Return to Chronology of the 447th

Mission Commentary

MISSION #5 
(Bordeaux)

Between the hours 0701 and 0728, 5 January 1944, 18 A/C of the 447th 
Bombardment Group (H) took off. Group assembly occurred approximately 
as briefed, and uneventfully except that Splasher 7 either was beaconed 
or the leader's radio compass was not functioning properly. Three A/C 
of the 447th Group, had to leave the formation over England, and were 
not dispatched.. The A/C leaving the formation were: 185, Lt. A. R. Socolofsky 
pilot - oil line in #4 engine evidently ruptured; all oil drained 
from engine; prop ran away and continued to windmill until engine seized. 
217, Lt. M.L. Chardi, pilot - A/C developed a bad oil leak inside the left 
wing; oil completely covered ball turret, and entire underside of A/C. 
855, Lt. H. L. Kreuzer, pilot - Lt. Kreuzer took off on schedule; he saw 
flares being fired which were the flares briefed for the identification 
of the 447th Group, Red-Yellow. At the time it was very dark, and he 
was unable to see the markings on the A/C. The Aldis lamp signals in 
the tails of the A/C were probably "D", although at the time the pilot 
mistook them for poorly executed "K"'s. When it became light, the pilot 
found that the markings were "J" and "D". It was then too late for 
him to join the 447th Group. Approximately as briefed, the 447th Gp 
joined Wing formation with the 385th Group; 385th leading, 447th low. 
Fighter support was present over the Brest Peninsula. No friendly 
fighters were seen over the target area. Approximately at 1045, approx- 
imate coordinates 45°14'N, 01°22'W, A/C 872, pilot Lt. R. W. Huff, left 
the formation, apparently under control, and headed back for the coast 
of France, cause unknown. Inasmuch as the Group had been under severe 
fighter attack, just previously Lt. Huff probably left the formation 
because of excessive battle damage. The S-3 narrative relates that Lt. 
R.W. Huff in A/C no. 872 left the formation at 1045, approximately. 
In the wing critique it appeared that the A/C which left the formation 
may not have had the proper markings, and probably was not Lt Huff's 
at all. The Group leader also states that until he reached the target 
area, he had only 14 A/C in his formation, and that this A/C, the 15th 
never did join the formation properly, but remained a mile or more 
away most of the time. One possibility is that this A/C was a B-17 
captured by the Germans. If it was, no one can account for the fact 
that Lt. Huff is missing, except to make the conjecture that he joined 
the wrong formation over England and was lost from it. Crews report 
most of the bomb strikes on the target. Bombs of preceding Group, 
believed to be the 385th, in Wing formation, seen to drop on target 
area also. Photographs show concentration of hits on MPI. About 12 
S/E fighter attacked at coast on route out from target. Mostly FW190's 
with a few 109's seen coming from vicinity of S. Viviens climbing; 
Attacks commenced at coast at, approximately 1035 and continued approx- 
imately 15 - 20 minutes at 15 to 18 thousand feet. Most of the attacks 
were of the "Swooper" and "Tail Sneak" variety out of the sun from 
5 to 7 o'clock, level and high, with a few attacks similar to "Swooper" 
from 3 to 9 O'clock continuing through formation. Most attacks not 
pressed too closely. One S/E plane came in from 6 o'clock high, weaved, 
spraying entire formation with 20mm's. Tentative estimate, 4 FW's des- 
troyed and one damaged.

Lead 

High 

Low

NO STRIKE PHOTO AVAILABLE

No.

Type

Tons

K

W

M

Maj.

Min.

Briefed at 0200. Assigned "Miss America," 144, flying deputy squadron lead of lead squadron with Captain Norris as copilot. Most of my crew were nonflyable due to previous mission. "Miss America" was not flyable due to a burned out generator. Did not get off again. This raid was on Bordeaux, France. Lts. Huff and Brooks lost. Remember Brooks from P-47s. Hope they got down okay. This three tries and one mission completed, not so good.

Bordeaux, France - Airfield - 900 nautical miles. Very good bombing. Flak not too accurate. Huff’s ship did not come back. Many enemy fighters - tail gunner got one. Five machine gun holes in one wing and a hole through ball turret.

The C.Q. came in and woke up crew 7, Small, Hess, Zesuit, Boyd, Hill and Bently at 12 midnight for a mission. We didn't get up until 7:30, briefing at 8:30. I went to school most of the morning. Our crew cleaned guns after lunch for an hour or so. All of us were pretty tired from the raid yesterday and have taken naps whenever possible. The men got back from their mission at 4. They bombed a FW assembly plant in Bordeaux, France, meeting some fighters. Small and Zesuit got a FW 190 between them. 2 other 190s were brought down. Zulo's crew got in trouble+ headed back for land as they were over water. As Crew #5 we are expecting a 2 day pass soon. Hi Jinx is getting patched up pretty fast, she'll be ready to go when we get to go. B. 9:30