Date: 25 FEB 1944

MISSION #6

BASE: Gioia del Colle

TARGET: Regensburg, Germany--Prufening ME-109 Aircraft Factory

SHIP: Sakinshack …256

ESCORT: 75 P-38’s, 50 P-47's, from the 1st, 32nd, 14th and 325th Fighter Groups on the way home.

BOMBS: 8 x 500 lb. General Purpose from 21,000 feet.

ENEMY AIRCRAFT:40 FW-190’s, 20 ME-109’s, 25 ME-110’s, 15 ME-210’s

FLAK: Intense Volume, Accurate Aim, Heavy Caliber

RESULTS: Destroyed Target.

SORTIES: 2 Total: 8

MISSION TIME: 6:30 Total: 36:45

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NARRATIVE: Went back to Regensburg and I was plenty scared. We hit it hard. Even the German radio admitted that we had knocked out 50% of their productive ability, so it is probably more than that. However, it was costly. Our group lost six ships due to fighter attack (724th lost two--PEACEMAKER 42-52101 and KNOCK IT OFF 42-7765, 725th lost three including WEE WILLIE 42-52167 and THE CITADEL 42-52168, 726th lost one). We were jumped by fighters an hour before we got to the target. Most of the fighters came in on the tail. We were attacked by a couple of 109’s. They came in about four o'clock and did not seem to be using any deflection as they came at us but were firing their 20mm cannon directly at us. I could see the guns flashing. I had done pretty well at gunnery school and thought I was a pretty good shot, but the speed at which they came in at us completely confused me; my training had not prepared me for this. From being a mere dot in the sky until they filled the window of the turret, their speed left me amazed. I could see the flashes of the 20mm cannon as they fired, but they were not using deflection when they should have been. Thus, two German fighter pilots and one American Liberator plane and its crew lived to fight another day. Those ME-109’s had the yellow noses of Goring's own elite squadron. When it seemed as if they would crash into our plane, they flipped upside-down and dived straight down. On one occasion, three ME-109’s followed a crippled B-24 down and the tail gunner remained in his turret and kept shooting until two of the ME-109’s went down while the B-24 crashed into the ground (DOUBLE TROUBLE 41-29244 of the 725th squadron.)

Our tail gunner, S/Sgt Israel Willig, saw one ship go down. “It was flying just behind and above us. It received a hit on the right wing which tore off that part of the wing extending beyond the outboard engine, sending the ship into a steep dive.”

 As we approached the initial point of the bomb run the aircraft attacks stopped briefly and we were engulfed in a barrage of heavy anti-aircraft fire. The flak was heavy but we didn’t lose any ships there. As we approached the target the fighter attacks were the most intense. The guns were singing their tunes. We were very busy fighting off enemy attacks. On the trip from the target area, we were not hampered by enemy aircraft. We weren’t due to pick up our fighter escort until about forty-five minutes off the target, so we were really sweating out more fighters. None came up and then we saw our P-38’s in the distance. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. There was never a more welcome sight.

The weather was perfect going to the target, but got much worse on the way home. We had to work through very thick storm clouds in order to keep the formation together. About two hours out we received a message to land at Foggia Main because our base (Gioia del Colle) had been almost washed away. The place is flooded. Ships all landed at different fields. They can’t get home. It was the last we saw of our old base. Our crew and our personal effects headed towards a temporary base near San Pancrazio.

Most successful raid ever pulled by the 15th Air Force. Our first attack unit was first over the target and smashed it to bits. We were in the second attack unit leading the third flight (the low flight). The 451st received a Distinguished Unit Citation for this mission.