Frisco Gazette

The briefing of the first mission was held early today. The Mostar airdrome in Yugoslavia was to be the target of the first mission, to be carried out by the 721^st bomb squadron and the 723^rd bomb squadron. The 721^st squadron was represented by eight planes flown by: Colonel Mills, Captain Davis, Lt. Clark, Lt. T.A. Scott, Lt. Graham, Lt. Wolcott, Lt. Cannon, and Lt. Helmberger. Lt. Anderson was scheduled to fly but did not join the formation because of difficulty with the left landing gear sticking. A total of 24 tons of bombs were carried by the 721^st bomb squadron and dropped from an altitude of 19,000 to 19,500 feet. The target was not sighted in time to get a good bombing run on it, and all bombs fell to the right of the target.

No enemy aircraft were encountered on this mission, but flak was encountered over the airdrome, accurate and of moderate intensity. All aircraft returned with light damage by flak, but no crew members were injured. Lt. Helmberger’s ship received a hole through the nose turret; Capt Davis’s ship had two small flak holes elevator; Lt. T.A. Scott’s ship was hit by flak in the left wing flap; Capt. Colley’s ship had flak holes in the wing and the tail; and Lt. Wolcott’s ship received one piece of shrapnel through the nose turret, which hit Lt. Leebody on the side of the face, though it caused no injury because of his oxygen mask. He is now saving this piece of shrapnel as a souvenir. This mission was escorted by p-38 fighters from the 82^nd fighter group.

squadron activities were more or less confined to the preparation and execution of the daily missions. There had more no more rain, and the grounds and landing strip had become dryer and harder which had caused the necessity of scraping and packing the landing strip at night to keep it in condition to be operational for the planes.

another mission took off on the morning of this date and the 721^st bomb squadron was represented by 13 planes flown by; Capt. Davis, Lt. Clarke, Lt. Wolcott, Lt. Haggerton, Lt. Wandell, Lt. Hervey. Lt. Waste, Lt. Reno, Lt. T.a. Scott, Lt. Salinger, Lt. Hartman, Lt. Helmberger, and Lt. Graham. This was another group mission and the target was the town of mostar, Yugoslavia, used as a headquarters by the Germans.

this squadron carried a bomb load of 33 tons. The town of mostar was well covered by direct hits. Flak was encountered and seven of our aircraft were damaged, including two tail turrets. The 82^nd fighter group furnished the escort of p-38’s. The fw-190’s were encountered, and a dogfight between a p-38 and an fw-190 was witnessed by the crew on the plane flown by Capt. Davis.

plane #227, flown b Lt. Graham, developed mechanical difficulties and received a direct hit by flak over the target. While over the target, the no. 2 propeller governor ran off and the propeller could not be feathered, and continued to windmill, causing severe vibration of the plane. The number 3 engine then received a direct hit by flak, caught fire, and it’s propeller could not be feathered. The number 4 supercharger caught fire, but despite the desperate condition of the plane, Lt. Graham chose to try to reach friendly territory rather than make his crew subject to Capture by the enemy.

in the face of constant loss of altitude and extreme mechanical difficulties over the Adriatic sea, Lt. Graham gave the members of the crew the option of bailing out over the water or remaining with the plane. It was known that should the plane reach Italy, that it would not have enough altitude to permit escape by parachute. The crew chose to remain with the plane and did so. With the plane dangerously low, and only a few minutes of flight remaining, with only one engine functioning, Lt. Graham quickly chose the best possible place in the rugged terrain for landing. With extraordinary skill, he crash-landed the plane which resulted in only minor injuries to the members of the crew. In this landing, Lt. Graham suffered a lacerated scalp and a broken left arm. All members of the crew suffered shock and bruises.

Lt. Graham and Lt. FeLtenstein were trapped in the cockpit for two hours after the landing. Even though he was injured and while trapped in the plane, Lt. Graham directed the crew in the extinguishing of a fire in one of the engines, which threatened total envelopment of the plane and which endangered the lives of himself and Lt. FeLtenstein. This was a fine example of courage and good flying. All members of the crew are to received awards later, and Lt. Graham has been recommended for the distinguished flying cross.

Sgt. Flanagan and Sgt. Goldthwaite received purple heart awards on this date. Sgt. Flanagan received minor leg wounds and Sgt. Goldthwaite received minor hand wounds.

This squadron again took part in another Group Mission on this date. The target for this mission was a Stores Dump in Italy. The planes that flew on this mission were flown by: Lt. Emch, Lt. Helmberger, Lt. Cannon, Lt. Wolcott, Lt. Wilford, Lt. Salinger, and Lt. Gallagher. This squadron carried 21 tons of demolition bombs on this mission and dropped the same amount on the target. The target was fairly well covered with hits.

