 |
| Pilot DeLong, Jack, another crewman |
In the Air in
Combat
A month after receiving its planes, the 363rd finally saw its
first mission, 24 February 1944. As part of “Operation Big Week,” Jack’s 380th
Squadron provided twelve of the forty-two P-51s sent up to patrol and protect
bombers on their return from a bombing mission. They met their bombers at
25,000 feet over Brussels, where smoke from the drops could be seen up to
10,000 feet. Although flak was heavy and accurate over Belgium, the group had a
successful first outing.[1]
 |
| Bombed Brussels |
Jack
remembered: The
Germans were flying out of France, and our planes fought them over the Channel.[2]
 |
| With their new engines, planes from the 363rd's base at Rivenhall in southern England flew to Brussels and even Berlin and back.[3] |
In addition to escorting bombers to and from their targets in France, Germany, and the Low Countries, P-51s from the 363rd attacked other strategic targets. They bombed airfields, bridges, trains, and railroad marshalling yards. Flying low they aimed their wing-born machine guns at vehicles, flak towers, and gun positions. They strafed troops on the ground.[4]
 |
| A railroad target |
 |
| Lt. William M. Haynes with his kills and bomb drops stenciled on his plane |
Decades later Jack recalled that one of his pilots always came back from
his missions with the paper covering his gun muzzles intact. He had not used
them. One time the paper was burned away, and Jack excitedly asked him, “Did
you get any?” He was ready to cheer on his pilot in their common effort to
overcome the enemy. Jack’s voice choked with emotion when he spoke the pilot’s quiet reply, “No. I waited 'til they were in the trenches.”[5]
 |
| Germans in trenches along Germany's western front[6] |
 |
| B-17 Flying Fortresses in formation[8] |
LONDON,
March 4 (AP)—Berlin was bombed by American Flying Fortresses [B-17s] today for
the fist time in the war as part of an extensive daylight attack on eastern
Germany by the U. S. Eighth Air Force.
Plunging
600 miles into the heart of the Reich, one formation of heavy bombers hit the
capital itself . . . with the help of an escort of Mustangs which also went all
the way to Berlin to equal the deepest fighter penetration ever made into
Europe.
The
flyers reached their objective and tensed for the bomb run through heavy flak
as the luftwaffe’s small but dangerous fighter force swept in to give battle. Fourteen
bombers and 26 fighters are missing from the operations [and] nine enemy planes
were destroyed by the fighters.
The
Fortresses thundered through blinding snowstorms and 58-degree-below-zero
temperature in the substratosphere to make the first American attack on the
capital. The once-mighty German air force sent up only 30 to 40 fighters in
defense of the city.
Flyers
said they saw bombs crash down on “buildings surrounded by trees.” The American
crews had been tense for days because of their knowledge that the “big B” was
coming up. Most of them were apprehensive of powerful resistance as they were
briefed in the predawn darkness. Some of them—including men making their first
mission—didn’t expect to get back alive.
The
weather over Germany was almost unbearable. Flyers wearing two suits of heavy
underwear and electrically heated outer suits nearly froze. As the clouds and
snowstorms thickened over Europe, a majority of the big armada cut over to hit
other unidentified targets in eastern Germany in order to take advantage of
more favorable weather.[9]
 |
| B-24 Liberators |
 |
| Liberators dropping bombs |
Jack evaluated
the American losses: They made this first run to Berlin. When they came back we
had planes down in France; we had planes down in the Channel; we had them in
southern England; we had them in northern England. They were lost; they were
all over the place. Some of them were crippled; some of them ran out of gas.[10]
 |
| A crippled P-51 |
The diary of the 363rd Group echoes this
somber evaluation. “March 4th,
Saturday, this day will go down in their history as the worst day the group was
to encounter; in fact, the worst day for any combat fighter group during the
entire ETO [European Theater of Operations] operation. Eleven (11) pilots of
the 381st and 382nd failed to return and were classed as
mission in action . . . They were never heard from again. The group’s 7th
mission started as a bomber penetration action . . . which was to take the
group just short of Berlin, Germany. On take off and climb to its assigned
altitude, the group entered an overcast, from which the [eleven] pilots and
their planes . . . were never seen or heard from again.”[11]
The missing pilots and planes were from the other two
squadrons in Jack’s group. The 380th Squadron would not be immune,
though, given the nature of the operations, the inexperience of the young
pilots, and the idiosyncrasies of the planes themselves. It was just a matter
of time, wartime.
[1]
Nick Marinelli, The History of the 363rd Fighter
Group, 380th Fighter Squadron, 381st Fighter Squadron,
382nd Fighter Squadron, 9th Air Force, ETO, IX Tactical
Air Command, 70th Fighter Wing until August 1, 1944, XIX Tactical
Air Command, 100th Fighter Wing until August 29, 1944, Reorganized
as the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 160th
Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 161st Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron, 162nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron after September 4,
1944, and attached to the XXIX Tactical Air Command (South Lynn, Mich.:
Nick Marinelli, 1992), 3-20. Also Kent D. Miller, Seven Months Over Europe: The 363rd Fighter Group in World
War Two (Hicksville, Ohio: The author, 1989), 4. Also, 380th Fighter–160th Tac. Rcn. Squadron History,
February 1943–August 1945 ([unknown place]: [unknown publisher], printed by
A. Roßbach, Eschwege, Germany [1945]), 13. Also, “Big Week,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week
: accessed 28 April 2018).
[2]
Jack J. Kellar, interview about his first years
after high school by Judy Kellar Fox, 12 April 1993; cassette tape recording
and transcription held by the author.
[3]
“Rivenhall-Brussels-Berlin,” map, Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rivenhall,+Witham,+UK/@50.6929155,-0.2325661,5.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8e497733e7d39:0x843f6fb561437262!8m2!3d51.8263785!4d0.6525162
: created 25 April 2018).
[4]
“363d
Expeditionary Operations Group,” Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/363d_Expeditionary_Operations_Group : accessed 28 April 2018), 363d Fighter Group. Also, “North American P-51 Mustang variants,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang_variants#Dimensions,_performance_and_armament
: accessed 26 April 2018), “P-51A/Mustang II (NA-99).”
[5] A story Jack related to his daughter Judy Kellar Fox,
but not voice recorded, about 1993.
[6] Lohmeyer, “Westwall,
im Bienwald, Laufgraben und Drahtverhau,” [Siegfried Line (Germany’s western
fortifications), in the Bienwald (a large forested area in the western Palatinate), trenches and barbed
wire], photograph, 12 March 1940, Wikimedia
Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-2006-0187,_Westwall,_im_Bienwald,_Laufgraben_und_Drahtverhau.jpg
: accessed 26 April 2018); Deutsche Bundesarchiv [German Federal Archive];
CC-by-SA 3.0.
[7] Jack J. Kellar, interview about his first years after
high school by Judy Kellar Fox, 12 April 1993; cassette tape recording and
transcription held by the author.
[8] “OVER GERMANY—B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 398th
Bombardment Group fly a bombing run to Neumunster, Germany, on April 13, 1945,”
photograph, U.S. Air Force (http://www.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000591320/
: accessed 17 March 2018) > News > Photos > 040607-F-0000S-004.JPG.
Official U.S. Air Force photo in the public domain.
[9] “U. S. ‘Forts’ Hit Berlin First Time,” The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa,
California), 05 March 1944, p. 1, col.. 4, and p. 3, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/265209703/
and -715 : accessed 28 March 2018).
[10] Jack J. Kellar, interview, 12 April 1993.
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