FP-1942JA-Jan

Events vs Time  Jan 1942

Jan. 1: Twenty-six countries sign the Declaration of the United Nations, forming, a great coalition against the Axis.

Jan. 2: Japanese take over Manila, as MacArthur's forces retire to Bataan Peninsula.

Jan. 3: Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Cumming awarded Victoria Cross in action at Kuantan, Malaya.

Jan. 4: Japanese do raids on Rabaul, New Britain.

Jan. 11: Japanese take Kuala Lumpur and continue rapid advance down Malay Peninsula. British and Australians now in retreat before enemy they have previously underestimated. Japanese also begin penetration of Dutch East Indies with landing on Celebes near Borneo, and capture Tarakan, Borneo.

Jan. 14: Troops of 8th Division in action against Japanese at Gemas, Malaya.

Jan 21: Rommel sends motorized reconnaissance in force through British lines near El Agheila. British advance units begin retreat in fear of being cut off.

Jan. 22: Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. Anderson for gallantry in Battle of Moor, Malaya.

Jan. 23: Japanese take Rabaul on New Britain, and Kieta on Bougainville.

Jan. 25: Japanese land on New Ireland in Bismarck Archipelago.

Jan. 27: Rommel captures Benghazi.

Jan. 31: Japanese advance in South-East Asia maintains momentum. In Burma. British troops retreat from Moulmein, and in Malaya British and Australian 8th Division abandon peninsula, taking refuge on island of Singapore. Causeway between Singapore and Johore destroyed by Allied troops.

Java-Jm

Jan 42’s Long Range Flights to reach the Enemy

image004

Soerabaja = Surabaya; Jogja = Jogjakarta

B17CD’s from Philippines to Java

Java Operations Jan 1942 – from 19th BG Diary

            Subsequent missions will show airplane and pilot, unless specified otherwise the crews are:

These crews arrived Java from Darwin by Jan 1. Replacement AC and crews began making their way across the Pacific and via Africa at the same time.  Those crews are listed separately.

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3062

No. 40-3064

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3067

P

Connally

Broadhurst

Tash

Bohnaker

Keiser

Kurtz

CP

Beekman

Baxter

Teborek

Chiles

Vandevanter

Colovin

N

Rowan

Tarbutton

Hoffman

Carrithers

Work

Seamon

B

Fesmire

Carter

Burke

Miller

Harris

E

McClellan

Heard

Sowa

Peel

Baca

Shadl

AE

Coburn

Clark

Karlinger

Groelz

Strohecker

Logan

R

Hiron

Richardson

Norgaard

Gilbreath

Hargrove

Christianson

AR

Peterson

Pecher

Penny

Shafer

Huffman

Cooksey

Marvel

Barber

Roussell

Claud

Claud

Huston

Finnegan

Waggoner

Wright

McGuire

Walsh

Long

 

No. 40-3070

No. 40-3074

No. 40-3078

No. 40-3079

No. 40-3097

P

Schaetzel

Parsel

Teats, E.C.

Smith

Combs

CP

Wade

Kellar

Greene, T.S.

Friedman

Snyder

N

Cottage

Cappelletti

McAllister, F.K.

Hayman

Oliver

B

Oliver

Gregg

Payne, C.R.

Jones

Stones

E

Pecher

Matson

Provost, R.F.

Brandes

Hanna

AE

Hewston

Randall

Geckeler, J.N.

Schaffer

Sanders

R

Spaziano

Lorber

Kramer, P.

Burke

Douglas

AR

Lytle

Ambrose

Hartzell, J.H.

Park

Byers

Barber

Wise

Quinzel

Kelm

Olsen

Finnegan

Gauche

Kovacht

Uliano

Katlarz

T

 

Jan 1 1942  Malang:  Eubank to USAFFE Manila and Cmdr Slocum in Surabaya Indonesia: “Status of airplanes Jan 1: Eight in commission for high altitude mission. One out. will be in for high altitude mission in 24 hours. One on reconnaissance mission. Shortages of oxygen and gasoline both relieved.”

            Teats in 40-3061 took off from Samarinda at 0645 and landed at Kendari at 0945. Took off from Kendari at 1220 and landed Malang at 1800.              At 2245 reconnaissance reports and instructions concerning targets in the Davao area were received by plane from Capt Roder USN in Surabaya.

Jan 2 1942  Malang: To: HQ FEAF DARWIN: “Reconnaissance of landing fields at Samarinda and Kendari completed Dec 31 and Jan 1. Both fields satisfactory for B-17 operation. Eubank.”  “Eight B-17’s off for Samarinda at 0130 GCT, plan daylight attack Jan 3, Eubank.” Messages phoned to Lt Cmdr. Neal at Surabaya by Eubank.  Gen Van Oyen notified by Capt Bettink.

            Message to CO Samarinda: “Nine B-17s will arrive at Samarinda at noon Jan 2. Be prepared to service each plane with 900 gallons of 100 octane gasoline and four 500 lb bombs. Be prepared to take care of 36 officers and 36 enlisted men.”

The following airplanes and crews took off from Malang at 0900 and landed at Malang at 1330:

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3074

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3070

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3079

No. 40-3067

Combs

Keiser

Parsel

Connally

Schaetzel

Teats, E.C.

Smith

Kurtz

            Mission returned to Malang at 1330 because of weather. Darwin, Sourbabaya, and Samarinda notified.

            Lt Tash, Lt Teborek, Lt Hoffman, Sgt Sqwa, Cpl Kalinger, Pfc Norgard, and Pvt Penneyh arrived Malang from Batchelor.

“Status of airplanes January 2. Eight in commission for high altitude missions. In 24 hours. Eubank.”  Message phoned to Lt Rogers in Surabaya by Lt McIntyre.

Jan 3 1942 Malang:  MJ3  The following airplanes and crews took off for Samarinda at 0830:

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3074

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3070

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3079

No. 40-3067

Combs

Keiser

Parsel

Connally

Schaetzel

Teats, E.C.

Smith

Kurtz

Refueling was by 55 gal drums; natives manned the pumps.

            “Status report Jan 3. Nine planes arrived S-2 on mission. One out. Will be in on arrival of Hydraulic fluid. Col Eubank flying Bandoeng tomorrow for conference with Air Force Staff Eubank.” Message to Surabaya by Lt McIntyre received by Lt McDonald USN.

            Message from Eubank:. “Official order to Eubank. Complete Northern mission at earliest possible hour. This mission considered of utmost importance. Brereton.” received by 1Lt McIntyre.

Jan 4 1942 Malang:  Tash in 40-3072 took off for Darwin.

“Status Jan 4. Nine planes on mission. One here in commission for high altitude mission. Eubank.”

            Eight airplanes reported off from S-2 at 0530 on mission to bomb Davao area. Darwin notified.

            Nine airplanes returned from S-2 and landed at Malang at 1200.

Jan 5 1942 Malang  MJ3r: Nine B-17 airplanes departed Malang at 0830 Jan 3 and landed Samarinda, Borneo at 1220 Jan 3. the planes flew in flights of three. The weather was fair. A weak cold front was penetrated at low altitude off the coast of Borneo without difficulty. Weather at Samarinda was broken clouds -- tops 5,000 feet, base 1,200 feet -- visibility unlimited. The afternoon of the 3rd was spent servicing and loading the planes. Ships were serviced with 2100 gallons of 100 octane gasoline and (4) 600 lb bombs each. Some delay was experienced with loading the bombs because of an error in translation of our warning message from Malang. Samarinda had 1100 lb bombs reading and it was necessary to get the 600 lb bombs from the magazines. All planes were fully serviced and loaded by 1930. Airplane No 40-3070, Lt Schaetzel, pilot broke an oil line on the way up. It was repaired at Samarinda.

            The airplanes began take off at 0515 Jan 4 and eight ships had cleared the airdrome at 0535. The oil line on airplane No 40-3070 failed again and the plane was unable to complete the mission. The objective was warships and transports in Davao Bay, a distance of 730 miles to Mindanao when the formation climbed to 25,000 ft. The approach was made from northwest to southeast. Some low clouds partially obscured Davao Bay. Twelve transports were first sighted in Davao Bay and immediately afterwards a large number of warships were sighted in Davao Bay. The squadron attacked the warships in Davao Bay from 25,000 feet at 1030 at one minute intervals by flights. The enemy vessels were concentrated in a relatively small area. One destroyer was sunk and 3 direct hits were observed on a battle ship. Several smaller craft were believed hit. Bombs were observed to fall very near submarines. The following vessels were sighted: one battleship, five cruisers, six destroyers, twelve submarines and numerous small craft. No aircraft carriers were sighted. The formation withdrew to the west. Anti aircraft fire was observed up to the level of and behind the formation. Five enemy fighters were sighted climbing  up at about 10,000 feet but they were unable to close and attack. All eight planes returned safely to Samarinda and landed at 1430. The formation leader had four hundred gallons of gasoline left while the planes on the last flight had less tan two hundred and fifty gallons. The penetration , attack , and withdrawal were made at rated power which lasted over thirty minutes. This is the correct procedure but accounts for an excessive fuel consumption.

            All nine B-17s took off from Samainda at 0815 Jan for Malang. The planes were serviced with 1700 gallons of gasoline which was all that was available. No more 100 octane gasoline was left at Samarinda until the supply is replenished. The flight landed at Malang at 1200 Jan 5.

            Airplanes and crews which took part in the operation against Davao on Jan 4, were:

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3074

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3070

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3079

No. 40-3067

No. 40-3064

Combs

Keiser

Parsel

Connally

Schaetzel

Teats, E.C.

Smith

Kurtz

Bohnaker

            The crew of No 3070 flew to Samarinda and returned but did not participate in the actual bombing operation because of engine trouble.

            The following maintenance men were carried to Samarinda and return: Olsen, Katlarz, Wright, Wise, Gauche, Marvel, Huston, Quinzel, Kovacht, Claud, McGuire, Barber, Finnegan, Roussell, Waggoner, Kelm and Uliano. Major Walsh and Capt Broadhurst also flew to Samarinda and return with the flight. They were Operations and Engineering Officers respectively while there.”

Message to: Hq FEAF Darwin:  “Believe Samarinda unsuitable for Heavy Bomber operation after heavy rain. After one week of dry weather field was barely adequate for full load take-off on last operation. New portion of field will not be useable by heavy bombers for several months until sod has grown over newly graded area. no more 100 octane gasoline available there at present.” to Lt Sanderson Surabaya by Lt McIntyre.

            Status report to Darwin:  “One airplane in commission for high altitude mission. No airplanes in commission for Low altitude mission. Nine flyable. Seven will be in commission for high altitude mission in 24 hours. Nine will be in commission for high altitude mission in 48hours.  No more 100 octane gasoline available at Samarinda. Repeat: No more 100 octane gasoline available at Samarinda. Require immediately all available spark plugs, three generators, one brake expander tube, one set aileron bearings, one tachometer drive shaft six oxygen check valves, six fuel pressure transmitters, one propeller assembly complete. Eubank.” to Surabaya by Ensign Levitte for transmittal to Darwin.

            An abbreviated report of the Jan 4 operation against ships in the Davao area was sent to Bandoeng by Major Walsh. It was sent from Samarinda and receipted for by Bandoeng at 1730. This was the only means available for notifying Malang and Darwin. No word was received at Malang and as a result Darwin was not notified. The report was as follows:

            “Eight B-17s attacked Davao area at 25,000 ft sith four 600 lb bombs each at 1030 Jan 4. One destroyer sunk. Three direct hits on one battleship. Believe other hits. Five fighters sighted but could not attack. Anti-aircraft fire up to level of B-17s. Many warships concentrated in numerous small craft Stops. Twelve transports in Davao Bay. No aircraft carriers sighted. Status Report. Nine B-17s flyable, six in commission for low altitude tactical mission. None in commission for high altitude mission. Only 1700 gallons of 100 octane gasoline available here per plane. Will return to Malang Jan 5 unless contrary orders are received. Walsh.

            Failure to Bandoeng to relay this message to Malang made it impossible to notify Hq FEAF.

            Upon return of the flight from Samarinda the following was immediately sent to Hq. FEAF.

            “Eight B-17s attack Davao area at 25,000 with four 600 lb bombs each at 1030 Jan 4. One destroyer sunk. Three direct hits on one battleship. Believe other hits. Five fighters sighted but could not attack. Antiaircraft fire up to level of B-17s. Many warships concentrated in Davao Bay. One battleship, five cruisers, six destroyers, twelve transports in Davao Bay. No aircraft carriers sighted. Nine B-17s returned Malang 1200 Jan 5. Eubank.” Phoned to U.S.N. at Surabaya at 1237 by Lt McIntyre.

Jan 6 1942  Malang:  Status: “Seven B-17s in commission for high altitude mission. Two others will be in commission for high altitude missions in 24 hours. One out of commission, lack of parts. Cannot plan mission until information is received regarding availability of 100 octane fuel at Kendari. None available at Samarinda for seven days. Eubank.”  To Surbaya, Hq REAF Darwin & USAAFFE Manila

Jan 7 1942 Malang:  Status:  Nine B-17s in commission for high altitude missions. One out due to lack of parts. Nine planes departing early Jan 8 on mission as ordered. Eubank.”

Jan 8 1942 Malang:  MJ8 The following left Malang at 0715 and landed Kendari 11 at 1130.

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3074

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3078

No. 40-3064

No. 40-3067

No. 40-3079

Combs

Keiser

Parsel

Connally

Broadhurst

Teats, E.C.

Bohnaker

Kurtz

Smith

            Daily Status: Nine B-17s in commission for high altitude mission. One out commission lack of parts. Nine planes departed 0730 Jan 8 on mission as ordered and arrived Kendari 1150 Jan 8. Eubank.

Jan 9 1942  Malang:  B-18 No 36-338 arrived from Darwin, P-Strong, CP-Michie, E-Brumley, R-Hess. Will stay at Malang.

            Abbreviated report:  Nine B-17s departed to attack Davao area at 1700 GMT Jan 8, 1942. One direct hit and one waterline hit set battleship on fire in Malang Bay. One direct hit on shore. Antiaircraft battery . Visibility over target very poor. Single plane bombed and missed; transport located 5deg 25 min N, 123 deg 40 min E. course 210 deg speed 15 knots. A single plane bombed and missed; 25,000 ton transport accompanied by cruiser at 2250 GMT 5deg 50min N. 123deg20minE. Last course 270deg speed 15 knots antiaircraft fire ineffective. Pursuit spotted on coast but did not attack. All planes landed 0250 GMT. One battleship in Davao Bay. Status of aircraft, six in commission for high altitude operation mission. All planes departing for home base at 0015 GNT Jan 10.  Eubank.

Jan 10 1942 Malang:  MJ8r  “Nine B-17 departed Kendari to attack Davao area 1700 GMT Jan 8. Four planes returned without dropping bombs. Two caused by engine trouble and two lost formation due to weather and darkness. One direct it and one waterline hit set battleship on fire in Davao Bay. One other bomb made direct hit of shore antiaircraft battery. Visibility over target poor. In Davao Bay eight transports, ten smaller craft in Davao Bay. One battleship, six cruisers, two destroyers, several smaller craft, two flying boats. One destroyer was in tow by tug. One plane bombed and missed single large transport at 2245 GMT at 5deg25min N. 123deg 40min E coarse 210 deg speed 16 knots

            One plane bombed and missed 25,000 ton transport accompanied by cruiser at 2250 GMT 5deg50minN. 123deg20min E. Antiaircraft fire ineffective. Pursuit spotted on coast but did not close. All planes returned safely. All planes returned to Malang Jan 10, Kendari II excellent heavy bomber field. Accommodations for 65 officers and 550 men ready February 10. Sufficient dispersal for 35 heavy bombers. 9,500 gallons of 100 octane gasoline remaining at Kendari II. Several fields suitable for pursuit within 15 miles. Status report, one in commission for high altitude mission. Nine out of commission. Five will be in for high altitude mission in 24 hours. Two others in 48 hours, two lack of parts. One plane leaving for airdrome reconnaissance Palembang. Jan 11 Eubank.”

            Crews of the following took part in the operation on Jan 9.

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-3074

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3078

No. 40-3064

No. 40-3067

No. 40-3079

Combs

Keiser

Parsel

Connally

Broadhurst

Teats, E.C.

Bohnaker

Kurtz

Smith

            Ship No 2062 lost formation, then bombed and missed a single transport. Ship No 3067 and No 3061 both lost the formation because of weather and darkness. Failing to effect a rendezvous at the appointed time and place, they returned to Kendari.

            The planes took off from Malang at 0715 and landed Kendari at 0130. Bomb loading and refueling completed at 1600 Jan 8. The planes took off at 0030 Jan 9, attacked at 0600, and landed at 1020 Kendari time. (GCT and 8 hours. On Jan 10 the planes took off at 0700 and landed Malang at 1100.

