NOTE: The reader should be aware that much of the material cited can be found on the 303rd’s official website: http://www.303rdbg.com. This site—maintained by Gary Moncur—includes the official details of each mission flown by the 303rd, as well as related stories. It also includes relevant Mission Air Crew Reports (MACRs), personal journals, lists of missions flown by each combat crewman, information about each crew, lists of 303rd aircraft and their fate, thousands of photographs and other important and detailed information. Moreover, it is searchable. Nothing like it exists elsewhere and the interested reader is encouraged to visit and explore.

INTRODUCTION

1. John Donnelly, “A Treasure Found, A Brother Remembered—All He Wanted to Do Was to Fly,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 3, no. 5 (May 15, 2011), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2011-05-15.html.

“AND THEN YOU SLEPT IN THE BARN”

1. Telephone interview, Van White, May 10, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to White are derived from this source.

2. Television interview, Mel Schulstad, KBTC, Full Focus, “The 303rd,” premiere date, July 21, 2010. Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent quotes by or references to Schulstad are derived from this source.

3. Telephone interview, John Ford, July 5 and July 19, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Ford are derived from these interviews.

4. Henry H. Arnold, Global Mission (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1949), 168–169.

5. Howard Mingos, The Aircraft Yearbook for 1946 (New York: Lanciar Publishers, Inc., 1946), 477, 484.

6. Arnold, Global Mission, 178.

7. Ibid., 206.

8. Ibid., 356.

9. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 79, Policies and Procedures Governing Elimination from AAF Schools, 1939–1945 (Maxwell AFB, AL; USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1952), 1.

10. Mingos, The Aircraft Yearbook for 1946, 482.

11. Arnold, Global Mission, 278.

12. Telephone interview, William Eisenhart, March 29, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Eisenhart are derived from this source.

“NO PANTY WAIST UNION HOURS”

1. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Group Operations Officer, Diary, February 16, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 4.

2. 303rd Bomb Group, “Memories of a G.I. January 1942–June 1945, S/Sgt Christ M. Christoff,” http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-christoff.html.

3. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Group Operations Officer, Diary, April 30, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 67.

4. Harry D. Gobrecht, Might in Flight: Daily Diary of the Eighth Air Force’s Hell’s Angels, 303rd Bombardment Group (H) (Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1997), 31.

5. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Group Operations Officer, Diary, May 3, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 68.

6. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, June 20, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 68.

7. Lester Hilliard, Letter to the Editor, Hell’s Angels Newsletter 11, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1988): 318.

8. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, June 20, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 119.

9. Ibid., August 21, 1942, p. 235.

10. Ibid., August 18, 1942, p. 235.

11. “Journal of Ehle Reber, Daily Diary of an Original 303rd Bomb Group Pilot,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 4, no. 1 (December 18, 2011), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2012-01-15.html. NOTE: The Ehle Reber diary is quoted by permission of Ryan Bartholomew, president of the Malin (Oregon) Historical Society. As dates from the diary are included with each quotation, individual citations are not provided.

12. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, August 24, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 237.

13. Mike Spick, Luftwaffe Fighter Aces: The Jagdflieger and Their Combat Tactics and Techniques (New York: Ivy Books, 1996), 142.

14. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 118, The Early Operations of the Eighth Air Force and the Origins of the Combined Bomber Offensive (AAF Historical Office, Headquarters, Army Air Forces, 1946), 32.

“SHE IS A HELL OF A BIG SHIP”

1. Eugene J. O’Brien, Memoirs from Molesworth, England, n.d., http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-obrien-eugene.pdf.

2. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, August 27, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 238.

3. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 4, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 259.

4. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 5, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 260.

5. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 7, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 261.

6. Ibid, September 9, 1942.

7. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 11, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 263.

8. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 11, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 263.

9. Ibid, September 12, 1942.

10. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, September 19, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 264.

11. William Neff, “I Almost Missed WW II,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 20, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1998): 901.

12. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, October 21, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 284.

“ONE MUST BE ABLE TO DEPEND UPON HIS CREW”

1. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Intelligence Officer, Diary, October 28, 1942, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 289.

2. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Bulletin No. 362, December 31, 1943, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 578.

3. Headquarters AAF Station ***[107], 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Special Court Martial Orders Number 39, December 26, 1943, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0210, p. 590.

