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| The combat flight crew of the Boeing B-17G-30-BO Flying Fortress, 42-31763, “Ten Horsepower.” Front row, left to right: 1/LT Clarence R. Nelson, aircraft commander; Flight Officer Ronald Bartley, co-pilot; 2/LT Walter E. Truemper, navigator; 2/LT Joseph Martin, bombardier. Back row, left to right: SSGT Archibald Mathies, flight engineer and top turret gunner; SGT Joseph Rex, radio operator/gunner; SGT Carl Moore, waist gunner; SGT Russell Robinson, ball turret gunner; SGT Thomas Sowell, waist gunner; SGT Magnus Hagbo, tail gunner. (Source) |
It was a bombing mission to Germany, back on the 20th of February of 1944, to Leipzig. Which from the American 8th Air Force base at Polebrook, home of the 510th Bomb Squadron, was over a thousand miles, round trip, over some of the heaviest aerial defenses of the time. Fighters, flak, this mission had it all. It was the first day of Operation Argument, the operation intended to drive the Luftwaffe from the skies. Bombs on target was, in reality, a secondary consideration for this operation. Destroying German aircraft and killing German pilots was the primary goal. For the invasion of Hitler's Festung Europa1, air superiority, if not outright air supremacy, was the goal.
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| Polebrook to Leipzig - 1,101.9 miles according to Google Maps |
In the grand scheme of things, losses were considered "light" on this mission, "only" 2.8% of the bombers were lost. Yet for each bomber lost, ten men were lost as well. Acts of bravery and heroism on this first day were percolating up to the headquarters of the Mighty Eighth as planning for the second day continued. Three Medals of Honor2 (two posthumously) were eventually awarded for the actions of three B-17 crewmen that day, two on the same crew, the crew of Ten Horsepower.
She was a Boeing B-17G-30-BO Fortress, tail number 31763 assigned to the 351st Bomb Group, her crew called her Ten Horsepower. She made it to the target but on the way home she was attacked by German fighters. A head on pass by one German fighter squadron left the co-pilot dead, the radio operator wounded, the aircraft damaged, and the pilot badly wounded and unable to fly the aircraft. The navigator, 2Lt Walter E. Truemper, and the flight engineer, SSgt Archibald Mathies, climbed into the cockpit in an attempt to get the aircraft back to England.
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| B-17G (Source) |
After gaining control of the aircraft, which had gone into a spiraling dive after the incapacitation of the flight crew, the two men managed to wrestle the damaged bird back to Polebrook. In radio communication with the ground, their commander ordered the crew to bail out3 as he judged that the aircraft was too badly damaged to be landed by the two non-pilots. But 1Lt Nelson, though badly wounded, was still alive. 2Lt Truemper ordered the rest of the crew to jump, he and SSgt Mathies would attempt to land the aircraft, otherwise 1Lt Nelson had no chance of survival. They did their best, but to no avail, Ten Horsepower crashed upon landing, killing 1Lt Nelson, 2Lt Truemper, and SSgt Mathies. Sometimes all you can do is try...
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| 2Lt Walter E. Truemper |
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy in connection with a bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe on 20 February 1944. The aircraft on which 2d Lt. Truemper was serving as navigator was attacked by a squadron of enemy fighters with the result that the copilot was killed outright, the pilot wounded and rendered unconscious, the radio operator wounded and the plane severely damaged Nevertheless, 2d Lt. Truemper and other members of the crew managed to right the plane and fly it back to their home station, where they contacted the control tower and reported the situation. 2d Lt. Truemper and the engineer volunteered to attempt to land the plane. Other members of the crew were ordered to jump, leaving 2d Lt. Truemper and the engineer aboard. After observing the distressed aircraft from another plane, 2d Lt. Truemper's commanding officer decided the damaged plane could not be landed by the inexperienced crew and ordered them to abandon it and parachute to safety. Demonstrating unsurpassed courage and heroism, 2d Lt. Truemper and the engineer replied that the pilot was still alive but could not be moved and that they would not desert him. They were then told to attempt a landing. After 2 unsuccessful efforts their plane crashed into an open field in a third attempt to land. 2d Lt. Truemper, the engineer, and the wounded pilot were killed.
