May 1944

During the month of May all pilots received non-operational training in Homing, Dive Bombing, Group Formations, and Cloud Flying. In addition to the Operational Training all pilots received extended Intelligence Training in Aircraft Recognition, Tank Recognition, Geography, Air Sea Rescue, Map Reading, Methods of Escape and Evasion. The highlight of the Intelligence Training was a 3 hour lecture on Flak by Major Brett of the RAF, who discussed to great extent the possibility of being hit by flak and also the difference between light and heavy flak.

During the Month the enlisted men went through a waterproofing exercise whereby personnel of all sections who drive or was an assistant driver were given instructions on how to waterproof a vehicle and at the close of the instruction all the personnel drove the vehicle through the wading pond; with the exception of wet pants and shoes all came through with flying colours.

Throughout the month of May various officers and enlisted men continued to be sent to schools in the ETO for further training.

The Group became operational on the 1st day of May 1944 and during the month flew 23 missions which consisted of Fighter Sweeps, Escorting Medium and Heavy Bombers, and Dive Bombing. Generally speaking very little Enemy Fighter opposition was encountered on any of these missions; however they did meet up with a bit on 19 May while on a dive bombing mission led by the Group Deputy Commander Major Johnson when they encountered 6 ME-109s just NE of Rouen. The enemy aircraft broke to the left and pulled up in split S dive and 1st Lt Ben Kitchen of the 508th squadron followed through one of the enemy aircraft and destroyed it. Again on May 24th while on an escort mission 9 FW 190s followed the Group approximately 2000 feet above the escort and to the rear but made no attempt to attack or engage the escort. During the same mission while seeking to provide cover for straggling bombers, our planes were fired upon three times by the bombers. Light to heavy flak was encountered on several missions; however all pilots returned safely from all the missions with only slight damage to a couple of planes.

During this month the pilots received their christening of combat flying and all in all they came through with flying colours.

In the month of May, two promotions of great interest were made in this Group. The first was the promotion of the Group Deputy Commander, Major James K Johnson to Lt Colonel on May 20 1944. The second promotion came on May 25th when our Group Commander Lt Colonel Carroll W McColpin was promoted to the rank of full Colonel. Both of these promotions were received with great enthusiasm throughout the Group.

Under the able guidance of 1st Lt "Dyke" Pisegna of the Special Services, the Athletic program has progressed so much that there isn’t an evening that passes but what there isn’t a sport contest of some form or other takes place.

Softball has held the spotlight for the 404th for the past two weeks and a synopsis of the present standing follows:

SCORES OF GROUP SOFTBALL GAMES

Group HQ Officers	2
506th Sqdn Officers	7

Group HQ officers	5
507th Sqdn Officers	11

Group HQ Enlisted Men	0
506th Sqdn Enlisted Men	9

Group HQ Enlisted Men	6
507th Sqdn Enlisted Men	0

Group HQ Enlisted Men	4
507th Sqdn Enlisted Men	6

Capt. "Buck" Buckberry of Special Services and Capt. "Dud" Connor of S-2 filled the positions of pitcher and catcher respectively. The four outstanding hitters for the Group Officers were Lt Col Johnson with an average of .666, Lt Pisegna with .664, Capt. Buckberry with .595 and Lt Marshall with .542; it is also noted that Lt Pell bats. The Rising Star, Boy to be watched, Man Going Forward, is our own weather man, 2nd Lt Ted Crosthwait, who is playing a bang-up game at center field. All games thus far have been played on the Group’s own "McGook" field.

The Volley Ball games have also been very popular this past month with the Group Officers taking over the Group Enlisted Men at two different times in the best out of 3, However the Group Officers were taken over by the 506th Sqdn Enlisted Men in the best 2 out of 3.

Thanks to Lt Pisegna the 404th is now well equiped with sports facilities. At the present time we have 6 volley ball courts, 4 softball diamonds, 1 outdoor basketball court, and 1 horseshoe pit. In addition a softball and vollyball league is being organized and many heated contests are in the offering for the future.

On May 25th we were honored by the unexpected visit of Major General Brereton, the Commanding General of the Ninth Air Force.

The 404th Enlisted Men’s Glee Club went on a tour to Ascot and gave two concerts to the officers and enlisted men of the Ninth Air Force on May 26th and 27th. The concert for the enlisted men were presented at the Arrow Club and the one for the officers was presented at the General’s dance at the Berkshire Club. At both performances great applause was given and the boys were called back for several encores.

Strength: As of the first day of May this squadron had 50 officers and 251 enlisted men for a total of 301.

Date of Arrival and departure in the European Theater of Operations (ETO): Negative.