4. Eric Hammel, The Road to Big Week: The Struggle for Daylight Air Supremacy over Western Europe, July 1942–February 1944 (Pacifica: Pacifica Military History, 2009), 172–173.

5. James Parton, Air Force Spoken Here: General Ira Eaker & the Command of the Air (Bethesda: Adler & Adler Publishers Inc., 1986), 214.

“I WAS TIRED OF GETTING HIT”

1. Gene Kuhn, “Snap! Crackle! Pop! Cereal’s Slogan Helps Reunite Wartime Bomber Crash Parties,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 3, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, March 1979): 39.

“A CHARMED LIFE, MAYBE”

1. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 192.

2. Ibid., 217.

3. Ibid., 215.

4. Ibid., 220.

5. Ibid., 221.

6. George Ashworth, “Oranges and Boots,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1997): 865.

7. Russell Ney, “A P-51 Tale,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association): 863.

“THE KRAUT FIRED A BURST INTO THE SKIPPER’S CHUTE”

1. 306th Bomb Group, Intelligence Report, January 23, 1943, http://www.306bg.org/MISSION_REPORTS/24jan43.pdf.

2. Charles Roth, “Impact of Bomb Strike from Above Turns B-17 Beats Me! Upside Down,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 28, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 2005): 8.

3. Joel Wight, “1Lt Joseph E. ‘Little Joe’ Haas—A Loving Tribute by His Nephew Joel Wight,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 5, no. 1 (January 27, 2013), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2013-01-27.html.

4. Iris Drinkwater, “303rd Pilot Lands Stricken Werewolf on Grounds of British Mental Hospital,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 21, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1999): 998. All Quotes by Oxrider and details about the landing at Langdon are derived from this source.

5. Sebastian L. Vogel, “The Evasion of Sebastian L. Vogel,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/vogel-evadee.html. All quotes by Vogel and details about his bailout and subsequent evasion to England are derived from this source.

6. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 212.

“I LIKE TO THINK SHE WAS PRETTY”

1. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Diary, October 28, 1942, Microfiche Reel #B0210, pg. 447.

“HOW ABOUT HELL’S ANGELS?”

1. Robert Yonkman, Letter to Editor, Hell’s Angels Newsletter 10, no. 3 (March 1987): 265.

2. Eldon Audiss, Letter to Editor, Hell’s Angels Newsletter 10, no. 3 (March 1987): 265.

3. 303rd Bomb Group, “Hell’s Angels vs Memphis Belle,” http://www.303rdbg.com/h-ha-mb.html. This site includes a detailed comparison between the missions of the two aircraft.

4. 303rd Bomb Group, “Famous Flying Fortress Gives 303rd Its Name: Hell’s Angels,” http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/097.pdf.

5. 303rd Bomb Group, “Original 303rd BG (H) Pilots and Their Fate,” http://www.303rdbg.com/h-pilots.html.

6. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 298.

7. Ibid., 291.

“WE CHECKED OUR PARACHUTES”

1. Telephone interviews, Eddie Deerfield, December 28, 2012, February 13, 2013, and July 14, 2013. Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent quotes by or references to Deerfield are derived from these sources.

2. Robert Cogswell, “The Cogswell Letters—Rare Look into the Emotions of a B-17 Combat Pilot,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 31, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group ( H) Association, February 2007): 10.

3. Ibid.

4. Editor, “Nine of the 303rd’s Best Pinups,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 28, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 2005): 14.

5. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 95, Air-Sea Rescue, 1941–1952 (Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1953), 28.

6. Ibid., 27.

7. Ibid., 44.

“COULD WE KEEP IT UP?”

1. Robin Neillands, “Luftwaffe Pilots Were Being Handed a Two-Course Feast,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 30, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2006): 10.

2. Ibid., 12.

3. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 233.

4. Ibid.

5. Arnold, Global Mission, 495.

6. Robert Cooney, “Schweinfurt Was the Worst of the Lot,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 1998): 881.

7. Letter from Louis T. Moffatt to Commanding General, 1st Bombardment Wing, August 10, 1943. http://www.303rdbg.com/MACR/00284.pdf.

8. Don Webster, “Do You Remember?” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 11, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1987): 291.

“GOD WILL FIND OUT”

1. John McCrary and David Scherman, First of the Many: Journal of Action with the Men of the Eighth Air Force (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944), 92–94.