Jan 11 1942  Malang:  MJ11  Seven B-17s took off Malang 2225 GMT Jan 10 to bomb target at Tarakan. Four turned back account weather. Three bombed ships individually. results uncertain. One ship attacked by three zero fighters. Two shot down. Antiaircraft fire not close. About forty surface craft sighted in Tarakna area. Five planes landed Malang, one at Surabaya, one at Samarinda II. Status report __ in commission for high altitude mission. Two others in 48 hours, tow not returned from today’s mission. Three lack parts, one required depot work due to enemy action. Eubank.

Jan 12 1942 Malang:  Lt Connally returned from Samarinda at 1120. Lt Tash arrived from Darwin in 40-3072 at 1110. Lt Kurtz returned from Surabaya at 1305

MJ11r:  At 0555 Jan 11 seven B-17s took off from Malang. Their objective was enemy ships in the Tarakan area. Four airplanes lost the formation because of very severe weather conditions. No 3078 and No 3061 landed at Malang at 1530. No 3097 attacked the target alone at 1130. Altitude was 21,000 ft. four 600 lb bombs were dropped and missed the target. Three zero fighters attacked No 3097 and subjected the ship to fire from 1130 to 1205. Two of the fighters were shot down. No 2062 and No 3067 attacked together at 1145 at an altitude of 29,000 ft. Results of the bombing were uncertain. No enemy aircraft or antiaircraft fire was noted. No 3097 returned to Malang at 1635. No 2062 landed at Samarinda II at 1430 because of doubtful gas supply and weather. No 2062 took off from S ll at 0810 Jan 12 and landed Malang at 1120. No 3067 landed at Surabaya at 1700 on account of weather. No 3067 took off at 1240 Jan 12 and landed Malang 1305.

            Crews of the following took part in the operation on Jan 11.

No. 40-3097

No. 40-3066

No. 40-2062

No. 40-3061

No. 40-3078

No. 40-3064

No. 40-3067

Combs

Keiser

Connally

Broadhurst

Teats, E.C.

Bohnaker

Kurtz

Java Operations Interrupted

Help is on the Way

JavaAPset1

From Jan 11 to Feb 20 1942 5 LB-30’s & 35 B-17E’s new planes & crews arrived on Java

2 B-18, 3 B-24,  2  B-17C, 8 B-17D, 35 B-17E,  5 LB-30  =  55 Aircraft Arrived

0 B-18, 0 B-24, 0 B-17C, 01 B-17D, 16 B-17E,  0 LB-30  =  17 Aircraft Survived

In addition 16 P-40’s and 7 A-24’s are referenced.

The Materiel Command, on orders from Marshal and Arnold, sent every available B-17, LB-30 to Java to reinforce the 19th BG elements sent there from Darwin. 

Jan 11-13 1942  4 LB-30 via Pacific and 2 B-17E via Africa Arrive

Ar 01-11-42 Pac

Ar 01-11-42 Pac

Ar 01-11-42 Pac

Ar 91-13-42 Afr

Ar 91-13-42 Afr

Ar 91-13-42 Pac

LB-30 AL-609

LB-30 AL-612

LB-30 AL-535

B-17E 41-2461

B-17E  41-2459

LB-30 AL-576

Maj Strobel

Lt Wade

Lt Dougherty

Maj Necrason  C.F.

1Lt Dufrane  J.L.

1Lt Basye  W.E.

Lt Hernlund

Lt Anderson

Lt Gibson

1Lt Barr  B.S.

1Lt Negley Jr  R.V.W.

2Lt Poncic  V.J.

Lt Trenkle

A/C Jones

Lt Ellis

2Lt Walthers  G.A.

2Lt Pattillo  S.S.

2Lt Skandera  D.

Lt Carr

S/Sgt Schiernolz

Lt Norwood

2Lt Mcgee  E.J.

2Lt Burney  W.W.

S/Sgt Wilhite  R.J.

S/Sgt Mucroch

T/Sgt Sager

Sgt Terry

2Lt Kelly  J.W.

S/Sgt Coleman  J.W.

M/Sgt Flanagan  P.A.

S/Sgt Danask

Sgt Jablonski

Pfc Fraley

S/Sgt Brodenberg A.

Pfc Parry  H.R.

Sgt Oldford  W.L.

S/Sgt Yenney

Sgt Morley

S/Sgt Kolbus

M/Sgt Silfa  L.T.

Sgt Keightley  L.H.

Pfc Graf  R.F.

Cpl Ranta

Pvt Ard

Cpl Conner

T/Sgt Hascall  A.S.

Pvt Boudria  R.F.

Pfc Chopping  R.D.

Pvt Hegbahl  A.B.

M/Sgt Ashby  W.G.

Straubel Wade Dougherty-2 Necrason DuFrane Basye

Barr Poncik

B-17 E, with tail gun (but no self sealing bomb bay tanks); replacement for B-17D’s 

Java Operations Continued

Jan 12 1942 Malang:  Status report:  “Five airplanes in commission for high altitude mission. Two airplanes in commission for high altitude mission in 24 hours. One airplane will be in commission for high altitude mission in 72 hours. Two airplanes our for engine change. One airplane out, shot up. Eubank.”

Jan 13 1942  Aircraft Inventory:  B-17C 40-2062, B-17D 40-3061, 40-3062, 40-3064, 40-3066, 40-3067, 40-3070, 40-3072 (at Darwin), 40-3074, 40-3078, 40-3079, 40-3091, 40-3097 (repair depot), B-18 36-338 (eng chg), LB-30 AL-609, AL-612 (broken wing), AL-535

As of 13 January 1942 the following listed officers and men were on duty at Malang.

Rank

Name

SN

Sq-Gp

Maj

Walsh  B.

Maj

Combs

Capt

Broadhurst

Capt

Parsel

1st Lt

Bohnaker

1st Lt

Connally

1st Lt

Keiser

1st Lt

Kurtz

1st Lt

McIntire

1st Lt

Montgomery G

0-420874

14-19

1st Lt

Norvell

1st Lt

Schaetzel

1st Lt

Smith

1st Lt

Tash

1st Lt

Teats

14-19

1st Lt

Vandevanter 

2nd Lt

Beekman  M.R.

0-416256

93-19

2nd Lt

Cappelletti  F.R.

0-430054

93-19

2nd Lt

Carruthers W

Unknown

2nd Lt

Cottage  C.

0-420870

14-19

2nd Lt

Friedman M.N.

0-401156

14-19

2nd Lt

Greene  T.S.

0-413592

14-19

2nd Lt

Gregg  E.G.

0-431786

2nd Lt

Harris  J.

0-431765

30-19

2nd Lt

Hayman  E.W.

0-406768

14-19

2nd Lt

Hoffman  R.E.

0-409899

93-19

2nd Lt

Keller D.H.

0-398623

93-19

2nd Lt

McAllister  E.K.

0-420874

14-19

2nd Lt

Meenach  W.F.

0-372623

93-19

2nd Lt

Michie  R.E.L.

0-413473

28-19

2nd Lt

Miller  D.C.

0-426201

2nd Lt

Oliver  A.E.

0-409904

30-19

2nd Lt

Seamon Jr  W

0-409906

30-19

2nd Lt

Snyder  V.L.

0-416360

93-19

2nd Lt

Stitt  A.W.

0-425203

30-19

2nd Lt

Stone  M.D.

0-406204

93-19

2nd Lt

Tarbutton  P.R.

0-420878

14-19

2nd Lt

Teborek  R.G.

0-397556

30-19

2nd Lt

Wade  E.C.

0-411744

14-19

2nd Lt

Work  B.R.

0-431728

M/Sgt

Carter  J.F.

6492958

14-19

M/Sgt

Griffin  W.U.P.

6382232

14-19

M/Sgt

Laza  J.C.

6207242

14-19

M/Sgt

Moody  E.E.

6233418

14-19

M/Sgt

Olsen  R.

6047089

93-19

T/Sgt

Barber  L.A.

6541993

93-19

T/Sgt

Brades  G.H.

6097461

14-19

T/Sgt

Fesmire  D.W.

6246350

93-19

T/Sgt

Geckeler  J.N.

6841627

14-19

T/Sgt

Heard  G.A.

6233212

14-19

T/Sgt

Oliver Jr  E.T.

6786911

14-19

T/Sgt

Provost  R.R.

6368589

14-19

T/Sgt

Stephans  R.W.

6254755

14-19

T/Sgt

Ulino  L.

6117425

93-19

T/Sgt

Wellwood  J.A.

6222635

93-19

S/Sgt

Baca Jr  M.C.

6555898

30-19

S/Sgt

Brumley  P.J.

6832460

S/Sgt

Clark  J.F.

6833655

14-19

S/Sgt

Claud  J.J.

6379966

30-19

S/Sgt

Kovacht  K.S.

6910363

14-19

S/Sgt

Lytle  F.W.

6553898

S/Sgt

Peel  R.R.

6265599

S/Sgt

Richardson  A.L.

6829694

14-19

S/Sgt

Schadl Jr  M.M.

6663791

30-19

S/Sgt

Secrest  F.D.

6647199

14-19

S/Sgt

Sowa  J.V.

6541524

Sgt

Ambrose  V.L.

19000145

Sgt

Broelz  C.W.

7581250

Sgt

Burke  C.A.

6581084

Sgt

Burke  G.J.

6986689

Sgt

Byers  J.A.

6291071

Sgt

Christainson E

6936238

Sgt

Coburn  L.L.

6904602

Sgt

Cookey  J.E.

6580214

Sgt

Douglas  J.W.

6530266

Sgt

Finagin  J.C.

6296792

Sgt

Gauche  R.P.

6914105

Sgt

Gilbreath  R.L.

19051315

Sgt

Hanna  J.W.

6550091

Sgt

Hargrove  E.L.

6580643

Sgt

Hartzell  J.H.

7021115

Sgt

Hess  G.W.

65701480

Sgt

Hewston  W.J.

6977615

Sgt

Hoffman  R.

19018908

Sgt

Huston  L.M.

6953543

Sgt

Jones  C.O.

6849776

Sgt

Karlinger  A.E.

6579249

Sgt

Katlarz  B.A.

6258427

Hq-19

Sgt

Kelm  M.F.

6560806

Sgt

Krager  L.

68768303

Sgt

Light  O.D.

6915682

Sgt

Logan  D.H.

6297790

Sgt

Long  L.J.

6914478

Sgt

Lorber  V.J.

6974283

Sgt

Marvel  C.A.

62558427

Hq-19

Sgt

Matson  R.E.

6657964

Sgt

McClellan  W.A.

6569908

Sgt

McGuire  V.H.

6583095

Sgt

Miron  R.A.

6581742

Sgt

Norgaard  A.E.

6571986

Sgt

Park  K.B.

6933344

Sgt

Payne  C.R.

6970444

Sgt

Pecher  J.B.

6047468

Sgt

Penney  J.S.

17023807

Sgt

Peterson  J.S.

16006840

Sgt

Quinzel  W.H.

6580780

Sgt

Randall  H.J.

6936729

Sgt

Roussel  W.C.

19050399

Sgt

Sanders  H.

12028299

Sgt

Schaffner  E.W.

7020720

Sgt

Snafer  E.D.

6935994

Sgt

Spaziano  V.

6145928

Sgt

Strocheker  B.F.

6274577

Sgt

Wise  L.D.

6560354

Sgt

Wright  M.E.

6569552

Cpl

Waggoner  F.F.

18059208

Pfc

Bishop Jr  F.H.

39008400

Pfc

Paul  J.C.

29046837

 

Combs Parsel Bohnaker  7BG-p54 KURTZ Norvel E Teats     Work Meenaugh H Seaman Chiles Norgaard

Baca Fesmire Miller Hoffman Capilletti Jones

Tarbutton Richardson 

 

Jan 14 1942  MJ14  Seven B-17s of the 19th Group took off at 1000 for mission at Palembang Sumatra. Two maintenance men per aircraft accompanied flight.

No 3061

No 3064

No 3072

No 3074

No 3067

No 3066

No 3078

Maj Combs

Lt Bonnaker

Lt Vandevanter

Capt Parsel

Maj Schaetzel

Lt Smith

Lt Teats

            Specifications of B-17 and LB-30 sent to (NEIAF) Bandoeng via F/O Moore RAF (Liaison on Dutch Gen Staff).

Java Operations Interrupted

Jan 15-19 1942  6 B-17E via Africa Arrive

Ar 01-15-42 Afr

Ar 01-15-42 Afr

Ar 01-15-42 Afr

Ar 01-15-42 Afr

Ar 01-15-42 Afr

Ar 01-19-42 Afr

B-17E  41-2460

B-17E  41-2471

B-17E  41-2456

B-17E   41-2454

B-17E  41-2468

1Lt Hillhouse  C.H.

Cap Key  F.M.

1Lt Strothers  D.R.

Maj Robinson  S.K.

1Lt Skiles  D.H.

1Lt Northcutt  R.E.

2Lt Ferguson  J.A.

2Lt Burkey  C.N.

2Lt Watson  W.JH.

2Lt Morgan  W.T.

2Lt Schmid  W.T.

2Lt Pfund  M.G.

A/C Penney  H.F.

M/Sgt Campbell  W.P.

2Lt Dawson  P.E.

2Lt Cease  R.W.

2Lt Simmons  G.L.

2Lt Drake  C.P.

2Lt Gooch  R.B.

A/C Weinberg  G.R.

2Lt McCartney  D.F.

2Lt Hickey  S.W.

A/C Heymans  A.A.

T/Sgt Prince  W.

S/Sgt Cunningham W

S/Sgt Daugherty  J.J.

M/Sgt Worley  J.E.

T/Sgt Carroll  P.

T/Sgt Reeves  C.T.

Sgt Dempseys

Sgt Durham  M.E.

M/Sgt McKenney  L.W.

T/Sgt Boone  R.A.

S/SgtLewis  F.T.

T/Sgt Britt  C.E.

Pfc Biehn

Pvt McMulllin  R.S

Sgt Warrenfeltz  W.

Sgt Schier  I.A.

S/Sgt McKenna  J.

Sgt Beardshear  O

Pvt Spencer

Cpl French  M.E.

Pvt Huffman  F.J.

Pfc Lewis  W.D.

Cpl Prull  W.M.

Pvt Shipley

Pfc Parker  W.H.

Sgt Kersch  C.J.

Skiles Northcut Pfund

Java Operations Continued

Jan 16 1942:  MJ16  3 LB-30s and 2  B-17s took off for mission at 1210 for Kendari

No AL-609

No AL-535

No AL-576

No 41-2461

No 41-2459

Maj Straubel

Lt Dougherty

Lt Basye

Maj Necrason

Lt DuFrane

C-39 Capt Blingsby arrived from Batavia 1230. Dept for Batavia with Col Eubank 1435. B-24A Lt Funk arrived from Surabaja -- Maintenance.

(7) B-17 of the 19th BG returned Malang at 1800. Bombed airport at Soengai Pattani at 0600 GMT Jan 15. One plane washed out landing gear on landing at Malang.

Jan 17 1942  B-24A Funk off for Surabaya at 0940.  C-39 Blingsby Col Eubank on board from Batavia at 0905.  Major Straubel returned Kendari at 1200. Lt Daugherty and Basye missing. Maj Necrason returned at 1550,  one man wounded. Lr Dufrane remained at Kendari, plane damaged by enemy action.

            MJ14r:  Seven B-17s departed Malang 0300 GMT 14 Jan and landed at Palembang on schedule. Weather fair with thunderstorms along route. Servicing started immediately upon landing. Three small 150 gal capacity servicing trucks were uses. As it was necessarily to service the trucks from drums a great delay was caused by waiting for the trucks to refill. Seven planes serviced approximately 800 gal each. This is too slow and can be done faster using drums, hand pumps and coolie labor. Much more delay was caused by lack of organization and competent personnel there in hauling bombs. Some preparation had been made for our loading 100 kg. bombs. but upon being informed 50 kg could be loaded with equal ease the 50 kg bombs were loaded in the ships. Proper fuses could not be found and much time was spent in search for them with no success. It was decided to unload the 50 kg and 100 kg bombs loaded instead. The 50 kg bombs were unloaded and another delay resulted waiting 100 kg bombs at 8:00 P.M. It was decided to send combat crews to town for food and rest. Extra men remained awaiting the arrival of the bombs. The bombs were spotted by these men, 14 under each ship, but they were incompetent to load and fuse them. So this was done in the morning by the combat crews causing a delay in the take off.

All planes took off at 0100 GMT for the target which was the airport at Sumgei Patani on the Malaya Peninsula, a distance of 600 nautical miles. It was not considered advisable to go direct as a portion of the direct route carried the flight over enemy territory. An approach from west was made instead and the route together with avoiding bad weather, covered the distance of 750 nautical miles, which is far beyond the airplanes radius of action. Lt Teats in No 3078 lost the flight in the bad weather, which was penetrated by the formation. He returned to Palembang with bombs. Lt Vandevanter with No 3072 had faulty supercharger regulator on one engine which made it impossible for him to remain with the flight. He returned to Palembang with bombs.

