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World War II Diary of Major Albert E. Hill

386th Bomb Group (M) B-26 & A-26 - Combat Mission List

Seventy Nine (79) Combat Missions Against German Military Targets in Europe

Mission Diary (pages 1-29)
- 01 - | - 02 - | - 03 - | - 04 - | - 05 - | - 06 - | - 07 -
- 08 - | - 09 - | - 10 - | - 11 - | - 12 - | - 13 - | - 14 -
- 15 - | - 16 - | - 17 - | - 18 - | - 19 - | - 20 - | - 21 -
- 22 - | - 23 - | - 24 - | - 25 - | - 26 - | - 27 - | - 28 -
- 29 -

Mission Folders (missions 1-33)
- 01 - | - 02 - | - 06 - | - 07 - | - 08 - | - 09 - | - 10 -
- 12 - | - 13 - | - 14 - | - 16 - | - 17 - | - 18 - | - 19 -
- 20 - | - 21 - | - 22 - | - 23 - | - 24 - | - 25 - | - 26 -
- 27 - | - 28 - | - 32 - | - 33 - | - 35 - | - 36 - | - 37 -
- 38 - | - 39 - | - 42 - | - 44 - | - 45 -

Covering Seventy Nine (79) Combat Missions against German Military Targets in France Belgium Holland out of Boxted and Great Dunmow Air Bases in England.

First Mission - 30 July 1943; Last Mission - 14 September 1944

Albert E. Hill
Born - September 11, 1921 at Lockney, Texas.
United States Air Force Career Fields:
Enlisted - Weather Forecasting
Commissioned - Bombardier-Navigator
Enlisted at Lowery Field, Denver, Colorado on August 6, 1940.
Retired - U.S.A.F. September 11, 1981. Rank of Colonel.

Promotions
Corporal: May 6, 1941
Sergeant: Feb. 1, 1942
2nd. Lt.: Oct. 10, 1942
1st. Lt.: Feb. 12, 1943
Captain: Dec. 3, 1943
Major: Aug. 19, 1944
Lt. Col.: Jan. 1, 1956
Colonel: June 25, 1968

Decorations
Presidential Unit Citation
Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal + 13 Oak Leaf Clusters
Purple Heart + One Oak Leaf Cluster
European Campaign Medal + Three Battle Stars
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

Prologue

In July of 1941 the British Cabinet Office ordered Mr. David Butt to make an in-depth study of the effectiveness of recent R.A.F. night bombing raids against German targets. Mr. Butt discovered that only 1 in 3 attacking aircraft dropped it's bombs within 5 miles of it's aiming point. The score dropped to 1 in 10 against heavily defended targets.* Such poor results must have brought smiles to the faces of Hitler and Hermann Gooring. Two new developments caused those smiles to disappear. First, the R.A.F. switched to area bombing in March of 1942. Accuracy was not required. The effect of area bombing on such targets as Hamburg, Essen, Cologne and Bremen was devastating. The second development was daylight, precision bombing over Europe by Air Forces of the United States, flying in tight formations and using the Norden bombsight. High-level B-17s hit the Rouen marshalling yard in the late summer of 1942 to open the 8th Air-.Force campaign: B-26s began bombing enemy targets from medium altitude (11,000 ft) in the early summer of 1943. B-26 and A-20 groups started out as part of the 8th Air Force but soon became part of the new 9th Air Force. The 9th contained eight groups of B-26s and three groups of A-20s. Bombing error came to be measured in feet instead of miles.

Major Albert E. Hill.

* The World At Arms - Page 261

aeh_3.jpg (27735 bytes)

Crew of "Dinah Might" (Albert's main plane)

Pilot: David H. Dewhurst, Jr.
Co-pilot: Carl K. Linquist
Bombardier-Navigator: Albert E. Hill
Navigator: Justin M. "Pete" Bingham and B.A. Carrell (later on)
Engineer-Gunner: Jack Dunn
Radioman-Gunner: Roger V. Lovelace
Radioman: Loren J. Graves
Tail-Gunner: Leroy D. McFarland (earlier- Sgt. King)

L-R: Mr. and Mrs. Joey Hoffman, grandson; Kelly and Staci Hoffman, holding Emma, grandson; Sue Hoffman, daughter; Albert and Gene Hill; David Hoffman, son-in-law. September 25, 2007

Oklahoma State Senator Earl Garrison; Albert and Gene Hill

Major Albert E. Hill, World War II. Seventy Nine (79) Combat Mission List. (Shows if I led or toggled - if we hit, missed or aborted)
Mission Number	Lead Number	No. of Planes	Hit or Miss	Togg.	Hit or Miss	Abort	Remarks
1				X		X	Weather
2				X		X	Weather
3	1	6	Hit
4	2	6	Hit
5	3	6	Hit
6	4	6	Hit				Alternate
7				X	Hit
8				X	Hit
9				X	Hit
10	5	72
11
12	6	72	Hit
13				X	Hit
14				X		X	Weather
15	7	72	Hit
16				X	Miss
17				X		X	Weather
18				X	Hit
19				X		X	Weather
20				X	Hit
21	8	18	Hit
22				X	Hit
23				X	Hit
24	9	18	Miss	(bomb-sight leveling knob stuck)
25				X	Miss
26				X	Hit
27				X	Miss
28	10	18	Miss	(bad weather - short bomb run)
29				X		X	Weather
30				X	Hit
31	11	18				X	Weather
32	12	18	Hit
33	13	18	Hit
34				X	(unknown - clouds - Pathfinder)
35	14	18	Hit
36				X	Hit
37				X	Hit
38				X	Miss
39				X	Hit
40				X	(unknown - clouds)
41				X		X	Weather
42				X	Hit
43				X	Hit
44	15	54			(unknown - clouds)
45	16	18	Hit
46				X	Miss
47				X	Hit
48	17	72	Hit
49	18	18	Hit
50				X	Hit		Alternate
51	19	18	Hit
52	20	36	Hit
53	21	36	Hit	(Purple Heart -- glass fragments)
54	22	36	Hit
55	23	18	Hit
56				X	Hit
57	24	36	Hit
58				X	Miss
59	25	18	Hit
60	26	6	Hit
61	27	36	Hit
62	28	6	Hit
63	29	18	Hit
64	30	36	Miss	(no bomb run due to weather)
65	31	6	Miss	(short run-problem finding target)
66	32	18	Hit
67	33	6	Hit
68	34	36	Hit
69	35	18	Hit
70	36	18	Hit
71	37	36	Hit
72	38	36	Miss	(goofed - left trigger down)
73	39	18	Hit
74	40	36				X	No Escort
75	41	36	Hit
76	42	36	Hit
77	43	36	Hit				Pathfinder
78	44	14	Hit	(First combat mission A-26 Invader)
79	45	36	Hit

Summary of the 45 times that I flew on a Combat Mission as Lead Bombardier
Results Unknown. Bombed by Pathfinder or thru overcast							01 time
Mission Aborted. Usually due to bad weather or lack of fighter escort							03 times
Missed the target							06 times
Hit the target							35 times
							45 total

Albert E. Hill Col. USAFR 7 December 1987		On my first 30 Combat Missions I flew as a Lead Bombardier 10 times. On my last 30 Missions I served as Lead Bombardier 27 times.

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