2. James O’Leary, “Personal Diaries,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 2, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1978): 35.

3. Willis Meyer, “Crew Chief Hugged By Grateful Pilot,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 25, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 2002): 15.

4. Curtis Olsen, “The Stirling Scare—Another Angle,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 9, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 1985): 207.

5. Lawrence Whippo, “Letter to the Editor,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 9, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, April 1986): 233.

6. Robert Cogswell, “The Cogswell Letters—Rare Look into the Emotions of a B-17 Combat Pilot,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 31, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2007): 10.

7. Ibid.

“YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP”

1. Telephone interview, William Eisenhart, March 29, 2013. All subsequent references to, or quotes by, Eisenhart are derived from this source.

2. Telephone interview, William Heller, November 28, 2009. All subsequent references to, or quotes by, Heller are derived from this source.

3. End Note: VIII Bomber Command, Field Order 220. October 14, 1943.

4. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 315–316.

5. Arthur Tobkin and Matt Kremer, “‘Black Thursday’ Survivor,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 2, no. 13 (September 5, 2010), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2010-09-05.html. All subsequent references to, or quotes by, Kremer are derived from this source.

6. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 272.

7. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 315–316.

8. John Huston, American Airpower Comes of Age: General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries, Volume II (Maxwell Air Force Base: Air University Press, 2002), 27.

9. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 314.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid., 342.

12. Ibid., 276.

13. Ibid., 275.

14. “German Area Smoke Screening,” Tactical and Technical Trends 24 (Office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare service, War Department, Washington, D.C., May 6, 1943).

15. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 294.

16. Philip Peed, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via John Peed.

“I VOWED THAT I WOULD NEVER TURN BACK”

1. David O. Michael, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-michael.pdf.

2. John St. Julian, “Damn the Aborts—Full Speed Ahead,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 21, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1999): 16.

3. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 128.

4. Ibid., 213.

5. Bert Hallum and Jerry Hoffman, Sr., “Reflections on Being a Pilot in WWII,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/reflections-hallum.html.

6. Editor, “Friends and Heroes,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 2, no. 18 (December 28, 2010), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2010-12-28.html.

7. Hal Susskind, “Portrait of Courage—Nothing but Grit and Courage Enabled This Man to Live,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 11, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1998): 322.

“HE WAS LYING ON HIS BACK HOLDING HIS GUN”

1. James E. Geiger, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Jeanne Moon.

2. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 299.

3. Brian O’Neill, Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer—B-17s over Germany (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998), 257–268. O’Neill’s excellent account of the Vosler mission is detailed and thorough and was useful in informing the author’s effort.

4. “Pappy Moody of Lewiston, War Prisoner,” Lewiston Evening Journal, September 2, 1944, 1.

5. Stanley Moody, radio broadcast, BBC, February 21, 1944. Archived by Imperial War Museum, catalogue number 2183. All quotes from Moody are derived from this source.

6. Ivan Brown, Jr., MD, “Saving Sergeant Buske—An Account of Remarkable Valor and Amazing Survival from the Records of the 65th General Hospital, a Duke University Army Reserve Unit of World War II,” North Carolina Medical Journal 60, no. 1 (January/February 1999): 22–25. All post-mission information about Buske’s wounds and recovery are derived from this source.

7. Arnold, Global Mission, 441.

8. Parton, Air Force Spoken Here, 346.

9. Ibid., 320.

10. James Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again (New York: Bantam Books, 1991), 344.

“THIS IS THE TIME WHEN I GET SCARED”

1. Travis’s activities and quotes related to the Oschersleben mission are derived from his letter to the mother of William Fisher who was KIA on that day.

2. Harold Susskind, “If I Live to Be 200 Years Old. . . . ,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 15, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, March 1991): 442.

3. Jack Fawcett, “Remembering the Big O,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 15, no. 2 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, July 1991): 451. All quotes by Fawcett are derived from this source.

4. U.S. Air Force Historical Studies 158–160, The Employment of the German Luftwaffe Against the Allies in the West, 1943–1945—The Struggle for Air Supremacy over the Reich, 1 January 1944–March 31, 1944, Volume II, (Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1954), 27.

5. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #1192, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

6. Ibid.

7. Vern Moncur, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/thunderbird/vlm-journal.html.

8. Fred Reichel, “Fly Your Missions and Keep Your Nose Clean!”, Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 1998): 883.