            Airplanes No 3061, 3064, 3062, 3067 and 3066 proceeded to target on easterly course and bombed it from 27,000 at air speed 160 Temp -20C. Vapor trails were left by all planes above 23,000. Windows frosted but frost removed by hand, making vision possible. No 3061 was able to drop only four bombs on 1st pass over target due to defective racks. All these bombs hit on the field. No 2 dropped ten bombs short and three on the field. No 3 dropped six short and eight on the field. A fire was started on edge of field -- probably fuel or planes in edge of woods. The second flight proceeded at 1 minute interval. the leaders bomb were mostly short but a few his among the hanger and buildings on the field. The first flight made a second pass over target and racks still failed. Ten bombs were dropped salvo and safe.

            Approximately twenty planes were sighted on the field. Three were sighted taking off. Seven enemy fighters were sighted climbing, but they could not close. AA was sighted on a level but far behind. All five planes landed at Thonga, a poor emergency field in North Sumatra, due to weather and fuel supply. The duration of the flight was 7 1/2 hours. No 3061 blew out a tail wheel upon landing. The tire was sufficiently repaired for take off. All planes departed Thonga at daylight Jan 16. No 3061 proceeded directly to Malang and landed on schedule. No 3064, 3062, 3067 and 3066 returned to Palembang for service. No 3078, 3072, 3064, 2062, 3067 and 3066 departed Palembang 700 GMT Jan 16 and arrived Malang on schedule. Due to moderate rain at Malang upon arrival No 3064 overshot the field and slid into ditch when brakes failed to hold on wet ground. Plane was damaged beyond repair locally. No injuries to personnel.

Jan 18 1942  MJ16r:  1.  On Jan 16 three liberator and two B-17Es departed Malang at 0440 GMT and landed at Kii at 0845 GMT. The airplanes were serviced with gasoline and bombs. The liberators were loaded with twelve 100 kg bombs each and the B-17s were loaded with ten 100 kg bombs each.

            2.  At 1915 GMT Jan 16 three liberators and two B-17s took off from Kendari II. The liberators bombed the airdrome at Langoan (20 miles south of Manado) from 19500 ft at 2236 GMT. Hits were made on the runway and parking areas. No airplanes were seen on the ground. No antiaircraft fire was noticed. From 2309 to 2315 the three liberators were subjected to fire from five zero fighters. One enemy pursuit was shot down at 0deg 30min S, 123deg 10min E. One of the liberators left the formation. Neither pilot indicated what might be wrong with his plane. The leader returned to Malang and landed at 0430 GM Jan 17. The two B-17Es attacked the transports in Manado Bay at 2230 GM Jan 17. Two large and two small transports were seen in Manado Bay and two others were tied up at the dock at Manado. One transport was see to capsize as a result of the bombing. Two bombing runs were made. Visibility was hampered by the sun on the first run. One plane had six hung bombs. Two of them were dropped on the runway of the airdrome. The other four remained in the airplane. About five minutes after the bombing run, enemy pursuit was seen climbing to attack. From 2240 till 2320 fifteen enemy fighters attacked the two B-17Es. Two Messerschmitts were noted. The others were zero fighters. Attacks were made from the rear and by diving under the plane and pulling up to deliver fire. One Messerschmitt was shot down by the bombardier in Major Necrason’s plane and four zero fighters were shot down by his gunners. Lt Dufrane’s gunners shot down one. Pvt Hegdahl, Major Necrason’s tail gunner, was hit in the knee by an explosive bullet. Both airplanes landed at Kendari for gas and medical aid. Lt Dufrane’s airplane had one engine shot out of commission and was generally shot up. Major Necranson’s ship had a few bullet holes in it. The ships landed at 0100 GMT Jan 17. At 0215 an air raid alarm sounded. Major Necrason took off immediately. He was attacked by the three zero fighters, but beat them off and landed beyond Malang at 0820 GMT Jan 17. Lt Dufrane remained on the ground and a message from him indicated that it was attacked on the ground and damaged beyond repair. Lts Dougherty and Basye were pilots of the liberators which left formation. A report of a local Japanese landing was made by the field commander on the night of January 16. the field at Kendari has been under surveillance by Japs since Jan 15.

            The following planes took part in the missions: Broadhurst was with Straubel

No AL-609

No AL-535

No AL-576

No 41-2461

No 41-2459

Maj Straubel

Lt Dougherty

Lt Basye

Maj Necrason

Lt DuFrane

            ACLJ18  AL-535, AL-576 & 41-2459

            At 1315 Lt Wade in LB-30 No AL-609 left for Kendari to pick Lt Dufrane’s crew.  Plane B-17E, No 41-2459, was attacked on the ground and destroyed.

            Lt Basye and crew of LB-30 No AL-576, were forced down at Makassar, Celebes. Two men injured. Plane damaged beyond repair.

Jan 19 1942  At 0730 Lt Wade with LB-30 No AL-609 returned from Kendari with Lt Dufrane and crew of B-17E No 41-2459. Two men of crew suffered minor arm injuries, treated at hospital.

            MJ19  At 0920 8 airplanes took off on mission to bomb Jolo. Landing to be made at Del Monte. At 1200 Maj Hobson in No 41-2406 and at 1350 Lt Hughes in No 41-2419 returned to Malang -- both due to engine trouble.

No 40-2062

No 40-2419

No 40-3066

No 40-3070

No 41-2406

No 42-2419

No 41-2472

No 41-2480

Lt Connally

Lt Tash

Lt Keiser

Lt Schaetzel

Maj Hobson

Lt Hughes

Capt Key

Lt Hillhouse

            T/Sgt Sager amd Sgt Wise sent to Makassar via PBY from Sourabaya to salvage parts from Lt Basye’s LB-30 No AL-576.

            Lt Hillhouse 41-2460 landed at Samarinda. proceed this morning to Malang landing at 1000.

            New 7th BG crews to Djogjakarta for change of station:

No AL-609

No AL-535

No AL-576

No 41-2461

No 41-2459

Maj Straubel

Lt Dougherty

Lt Basye

Maj Necrason

Lt DuFrane

Jan 20 1942  MJ19r: Schaetzel, Connally, Tash, Teats, Keiser, Key returned with the following from Del Monte

Capt

Cosgrove  C.B.

0-286196

Capt

McDonald  W.E.

0-20778

1st Lt

Kreps  K.R.

0-21493

1st Lt

Schmitt  Jr A.W.

0-21606

1st Lt

O’Bryan Jr C.L.

0-22936

1st Lt

Schwanbeck R.V.

0-21567

1st Lt

Crimmins Jr F.T.

0-22242

1st Lt

Ford W.R.

0-370271

1st Lt

Adams J.

0-22338

1st Lt

Ferrey  J.P.

0-352372

1st Lt

Young  S.R.

0-371948

1st Lt

Cox  R.L.

0-380226

1st Lt

Boes  G.H.

0-392741

1st Lt

McKenzie  M.A.

0-374167

1st Lt

Moseley  C.L.

0-377814

1st Lt

Graham Jr E.H.

0-393110

1st Lt

Reyes  A.V.

0-380564

2nd Lt

McAuliff  H.C.

0-409902

2nd Lt

Donahoe  J.C.

0-426200

2nd Lt

Smith  R.S.

0-416359

2nd Lt

Jacquet  E.M.

0-398503

2nd Lt

Ambrosus  W.H.

0-417923

2nd Lt

Hinton  P.M.

0-416303

 

 Jacquet Young McKensie-c Schwanbeck-c McAuliff Smith RS Hinton

 Jan 21 1942   More 7th BG crews to Jogjakarta for change of station:

Jan 22 1942  Lt Teats in B-17D No 40-3070 took off on reconnaissance mission at 0400; landed at 1220.

MJ22 At 0630 the following 9 airplanes took off for a mission at Palembang:

No 3067

No 2406

No 2419

No 2454

No 2456

No 2460

No 2468

No 2471

No 2472

Capt Parsel

Maj Hobson

Lt Hughes

Lt Skiles

Maj Robinson

Lt Hillhouse

Lt  Northcut

Lt  Strother

Capt Key

8 landed safely at Palembang. Lt Hughes in B-17E No 41-2419 overshot field, wreaked airplane, no one injured.

Jan 23 1942   The following airplane and crew took off for repairs at Laverton Depot Melbourne, Australia at 0800 this morning. B-17D No 40-3066  P  Lt Schaetzel, CP Lt Wade, N Lt Cottage, E S/Sgt Baca and Sgt Hargrove.

            MJ22r  At 1005 seven ships returned from Palembang. Lt Hughes’ airplane was left to be stripped of all usable parts. Lt Skiles airplane blew a cylinder and was left to be repaired.

            Lt Bohnaker - P, Lt Cox - CP, Lt Carrithere - N, S/Sgt Peel - E, Sgt Groelz - AE, Sgt Gilbreath - R and Sgt Shafer took off at 0607 on a reconnaissance flight, returned at 1230.  At 1330 Lt Beasdale and crew took off for Batavia on a special mission.

Java Operations Interrupted

Jan 21-28 1942  1 LB-30 via Pacific & 5 B-17E via Africa Arrive

Ar 01-21-42 Afr

Ar 01-21-42 Afr

Ar 01-21-42 Afr

Ar 012442 Pac

Ar 01-26-42 Afr

Ar 01-26-42 Afr

B-17E  41-2469

B-17E  41-2466

B-17E  41-2464

LB-30 No AL-570

B-17E No 41-2455

B-17E No 41-2476

1Lt Swanson  T.B.

1Lt Preston  J.S.J.

1Lt Bleasdale  J.D.

1Lt Tarter J.

1Lt Mathewson P.

Capt Sparks  W.W.

2Lt Longacre  E.

1Lt Knudson C.C.

1Lt Perry  R.L.

2Lt Patrick L.P.

2Lt Scarboro P.J.

2Lt Nyblade W.F.

2Lt Frumkin  G.J.

A/C Lawrence F.f.

A/C Gardner  L.E.

A/C Beebout V.L.

A/C Wood  R.M.

2Lt Laughlin J.T.

Cpl Reynolds  O.S.

2Lt Morgan E.M.

2Lt Nossum  E.J.

M/Sgt Snelley V.A.

2Lt Burleston R.

2Lt Bigger W.T.

Pfc Ferraguto  L.H.

Sgt Land G.L.

S/Sgt Thrasher  C.W.

Sgt Skelton J.F.

S/Sgt Wilson  G.P.

S/Sgt Drake G.J.

Pfc Sweeder  G.

Pfc Loser  J.E.

M/Sgt Funk  S.N.

Sgt Anholt D.H.

Sgt Gardner D.H.

Pfc Terrell L.N.

Pfc Forte Jr N.L.

Sgt DeSimone  L.

Pfc Henderson  J.M.

Pfc Olson C.R.

Pfc Clevenger E.L.

Cpl Harman C.R.

Cpl Adamczyk T.S.

Pvt Shreve  L.E.

Pvt Brown  W.E.

2Lt Miller R. V.

Pfc Elder, V.O.

Pfc Prichard  C.T.

Cpl Ruether Jr  D.

T/Sgt Potters  J.A.

S/Sgt Kennedy R

Swanson Longacre Farraguto Preston Bleasdale Tarter Sparks

Ar 91-26-42 Pac

Ar 91-26-42 Pac

Ar 01-28-42 Afr

Ar 01-28-42 Afr

LB-30 AL-508

LB-30 AL-521

B-17E  41-2478

B-17E  41-2427

1Lt Ezzard  R.P.

1Lt Kelsay C.B.

1Lt Sargent I.

1Lt Habberstad E.

2Lt Roddy  V.J.

2Lt Laubscher J

2Lt Kernan R.M.

2Lt Schmacher R.

A/C Rollings  R.

A/C Gross  H.A.

2Lt Budz E.R.

2Lt Alfred I.

2Lt Minahan J.C.

S/Sgt McTavish J.

2Lt Cravens S.C.

S/Sgt Garland M.

T/Sgt McCallinster

S/Sgt Prince W.H

S/Sgt Legault R.

Sgt Thomas C.H.

Sgt Walmer d.G.

Sgt Bunch J.B.

Pfc Barron I.

Cpl Phillips G.W.

Pvt Cothern B.A.

Pfc Beck L.W.

Pvt Salmon H.

Pfc Biehn C.M.

Pvt Chorn r.W.

Pvt Hines J.

Pfc Bilyeu H.D.

Pvt Kinsley W.

Ezzard Kelsay Habberstad Adamczck T

Java Operations Continued

Jan 24 1942  At 0327 Lt Keiser and crew took off in B-17D No 40-3072 for a reconnaissance flight.

            MJ24a  At 0615 six ships of the 7th Group with two ships of the 19th attached; took off on a bombing mission. Planes and pilots were as follows:

No 40-3067

No 30-3070

No 41-2456

No 41-2406

No 41-2472

No 42-2468

No 41-2460

No 41-2471

Lt Schwanbeck

Lt Cox

Maj Robinson

Maj Hobson

Capt Key

Lt Norhcut

Lt Hillhouse

Lt Strother

            MJ24b  0700 Lt Funk in B-24A 40-2376 took off and at 0715 Lt Wade took off in LB-30 AL-609 for Darwin to pick up personnel at Del Monte.

At 0800 Lt Teborek and Jacquet left for Surabaya by auto. They will go to Bandoeng by air from there for special duty.  At 1005 Lt Keiser returned from mission.

MJ24ar: From 1220 till 1335 the flight of eight B-17s which took off at 0615 landed Malang. Results - 1 transport sank, 1 hit and damaged (listing and burning), 5 EA shot down, no casualties, 3 airplanes slightly damaged by gunfire AA HT, heavy and Close.

            Maj Robinson spotted Lt Dougherty’s missing LB-30 on the beach of a small island at 5deg 34min S 114deg 20min E. Sighted people moving about the wreckage. Navy asked investigate.

Jan 25, 1942 B-24A No 40-2370, Capt Davis, our for Darwin at 0650. B-24A No 40-2369, Lt Light, our for Bandoeng at 0700.

            MJ25 At 0700 Eight B-17s of the 19th Group took off for a bombing mission at Balikpapan. Two of the eight ships were attached from the 7th Group. Ships and pilots as follows: 

No 40-3070

No 30-3072

No 40-3074

No 41-2406

No 41-2460

No 41-2468

No 42-2469

No 41-2472

Teats

Tash

Parsel

Hobson

Hillhouse

Northcutt

Crimmins

Bohnaker

            At 0930 the following crew took off airplane B-17D No 40-3079 from Malang. Destination - Leverton Depot via Darwin. P-Smith, CP-Friedman, N-Hayman, E-Brandes, R-Burke.

            B-18 No 36-434, with P 1Lt Box C, CP 1Lt Green E S, R S.Sgt Picket R W arrived 1305 from Surabaya.

            Navy PBY’s pick up Lt Dougherty and the crew of LB-30, No AL-535, except Lt Bifso.. They had been forced down at 5deg 34min S 114deg 25min E. Lt Gibson returned via a fishing boat. Four crew members were injured and left at Surabaya.  Lt Poncik, T/Sgt Sager, Sgt Wise, M/Sgt Flanagan, Pfc Graf, Sgt Oldfield and Pfc Chopping returned from Makassar via 2 Pbys. Sgt Oldford and Pfc Chopping were wounded in action and left in the Morokrembangan Hospital and C DLA Hospital respectively Surabaya.

            MJ25r: Three B-17Ds of the eight ship mission landed at Malang at 1435. One overshot and did slight damage to the airplane. Bohnaker landed at Surabaya. Hillhouse landed at Bandjermasin (plane badly shot up). Northcut landed in mud flat 15 mi N.E. of Bangkalan, wheels up. Hobson landed near Gangkalan, wheels up. Crimmins landed near Arosbaja -- OK. 

Lt Connally, Lt Vandervanter and Lt Preston returned at 1430. Weather caused them to abandon the mission.

Jan 26 1942  MJ26  At 0610  two B-17E of the 7th Group took off to attack warships and transports in the vicinity of Balikpapan.

No 41-2456

No 41-2471

Robinson

Strother

            Lt Bohnaker returned from Surabaya at 0620.

            At 1030 three B-17s of the 19th Group took off for Andir (Bandoeng) P-Capt McDonald, CP-Lt Smith, R-S/Sgt Prickett, X-Lt Box.

            Lts Dougherty and Gibson, Sgt Terry and Pvt Fraby arrived from Surabaya with the three B-17Es which came up early in the morning. Lt Norwood, A/C McGiverin, S/Sgt Kolbus and Cpl Conner were left in the Morokrembangan Hospital.

            MJ26r  Maj Robinson and Lt Strother landed at Surabaya at 1245 account of weather & returned to Malang at 1455.

Jan 27  1942  MJ27 At 0750 three B-17s of the 7th Group with three B-17s of the 19th Group attached took off to attack transports and warships at Balikpapan:

No 40-3074

No 41-2455

No 41-2456

No 41-2466

No 41-2471

No 41-2472

Lt Cox

Lt Mathewson

Maj Robinson

Lt Preston

Lt Strother

Lt Schwanbeck

            Lt Hillhouse returned from Bandjermasin at 0830. Plane fairly well shot up.

