Mission No. 1

HEADQUARTERS
USAAF STATION 126
APO 634

SUBJECT:  S-3 Narrative
TO:       Those Concerned

     1. Twenty-one airplanes of the 447th Bombardment Group (H) took
off between 1130 and 1150 hours of 24 December 1943. Of the 21 A/C,
18 were briefed to go over the target. Three were briefed to turn back 
at midchannel, unless vacancies in the formation occured before reach-
ing midchannel, in which event the spared were briefed to fill in 
vacated positions.
     2. At the group assembly point (Splasher #7 at 6000') the #4
A/C of the low squadron had to leave the formation because of com-
munnications trouble. On departing the English coast, the #9 A/C in the 
high squadron took the #4 position in the low squadron. At midchannel,
numbers 7 and 8 of the high squadron broke off and returned to base
as briefed.
     3. The 447th Bomb Group assembled as briefed with no difficulty.
Rendezvous with the 385th Bomb Group to form the wing, 385th Bomb Group 
lead, 447th Bomb Group low, occurred as briefed.  Division assembly 
occurred as briefed.
     4. The 447th Bombardment Group was the last group of the last 
wing of the last division.
     5. All squadrons of the 447th Bomb Group had continuous fighter 
support from Enemy coast in to the Enemy coast out. The withdrawal 
support furnished by P-38's was particularly effective and well done.
     No airplanes of the 447th Bomb Group were lost, and all landed 
safely at the home aerodrome.

REPORT OF AIRPLANES NOT ATTACKING:
     1. 708th Squadron could not distinguish the assigned targets; 
bombs were jettisoned in the Channel.

					GEORGE Y. JUMPER
					Lt. Col., AC,
					Operations Officer.

[447bg.com Ref: B0558-0501, retyped for clarity]

Lead Squadron (710BS)

1	Col. Hunter Harris Jr. / Capt. Gene C. Smith	42-31092 Butch II
2	Lt. Kenneth Johnson	42-31148 Morning Star
3	Lt. Ashley Guynn	42-31169 Hey Mabel
4	Lt. Merlin Chardi	42-31217
5	Lt. Francis Graham	42-31185 Satchel Lass
6	Lt. Claude Hickey	42-37840

Col. Hunter Harris and Capt. Gene Smith
at the controls of 42-31092 Butch II
(Bigelow photo)

High Squadron (709BS)

1	Maj. Lloyd Sheppard / Lt. William Brown	42-31128
2	Lt. Bruce Smith	42-31188
3	Lt. William Greenwell	42-37824
4	Maj. George Jumper / Lt. Wayne Larson	42-31107
5	Lt. Herschel McGuire	42-31223
6	Lt. Charles Harris	42-31108 Devil's Mate

Low Squadron (708BS)

1	Maj. Frank Newman / Lt. Herschel Jarrell	42-37854 Round Trip
2	Lt. Robert Morley	42-31227 Dottie Jane
3	Lt. Thomas Gilleran	42-31184 Old Crow
4	Lt. Merton Putnam Abort, communications problems, replaced by ABS Jurnecka in 42-31165	42-31167
5	Lt. Charles Hopla	42-31096
6	Lt. Howard Pauling	42-37871

Airborne Spares

1	Lt. Ernest Nance Returned to base (4hrs 23mins)	42-31100 The Gimp
2	Lt. John Sizer Returned to base (4hrs 10mins)	42-31206
3	Lt. Joseph Jurnecka Replaced #4, Low Squadron (Putnam)	42-31165

Ground Spares

1	Lt. Arthur Socolofsky (708BS)	42-32191
2	Lt. Ernest "Buck" Skinner (709BS)	42-31172
3	Lt. Gerald Leavitt (710BS)	42-37855

From Operational Charts (Pictorial History of the 447th Bombardment Group, 1946)

Mission No.	1
Mission	NOBALL No. 50 Droinville
Date	Dec 24 '43
Field Order	116
A/C Airborne	21
A/C Dispatched	18
A/C Attacking	12
A/C Failing to Attack	6
Mechanical	1
Weather	5
Enemy Action	0
Reason Unknown	0
Bombs Dropped
No.	114
Type	GP
Tons	36
Result of Bombing	GOOD
Bombing Altitude	18300
Time of Take Off	1130
Time of Landing	1623
Position in Combat Wing	4C BW 'B' Low
Group Leader	Col. H. Harris, Jr.
Confirmed Claims on E/A	0
Aircraft Lost	0
Casualties
K	0
W	2
M	0
A/C Battle Damage
Maj.	0
Min.	8
Other Data	One aircraft attacked Secondary Target Noball #32

From Combat Diary- Sgt. Harley Tuck

1st mission
Rattlesden December 24 Friday
The C.Q. came in this morning and told us to get on the beam, today we got our first mission. All crews were briefed at 7:30, gunners at the main briefing room at 7:30, then they went out to the ship. I had to go to a separate R.O.'s briefing. After collecting all my stuff; got out to the ship #184 to wait 45 minutes for the guns to be brought out. Took off at 12, got over the target about 3:15 dropped all bombs O.K. after going over target twice. Almost no flak even near us, no enemy fighters, a lot of P-38's escorting us were buzzing around. The target was gun emplacements from which the Germans were supposed to be able to bombard cities in England as far away as London with some sort of rockets. It is all supposed to be pretty secret; even our ground crew doesn’t know what we bombed. M.P.s are standing at all doors of the briefing building. We landed at 5:05 after an uneventful trip. B-11

From the Public Relations Office:
Written in December 1943, author unknown
[447bg.com Ref: B0558-0524]

The day before Christmas a Heavy Bombardment Group went operational. For the first time, the Group was represented with the many other units that make up the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force in a combat mission over Hitler's Fortress Europe. It was lead by the Commanding Officer of the group, Col. Hunter Harris, Jr., 34 of Athens, Georgia. As the planes began to take off and assembled in formation above the field the hard working boys of the ground crew began to
realize that the long, tedious hours that they had worked on the planes in the past few months was not in vain. For at last they could see the results of their efforts. The planes that they repaired so many times, the planes whose engines they had endlessly changed, those very planes were up there now doing their share in bringing a quick victory to the United Nations.
Towards the time that the mission was to return a gathering of men and officers began to assemble outside the briefing room. All eyes were looking upwards, each one anxiously awaiting the planes' return. Suddenly someone pointed to a spot on the horizon "there they are," he cried. "One, two, three, four," and so on as everyone counted the returning ships. Yes, all the planes had returned and were flying in exceptionally good formation. Obviously there was very little battle damage. Col. Harris' ship was the first to land and as the planes taxied around the perimeter we could see that the mission was not as simple as first surmised. Flak holes were very much in evidence on the Commander's ship.
Then one after the other the planes began to land and the crew members hurried to the interrogation room to tell their individual stories of the day's mission to the intelligence officers. Comments from the men concerning the mission seemed to run along the same thread. "Flak was very heavy," was the remark from nearly all. From the report of the men the results of the bombing itself were very satisfactory.
Thus ended the first operation mission of this Heavy Bomb Group, and on that Christmas eve the entire personnel of the group from Col. Harris, the Commanding Officer down to the greenest buck private went away with the satisfaction of knowing that the Group was at last on the way to becoming one of the hottest Bomb Groups in the ETO and the words of Col. Harris himself when he said "They'll be reading about us in the papers" didn't seem unlikely.

[447bg.com Ref: B0558-0524, retyped for clarity]

If you have additional information or personal recollections of this mission,
Please let us know!

Any commercial use or republication of these images
requires the explicit written consent of the contributors.