9. “One-Man Air Force Belittles His Feat; ‘I Seen My Duty and I Done It,’ Says Pilot Who Fought Off 30 Nazi Planes” by Frederick Graham, cable to the New York Times, January 19, 1944, p. 8.

10. Donald L. Caldwell, JG 26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991), 205.

11. Adolf Galland, The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe—1939–1945 by Germany’s Commander of Fighter Forces (New York: Ballantine Books, 1967), 203.

12. Richard G. Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe (Washington: Center for Air Force History, 1993), 304.

13. Cajus Bekker, The Luftwaffe War Diaries: The German Air Force in World War II (New York: Da Capo Press, 1994), 364.

14. Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., The Air Plan that Defeated Hitler (Atlanta: Higgins McArthur/Longino & Porter, Inc., 1972), 176.

15. Ruby Side Thompson, World War II London Blitz Diary, Volume 4, 1944–1945: A Woman’s Revelations Enduring War and Marriage, n.d, n.p.

16. Clifford Fontaine, personal journal, via Dawn Higgins.

17. Harold Gunn, “Memories of Mission #35,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/035.pdf.

18. George Morrison, “The Story of Crew 20,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 10, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, September 1986): 242.

19. Lucius Arnold, “Empty Bunks a Devastating Experience,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 22, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2000): 1023

20. Coleman Sanders, “London’s Eiffel Tower,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1997): 824.

“HE WAS MAD AS FIRE”

1. Combat Crew Rotation: World War II and Korea (Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Division, Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University, 1968), 13–14.

2. Telephone interview with Don Stoulil, July 8, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Stoulil are derived from this source.

3. Clifford Fontaine, personal journal, via Dawn Higgins.

4. Wesley Craven and James Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, VII: Services Around the World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 420–421.

5. Richard Riley Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs (And a Few Others) (Victoria: Trafford, 2004), 185.

6. William Malone, personal journal (October 14, 1944).

7. Vern Moncur, personal journal (February 4, 1944). http://www.303rdbg.com/thunderbird/vlm-journal.html.

8. Edgar Miller, “An Inch Is as Good as a Mile—A German 88mm Couldn’t Get Me,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/163.pdf.

9. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 78, Morale in the AAF in World War II (Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1953), 48.

10. Clifford Fontaine, personal journal., via Dawn Higgins.

11. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 78, Morale in the AAF in World War II (Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1953), 56.

12. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 173.

13. James E. Geiger, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Jeanne Moon.

“OUR FORCES ARE FIGHTING A HOPELESS BATTLE”

1. U.S. Air Force Historical Studies 158–160, The Employment of the German Luftwaffe Against the Allies in the West, 1943–1945—The Struggle for Air Supremacy over the Reich, 1 January 1944–31 March 1944, 111.

2. Orvis Silrum, “My Most Unusual 303rd Experience,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 18, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 1996): 762.

3. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 352.

4. Ibid., 354.

5. Ibid.

6. Richard G. Davis, Bombing the European Axis Powers: A Historical Digest of the Combined Bomber Offensive, 1939–1945 (Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 2006), 288.

7. U.S. Air Force Historical Studies 158–160, 84–85.

“OUR FIGHTER SUPPORT WAS SPLENDID”

1. Martin Middlebrook, The Berlin Raids (New York: Viking Books, 1998), 2.

2. Doolittle, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, 368–369.

3. Vern Moncur, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/thunderbird/vlm-journal.html.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 171.

7. Ibid., 368.

8. Ibid.

9. U.S. Air Force Historical Studies 158–160, 169.

“HURRY UP AND JUMP.”

1. Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 274.

2. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 100.

3. Harry Gobrecht, “Last Mission,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/358stewart.html.

4. Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 449.

5. George Greene, “I Tied a Bandage on General Travis,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 27, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2004): 15.

“I WAS FINALLY FINISHED”

1. Milo Robert Schultz, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Milo Schultz family.

2. Warren Kotz, personal journal, via Vicki Sharp.

3. Flak, official training film, T.F. 1-3389, First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, 1944.

4. Charles Ziesche, “Target: Merseberg! ‘nuff said,’” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 2 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 1997): 841.

5. Robert Butcher, personal journal, via Brian Butcher.

6. Edward B. Westermann, Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914–1945 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001), 282.

7. Alan Chesney, “My Most Unusual 303rd Experience,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 18, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1996): 780.

