From 559th history book: "On June 7th 1944, it was learned that the
17th German Panzer Division was moving north to the Invasion beachhead.
The report called for a mission to deny this route to the Germans. Because
of bad weather the formation attempting to bomb the rail junction at
Rennes was not successful, but it did get good results on a railroad west
of Vire and on a choke point of vehicles near St. Lo. The next morning a
highly successful mission was flown against the railroad junction at
Pontaubault. The best strike was made by Lieutenant Donald Tall,
bombardier in Captain Robert H. Will's flight, whose bombs hit the target
perfectly.
From Alan F Crouchman: The afternoon mission proved to be one of the roughest and most
remarkable ever flown by the Group. Captain Rollin D. Childress was
to lead eighteen aircraft to a fuel dump in the Foret de Grimbosq, south
of Caen. At the take-off at 1958 hours the ceiling was 900 feet. The
formation assembled with difficulty, but on going up through the solid
overcast it became widely dispersed. Eleven of the planes returned to the
base, one crash-landed at Gravesend, and one, piloted by First Lieutenant
Raymond V. Morin, crashed while attempting to land at Briston in ceiling
zero weather. Captain Childress gathered three aircraft with his own and
continued on, sometimes at deck level (tree top, 50-100 feet over land and
sea) in quarter of a mile visibility. His bombardier, First Lieutenant
Wilson J. Cushing, managed to find the target and after heated exchange
between bombardier and pilot, Cushing told Childress "I see the target,
raise it up, higher, higher" Childress replied, "OK, dang you, I'm going
up" and Cushing bombed it with great accuracy from 6,000 feet. As the formation of
four turned off the target, extremely heavy and accurate flak shot down
the fourth airplane piloted by Captain Charles D. Schober. The airplane
exploded in mid-air and no parachutes were observed (after mission
debrief, squadron of Spitfires found those 88s). Included in Captain
Schober's crew was Captain John D. Root, Group Weather Officer. The
remaining three aircraft, proceeding homeward, braved the horrible weather
conditions over England and landed at the base at 2230 hours. Captain
Childress was congratulated on his tenacity and perseverance by Colonel
Willard Lewis, Commander of the 98th Combat Wing, and by Group Commander
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Seymour. Captain Childress was also awarded
the Silver Star (written up for Medal of Honor but not submitted). The
effectiveness of the bombing was attended to by a congratulatory telegram
from the ground forces which stated that "the important fuel dump, the
immediate supply for an entire Panzer division, was destroyed."
Regarding Rollin Childress - his normal aircraft was "Lil Chum's Warhorse".
I have some pieces of the Plexiglas from this aircraft that my dad
liberated from it when it crash landed (Lt. James was flying her) on June
12th 1944. The mission of June 8, 1944 was a high priority target to take
out a fuel dump behind the German lines and the crews were asked to
attack it at all costs and to go in low if necessary. The weather was
bad and only three other aircraft managed to form up on Capt Childress
aircraft, they crossed the channel with ever decreasing height due to
cloud, they finally attacked the target at approximately 3000 feet with
good results but at that height the flak was murderous. Capt Schober
flying "Heavenly Body" (41-31664) took a direct hit and blew up, all the
crew was lost, including Capt John D Root the groups weather officer who
went along for the ride. The other three ships returning to base. For his
tenacity and leadership Capt Childress was awarded the Silver Star.
Many thanks,
Alan F
Crouchman
|
B26.COM
