On 11/6/44 we go to Neumunster Airfield. Flak is meager and not accurate. No fighters. A good mission. No holes. We put the 84th mission on Raggedy Ann #42-31395. She was becoming one of the legends of the Group. We flew her just this one time. Raggedy Ann survived the war. She was salvaged with no battle damage on 6/5/45. NBD doesn't mean she wasn't hit during the war. It just means she was still flyable but worn out. She was probably declared W.W. (War Weary)

Just as a matter of interest...We flew our first 4 missions in Back To The Sack #42-97507, another old timer in the Group. The Sack also had another name, Jerry Boy. She was Olive Drab finish with a long line of bombs indicating missions. Rumor had it that the Sack had only one man wounded in her in all her flights. And, he was her tail gunner at the time. He was hit in the buttocks with a piece of flak. Back To The Sack also finished the war, but in a bizarre accident while cleaning her just prior to her departure for the Z.I. (Zone of the Interior, a fancy name for the good ol' USA) She caught fire and was totally destroyed on her hardstand.

On 11/11/44 we were sent to Saarbruchen on a ground support mission to aid Patton's Army. The target was a railroad marshaling yard about 7 miles south of Coblenz. We flew in B-17 G 43-38700. The ground in Germany is already covered in snow. Target obscured, bombed PFF (Bombing Through Overcast). We feel sorry for our troops down in the snow.

Bombed Gniessen on 11/21/44. Direct hits on marshaling yard. This was a last resort target. Several spots of flak. Primary target was Meresberg, but unable to continue because of a cloud bank in excess of 31,000 feet. I believe this was the mission where we reached 31,000 trying to get over the stuff. One must realize that a single bomber could have gotten through the weather quite easily on instruments. Taking a formation into this would been somewhat like driven at high speed through smoke blowing across a freeway from a large grass fire. Flew in Miss Fortune B-17G 43-38118...

Back to Meresberg 11/25/44. Flew again in #43-38118 Miss Fortune. Fire in #2 engine on take off. Returned to Great Ashfield on three engines, transferred To spare B-17 43-38320. Took off late, intercepting our formation over Dover, England and slid into position over Channel. Bombed Meresburg, PFF. Flak heavy but not accurate, but several planes in other Groups down in flames over target. Ceiling and visibility 0-0 on return. Some difficulty in getting in to Great Ashfield...several other planes damaged in landing. We suffered no battle damage and landed safely despite hazardous conditions...

Just a word about getting home. When the weather over England is bad, a formation must reverse the procedure used in assembly. The Group comes in over its buncher beacon, above the weather, and adopts a wide circling turn... At 30 second intervals, starting with the lower element of the formation, the B-17s "peel off" to the left and go into a controlled descending turn around the buncher beacon. Usually at the rate of 500 ft. per min. They drop into the weather in this controlled descent. Crews with wounded aboard or those low on fuel get priority. Sometimes the weather extends almost to the ground and the last few feet can get rather "hairy", When you do break out its a relief! We look for railroad tracks, roads or any recognizable landmark that leads to the base while flying the proper heading. Must keep a wary lookout for other 17s...Things can get a little crowded coming into the landing pattern. Everyone's tired and wants to get on the ground. It's not the time to rush things though, landings can bite you...