8. James E. Geiger, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Jeanne Moon.

“YOU’LL BE SORRY”

1. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 1–23.

2. Ibid., 93.

3. Mark Kendall Wells, Aviators and Air Combat: A Study of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and RAF Bomber Command, PhD thesis (London: Kings College, 1992), 305.

4. Robert Brassil, “Top Secret Glide Bomb Project One Frustration After Another,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 26, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2003): 3.

5. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 105.

6. Gordon Bale, “Grapefruits for Cologne,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 2 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 1997): 844.

7. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 106.

“I SURE DO GET HOMESICK AT TIMES”

1. Milo Robert Schultz, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Milo Schultz family.

2. Lincoln Evening Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, Monday, May 29, 1944, Page 2.

3. Letter, Acel Livingston to parents, March 18, 1944.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #5340, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

8. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 431.

9. Letter, Scottie Bergstrom to Mrs. Earl Livingston, September 10, 1945.

10. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 169.

11. Ibid., 167.

12. Ben Smith, Jr., Chick’s Crew: A Tale of the Eighth Air Force (Waycross: Yarbrough Brothers, 1978), 66.

“I WAS TOLD SOMETHING BIG WAS GOING ON”

1. Letter, Spaatz to Barney Giles, June 27, 1944, Spaatz Papers, Diary.

2. Stanley Claster, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/172.pdf.

3. Walter Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), 104.

4. John Lester, “Random Thoughts from World War II,” 29th Field Artillery Regimental Home Page, http://members.tripod.com/msg_fisher/lester-2.html.

5. Telephone interview, Frank Boyle, February 23, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Boyle are derived from this source.

“I BECAME A SORT OF ORPHAN WITHIN THE BOMB GROUP”

1. Milo Robert Schultz, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p.

2. William Fisher, “My Most Unusual 303rd Experience,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 18, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 1996): 762.

3. John Vanzo, “Operation Mapquest,” Molesworth Pilot—Latest News from the 303rd Bomb Group 3, no. 6 (June 12, 2006), electronic publication, http://www.303rdbg.com/news/2011-06-12.html.

4. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 137.

5. Ibid., 139.

6. 303rdbg.com, 303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 185, June 19, 1944, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/185.pdf.

7. Joe Vieira, “303rd Relives Bloody Days in German Skies,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 2, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1977): 9.

8. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 150.

9. Ibid., 179.

10. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 576.

“WE POURED THEM INTO THE BACK OF THE AIRPLANE”

1. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 78, 46.

2. Mission Report, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), August 15, 1944, Combat Mission No. 229.

3. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 512.

4. Smith, Chick’s Crew, 54.

5. Ibid., 107.

6. Ibid., 550.

7. Ibid., 45.

8. Ibid., 53.

9. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #9404, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

10. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #9408, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

11. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #9406, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

12. “Krumme St. 28/Site of WWII Slaying of POW Sheppard Kerman,” Panoramio, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5580258.

13. T. McNamee, “Uncle’s Heroic End: Nephew Finds Truth About World War II Tragedy,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 7, 2008, p. 14.

14. K. Hueske, “Günter Rode wird Tat nie vergessen,” Wolfenbüttel Freitag, December 9, 2011, n.p.

15. T. McNamee, “Uncle’s Heroic End.”

16. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #9406, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H). Statements by McGraw, Timmins and Stewart are included in this MACR.

17. Letter, Edmund J. Skoner, Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), to Simon D. Kerman, September 29, 1944. http://www.303rdbg.com/murder-kerman.html and http://www.303rdbg.com/shepkerman-chaplain.jpg.

18. Letter, Walter K. Shayler, Commanding Officer, 360th Bombardment Squadron, Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), to Simon D. Kerman, October 22, 1944.

19. http://www.303rdbg.com/shepkerman-telegram.jpg.

20. Letter, Louis C. Jurgensen, Jr., 360th Bombardment Squadron, to Mrs. Simon D. Kerman, December 8, 1944. http://www.303rdbg.com/shepkerman-adjutant.jpg.

21. http://www.303rdbg.com/murder-kerman.html.

22. Sheppard Kerman’s nephew, Matt Smith, was taken by a passion to discover more about his uncle and the circumstances surrounding his murder. He traveled to Wolfenbüttel, where he visited relevant sites and interviewed witnesses and others knowledgeable about the incident. He has shared the results of his efforts—to include many of the previously cited sources—on the 303rd’s website: http://www.303rdbg.com/murder-kerman.html.

