November was a month in which it could hardly be claimed that we had carried a great deal of weight. The weather was bad almost throughout. The entire work for the month comprised only five missions and four of those were Pathfinder jobs. Similar conditions during the previous winter, before we had our Pathfinders equipment, would have made it a one-mission month.
Missions flown were Wilhelmshaven on the 3rd, Gelsenkirchen on the 5th, Wessel on the 7th, Knaben in Norway on the 16th and Bremen on the 26th.
Wilhelmshaven was the most expensive raid of the five. We lost four aircraft: two due to a collision in mid-air and two to heavy fighter attacks between the IP and the target. We had become dependent, perhaps excessively so, upon our fighter escort. In this case, the Group of P-47’s who were supposed to give us escort during that period were bounced on the way to the meeting place and never arrived. Losses were kept from mounting by the timely arrival of P-38’s, which responded promptly and effectively to VHF call after bombs were away. Bombing results were indifferent. By this time, there were enough Pathfinder ships to put one in the lead of each Combat Wing. We had one, but the equipment failed as we approached the target and we were obliged to bomb on the flares of the lead Combat Wing. As usual in Pathfinder cases, there were hits in the target area disclosed by later reconnaissance, but it was impossible to tell whose they were.
Gelsenkirchen was distinguished only by the conduct from Uncle Joe Nazarro, whose lead Pathfinder ship lost an engine and a half due to flak over the target, but who managed to lead the Division home nonetheless. The target was open and could have been bombed visually, but higher headquarters had determined to get strike photographs of Pathfinder results to obtain such needed data on accuracy and patterns. Data obtained must have been disappointing. Our bombs went all over a lot, hitting mainly in open fields and small localities of no importance.
Wesel was more of the same, except that this time it was decided to economize on the force employed by sending only one Combat Wing from each B-17 Division. We were “it” for the 1st Division and the Boss acted as Air Commander. It was a milk run: no flak or enemy fighters and good friendly escort all the way. Unfortunately, the Pathfinder equipment failed completely and the bombs missed the target. No hits, no runs, one error.
Knaben was the only really good show of the month. The target was molybdenum mine buried in the hills of southern Norway: the enemy’s sole source of that important ingredient of specialized high-grade steel. Finding the target was the trick: the ground was snow covered, the area sparsely settled, and the whole panorama distorted and confused by the shadows of mountains on the snow, changing the appearance of every landmark. But the boys found it and bombed it to pieces. It not only hurt the enemy; it was a big builder-upper for morale. After all, you couldn’t expect the boys to subsist indefinitely on unseen targets and unseen bombing on the bombs of strange aircraft that came down from Alconbury. This time there was no doubt: they saw their bombs hit and they brought back photographs that proved the results.
Bremen was another Pathfinder job, but better than the others. It was the biggest show put on by the Eighth Air Force to date. We dropped over 1,600 tons of bombs on the primary. Even the heavy haulers of the RAF consider 1,600 tons a big affair. What’s more, we hit the city. There was enough haze, cloud and smoke to prevent accurate identification, but enough was disclosed by the strike pictures to show that the target had been hit and a good amount of damage inflicted. For our Combat Wing, the mission was marred by the high percentage of early returns: 13 out of 16 abortives in the whole Division. This had been our bugbear almost from the start and was the one consistent blemish on an otherwise good record. Fortunately, this was the end as well as the irreducible minimum in this department and the best in the Division.
For three missions – one at the end of November and two at the beginning of December – our Combat Wing forces were augmented by the acquisition of the 401st Group, newly arrived at Denethorpe, a new station not far from Polebrook. This, however, was merely the transition stage preliminary to the loss of Polebrook from our Wing and the establishment of the 94th Wing, with its headquarters at Polebrook and our former guest, Colonel Julius Lacey, in command. Even though the arrangement was temporary, we took our duties seriously as shepherds to the new outfit, sending a contingent to Denethorpe the night of their first briefing to help them out and be on hand in case of unforeseen difficulties.