signal was beamed along the front line that would cause our landing guidance instrument needle to swing from one side of the instrument to the other side when we flew across the front line. Thus, if all three safeties were met, the bombs were dropped. If the safeties were not met, the bombs were not dropped, since we could not be sure where our troops were located. Many of our missions would go from Italy flying across the Adriatic Sea that separates Italy and Yugoslavia, flying almost directly north until we come to Austria or Southern Germany. In doing so, it was necessary that we fly over the Alps. The Alps extended into Yugoslavia and across Austria, and we'd usually pass over the Brenner Pass, which was 12,500 feet high. This required that we obtain our altitude fairly soon and travel at least 15,000 feet. Usually we were at about 20,000 feet when we went over our target to get out of the flak as far as possible. At these high altitudes, it was well below freezing and we had to wear sheep lined leather pants, jackets, helmets, and gloves. If one had to pull off his gloves to handle or touch something, your skin would freeze onto the object. Hence, we wore a silk inner-glove inside the leather gloves to prevent the possible freezing of our skin when touching something cold. Just before we went over the bomb target, we placed a flak helmet on our head and a flak protector over our chest and shoulders. Consequently, towards the end of the war, our Air Force had almost demolished the German fighter capabilities, but we continued to fly in formation. We had very little attack from fighter planes. In the first part of the war the enemy had a lot of fighter planes and not too much flak resistance. Towards the end of the war there were very few of the fighters but a lot of flak. The flak from the 88 caliber guns they shot at us would explode to penetrate the airplanes. Towards the end of the war they even had phosphorous flak which would start fires when the shell fragments hit the airplanes. Our missions usually were about six or seven hours long. We flew the entire mission, both into the enemy territory and back in formation. This became a rather tedious effort and required changing off between the pilot and the copilot so that we didn't get too tired flying close formation. Sometimes while flying at reduced aircraft cabin pressure (the B-24 did not have cabin pressurization), the continual arm and shoulder movement would cause an air bubble in the muscles of the shoulder or elbow. This became very painful and usually would not go away until we returned to lower altitude. This was another reason to periodically change the duty of formation flying between the pilot and copilot. Flying good tight formation would discourage the enemy fighter planes from coming at us. We alway had coverage of P-38 fighters that would fly with us for protection in case we encountered enemy fighters. They would fly down, strafe and bomb bridges and various targets while we made our bombing run. If we had to leave the formation they would give us protection to get back out of enemy territory. The Germans would attack a lone airplane that was having trouble and couldn't stay up with the formation and would shoot them down. B-24Js in formation The flight into Austria was always a beautiful trip over the Alps. The scenery was awesome. If it was a clear day, you could see the mountains and terrain. But after we got into enemy territory and contemplated our mission, we became very serious-minded. One of the biggest targets that we hit very frequently was Vienna (a bomb group of the 15th Air Force would hit Vienna every day, weather permitting). The reason being it was the largest marshalling yard of any place in Europe. They had hundreds of railroad tracks there. Supplies came down the Danube River to Vienna, where they were loaded onto trains and headed out to the front lines. We would continually hit these marshalling yards, which were the areas where they did the switching and loading of their freight and equipment to send out to their troops. In nearby Wiener Neustadt there was an aircraft plant. There were tanks and armament plants in Salzburg. These were also some of our prime targets for bombing. The Germans were very accurate with their flak guns, so that when we would go over the target, we would jam certain radio frequencies (each squadron in the group would jam a different frequency) so that they couldn't use radar, which was much more accurate than visual sighting. We would also throw out chafe, which was thousands of small strips of aluminum that would give a false radar reflection of the formation altitude, thus their accuracy would be further reduced. The formations would go over the target in a nice close-knit formation to drop our bombs. The flak would usually hit some of the planes causing damage and in some 34 cases a collision. When we completed