23. MACR #9406. http://www.303rdbg.com/MACR/09406.pdf.

24. John Pursley, “German Schoolboy Flak Gunner,” Military History, August 2002, 50.

25. Susan Hamilton, “Letter to the Editor,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 2, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1977): 12–13.

26. Anthony Saco, “Memories of Happy Times,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 31, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 2007): 16.

27. Gobrecht, Might in Flight, 303.

28. John Hilliard, guest remarks, 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/guest-rmks27.html.

29. George Ashworth, “Oranges and Boots,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1997): 865.

30. James E. Geiger, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via Jeanne Moon.

31. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 168.

32. Jay A. Stout, The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2010), 93.

33. George Hiebeler, “A Fire the First Thing in the Morning Could Ruin Your Day!” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 1998): 883.

34. Clifford Fontaine, personal journal, via Dawn Higgins.

35. David Michael, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-michael.pdf.

36. Maynard Pitcher, “We Dropped the 1,000 Lb Bomb!” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 20, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1998): 901.

37. Personal interview, Hildegard Kaiser Franke, July 13, 2013.

“YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO STAY IN THERE AND FIGHT THEM”

1. Wells, Aviators and Air Combat, 260.

2. Kermit Stevens interview with Dr. Vivian Rogers-Price, National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, January 26, 2002.

3. John Cermin, “Lew Lyle, Pilot,” C.A.P.S. Intercom 2, no. 1 (Combat Aircrew Preservation Society, January 2006): 8–19.

4. Smith, Chick’s Crew, 113.

5. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 182.

6. Ibid., 171.

7. Telephone interview, Tom Hardin, June 29, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Hardin are derived from this source.

8. Telephone interview, Al Dussliere, February 23, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Dussliere are derived from this source.

9. Warren Kotz, personal journal, via Vicki Sharp.

10. Telephone interview, Richard Riley Johnson, June 29, 2013.

11. James Mickle, “Oxygen Problems Plague Combat Crew,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 20, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 2000): 1064.

12. William Heller, 303rd discussion forum, July 23, 2002, http://www.303rdbg.com/303rd-talk/303rd-talk-archive-old/2002-July.txt.

13. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 78, 66.

14. Keith Clapp, “An Unusual Incident, or Was It?” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1997): 864.

15. Daily Bulletin, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, August 9, 1944, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B02011, pg. 98.

16. Smith, Chick’s Crew, 51.

17. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 178.

18. Ibid.

19. Warren Kotz, personal journal, via Vicki Sharp.

20. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 174–175.

21. Robert Butcher personal journal. Entry made June 10, 1944. Via Brian Butcher.

“THE BACK OF THE ENGINEER’S HEAD HAD BEEN BLOWN OFF”

1. Grady Hodges, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via James Hodges.

2. Air Forces Manual No. 20, Gunner’s Information File: Flexible Gunnery (Government Printing Office, May 1944), S-8.

3. Army Air Forces Historical Studies No. 31, Flexible Gunnery Training in the AAF (Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, Historical Division, 1945), 7.

4. Letter from Brigadier General E. L. Eubank to Commanding General, 2d AF, January 12, 1943.

5. James Andrus, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/thunderbird/andrus-journal.html.

6. Raymond Espinoza, “Troubles on and Near the Runways,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 21, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1999): 1003.

7. Army Air Forces Historical Studies No. 31, Flexible Gunnery Training in the AAF, 59.

8. Ibid., 54.

9. Air Forces Manual No. 20, Gunner’s Information File: Flexible Gunnery, S-12.

10. Telephone interview, Paul Sersland, January 5, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Sersland are derived from this source.

11. Theodore McDevitt, “Tribute to Mom,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 21, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, February 1999): 941.

12. William J. O’Brien. “Tragic Ending to an Old Friendship,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 22, no. 2 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 2000): 1043–1044.

“WE WERE ALL VERY FRIGHTENED”

1. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 78, 43.

2. Robert Sorenson, “Was I a Survivor?” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 8, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1984): 200–201.

3. David Michael, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-michael.pdf.

“NOTHING SPECTACULAR EXCEPT THE EXPLOSION”

1. Colin Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis, The Me 262 Stormbird: From the Pilots Who Flew, Fought, and Survived It (Minneapolis: Zenith Books, 2012), 113.