            At 0913 airplane B-17D No 40-3097 with P-Lt Keiser, CP-Vandervanter, N-Work, E-Hanna, R-Byer.took off for Darwin, destination, Laverton Depot.

            At 0927 B-17D No 40-3067 with P-Teats, CP-Green, N-McAllister, E-Schadl, R-Christenson took off for Darwin, destination Laverton Depot.

            Planes & crews AL-508 1Lt Ezzard, AL-521 Kelsy & 41-2476 Sparks took off for Jogja, their permanent Station. The following accompanied the above three planes to Jogja: Lt Poncik, Lt Dougherty, Lt Gibson, M/Sgt Flanagan, Pfc Graf, S/Sgt Kilbus, Sgt Terry and Pvt Fralay.

At 1100 Lt Bleasdale returned from special mission.

MJ24br  Lt Wade in LB-30, No Al-509, and Lt Funk in B-24A No 40-2376 arrived from Darwin at 1245 and 1300 respectively. Between them they evacuated the following officers and men from Del Monte, Mindanao, P.I.

1st Lt

Huse J.E.

0-21777

2nd Lt

Railing  W.M.

0-398588

M/Sgt

Crumley  T.J

6203446

M/Sgt

Doucet A.

6229636

M/Sgt

Fleming J.O.

6537402

M/Sgt

Henderson R.E.

6551252

M/Sgt

Holub A.

6541498

M/Sgt

Hunley C.L.

R-94744

M/Sgt

Lane R.C.

6526355

M/Sgt

Newman G.V.

6074224

M/Sgt

Nicholas r.R.

6230961

M/Sgt

Schumaker C.S.

6635129

M/Sgt

Small B.S.

R-326531

M/Sgt

Stewart A.E.

6225863

T/Sgt

Burleson L.F.

6882468

T/Sgt

Deterding F.M.

6858419

T/Sgt

Nelson O.W.

6353537

T/Sgt

Shook P.E.

6658245

S/Sgt

Baierl H.S.

6524288

S/Sgt

Brown R.D.

6911499

S/Sgt

Davis R.R.

6929991

S/Sgt

Dillon R.W.

6268737

S/Sgt

Faulkinburg J.F.

6555933

S/Sgt

Furnald R.

6556239

S/Sgt

Pack H.

6264846

S/Sgt

Rose E.J.

6241916

Sgt

Brewer W.E.

6297825

Sgt

Clark W.E.

6574184

Sgt

Lawson Jr G.W.

6914301

Sgt

Makela J.E.

6579404

Sgt

Marquardt D.J.

6914322

Sgt

McDonald J.H.

6297745

Sgt

Monaghan F.S.

6580288

Sgt

Murdock H.

6579298

Sgt

Taylor M.E.

6950938

Sgt

Whitehead

6557024

Cpl

Brown D.W.

6296430

Cpl

Elliott R.O.

6935516

Cpl

Elmer A.R.

6937691

Pfc

Tomerlin B.E.

6578477

Pvt

Whipp L.D.

19050622

Pvt

Wilfley J.J.

17015875

 

Murdock H Makles

            MJ27r  At 1250 Lt Preston returned from mission. Lost flight in instrument weather. At 1450 the flight returned to Malang. One transport sunk. Waterline hits on cruiser and another transport. Two out of four EA shot down. AA behind and erratic in height.

Jan 28, 1942  MJ28a (Kuantan via Balikpapan )  Between 0445 and 0530 3 B-17s of the 19th Group & 2 from the 7th Group took off for Palembang:

No 40-3074

No 41-2464

No 41-2466

No 41-2471

No 41-2472

Lt Bohnaker

Lt Bleasdale

Lt Preston

Lt Tash

Maj Combs

             Lt Funk in B-24A No 40-2376 took off for Bandoeng at 0815. Capt Key and Lt Graham went as passengers on permanent transfer.

Dispersal to Pasirian airport: Lt Schmitt took off at 110 in B-17D No 40-3072 and Lt Montgomery took off at 1155 in B-17D No 40-3078 to disperse the planes.

Lt Wade took off for Jogja at 1115 in LB-30 No AL-609. Lt Tarter in LB-30 No AL-570 in from Jogja at 1130. Capt Sparks in B-17E No 41-2476 at 1215. Lt Basye in LB-30 No AL-521 at 1250. Lt Jacquet in Dutch K-103 at 1115 arrived from Bandoeng via Semarang.

Maj Gen Brereton arrived at 1510 from Darwin in B-24A No 40-2373 piloted by Lt Hutchinson.

            MJ28b  Lt Basye & Lt Tarter took off on bombing mission to Kendari at 2345 & 2356.

AL-521

AL-570

Lt Bayse

Lt Tarter

Jan 29, 1942  MJ29 At 0723 three B-17s of the 7th Group with 2 B-17s of the 19th Group attached took off for a bombing mission at Balikpapan. ships and pilots:

No 41-2427

No 41-2454

No 41-2455

No 41-2476

No 41-2478

Lt Habberstat

Lt Skiles

Lt Mathewson

Maj Robinson

Lt Cox

MJ28ar  Jan 28 mission at Kuantan highly successful.

            MJ28br  Lt Basye and Lt Tarter return from Kendari mission, no bombs dropped account weather. Lt Basye and Lt Tarter and crew off for permanent station at Jogia.

At 0819 Lt Hutchinson in B-24A No 40-2373 took off for Bandoeng. Gen Breteton aboard. At 0940 MJ29r  The following ships returned from mission to Balikpapan at times indicated:

No 41-2427 Lt Habberstad 1055 (eng trouble), No 41-2454 Lt Skiles 1415, No 41-2455           Lt Mathewson  1425, No 41-2478 Lt Cox 1430.

            Maj Robinson in B-17E No 41-2476 did not return. His airplane was badly shot up when the formation was attacked by about 30 enemy fighters. The airplane was seen to crash in the sea from a steep dive at 3deg 26min S and 116deg 27min E. None of the crew was seen to jump by accompanying planes and no sign of the aircraft or crew was noted on the surface after the crash. Members of the crew were:

Maj

Robertson Stanley K.

0-17388

Capt

Sparks  Walter W.

0-371902

2nd Lt

Bigger William T.

0-431791

2nd Lt

Cease Richard W.

0-409912

2nd Lt

Laughlin Jack T.

0-413459

S/Sgt

Drake J. Gordon

6563404

Pfc

Harman Cecil R.

6931742

Cpl

Terrell Lloyd N.

13014663

Pfc

Prichard  Charles T.

20939024

            At 1325 Lt Young in B-17D No 40-3074 returned from Palembang; engine trouble.

Jan 30, 1942

            MJ30a Three B-17s of the 19th Group took off at 1000 for a bombing mission at Balikpapan.

From 1153 till 1217 the following ships arrived from Palembang:

No 41-2464

No 41-2466

No 41-2471

No 41-2472

Lt Bleasdale

Lt Preston

Lt Tash

Maj Combs

            MJ30ar Bombing mission on airport at Kuala Lumpur was doubtful.

            The following airplanes and pilots arrived from Jogja: LB-30 No AL-570 Lt Ezzard at 1330, LB-30 No AL-521 Lt Wade at 1350, B-17E No 41-2461 Lt Basye at 1345.

            At 1200 two ships of the morning bombing mission returned to Malang. The third ship lost an engine and was ordered to land at Jogja.

            MJ30b   Lt Wade took off at 2107 and Lt Ezzard took off at 2200. Their objective was to bomb enemy ships in the vicinity of Balikpapan.

Java Operations Interrupted

Jan 30 1942  3 LB-30 via Pacific & 6 B-17E via Africa Arrive

Ar 01-30-42 Pac

Ar 01-30-42 Afr

Ar 01-30-42 Afr

Ar 01-30-42 Afr

Ar 01-30-42 Afr

LB-30  AL-533

B-17E  41-2470

B-17E  41-2458

B-17E-No 41-2453

B-17E No 41-2483

1Lt Crowder M

1Lt Casper  K.D.

Cap Key A.E.

1Lt Rouse J.A.

2Lt Lindsey  P.M.

2Lt Nuetzel H.B.

1Lt Webb Jr C.H.

2Lt Hartwell J.R.

2Lt Fagan e.W.

2Lt Smith, F.E.

2Lt Cullen J.W.

2Lt Kriel E.R.

A/C Etter J.O.

2Lt Grant J.

A/C Schmella M.J.

2Lt Peoples J.T.

2Lt Holan d.H.

T/Sgt Androkovich

A/C Zatzke F.W

Pvt Kaloust A.H.

T/Sgt Hays R.C.

2Lt Perkins J.W.

T/Sgt Pippin d.G.

T/Sgt Oian E.

Pfc Weteski  J.C.

S/Sgt Jamison L.

T/Sgt Hayes H

S/Sgt Cramer D.

S/Sgt Locke K.D.

Pvt Chemerys Jr A.

Cpl Conner J.R.

Sgt Rice J.A.

Cpl Snader

Pfc Poulton W.C.

S/sgt Houchins J.E.

Pfc Reynolds G.

Cpl Gregg G.S.

Pvt Rice T.J.

1Lt Donnelly B.A.

Pvt Guest G.S.

Pfc Liimatainen A

Crowler Rouse

Java Operations Continued

Jan 31, 1942    MJ30br Lt Wade landed Jogja at 0640 and Lt Ezzard landed Malang at 0750. Results of mission doubtful.

Ezzard off for Jogja at 0815. B-18 no 36-434 off for Bandoeng at 0933.

 MJ31   Six B-17Es of 19th Group off on mission to Balikpapan at 1000. Four ships attached from 7th Group. Pilots and planes:

No 41-2427

No 41-2455

No 41-2461

No 41-2466

No 41-2471

No 41-2472

Lt Habberstat

Lt Schwanbeck

Lt Bleasdale

Lt Preston

Lt Stother

Lt Young

            At 1108 B-17E No 412478, Lt Reyes, Pilot, took off for Bandoeng for depot repair. Lt Hutchinson arrived from Bandoeng in B-24A No 40-2373 at 1300.

            MJ31r  The flight of six returned at 1655. Could not see target account weather. Attacked by enemy pursuit. Pvt Shipley wounded. T/Sgt J.A. Potters died of wounds. One pursuit shot down.

Missions Summary

Mission

Route – (Target)

Results

MJ3

Malang >8 Smarinda>8 (Davao)

Malang < Smarinda < 8

8 drop 4 400 lb bombs each. 1 destroyer sunk, 3 direct hits on battleship

MJ8

Malang >9 Kendari>9>5 (Davao)

Mallang < Kendari <4    <5

5 dropped bombs: One direct & one waterline hit set battleship on fire. Other bombs hit shore antiaircraft battery.

MJ11

Malang >7     >3 (Tarakan)

Malang <  4   <3

3 drop bombs, results unknown. 1 attack by 3 fighters, 2 shot down.

MJ14

Malang >7 Palembang>7 >5(Soengai Pattani)

Malang < Palembang <2

Malang < Thonga  < 5

5 bombed Soengai Pattani Malysia, mixed results

MJ16

Malang >5 Kendari > 5 Langoan

Malang < 2 Lost 2459, AL 576, AL 535

5 bombed Langoan Fld Celebes (S of Manado)

under heavy fighter attack

MJ19

Malang > 8 Jolo  > 6 Del Monte

Malang < 2  <6  with 28 passengers

Del Monte Mindanao rescue personnel

MJ22

Malang > 9 >8 Palembang > 8 >7  (Shipping)

Malang < 2  Lost 2419 landing  < 7

Results unknown

MJ24a

Malang > 8 Palembang (shipping)

Malang < 8  3 damaged 

1 ship sunk, others damaged 5 EA shot down

under heavy fighter attack

MJ24b

Malang > 2 Darwin > Del Monte

Malang < 2 Darwin < with 42 passengers

Picked up personnel from Del Monte  

MJ25

Malang > 8 Balikpapan

Malang < 3

Other Flds < 4  3 wheels up

Results unknown

Under heavy fighter attack

MJ26

Malang >2 Balikpapan > ? (shipping)

Surabaya < 2 weather

Unknown

MJ27

Malang >6 Balikpapan 6> >5 (shipping)

Malang < 1 engine < 5 

1 sunk others hit, 2 of 4 EA shot down

MJ28

Malang > 5   Kuantan Malasia

Malang < 5

Very successful

MJ28

Malang > 2 Kendari >2  (shipping)

Malang < 2 weather

Unknown

MJ29

Malang > 5 Balikpapan >4  (shipping)

Malang < 1 < 3 damaged < 1 2470 Lost

Unknown Under heavy attack

Robinson &  crew lost

MJ30a

Malang > 3 Kula Lumpur, Malaysia

Poor results

MJ30b

Malang > 2 Balikpapan  (Shipping)

Results doubtful

MJ31

Malang > 6 Balikpapan  (Shipping)

Malang < 6

Poor results due to weather Under attack

T/Sgt Potter killed

18 missions: 104 AC take off, 24 return,  80 bomb; 4 AC lost

10 crewmen killed

Java AC Jan 1942

10 AC from PI plus 42 AC from US = 52 to Java  down 14 to 38 Jan 31

AC

No

Arrive

Lost

Leverton

B-17E

41-2453

013142

022542

B-17E

41-2453

013142

022542

B-17C

40-2062

010142

020441

B-17E

41-2454

B-17E

41-2454

B-17D

40-3061

010142

011741

B-17E

41-2455

012642

022142

B-17E

41-2455

012642

022142

B-17D

40-3062

010142

022241

B-17E

41-2456

011942

020942

B-17E

41-2456

011942

020942

B-17D

40-3064

010142

011741

B-17E

41-2458

013042

022542

B-17E

41-2458

013042

022542

B-17D

40-3066

010142

022241

012342

B-17E

41-2459

011442

011842

B-17E

41-2459

011442

011842

B-17D

40-3067

010142

012742

B-17E

41-2460

011542

011842

B-17E

41-2460

011542

011842

B-17D

40-3070

010142

022241

B-17E

41-2461

011442

022442

B-17E

41-2461

011442

022442

B-17D

40-3072

010142

022241

B-17E

41-2462

021142

022442

B-17E

41-2462

021142

022442

B-17D

40-3074

010142

020341

B-17E

41-2464

012142

021442

B-17E

41-2464

012142

021442

B-17D

40-3078

010142

022241

B-17E

41-2468

011942

012642

B-17E

41-2468

011942

012642

B-17D

40-3079

010142

012542

B-17E

41-2469

012142

020442

B-17E

41-2469

012142

020442

B-17D

40-3097

010142

012742

B-17E

41-2471

011942

011842

B-17E

41-2471

011942

011842

B-17E

41-2406

011441

012642

B-17E

41-2472

011542

022542

B-17E

41-2472

011542

022542

B-17E

41-2417

021942

022542

B-17E

41-2476

012642

013042

B-17E

41-2476

012642

013042

B-17E

41-2419

011442

012342

B-17E

41-2478

012842

022142

B-17E

41-2478

012842

022142

B-17E

41-2427

012842

020342

B-17E

41-2481

021442

022142

B-17E

41-2481

021442

022142

B-17E

41-2449

020942

022542

B-17E

41-2483

013142

022942

B-17E

41-2483

013142

022942

B-17E

41-2452

021142

022542

B-17E

41-2484

020942

022142

B-17E

41-2484

020942

022142

 

JAVset1

Java Authors

The Java Experience by  Ed Teats  Pilot

as told to John M. McCullough for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published Dec 1942

This story was written during the war when readers wanted to hear of our striking back – actual results were often unknown.

            Christmas, 1941, just wasn’t Christmas to the little band of 19th Bombardment Group men huddled at a base upon the northern coast of Australia.  We thought about Christmas and home – but that’s all, and I think most of us deliberately tried not to think.  That day will be forever memorable to us for an item so negligible in a normal, peace-time existence as to pass unnoticed -- a bottle of beer.

            As soon as we returned from the mission against Lingayen and Davao we went to work immediately on the planes, servicing and overhauling them for our imminent transfer to Java. We worked all day Christmas and that evening the Aussies rounded up a few bottles of beer out of their allotment.

            We had “V. B.” – Victoria Bitter, a pretty good Australian beer, and some of Foster's export ale. It was so hot we had to drink fast in order to keep it from foaming on the ground, but no nectar of the gods ever tasted sweeter to us. It was the first taste of beer that we'd had since the war broke.

            One of the welcome luxuries of the camp was a water tank tower rigged as a shower, but we had to do all our showering before 10 A.M., or after nightfall, when the tank had cooled off. Between 10 A. M. and sunset the water was so damned hot you couldn't stand it.

            In our plans for what we hoped was only the temporary evacuation of the Philippines, there were two prime necessities: overhaul of our equipment and some relaxation which would break the terrific strain under which we had been working.

