My experience in 99th Bomb Group B17 WW2

[jhor9]

Originally Posted by jimbotosome

jhor9,

Where you there when General Doolittle was heading it up and if so did you ever meet him?

Did you guys fly with the escort of the Tuskeegee airman?

I attended a presentation of our flying club from a couple of the local Tenn pilots from the 15th (I don't remember the groups but they did fly the B-24s) They gave a presentation on the Ploesti raids. Ploesti might have been the singlemost devastating asset to lose in WWII for the Germans. If I am not mistaken, I don't believe there was a single target that could compare to its importance, not even the fighter factories.

It has been about 10 years now but I seem to recall he had mentioned how the initial raid on Ploesti had a navigation problem so not all the groups found the target but it woke the Germans up about the risks to the Romanian fuel production and caused the Germans to bring in flak defenses out the ying yang trying to protect it from subsequent raids.

Glad you are here. The 15th AF never got the fame or glory the 8th AF did but had just as profound affect on the Luftwaffe and ETO air supremacy because of what it did to the German fighter factories in spring 44. That was a real back-breaker.

Jimbo
I was there when Doolittle was C.O. of the bomber force, I never met him
The Tuskeegee Airmen didn't get to our theatre until after I left. They were good, so I've been told.
The low level strike at Ploesti was in Aug 1943 flown by B24s from Libya
One group that went astray was late over the target, the group in front of them were supposed to be the last planes over because they had delayed action bombs, Unfortunately as the lost group went over the target, the bombs went off. The 24s lost close to 50% of their aircraft.
I went to Weiner Neustadt twice, after Ploesti it was one of most well defended targets, flak and fighters. In mid 1944 it was considered a twofer (2 missions) My 1st time to that target was a 14 hour flight in Nov 43, from Tunis.

[von Poop]

Ayup jhor9!
Smashing to get another Veteran on the site, you can't beat 'the horses mouth' for those bits of information and opinion we'd never find in a book.
Have fun.
Adam.

Originally Posted by jhor9

Jimbo
I was there when Doolittle was C.O. of the bomber force, I never met him
The Tuskeegee Airmen didn't get to our theatre until after I left. They were good, so I've been told.
The low level strike at Ploesti was in Aug 1943 flown by B24s from Libya
One group that went astray was late over the target, the group in front of them were supposed to be the last planes over because they had delayed action bombs, Unfortunately as the lost group went over the target, the bombs went off. The 24s lost close to 50% of their aircraft.
I went to Weiner Neustadt twice, after Ploesti it was one of most well defended targets, flak and fighters. In mid 1944 it was considered a twofer (2 missions) My 1st time to that target was a 14 hour flight in Nov 43, from Tunis.

What's up with the 50 misssions. I thought you could get a cake walk job after 25, 30, and finally 35?

50% losses? How in the world did you guys maintain your morale?

The Tuskeegee airmen (for those that didn't know) were the fighting 99th who where all black pilots and flew (later) P-51Ds with bright red tails. Shamefully our military was segregated in WWII, but it was the culture of the times you know. The 99th pilots primarily were assigned bomber escort. They are reputed to have never lost a bomber to an enemy fighter. Their tactics were somewhat different in that they stayed tight in with the bombers and would not chase the Germans. The bomber pilots would specifically request the 99th for escort but most of them never even knew they were black.

This fighting technique developed by the 99th's commander was controversial in that the bomber crews loved them for obvious reasons, but then again they did not diminish the Luftwaffe fighting ability as they didn't engage the German fighters away from the bombers.

[morse1001]

The Tuskeegee airmen (for those that didn't know) were the fighting 99th who where all black pilots and flew (later) P-51Ds with bright red tails.

The film about them was shown on British TV a couple of years ago. Are they not mentioned in the Film Memphis Belle?

Originally Posted by morse1001

The film about them was shown on British TV a couple of years ago. Are they not mentioned in the Film Memphis Belle?