2. Lloyd Hester, “303rd Crewmates ‘Best Men in My Life,’” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 20, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 2000): 1063.

3. Charles Dando, 303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 275, November 21, 1944, 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/275.pdf.

4. James O’Leary, “Personal Diaries,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 2, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1978): 34.

5. “Gobrecht Crew’s Most Memorable Combat Mission Incidents,” http://www.303rdbg.com/358gobrecht.html.

6. Bob Hand, 303rd discussion forum, December 4, 2002, http://www.303rdbg.com/303rd-talk/303rd-talk-archive-old/2002-December.txt.

“WE SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING THEN”

1. James O’Leary, “As Rough as It Gets,” 303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 301, January 13, 1945, 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/301.pdf.

2. Headquarters, 303rd Bombardment Group (H), Standard Operating Procedure 4D, October 29, 1944, Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0213, pg. 803.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?”

1. Telephone interview, Ed Gardner, March 17, 2013. All subsequent quotes by or references to Gardner are derived from this source.

2. Memorandum, Heeadquarters 303rd Bombardment Group (H), January 17, 1945, Subject: Recapitulation of the Trials and Tribulations Encountered on Mission #300 Flown 10 January 1945.

3. Mel Schulstad speaking engagement to USAF Command Master Chief event, Denver, Colorado, circa 2008.

4. Carroll Binder, “That First Mission—From the Diary of Lt. Carroll ‘Ted’ Binder,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 13, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, December 1990): 429.

“DOWN IN FLAMES DOVE ANOTHER OF GOERING’S FANATICS”

1. Al Dussliere, personal journal.

2. Guido Marchionda, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-marchionda.pdf.

3. Charles Johnson, “‘Tremendous Jolts’ Rock Taub’s B-17 as German Me-262 Jets Attack,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 25, no. 3 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, August 2002): 7.

4. Peed, Philip, unpublished memoir, n.d., n.p., via John Peed.

5. Air Force Historical Research Agency Microfiche Reel #B0211, pg. 1524, held in the collection of the 303rd’s official records at the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

6. George Emerson, “My Short Life as a POW in Germany in World War II,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/427barrat.html.

7. Charles Johnson, “Life in Stalag Luft I as the War Nears End,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 25, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 2002): 8.

“I WAS BLOWN OUT”

1. Walter Schuck, Luftwaffe Eagle: From the Me109 to the Me262 (Manchester: Crécy Publishing Limited), 202–206.

2. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #13875, Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

“ALL OF US WERE DONE”

1. Johnson, Twenty Five Milk Runs, 216–217. See also, Evening Independent newspaper, “Mail-Away Edition,” November 1, 1943, Volume XXXVI, No. 310, “Colonel Carroll Takes Command at MacDill Field.”

2. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) #13596 (Lacker crew) and #13719 (Alderman crew) Headquarters, AAF Station 107, 303rd Bombardment Group (H).

3. Frau Johanna Tittmann memories, 1995, Loessnitz, Germany, translated by A. Guenter Bier, via Al Dussliere.

4. Police report, Loessnitz, Germany, April 6, 1945, “Personal and Material Damage Due to Enemy Bomber Crash,” translated via Guenter Bier, via Al Dussliere.

5. Guido Marchionda, personal journal, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-marchionda.pdf.

6. E-mail correspondence between author and Lois Brown from May 2013 to February 2014.

“AND THEN HE FELL DOWN DEAD”

1. Max Bartholomew, “Did It Open or Was It a Streamer?” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 19, no. 1 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, May 1997): 820.

2. Horst Bayer, eyewitness to death of S/Sgt Eschinger, 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/362.pdf.

“THEY ARE WORKING ME TO DEATH”

1. Personal interview, Hildegard Kaiser Franke, July 13, 2013.

2. Arthur S. C. Shanafelt, “Excerpts from V-Mail Letters Home—28 February–14 May, 1945,” 303rdbg.com, http://www.303rdbg.com/journal-shanafelt.html. All quotes from Shanafelt’s letters are derived from this source.

3. Warren Mauger, “Three Die, Four Taken Prisoner, One Evades on 303rd’s Final Raid,” Hell’s Angels Newsletter 21, no. 4 (303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, November 1999): 992.