            Actually, neither purpose was realized.

            The Japs were playing around up in the Philippines, streaming down the Malayan peninsula and swarming like ants in their occupation of British North Borneo.

            Java was the key to the defense of The Netherlands East Indies. When Singapore fell, the outlook for Java became black, and the Dutch knew it as foreboding as we did. But the fall of Singapore was six weeks away when, on Dec. 30, six or seven of our planes took off from Australia; hopped- 1300 miles and swooped down on the Dutch air field at Malang, 20 mile through the pass south of Surabaya.

            Schaetzel, Keiser and I flew three planes up on the 31st. Each plane carried a combat crew of 8, three maintenance men and a few extra officer personnel. That was our entire force – ten planes.

            The Dutch practically turned over the town to us. On New Year's day they threw a dinner which. considering the kind of fare we had been subsisting on, was almost as threatening to the welfare of the United States Army Air Forces in the Far East as were the operations of the enemy. It was one of those typical Dutch dinners with about 16 courses, each one a meal in itself.

            Before starting in on the missions which we flew out of Java – and those in which I engaged were only a fraction of the total – I want to say something about the Dutch.

            Those of us who fought through that awful period from Dec. 6 until the evacuation of Java in late February brought back with us almost to the man two incentives.

            The first is MacArthur's pledge that he'd going back to the Philippines. The other is to avenge the pillage of the Dutch East Indies. Between us and the Dutch there is almost a blood kinship. It Isn't an easy feeling to explain. Part of it is their sheer guts; they're the bravest people I have ever known. Part of it is the way they went into battle with the equipment they had.

            There were no odds too great for a Dutchman. He was out numbered, he had his back to the wall, his equipment was insufficient in quantity, and much of it was either obsolete or obsolescent, but he would take them all on in one swoop. It isn't a suicide trait; there is just nothing in the world that they are afraid of. They were fighting against terrific odds. They knew it, and they faced it with their eyed open- They were fighting for their homeland and they, fought until there was nothing left with which they could fight.

            There are several stories I would like to tell, but the Japs hold Java and what they don't know, can't help them.

            The Dutch pilots were very well trained, but their equipment for the most part was second rate. The back bone of their bombardment force were B-10s, an export version of our old and long discarded Martin B-10s and B-12s. Their fighters were principally Brewster Buffaloes, of a relatively new type, but they also had a few trainers which corresponded to our Air Forces' PT-13, but heavier and with a larger engine.

            They were maneuverable but slow, and they wouldn't compare favorably with our P-12 pursuit, the last biplane the United States Army used, which was hot stuff 10 years ago. It carried two or three .30 caliber guns mounted forward, and two .30s mounted in the rear gunner's position. The Dutch themselves regarded them only as advanced trainers, but we would not consider them even good training ships, past the primary, or basic at most.

            Never the less, Dutch pilots took those armed trainers on patrol in areas where they knew there were Zeros, against which only the most skillful pilot could have a chance. His only hope, if caught, was to evade the Nip's first burst, then pull up and shoot him down from behind.

            There are dozens of stories of their courage that I might tell, to add to the hundreds already told. There is the story of the raid on Tarakan, as an example.

            The Japs hit over from Saigon in Indo-China at British North Borneo and progressively occupied the west coast. Then in January another big Jap convoy moved down through Macassar, its first objective being Tarakan, the big Dutch oil port on northeastern Borneo. There was only a small garrison force there. The Japs tossed a carrier in and blasted the everlasting Hell out of the garrison and the natives. The garrison defended its completely untenable positions as long as it could, then blew up the oil installations and faded back into the hills.

            I was told by a Dutch air Officer that part of the training of an officer in the Dutch East Indies is a three week period in which he must maintain himself in the jungle. He is sent in with his light weapons, his uniform and a little bit of rice, dried fruit and snit. For three weeks he must live off and in the jungle.

            The moment the Japanese approached the northern end of Borneo, through Celebes Sea, the Dutch hit them as often and as hard as they could, until their air force – the Dutch – disappeared. During the landing at Tarakan, some of the finest pilots in the N.E.I. air force were assigned to take a formation of B-10s in on a mission against the Jap invasion force. With a crew of two, carrying 1000 pound bombs, they went in low, hedge-hopping over the water – the only chance they had to avoid anti-aircraft and fighter interception. Actually, of course, they had no chance at all. Not one of the B-10; came back. So far as we could learn, every one was lost. Some went down in flames but the raid caused tremendous damage.

            We heard that each pilot got a ship a Nip ship loaded to the guards with troops, ammunition and supplies.

            There is another incident, of which I was not an eye-witness, but which is wholly authentic.

            Just prior to the fall or Singapore a few old, shot-up wrecks of Hurricanes were evacuated by the British to Batavia, capital of Sumatra. The Hurricanes were just about worn out – full of holes and badly in need of repair, worthless as combat ships. On the airfield at the time also were three Dutch Brewster Buffaloes.

            The Japs, scenting the fall of Singapore and the collapse of the defensive keystone of the whole Ease Indies, were bombing and strafing every airfield which could supply or afford cover for the slightest air support of the big British base at the tip of Malaya. Three Zeros came roaring in at tree-top level over the field, spraying machine-gun bullets like rain. Two of the Brewster's were destroyed on the ground. Their fuel tanks were punctured and burst into names.

            One lone Dutch pilot sprinted across the field, heedless of the strafers, climbed into the remaining Brewster, took off on a cold motor with his throttle wide open and shot down two of the Zeros in flames before the third got him. His plane caught fire, but he bailed out and landed safely, cursing his luck in good, resounding Dutch phrases at not getting all three of them. There was a reason.  Just before taking off, he had stood by helplessly as a Jap bomber destroyed a hangar in which his wife and two children, among others, were killed.

I think that the majority of our fellows, if and when they get back into combat, would prefer the Southwest Pacific theater. We know it as each knows his own backyard. We know every nook and cranny from Singapore to the Solomons. But, inside from familiarity, we would like to run a few missions for the Dutch when they're on the delivering instead of the receiving end.

            On Jan. 2, we started on a long mission, intending to use Samarinda on the east coast of Borneo, north of Balikpapan, as our base for a mission against Davao. We pushed through about two-thirds at the way, and then the weather became so bad we had to turn back.

            We tried it again on the 3d. It was stinking weather, but we made it in a little less than four hours. Samarinda is about 50 miles inland from Macassar Strait and 120 miles north of Balikpapan. It was just a field and we had to load Dutch bombs. The natives who helped service the planes were so slow they almost drove us frantic, and the food was uneatable. We had some bread, but none of us could go the stew. It was... well, let it go as uneatable.

            There was a good bit of trouble getting the fuses of the Dutch bombs lined up right, but the next day – Jan  4 – we hit Davao.

            It was Lingayen all over again. There was all kinds of stuff up there. A convoy of six cargo vessels was heading up the gulf toward the city of Davao, and there were plenty around the piers, but on the way in we spotted a little cove on the west shore of the gulf – Malalag Bay.

            It seemed to me that half the Jap navy was tied up there. There was a big battleship, heavy and light cruisers and destroyers, and the whole works were tied up, deck to deck. If – that word again! – ours had been a formation of 18 to 30 planes, loaded with heavy bombs, right there we could have made a tremendous difference in the trend of the entire Southwest Pacific war. Such a force could have wiped out the whole fleet in half an hour. The fact was our force was the whole flyable force. Every plane not undergoing overhaul was in the formation – all eight of them!

            The bombs of the first flight hit the cruisers and destroyers. Elmer Parcell was leading the second flight. his first bomb hit smack in the superstructure of the battleship. The first bombs of the other wingman hit around the forward turret and my bombardier planted his first on right at the water line, the others falling across the destroyers near by.

            Subsequent observations indicated that the battleship either sank or was beached in shallow water. Later attempts were seen being made to tow it out.

            One destroyer was blown practically out of the water and the entire forward end of another was lifted clear of the water and spun around, the way a child spins a toy boat in a bath-tub.

            At the time, we had learned largely to discount the effectiveness of Jap antiaircraft above 18,000 feet or 20,000 feet. With such small formation and without fighter escort, we had to maintain high altitude anyway, as our defensive fire with those planes wasn’t strong enough, especially to the rear. We had to get in, hit, and get out.

            We had an axiom: “Hit ‘em high, hit ‘em fast, hit ‘em once!” – and we did. We went in fast, made one good bombing run and didn’t stay around too long to find out what happened. In that way, we saved our equipment. We couldn’t afford to lose it. It was all we had. We sent out many a formation of three planes on missions where one of 18 would have been tactically proper. It was by no means uncommon to have individual planes flying in against these objectives – and coming out again, after laying a few eggs in or near some Jap “bird nest”.

            Our first heavy bomber reinforcements began arriving in Sumatra on Jan. 9, after flying considerably more than half way around the world.

            It was the 7th group, which originally had been scheduled to fly out to the Philippines, but which had to reverse its field and fly across the Atlantic, Africa, India and down Malaya to Java when things fell, apart in the Far East and the Southwest Pacific.  Its leader, Major Stanley K. Robinson, was killed 20 days later in a terrific battle off Balikpapen, Borneo.

            On the 6th we made a five-hour flight from Malang, our base in eastern Java, up to Palembang, Sumatra, where all of the Dutch high-test aviation gas was made. They were making it faster than they could find tankers to haul it away.  There was a low overcast blanketing the field on the morning of the 9th. We had gassed up, loaded our bombs and were getting ready to take off on a nine-hour mission to bomb an airfield 300 miles north of Singapore, which the British had lost in their withdrawal.

            Our motors were idling, waiting for the take-off, when we heard the heavy growl of motors out of sight above the overcast. We knew that the B-17Es were on the way and were due to arrive. When we saw the first one searching for the field, flying just above low, fog-like scud clouds, every man there – and that included Dutch, I suspect – was almost choked with excitement.

            The excitement was reflected in the dash with which a Dutch pilot took off to lead the plane in. He hopped into his pursuit, gunned the motor, took off and his wheels barely cleared the ground before he shot almost vertically up through the overcast in a sharp climbing turn. A few minutes later he darted back through the overcast, with a big B-17E right on his tail.... and then another we hadn’t seen.

            Our bunch had no time to inspect them, for we left immediately on the mission up north.

            We were unable to get back to Palembang on the gas we had after completing the mission, so we put in at L’Honga, a Dutch auxiliary field on the extreme northwestern tip of Sumatra. They called it an auxiliary field. To us Fortress pilots it was a complement to name it an emergency field... but they did have gas.

            That night afforded another instance of the manner in which we had to improvise in order to continue flying operations. Major Cecil Combs, leader of the flight, discovered on landing that he had a flat tail wheel. Naturally, we had no spares any closer than Malang, more than 1500 miles away to the east. If he had been unable to find a substitute, he would have taken off anyway, flat tail wheel and all, but it's the sort of thing you prefer not to do. There is always the chance of losing control at the take-off.

            Combs prowled around the field and appropriated a heavy duty inner tube from a Dutch- truck. His crew managed to wrestle the plane's tail over a barrel. Then they wrapped the inner tube over the tail wheel hub twice, cut a hole in the tire sidewall for the valve, inflated it up to 35 pounds, and left it overnight. The next day the tube was still inflated and Combs took, off without incident..

            We were no sooner back at Malang than we reloaded and, on the 11th, took off on a mission to bomb Jap shipping off Balikpapan. There were three or four of us, and we scored a number of near misses, but the weather was so bad that it was almost impossible to make accurate observation.

            The whole area, lying close to the equator, is swept by a series of low pressure areas, which are known as "equatorial fronts." They are accompanied by torrential rain, thunder storms, clouds and fog which sometimes extends from the water level up to 25,000 or 30,000 feet. If a pilot tries to get on top of it, he picks up engine, carburetor and wing ice, his windows ice up and he's in a mess.

            Long operation in the substratosphere requires the use of oxygen, and after four or five hours of using an oxygen mask your mouth tastes as though the Ethiopian Army had been marching through it with muddy feet. 

            The two "E"s flew on from Palembang and later, when more planes arrived, headquarters of the 7th group was set up at Madium, only a few miles west of our base at Malang.

            These missions were being flown constantly. No one man could keep track of them all, and I suppose that the only place where all of the details are preserved is in the 19th Group Journal. We began it in the Philippines, and after we got out to Java, four of us sat down and tried to bring it up to date.

            By this time, too, we were pretty well whipped down physically. Nothing mattered but your own job. So-and-so went on a mission and bombed such-and-such. Somebody else “lost” and engine and was lucky to get back. You nodded and kept plugging.

            On the 14th, we flew up to Kendari, on the southwest coast of Celebes, but again the weather separated the formation and I had to bring back my bombs.

            On the 19th we took off in absolutely stinking weather on a mission to bomb Jolo in Sulu Archipelago, a string of islands extending southwestward from Mindanao to the northeastern coast of Borneo.

            They radioed us every hour from Del Monte, the Mindanao base where we expected to land after completing the flight, ordering us to turn back – a fact we learned upon our arrival there! The weather was “zero-zero” from the water to 20,000 feet. When we found that it would be impossible to bomb Jolo, where, we understood, the Japs were assembling planes for a push against Celebes and Borneo, we decided to take a course which would bring us to Del Monte direct. Our alternate plan was to bomb Davao, get into Del Monte, pick up all the flying personnel we could.

            The formation, led by Jim Connally, who was awarded the D.F.C. for it, was at medium altitude, plugging through the stuff on instruments, when we emerged suddenly into a kind of trough in the weather -- a channel in the clouds about 16 miles wide.

            My bombardier, Sgt Payne, suddenly called up through the inter-phone: "There's a big one right under us with a destroyer escort!"

            I called Connally, but my receiver was on the blink and I didn't know whether he heard me or not. Then I saw his bomb-bay doors open, he turned and, the rest of the formation following, we came back over the target course. The ack-ack guns on the destroyer were tossing a lot of stuff at us.

            The boat was a big, 15,000 ton tanker, loaded to the water line. The bombs of the first three planes hit the stern. Schaetzel and I (Kaiser failed to drop his bombs as his bomb-bay door motor burned out at the critical moment) hit the same spot. As we turned away for Del Monte, the tanker was burning and smoking, turning in a circular starboard coarse as though steering mechanism was jammed, and was sinking by the stern.

            We couldn’t stay around too long, as we had used all our reserve fuel trying to get through to Jolo. There was no alternative but to make for one of the fields on Mindanao or Cebu, in spite of weather or visibility.

            A few minutes later we saw weather that looked worse than anything we had encountered. Big, black thunderheads reached to a tremendous altitude – too high for us to get over. Connally decided to chance it – to “make a penetration,” as pilots call it – and we bored right in. The flight of six planes became separated after flying through some vile stuff.

            We plowed through on instruments, getting a shore-line position check through a break in the clouds before penetrating some more bad weather over the mountains of Mindanao. Only 45 minutes before we reached Del Monte the field there was fogged in completely, but suddenly – they told us on arrival – the whole valley opened up to 8000 feet, we got in without difficulty.

            Connally’s citation for the flight reads:”.... Over the entire route the weather was bad, with very heavy rains, low visibility and severe equatorial thunderstorms. Had it not been for Connally’s determination to complete the mission and his skill in keeping the flight together, the flight would have had to be abandoned. In the vicinity of the target an enemy tanker of 15,000 tons was intercepted. In the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire from its convoy vessel, it was attacked at low altitude and destroyed, after which Lt Connally led his flight into a base after dark. From the base, the flight evacuated 23 pilots who were sorely needed....”

            On the 20th Schaetzel, unable to carry our a bombing mission due to engine trouble, took on a full load of personnel and left individually for Malang direct. The rest of us gassed and serviced our ships, loaded bombs, and took off in time to hit Jolo at daylight, but we couldn’t get in.

            The stuff closed in from water up to high altitude. We couldn’t get on top of it because we didn’t have oxygen for the personnel we were evacuating. We tried to get through to Jolo, but we picked up too much carburetor ice that we finally gave it up as a bad job and headed for Malang. That stuff was solid right down to the swells, all around the area west of Mindanao and north of Borneo.

            These operations will give the ordinary layman some idea why observation of the results of a bombing mission often can be expressed only in the most general and tentative language. It will explain why so often reports of combat missions contain such phrases as “possible” or “probable” hits. Unless subsequent reconnaissance can check back on the initial combat reports (it so happens that this was done in the case of the tanker which we bombed off Jolo), there can be no certainty.

            In late January the Japs were on the move into Macassar. The Dutch were throwing their air force at them, day after day, in a heroic effort to smash the invasion convoys before beachheads could be established. Every plane we could put in the air was practically on a shuttle-line through the straights, running either reconnaissance or bombing missions.

            The weather was terrible. On Jan 22 we took off at 3 o’clock in the morning from Malang and flew Macassar straight -- up the west side of Celebes, and down the east side of Borneo -- looking for a convoy that was reported coming in.