I don't remember if they were in that but they were in a movie called "Hart's War" with Bruce Willis where a 99th pilot shoots down a 109 over the POW camp they are in. There is a black POW who identifies it and tells the others who don't like it because he is black.

[morse1001]

Originally Posted by jimbotosome

I don't remember if they were in that but they were in a movie called "Hart's War" with Bruce Willis where a 99th pilot shoots down a 109 over the POW camp they are in. There is a black POW who identifies it and tells the others who don't like it because he is black.

I have memphis belle on video, i will have to dig it out. think, I may have seen harts war advertised by never watched it, it did not look to good.

[Owen]

Originally Posted by jhor9

We had Wellingtons based at our field that flew at night, ask some of their crews. I met some of their people and was told that they had heavy losses,

Hello jhor9, only just read your posts. Sorry I'm not an Airforce type, unlike the rest of my family.
I read your post about Wellingtons with interest.
My Dad's cousin Bill was flying out of Kairouan/Zina, Tunisia with 420 Sqn RCAF when he and his crew were killed. (see my signature)
What airfield were you flying from?

Originally Posted by morse1001

I have memphis belle on video, i will have to dig it out. think, I may have seen harts war advertised by never watched it, it did not look to good.

Harts War was a pretty good movie though it was not much of a war movie. The one dog fight scene over the POW camp with the Allies cheering for the allied pilot while the Germans look on was about the only action. Its more of a mystery than a war film. Has a decent twist at the end. Its a disappointment if you are all geared up for a war flick.

[jhor9]

Originally Posted by jimbotosome

What's up with the 50 misssions. I thought you could get a cake walk job after 25, 30, and finally 35?

50% losses? How in the world did you guys maintain your morale?

The Tuskeegee airmen (for those that didn't know) were the fighting 99th who where all black pilots and flew (later) P-51Ds with bright red tails. Shamefully our military was segregated in WWII, but it was the culture of the times you know. The 99th pilots primarily were assigned bomber escort. They are reputed to have never lost a bomber to an enemy fighter. Their tactics were somewhat different in that they stayed tight in with the bombers and would not chase the Germans. The bomber pilots would specifically request the 99th for escort but most of them never even knew they were black.

This fighting technique developed by the 99th's commander was controversial in that the bomber crews loved them for obvious reasons, but then again they did not diminish the Luftwaffe fighting ability as they didn't engage the German fighters away from the bombers.

Jimbo There is a film titled "The Tuskeegee Airmen" It tells of their start to to their flying P51s, a very good film.

During my tour crews in the UK flew 25 missions, we in N.Africa flew 50. overall the missions were tougher in the UK, but we had to contend with a lack of planes and crews. our ground crews were fantastic keeping the planes in the air, we would go on maximum efforts of maybe 50 planes, so the fighters gave us a rough time. IN mid '44 the UK crews missions were raised to 35 and the 15thAF still had to fly 50, but there was a system of twofers (2 missions) a twofer was when a mission was beyond a certain point, so the missions averaged about 35+/-. Once the 15th flew from Italy the toughness of the targets was equalized. From Italy the loss ratio exceeded the 8th AF losses. My group went to Ploesti 10 times, aIso to Berlin. I had 2 missions to Weiner Neustadt, a very tough target which later was a twofer, my 1st one was from N.Africa, I was airbourne for 14 hours.

After the 1st Ploesti low level mission with the large loss the rest of the missions were from normal high altitude. An interesting fact----there were 5 medals of honor awarded on the first raid.

[jhor9]

Originally Posted by Owen D

Hello jhor9, only just read your posts. Sorry I'm not an Airforce type, unlike the rest of my family.
I read your post about Wellingtons with interest.
My Dad's cousin Bill was flying out of Kairouan/Zina, Tunisia with 420 Sqn RCAF when he and his crew were killed. (see my signature)
What airfield were you flying from?

Owen,
When I was based in Tunis we were at Oudna field. I think that I mentioned that I was told that they sustained heavy losses.