our bomb run, we tried to stay in formation. Often it was too difficult to stay in a tight formation, and other times the formation was almost non-existent. The concern then was, if we were hit or couldn't stay up with the formation, getting back over the Alps, across Yugoslavia, the Adriatic Sea, and back to Italy could be a problem. Those aircraft that had been hit would have to ditch the airplane in the water of the Adriatic Sea, and hope that they could get out in their rubber rafts before the ship would go under. We lost many planes and many crewmen this way. So towards the end of the war, the Air Force established an advance repair depot that was just on the edge of Yugoslavia and close to the Adriatic Sea. Then planes returning that had trouble could stop in there and get repairs and not have to go across the sea with problems that might cause them to lose the plane. In this way, they were able to save many planes and crews. Flying at 20,000 feet we had to use oxygen masks, and it was very essential that about every ten minutes one of the pilots make an oxygen check. When we made oxygen checks, each member of the crew would check in and let us know that they were all right. When we were in Yugoslavia having our airplane repaired the second time, a crew landed in a B-17. They had not been diligent with their oxygen checks; and when they landed, they found that their navigator had trouble with his oxygen mask, and he was found dead. So this brought to mind how serious it can be and how important it is to check regularly to make sure the crew is well and available, because it doesn't take long without oxygen before you are dead. We felt quite fortunate because several of the planes that had come into Yugoslavia had injured people aboard. Doctors would rush out to the plane to find out if there were any injured people. There was a high ridge of Alps that went right along the coastline, which gave the landing field protection from the enemy, this acted as a front line. So we had no problem with the enemy being there even though we were in Yugoslavia. They would fix up the airplane and then the next day we would fly back to our home base and prepare for another mission. One of the interesting things that would happen as we would leave our base to head out on a mission was a woman who was called 'Axis Sally'. She would come on the radio on the frequency that we used for communicating among the squadrons. She would say hello to us, call us by our squadron and group number, inform us of where we were going, where we had been yesterday, where we'd bombed, and how many planes we lost, etc. It was rather disconcerting to know that their intelligence was so good that this woman could tell us over the radio exactly what happened yesterday, and where our target was for the day. We knew that if she knew, so did the Germans and they would be waiting for us with plenty of flak guns and possibly other surprises. I remember one of my last missions. I had met a pilot that was about to finish his thirty missions, which was called a tour of duty. He said, 'this is my last one, you can be happy for me when I get back from today's mission, I'm on my way home'. I knew the position he was flying that day, and as we went over the target (Vienna) his plane was in the squadron just ahead of me. They received a direct hit in the bomb bay and not a single soul survived. I flew the following 14 missions over enemy territory in Italy and Austria before the war ended in Europe. These missions were recorded in my flight logbook. Missions Target locations Hours 2 Vienna, Austria 7 1/2 2 Weiner Neustadt, Austria 6 3/4 1 Wels, Austria 7 1 Pragersko, Austria 6 3/4 1 Straszhof, Austria 8 (flew behind Russian lines over Hungary & Czechoslovakia) 1 Linz, Austria 7 1/2 1 Bronzolo, Northern Italy 6 1 Malcontenta, Northern Italy 6 1 Nerdesa, Northern Italy 7 1 Avisio, Northern Italy 7 1 Lusia, Northern Italy 6 1_ Badia, Northern Italy 6 Total=14 Total=81 1/2 The war in Europe ended May 8, 1945. We flew a new B-24 from Di Gioia, Italy, to Hunter Field, Georgia (47 1/2 hours flying time). The new B-24 was flown to Italy as a replacement for the missing and war weary B-24s in use. The new B-24 had hydraulic servo-boosters on the aircraft controls, which made it much easier to fly the aircraft. The new B-24s never got to our squadron so we never had this luxury while flying combat missions. Our flight to the U.S.A. included stops in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, then on to Dakar, French West Africa; Natal, Brazil; Georgetown, British Guiana; finally to Hunter Field in Georgia, USA. Because of military red tape, I was not permitted to fly the B-24 to Hill Field, Utah, where it was to be stored (my hometown). Instead I had to travel two days by train to reach Ogden, Utah, for my furlough. Needless to say, I was very unhappy with the arrangement. 35