The weather was to be clear with little or no
winds. There were to be no contrails at the altitude we were assigned.
Heavy ant aircraft fire was not anticipated. Actually conditions were
ideal for trying out the new bomb. Enemy fighters were available to
intercept our bombers, but heavy interceptions (were) not anticipated
since Gotha was not a highly industrial area. Neither Wes Tibbets nor
(I) was scheduled for this particular mission, but we both volunteered
to be spares. Spares are extra aircraft that go along on the first part
of a mission. The spares usually penetrate into enemy territory for
just a short distance. In the event one of the scheduled pilots has
trouble with his plane, the spare can fill in for him and complete the
mission. Thus the fighters would be at full strength for the escort.
For some reason which I can not remember Wes and I were to act as spares
for any of the three squadrons in case we were needed. Normally each
squadron will take along its own spares for a mission.
Wes was in a very good mood as we were preparing
for take off. He was joking and kidding around with his crew and with
me. It was almost as though we were going on a milk run. (a milk run
was a mission where we did not meet enemy aircraft, nor heavy anti
aircraft fire). We was my flight leader and had been (ever) since I was
assigned to the 338th fighter squadron. I thought a lot of
him as a pilot and as a man. In fact on my first combat mission over
France, I was flying his wing. We engaged the enemy at that time. We
had no losses on that mission, and we did not destroy any enemy
aircraft. I remembered that we had been told anyone who did not stay in
formation, would in all probability be shot down. I flew such tight
formation that I am sure the German’s must have thought they saw a four
boomed P-38 instead of the normal two booms (tail sections). In fact I
spent so much effort on staying in formation, that I never really saw
what was going on, all I saw was Wes’s wing.
On today’s mission Wes was to lead the spares and I
was to fly his wing. In the event one person aborted the mission, Wes
would be the first to replace, and in the event a second plane had to
leave, I would fill in. As it happened two planes from the same flight
in one of the other squadrons had to go back, so Wes took the flight
leader’s position and I took the element leaders position. Each flight
consists of four planes; there were two elements of two planes. The
flight leader had a wing man and the element leader had a wing man. The
two elements worked as a team, one covering the other in the event of
combat.
As we proceeded towards the target I noticed that
my wing man was dropping back even though I kept telling him to close
up. This continued until my sing man was a mile or two behind me.
Finally I called Wes and told him of the situation and informed him that
I was going to drop back in case my wing man was having trouble. Wes
acknowledged, giving me permission to do so. I did drop back and
finally found out that my wing man was not in trouble, but was merely
out of position. I got him back into formation and increased speed so
that we could attempt to get back into our position covering Wes’s
element. In the mean time, the bombers were approaching Gotha the
target for the day. Our group’s responsibility was to be target support
for the B-24’s.
While this particular
point has nothing to do with what happened to Wes, it did make this
mission more interesting than any of the others we had gone on. The
device which made the bomb non defuseable was defective on some of the
bombs. Thus some of the bombs were armed at take off. As we proceeded
along the way, every now and then one of the bombs would go off while
still in the bomber. The bomber disintegrated into thousands of pieces
(this was particularly devastating since each lane carried many bombs
and once one went off they would all go at the same time) each B-24
carried a crew of ten men, so every time one of the bombs went off, not
only did we (lose) a bomber, but we lost the whole crew. Even though
there were no enemy aircraft in the vicinity nor was their any anti
aircraft fire. We lost at least four or our bombers to their own bombs.
As I drew nearer to the
bombers I could see about ten miles ahead of me one lone P-38 in a spin
towards the ground. I do not remember seeing any flak (anti-aircraft
fire) for any enemy planes at the time. Not knowing that this was Wes’s
aircraft, I never tried to contact him and I never heard anything from
him. In combat it is essential that radio transmissions be dept to a
minimum so the airway is free in the event someone is under attack or
someone sees an eminent attack he has the air available.
I don’t believe that I
saw even one enemy aircraft on this mission. To the best of my
recollection at this time Wes was the only loss we suffered, and we did
not destroy any enemy aircraft. Although this does not coincide with
the information obtained from Germany, it is how I remember what
happened. I also remember watching the bombs as they hit Gotha. The
weather was clear and visibility was excellent. The bombs appeared to
look just like rain falling in waves back and forth, back and forth. I
wondered at the time how anything could survive a pounding like this.
I always blamed myself
for not being at Wes’s side as I was supposed to be, maybe there was
something I could have done, but I don’t know what it could have been.
I know that I also had a responsibility to my wing-man, but had he
stayed where he was supposed to be we would have been side my side with
Wes.
After the bombers had
dropped all of their bombs we started our return trip to England. It
was at some point either at the target, or shortly after we left home
that I found that Wes was no longer with us. No one knew any specifics
about what had happened to him. It is possible that something went
wrong with his oxygen system and he could have passes out for lack of
air, but this is one of the things we will never know until we meet him
again in heaven and ask him.
I just reviewed some
records I have pertaining to the missions we were on and in particular
the one to Gotha. It seems that the written record refers to an
engagement with the enemy. I am sorry that I cannot remember an
engagement at all. Wes was the only pilot we lost that day in combat,
but there was another pilot from one of the other squadrons who had an
engine failure and went down to the deck (close to the ground) to try to
return home. It seems that this pilot was shot down by anti aircraft
fire somewhere in France. He also was kia (Killed in Action)
I will continue to
attempt to remember any more details, in the event something pops back
into my head that has not been covered in this story, I will keep your
address and send any further information on to you.
Sincerely,
Bill Burns