            The weather became so bad, with blinding rain and low clouds, that we had to fly mostly on instruments at an altitude of only 100 feet above the water. We searched the coast-line from the city of Macassar north toward Menado, and then South along the Borneo coast with out spotting the Nips. On the return flight we were about 150 miles north of Balikpapan when we made out, which we believed to be traces of smoke in the low hanging clouds and farther south an odd-shaped cloud, jet black and flattened out on the horizon at low altitude. We didn’t believe it to be cloud, and when we got into it we knew what it was -- It was oil smoke.

            The Dutch had dynamited the refineries at Balikpapan.

            On our way we calculated the wind drift and the compass direction and estimated the time when the oil must have been touched off.  We learned that our estimate was off only 45 minutes, the refineries having been dynamited the previous day and night.

            We checked into Balikpapan on the way down for enemy ships, and the place was just a huge oil smudge. Under the monster cloud, huge flames were roaring, lapping up the oil which the Dutch were determined should not be turned against them.

            The bad dream of the Philippines was being re-enacted at the nightmare of the Dutch East Indies.

            The 19th Group was trying, to meet and hit over whelming forces with worn-out equipment.

            Our engines had over 500 hours on them. Most of them had over 200 hours of combat flying, and some more than 300 hours, since the outbreak of war, and none had had any major overhaul. They had gotten to the point where their power out put was so low it was suicidal to use them in combat missions. They were all right for low-altitude ferrying and transport, but nothing more.

            There was barely a mission flown in which every plane assigned to it reached the target. Some were shot down, but usually they had to turn back.

            It's getting ahead of the story, but a mission which we flew on Feb. 27 is typical. Our mission was to search for the big Jap convoy fleet which was coming down on Java, and which was reported about 100 miles north. We were under orders to go up, find them and bomb them.

            Four of us took off -- Captain Dean Hoevet, who came out of Manila on a submarine, and who was killed in an accident in Australia last September; Captain Phil Mathewson; Captain Red Key who, with his brother, Al, established a non-stop refueling record with an old Curtiss Robin down south some years ago, and myself.

            Only one ship got over the target. The other three had to turn back because of engine trouble. Mathewson found some ships and bombed them, but couldn't observe the results. A lone ship couldn't fool around with the stuff they had up there. Once again, it was “hit 'em high, hit 'em fast, hit 'em once" -- and then scram as though the Devil were after you. Actually, he went in low, but was forced to take cover in nearby clouds immediately after releasing his bombs.

            The condition of the field at Malang didn't help any, either. It had a 4000-foot turf runway which was fine when we first got in, but about the middle of January the heavy rains came. There was a dip in the middle of it and by the end of January that section was a sea of mud and water. We had to close off half of it, along one side,- while native workers filled the mud hole with rock, leaving just about room enough to take off.

            Our big Fortresses cut grooves in the rest of the field a foot deep. Taxiing a B-17 with a full load of gas and bombs was exactly like maneuvering a boat. If the pilot so much as thought of touching the brakes, the wheels would slide and sod would start to pile up in front of them, but at the same time it was necessary to taxi at good speed in order to prevent bogging down.

            A good example of what happened almost every day was the day Elliott Vandevanter came in to land. The field was at its bottomless worst.. He braked gently and away he went. The plane seemed to pick up speed, which was often the case. He was fairly heavily loaded but the mud didn't slow him down much. Near the end of the field, just before he reached the intersection of the two run ways, he tried to ground-loop his plane. Spraying mud in every direction, the plane slewed around in a complete half circle and was sliding backwards.

            Using full power on all four engines; he managed to halt the skid barely more than inches short of some barricades along a railroad at the edge of the field, without damage to any plane.

            The whole episode consumed only seconds, but you could almost hear the roar as we let go the long breath we had been holding. It seemed like hours.

            Take-off from the field was always an exciting experience. We would take off with just as much speed as could be developed before we hit the low spot In the middle, roar through the mud, and hope to pick up enough of our lost speed on the other side to get off the ground -- a pastime very conducive to turning the hair gray. A lot of us probably prayed more fervently during take-offs than ever in our lives -- and sometimes that's just about the only reason our planes got off the ground.

            We were losing pilots in combat, too. One pilot had a ship out on a test run and did not have radio contact with the field. He returned just as the Japs came over for a strafing raid and they jumped him. He was hit, but we never could determine whether he crashed into the mountains in the clouds or went down in flames. In any event, his plane crashed, burned, and all of the crew were lost.

            Two of my classmates were lost on their first mission. Major Robinson had flown four missions in about a week, which is plenty of combat hours. He was due for a lay-off, but insisted on leading a flight on January 29 up toward Balikpapan, because three of the crews which were booked for the formation were going into combat for the first time. Lt Walter Sparks was his co-pilot. Robbie's citation for the D.S.C. which he received posthumously only two days after he was awarded the D.F.C. for an earlier mission, reads:

            "On January 29, Major Robinson, who had been directed by his immediate superior that he should not fly any more missions for a few days, having completed four well-led and well-executed attacks averaging over 10 hours each in the past nine days, beseeched and obtained permission to fly on the particularly hazardous mission scheduled for that date. He insisted because of the fact that in the formation to be led were three crews who had just arrived from the United States, and were entering combat for the first time. Major Robinson successfully led his formation to the target, but upon withdrawal, was attacked by strong pursuit opposition, Which resulted in his crashing into the sea due to damage inflicted by the enemy "

            The formation was jumped and pretty well worked over. The fellows who flew the mission with them told that Robbie's plane was gradually losing altitude. When it was down to about 2000 feet, it began to wobble as though the pilot was fighting the controls. Then it peeled off to the left and nosed into the strait. Later, Radio Tokyo reported picking up a Fortress crew in that vicinity, but whether it was that particular crew we never heard.

            Then we lost Pritchard on his first or second mission. The formation was going out at high altitude and had passed north of Surabaya on its way to bomb Balikpapan when it ran head on into 15 or 20 Zeros.

            It was sheer accident. The Zeros probably were coming in to strafe Surabaya and Malang. Our formation was carrying bomb bay tanks, due to the length of the mission. The Zeros dove in with all their guns going. One of our B-17s exploded in the air. Others in the formation reported that there was one blinding flash, and a puff of smoke. Another plane went down in flames.

            Four of our ships were lost on the ground at Malang in a single strafing attack. It was about 4.30 in the afternoon, and those of us not on alert had gone up the field about a mile from the hangars to the Dutch officers quarters, where we were living. Half an hour later we saw some planes coming up the valley from the south at about 5000 feet. There were nine of them, flying above light scud clouds and from a distance they somewhat resembled Douglas A-24 dive-bombers. I they looked to be just a little shorter in the nose and the wing was not quite the same shape, so one or the fellows rung up the field control officer.

            “They are American planes of an unidentified type,” the Dutch officer assured him.

            That was the first time our air raid warning system failed us. On every other occasion they didn’t sound the alert at Malang until enemy planes were sighted at Surabaya, 40 miles to the north on the other side of the mountains, or when spotters sighted them to the south, over the coast. The entire coast was patrolled by observers but most of the time there were clouds in close and it was possible for planes to use cloud cover until they were only 10 minutes distant from our field. Evidently the watchers on the coast had reported them to be American planes of an unidentified type.

            We weren’t certain our selves. New types of aircraft had been reported on the way to Java as reinforcements and we weren't too familiar with their characteristics.

            As we watched them swoop up the valley, one of the fellows muttered uneasily: "Operations could be wrong."

            “Maybe they're Navy planes," someone else volunteered.

            We were not in doubt long. While six of the planes stayed up-stairs as cover, the other three turned, swooped and went right down the hangars line, strafing with all guns.

            Four of our B-17s were on the field. Due to limited hangar space and dispersal bays, flyable planes were kept on the field with their crews standing by on alert. The hangars and dispersal bays were reserved for planes under repair. When an alert warning or an impending raid was sounded, the alert crews took the flyable planes off to avoid being ground strafed.

            The crews of the four Fortresses were sitting under their wings of their planes killing time. There was always a lot of noise about the field, with the Dutch planes taking off and engines being run up by mechanics therefore as the siren hadn’t sounded they knew nothing of the attack until the strafing started. Three or four of the fellows were seriously wounded although none of them died.

            One of them -- Keisers co-pilot -- caught an explosive bullet on the shin. Keiser and several others were in a split trench at the corner of the hangar, saw him fall and heedless of the certainty that the strafers would circle for a second run, dashed across the field, picked him up and carried him to a fox-hole.

            He was hospitalized at Malang. When we flew our the personnel other than that absolutely necessary for combat operations, he was set to go out to Australia on a sling stretcher which had been rigged up in one of the bomb bays. His leg wasn’t getting along too well. It had been pretty badly torn up, was draining profusely, and at the stage where the dressing had to be changed every hour. He was told that if he made the trip he probably wouldn’t be able to receive medical attention for at least 18 hours and that in that time infection might set in which would compel amputation. If he remained in Malang, the leg probably could be saved. Left the decision whether to go our and risk losing his leg, or stay in Java and save it. He elected to stay.

After the zeros passed the hangar line on their first run, they turned over the town and strafed the main street, evidently the Dutch headquarters was their objective. When they circled for their second pass over us at 75 feet, and we could clearly see the pilots in their cockpits and the big blossom of the Rising Sun on the fuselages. They were the first Zeros which we had seen which were camouflaged the same color as our own underside.

            Two of our B-17s burned up completely, the third partially, and the fourth was so badly riddled that it could not be used on a mission until extensive repairs had been made.

            When the shooting stopped, we ran out on the porch and looked down toward the hangar line. My first glimpse was one of those three of the ships were burning and the angle of our view was such that the smoke columns formed a perfect inverted "V."

            That was a rough day for the 19th Group. Each of those ships would have taken off on a mission the following day.   (Teats continued).

The Java Experience by C. Marvel Ground Crew

12-30-41: Malang, Java  All of the planes and crews took off for Java Dutch East Indies today at 8:30. Passed by Timor & Bali. Landed at Singosari at 13:30. 5 hours. We found a wonderful setup, good hangers, good barracks, good refueling facilities, sorry food. It was a very good place but the sod runways were a handicap as it rained a lot and with the short length of the runway we had some unusual accidents.

12-31-41: Malang, Java  1st wedding anniversary and am 10,00 miles from my wife. Light and I went to Malang for the evening.

 

Street Shops, Malang, Dutch East Indies                    Local Laundry, Malang, Java

 

     Sgt Erfuth, our Medic, at Malang           Street scene Malang.

01-02-42: Malang, Java   Up at midnight to service all planes. We took off at 8:00 but were forced back by bad weather 11:30. 3 1/3 hours.

01-03-42: _____ Borneo  Took off at 9:30 and made it to a field nearly in middle of Borneo. Loaded and serviced all the planes.

01-04-42: _____ Borneo  Planes took off early this morning (1:00) and came back this afternoon after their most successful raid on Davao.

01-05-42: Malang, Java  Flew back to Java today. 3 1/2 hours.

01-08-42: Kendari, Celebes  Flew to Kendari, Celebes this morning & ran into the hottest weather I’ve encountered as yet. 3 hours.

01-09-42: Kendari, Celebes

            The planes went out this morning and came back in the afternoon after a none too successful raid.

01-10-42: Malang, Java

            Flew back to Java. 3 hours

01-12-42: Malang, Java

            Some good old USA Field Artillery arrived today. (3) B-24 bombers came in.

01-13-42: Malang, Java

            One of the B-24s crashed today.

01-14-42: Palembang Sumatra

            Flew to Palembang Sumatra today. 8:00 to 10:30. They put us up at the BPM Club (Shell). The Dutch really treated us swell here. 2 1/2 hours

01-03-42: Samarinda Borneo: Took off at 9:30 and made it to a field nearly in middle of Borneo. Loaded and serviced all the planes.

01-04-42: Samarinda Borneo:  Planes took off early this morning (1:00) and came back this afternoon after their most successful raid on Davao.

01-05-42: Malang, Java:  Flew back to Java today. 3 1/2 hours.

01-08-42: Kendari, Celebes:  Flew to Kendari, Celebes this morning & ran into the hottest weather I’ve encountered as yet. 3 hours.

01-09-42: Kendari, Celebes:  The planes went out this morning and came back in the afternoon after a none too successful raid.

01-10-42: Malang, Java: Flew back to Java. 3 hours

01-12-42: Malang, Java:  Some good old USA Field Artillery arrived today. (3) B-24 bombers came in.

01-13-42: Malang, Java:  One of the B-24s crashed today.

We were still far from the fighting and had to use forward fields for refueling to make it to the Philippines & back. Using fields in Borneo & Celebes islands we made several missions back into the Philippines to hit back, with good success, against the enemy.

            Our big drawback during this period was shortage of aircraft. The month of Jan. was carried on with a total of (10) B-17C & D model planes. Late in Jan we began getting a few B-17E which greatly increased our defensive fire-power from 6  50cal  guns to 9, some in power driven turrets. Some of the in coming planes were replacement ones but most were the 7th B.G. which had been in movement from 6 Dec. 41. The 19th was stationed in eastern Java and the 7th in central Java, and most of our missions were combined as we still didn't have a lot of planes until mid Feb and at no time was the total over 40.

            We were finding our travels was giving us an education as each area had a variety of customs that differed from what we were used to. Over there reference to sleeping with a Dutch Wife was a common saying & had nothing to do with going to bed with someone else's wife, but was referring to using what we would call a bolster pillow to curl around to reduce the uncomfortable feeling of sweating due to skin-to-skin contact. Another was using the toilets; on entering all you saw was some concrete supports, about the size of a foot, sticking up out of the floor with an elongated hole through the flooring. We learned to stand on two of the supports (about 4" high), drop your drawers, and let go. No toilet paper was in evidence and we finally found out that they washed, in lieu of wiping, as there was a single water faucet on the wall and we had noticed that the Dutch guys entering had a hand towel around their neck. Of course we complained and in a few days a supply of paper was obtained. At Kendari we inquired about showering and were told to go to the building down closer to the river. Upon arriving we found a good sized cement container, approximately 15' across & open on top. No showers were in evidence and we supposed that it must be a communal bath, as the sides were only about 4' high. So we stripped & dove in. In a few minutes a Dutch Officer showed up and had a few harsh words for us as he informed us that we had just ruined the field's water supply and the reason for low walls was to allow bathers to dip their water cups into the tank & pour the water over their bodies; so much for not being kept informed on local habits.

            Our first mission from Java we refueled at Samarinda and ran into another odd routing; 5 gallon cans of gasoline so refueling took forever as it takes a lot of 5 gallon tins to service (8) B-17s (something like 160 per plane) and we had to strain the fuel through large funnels, lined with chamois cloth. Of course they had many local natives helping so overall time was probably about the same as we refueled all the planes at once instead of one at a time. At Kendari refueling was accomplished with hand pumps from 55 gal drums, with a crew of natives doing the hauling & pumping. The Dutch frowned upon whites doing manual labor that the locals could do, no complaints were lodged. Food was our main complaint as those people just didn't eat the same stuff that we were used to.

01-14-42: Palembang Sumatra:  Flew to Palembang Sumatra today. 8:00 to 10:30. They put us up at the BPM Club (Shell). The Dutch really treated us swell here. 2 1/2 hours

            Our second mission was through Kendari, and the third was through Pamembang. Here we got royal treatment; quartered in homes of the Shell Co officials, a royal banquet for the evening meal at their Club (5 courses with a waiter for nearly every plate). Those mechanics that wished to take in the town were provided an English speaking Dutch soldier and we had a nice tour; while the planes were out on the mission above Singapore. We congregated at the airfield to await the return but was told they had gone into a field farther to the west and would remain overnight. About this time we heard, what sounded like a B-17 approaching, but it was very cloudy and we couldn't see it. Finally we spotted it through a break in the clouds and was very surprised as the plane had a B-17 look except for the tail, which looked to be 3 times as large as the ones we had. A Dutch officer standing near us remarked that the plane was American and had missed the field. He said they were sending one of their fighters up to guide him in as he was scheduled to refuel here. A little Brewster Buffalo plane taxied out & took off, in about 20 min later here he came, buzzing the field & right on his tail was the B-17. Upon landing the Engineer stepped out, he was one of our crew chiefs from March Field days that had been selected to go to England with a batch of B-17s we were sending them in the spring of 1941. They had flown a replacement plane to us via S. America, West Africa, across Africa & to India, then to Dutch East Indies. And we learned that many more planes were en route.

            We returned to Malang the next day to find a pair of LB-30s there. It had taken the US about six weeks to get some replacements in to us and we were mighty glad to get them as our original planes were just about ready for extended maintenance & we certainly weren't able to do that. In the following weeks we were getting some 6 to 8 planes per week and was able to put up missions of 12-15 planes. Most of the incoming planes were of the 7th B.G. & they were to be based some 60-70 miles to the west of Malang; those not of the 7th were replacement planes for the 19th. MacArthur finally gave us permission to bring several more men down from Del Monte so maintaining the planes improved somewhat except for parts. By mid Feb air raids were so numerous that we started working from dusk to dawn as we were not getting in very many hours work during daytime's. But we had learned not to take anything for granted and would clear the airfield area during the raids and it was taking a long time to get everybody back onto the field.

