R marshalling yards.
May 7, 1944
Osnabruck - 12 x 500 lb G. P. - Kellis back with us and it sure seems good. Finally have G box in D+ - We hit center of town thru complete overcast -40 degrees c. Close formation - PFF bombing. Flak at target was heavy, barrage type. Fighter cover was fair but saw no enemy fighters. Bombed at 23,500. One ship ditched in Channel.
(Look at the time of day they were getting up. Under attack for over an hour! That would be a LONG hour.)
May 8, 1944 - Monday
Brunswick, Germany - center of city. 52 x 100 lb. Incendiaries, 2300 gals. Got us up at 0230, briefed at 0315, takeoff at 0615 - all went well until just before the I. P. where we were hit by enemy fighters. Our fighter cover was good but they were badly outnumbered by the so called extinct Luftwaffe. We were under attack for over an hour, the 453 who were leading lost 6 planes, but we never lost a plane. Never saw so many 109s and 190s since Gotha. Hope I never see another one. I saw at least 6 B-24s and one enemy fighter go down. Three of the 24s exploded in mid-air. Flak at target was heavy but not too accurate - our ship came through OK. As usual we got more flak at the Dommer Lake area - Alt. 22,500, Temp. -30 degrees c.
May 9, 1944
Florence Belgium. Target G. A. F. nite fighter field, Load 40 x 100 lb. G. P., 2300 gals. Got up at 0230, briefed 0330, Takeoff 0615. Flight alt. 16,000 - too low to suit me -20 degrees c temp. No flak until the target area where it was moderate and inaccurate. Excellent bombing job. Saw 20 mm shells bursting around us but damned if we could find the enemy fighters. The 453 flying high right lost 2 ships, saw one of them go down, 7 chutes. On the way, over one of our own ships (Shepperd) (Shepperd was not put in by me. They must have known that crew too.) went down in the Channel for no apparent reason. Believed one of our ships killed the pilot while test-firing guns. Tough luck!
May 20, 1944
Rhiems, France RR yds, 6 x 1000 lb. 2300 gals. Easy mission, flak a bit rough at target but we got only one hole, saw no enemy fighters. Did a damn good job of bombing - every one right in the target area. Had a good look at the big Cathedral as we were at 19,800. Flew in A+ instead of D+. Hell with that noise. No G box.
May 23, 1944
Orleans, France. Up at 0200, briefing 0230 - Takeoff 0500. Load 12 x 500 lb. G. P., Gas 2300, Ship R+. Everything went off as scheduled, target was a bomb dump near airfield 9 miles N.W. of Orleans. Nose turret door broke off going through #3 prop, smashed cowling, cut a few holes in fuselage and broke R. O. window. Saw several places on way in and out that had just been bombed. Falk in target area.
May 24, 1944
Paris - Up at 0130, briefing at 0230, Takeoff at 0500. Load 7 x 1000 lb. G. P. Gas 2300 Ship R+ - another good mission, everything went off as scheduled, good bombing results, plastered hell out of airfield that was practically in the town. My first good look at Paris. Heavy flak at city but we weren't scratched. The damn nose turret door again broke off going through same prop and causing the same damage.
(If you look back at the time of day they were getting up for the past few days you can understand why the navigator overslept this morning. They all had to have been dog tired. Jimmy Stewart must have been there during the briefing that morning. I wonder if Dad ever meet him?)
May 25, 1944
Paris - Overslept and missed the main briefing. Gas 2500 - 10 x 500 lb. G. P. Supposed to hit marshalling yards at Troy, couldn't see target so we bombed secondary, which was another airfield at Paris. Flak was heavy and accurate and I was damn glad to get home. Jimmy Stewart was Command Pilot for our wing.
(Another bad day and Dad still had 3 to go.)
May 27, 1944
Marshalling yards at Saarbrucken - Gas 2500 - 12 x 500 lb. Service Armor Piercing. Took another tour of France as usual before we hit target. Never have I seen such accurate and so heavy flak, within a minute of the time it started, two ships spun in from our group (Leninger and Reed) - Seavey's engineer was killed by flak thru his heart and Brown, his last mission, had to crash land in southern England. We nearly got hit by a plane on the bombing run and then we lost an engine - supercharger went out. One more left and I'd give $100 for a noball.
(This was Prueher's last mission. Remember, he started one ahead of Dad and then filled in for a guy that was sick. So we don't have this "personal" type of log for the next day. But I think we have enough reports from talking to the crew to know what happened. Remember too that there is going to be a big party tonight because Prueher is the first of their crew to make it all the way through alive.)
May 28, 1944
44 x 100 lb. G. P., 2700 gal topped off. Started out for Merceberg - synthetic oil plant - #3 supercharger went out over Zuider Zee - Rhodes fixed it but the damn thing went out again. Formation was pulling away from us - we couldn't keep up. John said we'd have to turn back but we wanted to drop our bombs. I picked out an airfield 4 miles north of Donner Lake and so we headed for that all by ourselves. (Going off by themselves. They couldn't keep up with the rest because an engine was out. Now alone.) No bombsight, so we just let them go when we thought we should. Probably missed airport but got the city of Diepholz. Never saw bombs light as we did a quick 180 and batted hell for home. We could hear the boys calling for fighter cover over VHF just after we left formation. I sure was one scared cookie on the way home until 4 beautiful P47s found us and escorted us to the Channel. (I'm sure they were relieved to see them. Heading back to the base for a PARTY! Keep in mind that this is Naughty Norma. She has an engine out and is full of holes. They will not be able to take her out tomorrow.)
(We know that Dad and his crew were headed to Politz today. The rest of the story is recorded for us from what we got from the crew.)
(I looked this log up because it was this date that Naughty Norma went down. We know part of that story too. I have not checked to see how many missions she was on from the last day that Dad was on her. I'm sure it was only a day or two before the ground crew had her ready to fly again. But when Dan and the crew did not come back, they put another crew or maybe several different crews on her. In any case, this is what was going on the day she went down. At least by this time Dad was safe.)