Losses in action: 1st Lt Charles P Clonts, 0794204, was hit by a Messerschmidt ME109 and/or flak (flieger abwehr kanone) over Soissons 8 May 1944. He was seen to go down in smoke. Now carried as Missing in Action (MIA). On 9 May within a 10 mile inland radius of Dieppe, on the route home, 2nd Lt Joseph C Joyce Jr, 0677947, was heard to say that he was bailing out. Lt Joyce's ship had been hit by flak (German anti aircraft fire) over the target, which was construction works at Serqueux, It was believed that his oil line had been damaged for he had been able to stay with the squadron to the area mentioned. Now carried as MIA.

Wounded: 1st Lt Harvey P Bates, 0796065, while on a dive bombing mission 22 May 1944, received a slight wound in his right leg. While diving on the target, which was a roundhouse (locomotive shed) at Bethune, a 20 mm anti-aircraft (AA) shell exploded inside his cockpit. Lt Bates "heard the music" on this one -- the map case just to his right was damaged beyond all repair.

On 1 May 1944 the group became operational and this squadron flew two missions. During the entire month 20 missions were flown for a total of 304 sorties and constituted five fighter sweeps, six dive bombings and nine escorts. Briefings for missions were held in the Group briefing room. Squadron intelligence officers took turns at giving the facts to the pilots before takeoff. Interrogations were handled by the squadron itself. The situation map was placed in the pilots' snack bar and although interrogations (de-briefings) were a bit pressed for space the set up proved quite successful. Major Harold G Shook, Commanding Officer, won top honors in missions flown by participating in all flights..

The squadron experienced its first victory during this month. 2nd Lt Chester L Dunmore, 0725696, while engaging in a fighter sweep on 8 May, shot down an ME109. The encounter lasted approximately one minute and took place in the vicinity of Soissons. Six ME 109s attacked the flight from above at 5 o'clock and it was here that Lt Clonts was shot down. Lt Dunsmore immediately followed up the attack on Lt Clonts. He observed his hits on the enemy plane and smoke was seen to stream from the German ship. Bits of the plane flew off. Official confirmation of this claim has not yet been received from higher headquarters.

(Chester Dunsmore was to be injured, suffering burns, in a flying accident at Winkton a few days later. Although he recovered from the worst of his injuries by the spring of 1945 he did not return to flying duties with the 404th).

2nd Lt Harry E Anderson , 0689730, thought he was experiencing a case of the "DTs" when on a mission he observed two ships flying in perfect formation except for one small detail - the lead ship was flying upside down and the other plane right side up. It seems as though they were just breaking through the cloud and the upside down pilot was suffering from a bad attack of vertigo. For a short minute Lt Anderson thought he was the pilot gone temporarily berserk, but a quick check told him he was flying in the conventional manner - that is, right side up. Lt Anderson had difficulty in making others believe his story until the abortive came in with the verdict of vertigo.

Lt George W Stovall, 0671798, returning from a mission over France, told the interrogating officer that the flak was so thick that he could have dropped his wheels and taxied on it. The tail assembly of his ship suffered about 20 flak holes which he used to back up his statement.

During off hours, softball became the squadron's pastime. Enlisted men and officers had several games. During these contests the excitement and lust of battle ran high. War was forgotten and the final score was uppermost in the players' and spectators' minds. Cheering and razzing went hand in hand as the games progressed. Good humored boos and cat calls were many when the lowly umpire had to pass judgement on a close play. Officers' games between the other squadrons and group were always hotly contested.

A pilot's snack bar was made with a glider crate and an ammunition blister. Interrogations were held there. Lounging chairs and sofas were procured while the kitchen was composed of refrigerator and a small stove. Hot coffee, warm spam sandwiches, eggs and oranges greeted pilots as they came in from cold missions.

To take the place of 1st Lieut. Robert DeGregorio, transferred to Group headquarters, and to fill the vacancy created by the new T.O.(Table of Organization), two new engineering officers were assigned to the squadron during the month, 2nd Lieut. James S O'Connor and 2nd Lieut. John F Volker. (1st Lieutenant DeGregorio's success in "organising" the underwing fitments for the 507th was not it appears overlooked by Group who obviously considered his considerable skill should be exploited for the good of the Group as a whole - John Levesley).

Six new pilots were assigned, 2nd Lieuts Donald M Ferris, James E Hall, John J Rodgers Jr, Edgar E Grove and John F Phelps.

Among the enlisted men there were 14 promotions during the month, dispelling the rumor that promotions are slow in the ETO.

On 1 May, this squadron together with the rest of the 404th group went operational. By the end of the month the pilots had flown 22 missions totalling 58 hours, averaging 2 hours and 40 minutes per mission. They maded 342 sorties and ran up 850 total operational flying hours without serious loss or serious damage by enemy action

.By the end of the May, 10 men had become eligible for the Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and 21 others for the Air Medal. Capt Charles C "Lad" Lutman was the first in the outfit to be be recommended for the medal getting his 9th and 10th sortie credits on 9 May. Cluster winners included our C.O. Major Clay Tice Jr. who earned two oak leaves to add to his Southwest Pacific award., Capt Howard L Galbreath, operations officer Capt Lutman, First Lieutenants Robert W Green, Duane D Int-Hout, Stephen V Leonard, John C Ross, Thomas L Weller and Benjamin F Yeargin Jr. and Second Lieutenant Russell S Fredendall.