            On one raid they set 4 of our B-17s afire. They were loaded up, ready for a mission, they burned completely up & the bombs (8) 500s just rolled out on the ground; then another time we had just one plane ready for a mission when they strafed us, setting the plane on fire which when engulfed in flames it erupted in a terrific explosion, throwing bits of airplane all over one end of the field. One day they held a meeting just outside of the hangar that the officers hung around in, we were in formation close to the steps leading up to the balcony area where they were. The officer in charge of the formation was giving us hell for running when the alarm went off, instead of seeking shelter in the hangar area. In the middle of his speech the alarm sounded and he ordered us to stand fast, when we heard the officers coming down the steps (on the double, or triple), they burst through our formation and that was all we need and we promptly stampeded with them. That was the last we heard on where you go during air raids.

            One incident that several of us went through is worth recording, it is an example of either poor planning or just hard luck. About 6 or 7 of us were working on a plane for next days mission; we had pulled it into the hangar (we were working nights ) so we could get some light on the subject. When we were ready to pull the plane out to the flight line someone suggested that we load the bombs where we had some light, as we had found out that it was very difficult to anything outside in a complete blackout; so we got (4) 500s into the hangar and proceeded to arm them before hoisting. When we had the first bomb up to the top rack, we had a man up there to steady the nose & tail of the bomb for hooking it in to the rack (which usually takes some shaking of the bomb to seat it), well the hoist cable broke and down came the 500 pounder straight on its nose fuse (the tail fin man was able to hold on for just a second which up-ended the bomb). It happened so fast that none of us had a chance to move before it hit the concrete floor, completely crushing the nose fuse & falling over bent the tail fins which in turn made a pretzel out of the tail fuse. We just stood there looking at it for some minutes before we figured out what to do; one man finally went somewhere and obtained a long length of rope which we tied to the fins and we slowly drug the bomb to the outside of the hangar & notified operations office of what happened. I don't know what he did, but the next evening that bomb was gone.

            Late in Feb. 42 things we going from bad to worse. Night maintenance, with a black-out in force, was not getting things done. They got a bus load of men, combat & maintenance, together and bussed us to a remote field (Pasirian) to fly back the old C & D planes we had stashed there. Nearing the area we noticed several spirals of smoke coming from the field. Stopping at a roadside stand, lots of them in Java, trying to find out what happened and as we did not have an interpreter with us it was futile; they kept making motions that things were coming from the skies. We had already been advised that the Japs used parachutist at Palembang and we were leery, pistols were the only arms we had. We were pretty sure the 5 or 6 spirals of smoke was probably coming from burning aircraft so we beat a hasty retreat to Malang. I later talked to a fellow that was taking a truck, with drums of gasoline, and had arrived there after the strafing. He said that all the planes had been set on fire & destroyed; had we recovered those 6 planes it would have allowed us to evacuate just about all our personnel to Australia via air.

            A day or two later, after the above event, some 130 officers & enlisted men boarded a train; went to Surabaja where we side tracked and had to sit through a bombing raid on the port city. Next we went west & then south to the port city of Tjilatjap (on the Indian Ocean). After unloading we got a look at our transport, a Dutch freighter with another ship alongside it. Most of the day was spent taking shelter on alarms, and watching the British getting a old truck of theirs onto the other ship. I don't remember the particulars of the task but it proved to be a slow one. That ship departed late that after noon while ours stayed in port till late at night. When we woke up the next morning the ship was well out to sea, all by its self. We later learned that two small conveys of boats were wiped out in trying for Darwin. Our voyage was not all smooth sailing as the second day a Jap plane spotted us and made a couple low passes over our ship. Nothing else happened, but that did not keep us from worrying about submarines; again, we later learned that at about that time the Japs had also spotted a small Carrier of ours and I'm sure they sent everything after it as the carrier was sunk and in a 2-3 day period. A couple more ships (Cruiser & Tender) was also sunk. After 4-5 day cruise on the Abbekerk we arrived in the western Australia port of Freemantle and were trucked to an Aussie base at Northam.  (Marvel continued Australia)

B-17E from US to Java by Ted Swanson Pilot

In December 1941, my wife, Gladys' mother, brother Willis and family were visiting us at Langley Field. On Sunday afternoon December 7, 1941, we decided to visit the Mariners Museum at Newport News,VA. While there, it was announced over the speaker system that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and that all military should return to their units immediately if not sooner!

            We went back to Langley Field,VA and everybody was running around like a hill of disturbed ants. I was told to be ready to leave on a minute's notice. I asked "To where and what should I take?" They said "We don't know, better take everything and be prepared for anything". They woke us up at three in the morning and said that I should be ready to take off the first thing in the morning.

            I went down to the flight line and found the last and only B-17 and a completely strange crew waiting for me. However, I had flown a couple of times with the copilot, Earl Longacre. Ted Adamczyk was the radio operator. He was so tall and lanky we made a side gunner of him because we could not fold him up to fit into the ball turret. Sgt Norman Forte, his assistant, took the ball turret. Leo Ferraguto was crew chief and George Sweedar was assistant crew chief. We made a tail gunner out of him because he loved to sleep in the tail of the plane even through thunderstorms. Then Gabriel Frumpkin, the navigator, and O'Neil Reynalds Bombardier completed the crew. After flying together for three weeks, Leo and George had cured the rocker box cover oil leaks and after flying several missions together where you depended on each other to keep the whole crew and airplane alive, we became quite good. friends.

            We took off at about ten o'clock Dec 8, 1941 for Fort Knox, KY. About 3 plus hours out we started to lose oil pressure on one engine. We had a quick pow-wow with the crew. By now we were closer to Fort Knox than to Langley and since goodbyes were so painful that we would have to keep saying goodbye until we left, we decided to go on.

            The oil problem fixed the next morning, we took off for Lowry Field, Colorado. The Key brothers were there and I must have met Jim Etter, Al Key's navigator that evening. We would both get a contaminated yellow fever shot at MacDill Field, FL. within a day or two of each other and 3 months later in Melbourne, Australia we both came down with Yellow Jaundice within a day or two of each other.

            We then took off for Geiger Field, Wash. to patrol the west coast. I never did go on a patrol mission because I always got ranked out of my airplane. It was the only one with guns and armor plate and for some reason the Captains wanted my plane! After about a week, somebody wrote orders on us to go to PLUM, the code name for the Philippines. We spent Christmas eve 1941 on the train on our way to Bakersfield, Calif. to pick up a new B-17E. The train stopped quite often so the Key brothers got off and cut a Christmas tree. We talked the conductor into getting us some eggshells from the dining car so we would have some glue to make paper chains. Somehow the tree got decorated.

            I had made arrangements with Earl, my copilot, that I would do the leg work at Bakersfield, CA while he spent time with his wife and he would do the leg work at MacDill, FL while I spent time with my wife. Gladys left Rochester on a weekend so didn't get the money she should have. She got on the train for Florida without a ticket and managed to stay on until somewhere in Georgia when the conductor insisted that she must get off. Some GI overheard the conversation and gave her enough money to complete the trip. We checked. into a hotel in Tampa, FL. We had New Years eve dinner with my navigator, Gabriel Frumpkin.

            Well anyway, I believe it was 2 January 1942 at some ungodly hour like 3:00 AM that some over-eager officer at MacDill called me at my hotel in Tampa and wanted to know why I was at the hotel instead of at the field. He told me in no uncertain terms to get my butt out to the field immediately or else! Like a damned fool, I complied. It was 5:00 AM before I found a mattress and cover and a bunk. Then I got up at 7:00 to get our airplane ready.

            We finally took off at about 8:00 PM for a 12 hour flight to Port au Prince, Haiti so I had been up like 30 hours by the time we landed. See maps following text. Then to make matters worse, we landed at the wrong field. It should have been Waller Field, so we took a taxi. The driver drove full throttle just missing any animals or humans along the road that was almost worse than a combat mission. Any way, we got off the ground enroute to Belem, Brazil in the mouth of the Amazon river. One thing I remember about the road from the airport to Belem was that they must have collected all the pot holes in the world to build it!

            [01-03-42] We took off for Natal, on the east tip of Brazil. About 4 hours out, I asked the navigator for a position report-- "Ah-ah, I have been sick for the last two hours". (It was very hot and bumpy.) He said "I haven't the slightest idea where we are." Of course, over the Brazilian jungle there are no checkpoints like roads or railroads. We came upon a town and I asked Gabe "What town is that?" I can't find it on the map" was the reply. I was not about to stop circling that town until we identified it. "Bring up the maps" I said. We couldn't find it either. "Bring me the map beyond these" I said. I identified the town, but Gabe insisted that wasn't it so I said "Prove that it is not." Gabe said "I can't." "Then plot me a course from that town to Natal." We arrived. late afternoon and I immediately started to refuel since we had to do it by a wobble pump from 55 gallon drums and 1800 gallons is a hell of a lot of wobbling, so all the crew had tired arms by the time we were ready to take off for that long trip across the Atlantic Ocean.

Our Assistant Crew Chief, George Sweeder, just loved to fly the B-17 by instruments and since it took so much of their time to keep the autopilot in working condition, and. since George was so good at flying it, we would let him fly it any time and as long as he wanted to fly. I understand that this really paid off later after somebody took over my crew when I was assigned to the 8th Service Squadron as Maintenance and Flight Test Engineering Officer. I understand that they went out on a very rough mission in very dirty weather. On the way home, the pilot and copilot got so sick that they could. not fly. George spoke "I can fly this plane." They gave him a try and he flew it all the way back to Australia under actual instrument conditions. In hindsight, somebody should have put him in for a DFC.

            [01-06-42] We took off just after dark from Natal on the east tip of Brazil for Freetown, Sierra Leone on the west tip of Africa. When flying into the night and into a storm, it gives you a very depressed feeling, but after flying all night through tropical storms and then to be flying out of the storm into daylight and sunshine, you get a feeling of great relief and exhilaration even if land is not in sight yet. When land is finally sighted, it just adds to that great feeling. After we landed at Freetown and taxied up to the refueling spot, I don't remember it, but my crew chief, Leo Ferragutto, tells me that one engine quit for lack of fuel.

            We flew down to Accra where I met a cadet classmate. He begged me for a .45 and some ammunition. He said the natives were sticking their heads into his hut and screaming at all hours of the night. He hadn't had a good night sleep in months. So, violating all regulations, I fixed him up. At our 50th Reunion in San Antonio, I tried to talk him out of that .45, but naturally he no longer had it. He said be had never fired it.

            [01-09-42] From there we flew to Kano in mid-central Africa, a real small dirt field. We took off absolutely no wind. I used landing lights during takeoff and when you reached the end of the runway, you pulled back on the stick and hollered "Lights out, wheels up!" and went on instruments. I almost made a fatal mistake. I got into a very steep turn before I had decent airspeed. The artificial horizon was in such a horrible position that Earl thought it was malfunctioning and caged it on me. Between saying "NEEDLE, BALL, AIRSPEED" I was swearing a streak. Anyway, we lived through it.

            [01-10-42]We were on our way to Karthoum, Sudan where we got our cholera shots that left a knot in our arms for months. Then up to Cairo where we did maintenance and saw the pyramids for a couple of days. Our next stop was Habbaniyah, Iraq where the Tigress and Euphrates rivers join. We told the Punjab guard not to let anybody near our airplane, so the next morning, he would not let us near our plane. We had to get some British authorities to straighten things out.

[01-14-42] Next stop, Bangalore, India where we had to prepare for that long hop to Java. We looked over the city. It was windy that day. The dust and dirt was thick and begger boys were on every street corner. We felt so creepy and crawly that we were really glad for a shower that night.

            An amusing incident occurred at Karthoum. Jim Etter haggled with an Arab for hours over a large pile of carved ivory and used the left over large, impressive Brazilian bills. Al Key kidded him "That's celluloid, not ivory." Jim said "That's got to be ivory". He haggled too hard. Al said "Let's prove it" and applied his lighter to the edge of the pile. "Whoosh" and the whole pile disappeared. Jim said "Why that dirty, low-down, lying, cheating SOB!"

[01-19-42] They would only let us take off in groups of three. They said we would have a few tropical storms enroute. We climbed up to 17,000 feet and got into the damndest snow storm over the equator. We were really icing up and the deicer boots didn't seem to remove much so I went down until it melted off. Now our only problem was that we had to clear some, or rather one real high mountain that was directly on course, so we climbed back up. We missed the mountain and saw Sumatra below us, but our gas gages had been bouncing on empty for too long. We descended, but could not find the field. A strange plane pulled up along side of us. We swung our guns on him. He wiggles his wings and buzzed a field that the natives were busy removing obstacles from. We had already concluded that he was Dutch. The only place we could find to sleep was the concrete porch of a municipal building. We were so tired we had no trouble going to sleep.

            [01-20-42] We gassed up and flew into Surabaya, Java, arriving about 13:15 on 21 January 1942. We made the trip quicker than other crews. We were met by Frank Kurtz who took us into the field at Malang, our new home base. It was an L shaped sod field with plenty of water puddles on it.  (Swanson Continued)

B-17E from US to Java by T. Adamczek Radio Operator

December 7, 1941 to January 2, 1942

            Sunday, Decembcr 7, 1941, began quietly at Langley Field, Virginia; a typical Sunday morning. I walked to the base chapel to attend Mass, had a good dinner at the squadron mess-hall, went to see a movie at the base theater. On coming out of the movie, we heard the shocking news - Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor! All ears were glued to the radio, listening to the latest news reports - We were immediately placed on alert and all leaves were canceled. When President Roosevelt declared it to be a “day of Infamy", we were ready to go after those "yellow BASTARDS!” I had no doubt in my mind that we could go over there and blow the Japanese navy out of the water in no time at all - little did I dream that it would take almost four years.

            Of course no one knew quite what to expect from the Japs; they had sunk or damaged most of our battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor, and when a couple of Japanese submarines were seen off our west coast there were fears of an invasion. Thus, on December 8, the next morning after the Pearl Harbor raid, some of the 2nd Bomb Group B-17Cs and Ds, with full air and ground crows, were sent to the west coast to fly patrol and repel whatever may come.

            As a fully qualified radio operator on fight status, I was assigned to one of these B-17s, along with Private First Class Leo Ferraguto and George Sweeder, flight engineers, plus Norman Forte, radio operator; we were all members of Hq & Hq Sqdn. The bombardier, O’Neil Reynolds, was from one of the other squadrons of the group. As corporal he was the highest enlisted member of the crew - at about this time bombardiers were receiving commissions on graduation from school. Our first pilot was 1st Lt. Theodore B. Swanson, co-pilot was 2nd Lt. Earl Longacre, while the navigator was 2nd Lt. Gabriel Frumkin - these officers were from one of the other squadrons of the group, therefore, I had no previous experience with them. From this day, however, we became quite close.

            When we left Langley Field on the morning of December 8, that was the last time I saw the 2nd Bomb Group and Langley Field until our reunion 48 years later, in October of 1987. The weather that morning was not the greatest, and the air was very turbulent. It was a good thing that we had Norm Forte, our other radio operator along - he operated the radio equipment, while I lay flat on my back in the rear of the aircraft with a bad case of air-sickness. Our B-17C developed an in-flight engine problem; we were forced to land at an airbase near Nashville, Tennessee, where we stayed overnight. Having brought our ground-crew along, we were able to fix our problem and continued on to Lowry Field, Denver, Colo. We stayed here overnight, and the next day continued on to Geiger Field, Spokane, Washington.

            Our planes and crews flew submarine patrol along the Pacific coast out of this base - here we lost one of our B-17s, which crashed on take off, losing the entire crew, one of which was Cpl  Cunningham, a bombardier who came from New Castle. He was what was known as a twenty-percenter - if one was broke and needed some money in a hurry, Cunningham would loan it to him - at a rate of 4 for 5, or multiples thereof. In other words, on the next payday the borrower was expected to repay him $5 for every $4 he had borrowed - that's an interest rate of 20% - a month: I have often wondered how many people owed him money when he was killed in that crash.

            Our crew was not called on to fly any of the patrols at all while at Geiger Field. On the 24th of December, the day before Christmas, we said good-bye to our ground-crew buddies and boarded a train for Bakersfield, Cal., where we were to pick up a brand new B-17E. On Christmas day our train was temporarily held up on a pass in the beautiful, snow-covered Cascade Mountains, just long enough for one of the troops to jump out in the snow to cut down a small Christmas tree, which was set up aboard the train and decorated with empty whiskey bottles. And all around made the best of the situation and had a Merry Christmas!