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| SSgt Archibald Mathies |
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy in connection with a bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe on 20 February 1944. The aircraft on which Sgt. Mathies was serving as engineer and ball turret gunner was attacked by a squadron of enemy fighters with the result that the copilot was killed outright, the pilot wounded and rendered unconscious, the radio operator wounded and the plane severely damaged. Nevertheless, Sgt. Mathies and other members of the crew managed to right the plane and fly it back to their home station, where they contacted the control tower and reported the situation. Sgt. Mathies and the navigator volunteered to attempt to land the plane. Other members of the crew were ordered to jump, leaving Sgt. Mathies and the navigator aboard. After observing the distressed aircraft from another plane, Sgt. Mathies' commanding officer decided the damaged plane could not be landed by the inexperienced crew and ordered them to abandon it and parachute to safety. Demonstrating unsurpassed courage and heroism, Sgt. Mathies and the navigator replied that the pilot was still alive but could not be moved and they would not desert him. They were then told to attempt a landing. After two unsuccessful efforts, the plane crashed into an open field in a third attempt to land. Sgt. Mathies, the navigator, and the wounded pilot were killed.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13 (KJV)
Suggested Reading:
- American Air Museum in Britain, Aircraft 42-31763 Link
- B-17 Flying Fortress Link
- TEN HORSEPOWER: 20 FEBRUARY 1944 - A poem by Lawrence A. De Graw Link
- This Day in Aviation, 20 February 1944 Link
I had originally intended to post this on Friday, the 10th of April. But yesterday was, as I'm sure most of you know, Good Friday. Based on that fact, I decided to go in a different direction for Friday's post and do the Friday Flyby on a Saturday. Hence, the odd looking title.
1 Fortress Europe
2 Juvat wrote of the other Medal of Honor awarded that day, to 1Lt William R. Lawley here.
3 Apparently the bombardier, 2Lt Joseph Martin, had already bailed out over Europe. He became a POW.
Just another "statistic" in the daily meat-grinder, er, "Big Show." Or put another way, as the first President of my alma mater LSU, Gen William T. Sherman so famously put it: "War is HELL!" ...Hell indeed...RIP brave warriors! (small comfort,, I know to their loved ones, but remembering and immortalizing their sacrifice is the VERY LEAST we can do.)
ReplyDeleteAmen Virgil, it is the least we can do, if we remember them, they will never truly die.
DeleteBrave men!! Just as a note, I do not think the B-17 pictures with the crew is a "G" model? Most likely a late "F"?
ReplyDeleteGood eye Cap'n. No chin turret means it's not a "G." A lot of bomber crew photos I've seen were taken in Stateside training. Odds are pretty good they trained on a late "F" model.
Delete"Big Week". No diversions, just a straight in, straight out aerial slug fest. I've read accounts that you could trace the mission route from the long line of black smoke columns from downed aircraft.
ReplyDeleteYup, Allied AND German.
DeleteFrom what I've read, it was most extremely nerve-wracking for German pilots to go against so many machine guns. I judge it probably harder than the defending gunners in the bombers had it. Reacting is generally much easier than acting in danger for all but the best. But the pilots who had to fly straight and maintain formation on the other bombers, and navigator with not a great deal to do in defensive combat (well, I guess the navigator would have a 'cheek gun' to man, but that was very limited in fire), that had to be especially nerve-wracking!
DeleteThe Germans knew the sort of punch a Fort could throw, they were careful if they wanted to live. A fast pass, then get out of range to make another.
DeleteIt seems so strange to me that the rank of 2/Lt (brown bar), and those who wore it, were so much more heroic than I could have ever hoped to be. As a brown bar, I learned how to fly (more or less) and then really fly (so much fun!) and then travel to Itazuke for a paid job that involved noise, the Deuce and sake. But these guys (one of them my cousin), were given responsibility for a crew of ten men. Rufus was probably no more than twenty-one when the Germans killed him. I think his crew made it through OK.