There was no fighter escort on this mission and no enemy fighters were encountered. Flak was encountered over the target which was heavy, intense, and very accurate as to altitude. Four of our aircraft were damaged by flak as follows: Oil line on #3 engine on plane flown by Lt. Wolcott, forcing him to feather that prop and stop the engine; plexiglass hit on Lt. Cannon's plane, which caused a minor eye injury to S/Sgt Charles H Powell; nose turret, top turret, and waist were holed on Lt. Helmberger's plane, and the plane flown by Lt. Emch sustained 11 flak holes in it. All planes returned to the Base safely.

Life in the squadron continued in the usual routine but the men met the weekly PX line for their rationed supplies.

                                        22 February 1944

The 721^st Bomb Squadron was represented by 12 planes on the take-off on the mission on this date, which took off at 0815 hours to bomb the Messerschmidt Assembly Plant located a the Airdrome near Regensburg Obertraubling, Germany. The planes that went over the target from this squadron were flown by: Major Davis, Lt. Wolcott, Lt. Reno, Lt. Hartman, Lt. Helmberger, and Lt. Miller. Lt. Gallagher, Lt. Anderson, and Lt. Salinger were early returns. This squadron dropped 27 tons of demolition bombs on the target. The target area was covered with smoke, but those dropping bombs at this point believe they were on the target for a good coverage of bursts. At least 7 hits were observed near the Southeast corner of target rectangle. Photos taken show bursts and bombs falling in direct line with the target area. The ground was snow covered and observations were made through an opening near target area.

This was a very important target and was also the longest mission that the Group had flown and it was the first time that they had flown over Germany. This factory was credited with producing 50% of the Messerschmidt production and 1/3 of Germany's' single engine fighters.

There was no fighter escort on the trip up and fighters were encountered in the target area. Between 25/30 ME-109's and 10/15 FW-190's were encountered. The enemy aircraft came up through clouds in formations of 6 to 8, then attacked in pairs which joined at 4, 5 and 7 o'clock high.

Lt. Reno's plane and crew are missing from this raid over enemy territory. Major Davis' crew claimed two enemy aircraft damaged. S/Sgt J. R. Frank (NMI), ball turret gunner on Lt. Wolcott's ship claimed 1 ME-109 as a probable. A P-38 escort picked up the formation soon after they left the target on the return trip and no more enemy aircraft were encountered. None of our aircraft were damaged by fighters or flak. Over the target, barrage type flak, heavy, moderate to intense and accurate was encountered. Flak in varying amounts were encountered en route to and from target areas at Graz, Linz, Stenoge, Maribor and Straubing. No crew members were injured on this mission.

Lt. C. A. Kingsman was sent to Bari, Italy on Detached Service on this date.

                                       5 April 1944

The planes of the 721^st Squadron again "hit the air" to participate in the 45^th Group mission to bomb the Ploesti M/Y and adjacent industrial area. The planes took off at 1117 hours and were flown by: Lts. Boggs, Tate, Eldred, Clark, E. Anderson, Emch, and Capt. Pitt. The planes carried 12 X 500 G.P. bombs on this mission. Lts. Bishop and DeVane were early returns from this mission. The boys were "on the ball" again and hit the target right "on the nose" doing widespread damage. Many direct hits were scored on distillation units, storage tanks, buildings, tank cars, and on the S.E. end of the Spur M/Y.

The boys caught it hot and heavy on this strip also, but they just took it in their stride. They encountered 50/60 ME-109's and FW-190's, 10 ME-110's, and 10/15 JU-88s. S/Sgt s. Bulkley and Curreri both claim an FW-190 destroyed each. S/Sgt s. S. C. Belgio claims 1 ME-109 destroyed. Sgt. J. M. Clark claims one FW-190 destroyed. S/Sgt. J. R. Frank claims one FW-190 destroyed. Sgt Spencer claims one ME-109 destroyed. Sgt. Monroe claims one FE-190 destroyed. Thus, our gang can "dish it out" as well as take it. The only crew injury was S/Sgt R. E. Monahan which was a minor head injury.

The ship in which S/Sgt Tornillo was the tail Gunner was hit by a 20 mm. shell, setting the wiring and hydraulic fluid in the tail turret on fire. The concussion of the explosion blew Sgt. Tornillo back in to the fuselage. Seeing the ship on fire, and evidently stunned from the explosion, Sgt. Tornillo bailed out through the camera hatch before anyone had time to stop him as the waist gunners were fighting off attacks from enemy fighters. The fire was extinguished and the plane returned to the base safely.

On 12 April 1944 nine (9) B-24's took off at 0811 hours to bomb the factory buildings of the Wiener Neustadt Aircraft Assembly Plant. One (1) First Lieutenant Thomas A. Scott returned early. Eight (8) dropped sixteen (16) tons of 100# (.10-Inst) G.P. bombs on the target at 1205 hours from 23,000 to 26,500'. The target area was heavily hit and a concentration of bombs was noted on railroad and highway overpass south of the target area. Photo coverage showed the heaviest concentration on the south two-thirds of the target area and extending across highway and railroad. The north half of the target area was smoke obscured when this Group reached the target and both visual and photo observation was impossible, however it is believed that this area was also well covered. Staff Sergeant J. R. (IO) Frank suffered a leg wound due to flak.