            When we arrived in Bakersfield, the following day, we were introduced to our new aircraft, a brand new B-17-E, tail number 12469. Compared to the earlier versions of the B-17, A, B, C, and D models, it was a formidable, mean-looking beauty, camouflaged Nets war-paint, bristling with .50-caliber machine guns. The earlier models had a maximum of only four manually operated .50-caliber’s and one or two .30-caliber machine guns in the nose -- and no tail guns. The B-17-E had a power-operated upper forward turret firing twin-fifties, a power operated bottom turret, and, best of all, twin-fifties firing out of the tail - this is where quite a few Jap Zero's got the last surprise of their lives. The plane also had manually operated single fifties firing out of each waist position, for a total of eight .50-caliber, plus two .30-caliber’s firing out of the nose - a true flying fortress:

            Bakersfield, Cal., was the final depot where these new B-17-E's were made combat ready, manned by flight crews like us and flown to their combat zone, in this case the Far East. Rather than flying these planes west over the Pacific, considering the hazardous situation with the Japanese navy roaming all over the Far East, it was decided by our top command to fly these planes over the much longer eastern route, over what was then known as the Pan-American route. Pan-American Airways had pioneered this round-the-world route, down through Central and South America, across the Atlantic, across Africa, up to Cairo, Egypt, across the Near-East to India, and down into the Southwest Pacific to Australia.

            So, after a couple of test-flights, just before New Years we took off and flew east, non-stop, to the Air Corps depot at MacDill Field, Tampa, Florida. After a final flight-check; installation of ammunition for our armament, oxygen for high-altitude flight, and otherwise making our plane ready for combat, on the second of January, 1942, our eight-man crew -Pilot 1st Lt. Theodore B. Swanson, co-pilot Earl "Rabbit" Longacre, navigator Gabriel Frumkin, Bombardier Cpl. O'Neil Reynolds, flight engineers Pfc’s Leo Ferraguto and George Sweeder, and radio operators Norman Forte and T. S. Adamczyk - departed the U.S. for the war.

Our Flight to Java

            [01-02-42] As our B-17 rolled down the runway shortly before midnight, I reached into my coverall pocket and held my good-luck charm, a little silver bracelet commemorating the Virgin Mary - I did this on all of our take-offs - and as we headed east out over the Atlantic Ocean I couldn’t help wondering if we would ever see the good old U.S. again.

            Forte and I alternated at operating the radio - we would make hourly contacts along the way on C.W. (continuous wave Morse code) giving our position - if we knew it- requesting weather reports, etc. We had trouble contacting Pan-American Airways at Trinidad, but after a couple hours I finally raised them and gave them our routine check-in. We passed over Puerto Rico just after sunrise. Our navigator hit the Island of Trinidad on the nose, and we landed at the P.A.A. field just after midday, Florida time, after about 12 hours in the air.

            We were quartered at the American airbase barracks, where our Air Corp, had a small detachment. The following day our plane was due for a routine 50-hour inspection, so we spent most of the day servicing the plane. That evening we were able to pick up two quarts of native rum and a case of Coca Cola, and proceeded to dispose of them. (This was before the Andrews Sister brought out their "Drinking Rum and Coca-Cola” song).

            Forte and Sweeder quit early, but Ferraguto, Reynolds, and I finished all of the rum and coke before we quit. About three o’clock in the morning I was awakened by an awful crashing and banging. Reynolds, our bombardier, had gone outside to the toilet; when he tried to get back in he couldn’t open the door. So, cussing and swearing that someone had locked him out, he proceeded to tear the door down, which was made of bamboo. Just about that time I became violently sick on my stomach - there I lay, alternately laughing at Reynolds and puking. That barracks was certainly a mess -- it was a good thing we were taking off very early the following morning. I haven't drunk any rum since that time.

            [01-03-42] We took off at about 4:30 AM on the next leg of our trek, for Belem, Brazil. Needless to say, I was in no condition to operate the radio equipment; Forte was at the controls until I had recuperated somewhat. Every thing went all-right until we ran into some rain along the coast of Brazil. Gabe Frumkin, our navigator, didn't do such a good Job of navigating on this leg; we flew over Brazilian jungles and up the Amazon River for three hours before finding the field at Belem. And what a field! It was hardly big enough to fly a kite in, but Lt. Swanson set the plane down very nicely.

            Belem was a steamy hot little seaport situated on the mouth of the Amazon River, almost on the equator. Here we spent the night at one of the best hotels in town - which isn't saying too much. The following day we spent servicing our plane and cleaning our machine guns. Here facilities were very limited - fuel had to be hand-pumped into our gas tanks from 50- gallon drums.

            In the evening we sat out on the, sidewalk in front of a cafe drinking some type of exotic drink and enjoying the passing scenery - those Brazilian senoritas - wow! But we just looked.

            [01-05-42] The following morning our pilot gave our B-17 the gun, full throttle, and we hopped right out of that little Belem airfield. The weather was fine, and after a four-hour flight along the coast of Brazil we landed at a little field way out in the boonies near the seaport of Natal, situated on the easternmost coast. We serviced up with gas, pumped by hand out of 50-gallon drums, had a bite to eat, and at dusk took off and headed directly across the Atlantic Ocean for Africa.

            Everything went along fine all night - the weather was ideal and we had no difficulty contacting our ground-station checkpoints on our liaison radio. As we approached the African coast just after daybreak, we were challenged by a couple of ships. As we flew near them they flashed a particular code of the day on their blinker - we were required to answer them with the proper reply code on our Aldis lamp. Of course we gave them the right response, otherwise I might not be writing this today. Our next destination, Freetown, Sierra Leone, was just a short distance down the African coast from Dakar, which at that time belonged to Vichy, France, and was not considered to be friendly territory. So those anti-aircraft gunners on those ships had to be on the alert.

            As we approached on our down-leg to land at the RAF airfield at Freetown, I pulled a slight boo-boo. While flying, the radio operator would let out about 150 feet of copper wire with a three-pound weight on the end of it to enable us to make long-distance contact on our liaison radio. After that long 14-hour flight we were quite bushed - I forgot to retract the trailing-wire antenna and lost it when we landed. But I don't think the weight hit anything of consequence, and was easily replaced.

            [01-06-42] So here I was, naive country boy, in exotic Africa! As we made our way from the plane to the RAF barracks we could see some thatched--roof native huts on the outside of the base. We could see some native African women walking about, some with breasts hanging down to their waists. And as I looked out toward the distant jungle I could almost hear the roar of lions!

            We were rather worn out after flying all night, so we took it easy most of the day. We were billeted in the RAF NCO quarters - we Yanks were most welcome guests here and were treated regally by our RAF counterparts. Early the following morning we were awakened by a black-boy bringing us a cup of hot tea - in bed! The RAF had the right idea;

            [01-09-42] On the 9th of January, a week after our departure from the States, we took off from Freetown for Accra, Ghana. We flew along the Gold coast of West Africa, and arrived in Accra after a seven-hour flight without incident. Here we were quartered at the Pan-American base - not a bad place at all, good American food, ice-cold American beer, good sleeping quarters.

            [01-10-42] We departed the following morning for Kano, Nigeria, five-hour flight. The field here had the bare minimums - we serviced, again by hand-pumping gas out of 50-gallon drums, and took off at dusk for Khartoum. We had a close call on take-off when co-pilot "Rabbit" Longacre dumped flaps too soon. We flew all night and arrived at Khartoum, Sudan, .............?  Quoting the comments I had made in my diary, "Boy, What a place! Hotter than hell, poor quarters, awful chow:" I still recall our meal of goat meat and stewed tomatoes.

            As we flew along our route to the Far East we passed through malaria, cholera, and yellow fever country, and had to take precautions to avoid these tropical diseases. Lt. Longacre would dish out daily doses of those bitter anti-malaria quinine pills. In Khartoum we had to take a cholera shot, which didn't help my impression of Khartoum.

            [01-11-42] The following morning we and two other B-17s took off and flew in formation across the Sahara Desert up the Nile valley, and after a five hour flight arrived in Cairo, Egypt. Here we were quartered in the first class Heliopolis Hotel in downtown Cairo. The British at this point in time were still colonial rulers of Egypt, as well as a good portion of the rest of the world - any white man, especially we Yankees, could walk safely anywhere, within reasonable bounds, without danger from terrorists. That cholera shot we had taken in Khartoum got me down - I had some reaction, and felt too sick to go sight-seeing, but the other fellows went out to look the town over. Reynolds, our bombardier, had another escapade; as usual he had too much to drink, beat up a "camel-rider", as he called the locals, and ended up in jail. It required getting some irate colonel out of bed to spring him out of jail. He got a good calling down from Lt. Swanson the next morning.

            [01-14-42] After a two-day layover in Cairo, where we performed required maintenance on our B-l7, we took off for Habbaniya, Iraq. Shortly after take off we did a little sight-seeing; we circled the Great Pyramids and the Sphynx at low altitude. I had a 33mm Mercury II camera, and had opportunities for some most interesting pictures along our route. I have always regretted that I could not have brought those pictures back with me on my return to the States. My camera, pictures, and the rest of my personal belongings were left behind when I left Java - I got out with the clothes I was wearing, which wasn't too much.

            In these days of jet-age travel, as I look at a map of our route, the distances we traveled per flight in our B-l7 seems so short; however, the B-17s cruising speed was around 170 miles per hour, so as a rule our hops from one point to another generally required ten to twelve hours - we carried an extra bomb-bay tank to extend our range. Although these flights were tedious at times, we were not cramped for space - one could move around quite well in the large interior of the plane, and crew members could spell each other, stretch out and nap along the way. I spent quite a lot of air-time riding back in the tail-gun position. Although I was able to hear the rest of the crow on the headset of my interphone, I felt detached, as free as a bird, back in the tail end of that airplane - it was an exhilarating feeling! At times my imagination would run away with me. I could look out and see the fantastic world going, by; I would often sing at the top of my lungs - no one could hear me back there above the steady drone of those four engines. And as one looked at those four engines, rotating end on end, hour after hour, one marveled at man's ingenuity and skill in developing such a flying machine.

            Anyhow, after another ten-hour flight across Jordan into Iraq, we landed at the British-held airfield at Habbaniya, at the head of the Persian Gulf.

            [01-15-42] A few months prior, the British had to put down a pro-Axis revolt - the British and Iraqis had had quite a battle here on this airfield. Here we found one of our enroute B-17s washed out on the field - it had run into a filled-in shell hole while taxing.. It seemed that we found one or two of our B-17s and less-fortunate crews broken down at almost each of our stops along the way.

            After bedding down for the night at the on-base British RAF quarters, we took off the following morning for Karachi, now a part of Pakistan, but then still a part of India. After a 12-hour flight down the Persian Gulf across the Arabian Sea we landed at Karachi. Here we stayed at a first-class hotel in the town, much better than I expected to find in India.

            It was a common adage that the sun never set on the British Empire; in 1942 the British were rulers of a good percentage of the world. Which at that particular time certainly was a break for our side, as far as enabling us to fly eastward to the Far East to do battle with the Japanese.

            [01-16-42] The following morning we departed for Bangalore, in the southern portion of India, and after an 8-hour flight we landed at the RAF base located here. The British had a Welsh Infantry regiment stationed here - we were quartered in their barracks. A note taken from my diary stated "Bed-bugs are awful"!

            Our Air Corps had set up sort of a field depot here; since this was the last stop on our route before entering the combat zone, required maintenance and equipment checks were accomplished here. So we had a layover, a couple days here, giving us an opportunity to do a little sight-seeing. Forte, Sweeder, Ferraguto and I went into town and went to a dance one evening, sort of a USO affair - something else I didn't expect to find out here. We even met an American girl.

            Reynolds went off on his own and got into trouble again. He got into a fight with some of the bloody Limeys (his own expression) and got the worst of it. And looked it the following morning, sporting a couple of shiners. It was a good thing we were not with him - we would have been greatly out numbered.

            [01-19-42] Three days later, on the 19th of January, we took off at dusk and headed out over the Indian Ocean for the East Indian Island of Sumatra. We ran into some terrific storms out over the ocean - the turbulence was as rough as I had ever experienced, and every so often our plane was enshrouded by a halo of St. Elmo's fire, a phenomenon which can be quite scary. And I must admit I was quite scared - I'm sure I was not alone! I was working the liaison radio at this time - I made contact with the RAF station at Singapore - those faint dits and dahs in answer to my call were somewhat reassuring, for all the good they would do. I couldn't send a position report; Gabe Frumkin, our navigator could not determine our position because it was too cloudy to see the stars to shoot an astral bearing.

Fortunately, Sumatra is quite a large island; at daybreak we found ourselves flying over the island's jungles. We were almost out of fuel and looking for a place to set the plane down when we spotted the Dutch airfield at Palembang. Welcome sight! We fueled up, had a lunch of tropical fruit - papayas, pineapples and bananas - provided by the local Dutch citizenry, who were most delighted to see us Yankees coming to help defend their islands. We didn't want to dilly-dally here, since this field was within range of Japanese bombers - as a matter of fact, a high flying Japanese reconnaissance plane flew over while we were fueling up.

            [01-21-42] As we neared the island of Java, our final destination, we were on alert at our battle stations. Although my station was at the waist guns I was riding in the tail-gun position, daydreaming and enjoying the scenery, when I spotted a couple of pea-shooters (fighters) coming up on our tail. I made a hurried grab for the twin-fifty 50 caliber’s mounted in the tail; fortunately we spotted the orange triangle, insignia of the Royal Dutch Air Force, on the planes. They looked us over, flew alongside us for a while, then veered off, and shortly thereafter we landed at the airfield at Malang, Java, our base of operations at the moment. ref Fig 2

            On landing at the Royal Dutch Air Force field, we were met by other Air Corps B-17 crews - most of these were combat veterans of the 19th Bomb Group who had been flying against the Japanese since the start of hostilities in the Philippines. Others had flown over earlier on the same route we had; some were members of the 7th Bomb group. We were most eager to hear these crews' first-hand experiences - from what they told us the situation didn’t look too promising.  (Adamczyk continued)

US to Java in an LB-30 by A. “Bud” Flecher

             In those 4 months before Pearl Harbor Day, I was busy flying training missions in B-17's out of Salt Lake City, Utah with the 7th Bomb Gp with orders in hand to proceed at an undetermined date to a secret destination -- code name PLUM. It was a well-kept secret. There was a war going on in Europe, so PLUM could have been anywhere. Events that then followed prove that I was not alone in my ignorance. Nobody in Washington or anywhere else knew what the heck was happening either. It was a Keystone Cop tragedy that finally put us on the island of Java in Jan 1942 where we joined the remnants of the 19th Bomb Gp which had retreated from the Philippines in December.

            We of the 7th Bomb Gp and two recon squadrons (88th and 38th) were primed and ready to launch from Hamilton Field, CA on the night of Dec 6, 1941 in our B-17's to head westward to PLUM, wherever that was. All we knew was that the first leg of the flight was to Hickam. The recon sqdns were to launch first at 5-minute intervals, which they did; but at all altitudes they were experiencing headwinds much stronger than predicted. By the way, there was not a round of ammo aboard any plane, and all guns were immobilized with cosmoline preservative. Upon being apprised of the heavy headwinds; somebody in Ops made the only sensible decision during the 6-month period with Dec 6 as its center: they opted to postpone the balance of the launch for 24 hours.

            Needless to say, those that did launch arrived in extremis mostly during the Jap raids but a few luckily between the two Jap strikes. The fates of each of the arriving planes and crews were both harrowing and ludicrous; and although just about all the planes were destroyed one way or another; providentially, most of the crews survived.

            Dec 8 ‘41 to Jan 8 ‘42: For those of the 7th BG who did not launch, Dec 6 for Hawaii, an account of the chaos attending the next 30 days would beggar the skills of the world's most imaginative chronicler. A phantom Jap flotilla.. was "sighted" approaching San Pedro, and six of our crews (including me) were sent out at dusk to bomb it -- in weather with no measurable ceiling and in complete radio silence, without a single radio aid in operation west of Albuquerque and El Paso. Meantime, our launch point went below minimums while observing the radio blackout. What should we do? Tops were 13,000 feet and. darkness descending. Read the next hair-raising episode. Not enough time or space here.

            Once out of that mess, we of the 11th Sq turned our B-17s reluctantly over to ferry squadrons for delivery to the Canal Zone., and we boarded a troop train to Tucson.

            [01-09-42]? At Tucson we picked up brand new LB-30s -- a maverick breed of B-24s built for the Brits with no turbo superchargers and a pitiful set of guns (with the exception of the top turret ). After a bare-bones checkout, we headed westward with consternation to that still-undefined destination, PLUM. Our route was via Hickam; Palmyra, in the Line Is; Kanton, in the Phoenix Is (later made famous by Eddie Rickenbacker' ditching); Fiji; Townsville, Australia; thence to Darwin, Australia where we learned that PLUM was the Del Monte air patch on Mindanao but no longer tenable; so we were going to a place called Singosari airdrome (or Malang) on the Dutch colonial island of Java, where we (the 11th Sqn) joined our sister squadron (9th) with their B-17s and the pitiful remnants of the 19th Bomb Gp.  (Fletcher continued)