ReplyDeletehttps://davesdailys.blogspot.com/2009/08/memories-of-war-ill-bring-her-in.html
Some things in this post make it personal for me. The kids over Germany - were they different than those of us who flew over Hanoi? I constantly wonder. How I wish someone had cared. I have had a few beers.
Dave, when it was going on, when you guys were going up north, a lot of us cared. Then, as now, it didn't fit the media's agenda to show that.
DeleteThe guys who flew for the Mighty Eighth and the guys who went downtown, no difference at all between them.
Good men all.
Dave, my uncle gave it all outside Danang, May '68. You can bet your last dollar I care.
DeleteThank you for standing up, and being counted when others ran.
I have the deepest respect for those of you who did that.
Job well done, welcome home, neighbor. Welcome home!
Amen.
DeleteSarge, only problem is that the current politics of today has me now thinking that all the time I was launching out of DaNang We were dropping our bombs on all the wrong people..
DeleteWe were treating a symptom of the disease (Communism), we should have gone after the source.
DeleteOAFS, that particular verse is on Sgt. Mathies grave marker as I remember.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the sacrifice and hard life of the 30's prepared the heroes of the 40's for the work they did.
Good post.
They were Americams.
Delete"...A Wing and a Prayer..." Old Guns
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteDave, I understand. It doesn't take many beers, does it? My cousin, Terry Lee Braden. Panel 14E, Line 68... 'Nuff said, brother.
ReplyDeleteSome gave all.
DeleteIt's quite dusty in here all of a sudden. It's hard for me to imagine doing less, but Good God, it's hard to imagine leaving my visually-handicapped wife alone in the world. Though at that age, I was single, less experienced, and braver, so I'd have done the same as these poor boys or done my damnedest to go out with the pilot and pull his ripcord for him as he went out the hatch, though I've been through those hatches and the interior of a B-17 and I really can't imagine how that could be done. I've handled bodies and the unconscious and it's far harder physically than you might imagine. It's just a bit scary to to me now that I'd have been at least a father and possibly even a grandfather to these men (not boys). Where the hell did the years go? Although the last quarter-century of my life with my wife have been the happiest of my life, so I can hardly regret those (though the previous couple of decades were most lamentable). I learned, so what can I say? My First Sergeant wasn't happy with me, at any rate, and it was the time of the Clinton draw-down, so any excuse to dump someone who'd screwed the pooch (so to speak) was the deal for things that would've been not-quite-overlooked 4-5 years earlier. I can't complain -- Dad was a Master Chief and I knew what was what, and I still screwed up. Bad to do in peacetime, regardless. :(
ReplyDeleteHa, one boss I had in the 1980s claimed (and I 100% believed) that he had been every paygrade between E1 and E7 at least twice and more often three times between 1938 and 1946. He was an old pirate in spirit, and at least 50% AmerIndian in blood (which in 19th Century Idaho meant about the same thing as pirate). Interesting guy, but damned, he had the unnerving habit of driving up to a job just at the moment you took a break with co-workers and wondering why you MFers were slacking. One time we had just installed a new window on a house and we were chatting when the window cracked and broke, and Cecil drove up wondering what the eff we doing standing around like effing idiots. A Navy chief of the oldest school. :D Short, but built like a bull, too, and I'd bet he rarely lost a fight.
DeleteLarry #1 - The Clinton years, thank God I was in NATO!
DeleteI had a Chief Master Sergeant on Okinawa who gently corrected my ways, he saw potential in me, I guess. At any rate, I learned that the Air Force was not there for my pleasure.
Inside a B-17 at altitude - cramped, cold and scary as hell I imagine during the war.
Larry #2 - Cecil was old school, that's for sure.
DeleteBack in the day one didn't make it to senior NCO without going through at least one rank twice!