These three photos of 507th personnel were provided by Andy Wilson. The first is believed to show Lieutenant Duane D Inthout and Capt. Robert de Gregoria the squadron and later group engineering officer. The second is Lt Duane K Ash and Capt James A Mullins, whilst the third shows Lt Floyd F (Ramblin' Wreck) Blair and Capt. James P. Proudfit, the Surgeon Medical Officer plus Lt Benjamin F Yeargin Jr (seated).

Nine missions were bomber escort, five were fighter sweeps , four were dive bombing, three were covering dive bombing by the rest of the group, and one was a sweep forced back by weather from the French coast.

The curious thing about every mission flown during the month was the feeling you got during the planning phase. "Christ, I hope to hell they all get back, but they just can't miss running into some fireworks this time". But only one ship was even damaged by flak -- Capt Lutman picked up a small hole in his wing surface near Melun aerodrome southeast of Paris on a deep fighter sweep on 8 May. And there were no engagements with enemy aircraft; only two sightings, Me 109s at great range southeast of Paris on 8 May and a few Me's and Fw's near Beauvais on 19 May while on a dive bomber escort.

The first mission was just a shallow penetration sweep 40 miles inland over Normandy. By 31 May, spares and aborts were sticking with the formation to more remote and dangerous areas than that, but May 1 was important and exciting. This was IT. The briefing at group took at least 20 minutes, the intelligence officer showing all his pictures of landfalls in and out through the balopticon, the weather officer projected his weather charts on the screen, the group CO Lt Col Carroll W McColpin carefully covered the take off, formation procedure and flak evasion. And at the subsequent critique, the colonel, all smiles, had to caution the gang about over evasiveness.

According to Second Lieutenant Russell S "Freddie" Fredenhall, "when we crossed that French coast, the sawdust really hit the fan. One minute we were flying along in perfect formation and the next minute there were planes all over the sky. We were trying to throw the enemy predictors off before the guns opened fire-- like the colonel told us ! No we never did see any flak".

The course home brought the squadron back right over Carpiquet airdrome at 20,000 feet. The Colonel seemed surprised when no one else reported the two FW 190s four miles straight down in the corner of the field.

As the month passed, with the 506th and the 508th each being bounced once apiece by Me's while the 507th flying the same missions in the same area was unmolested, we all began feeling with increased confidence that our good tight formations were keeping Jerry away. As it was the previous month on training flights our formations were good to the point of distingushing the squadron from the others in the air.

Our only bad scares and narrow escapes happened on this side of the channel -- all on takeoff. Worst was the accident to Capt Ray C Langford on 11 May. He was taking off on an escort mission to Saarbrucken, with two wing tanks, when the bumps in the runway bounced him into the air with inadequate air speed. He wobbled and mushed across the treetops and finally crashed down out of sight. His wingtip had hardly disappeared when a huge column of bright flame exploded up. Nobody gave him one chance in a thousand.

First Lt Dike R Pisegna from group headquarters hopped fences and ran across fields to the scene and found -- two shattered gas tanks and a scorched area by somebody's bean patch, a detached twin row radial engine steaming in someone's back yard, an intact fuselage, nose down on top of a truck with the tail just clearing the side of a house in a small village and Ray himself sitting in the living room of the house across the street. He was badly burned about the face and wrists, and shocked and a month later still in the hospital -- but he's still with us.

Andy Wilson of the 507th remembers .....I was a witness to the crash of Capt. Ray Langford’s plane and I can still see it in my mind’s eye 54 years later. I was on the south side of the east/west runway. His plane was struggling to pull up heading east. The nose of the plane came up. It sailed nose up without climbing. It hit something (brush??). Wing tanks of gasoline fell off and flamed. It mushed out of sight, nose up, tail down, very scary. And out of sight – until we heard that he had survived and was discovered sitting very shocked, with a shocked lady in her sitting room, in the first street from the airstrip in Bransgore.

Mr Boulton of Forest Edge, West Road, Bransgore tells me that he now lives in the house that Ray Langford was found in and that the aircraft's engine was embedded in what is now his garden hut but which had been a brew hut. The site of the crash was a market garden occupied by the Pouncy family and the fuselage of the plane went on beyond the garden and house and finished up in the lane on top of a delivery truck from the local railway station. I'm grateful to Frances Pouncy for a much more detailed description of the incident which can be found by clicking here.

Ray Langford returned to fly with the 404th and survived the war. He passed away in December 2006 aged 87, and at the time of his death he still had in his possession the now well singed flying helmet and gloves he was wearing when he crashed.

First Lieutenant Robert W "Bob" Green had his close call on takeoff also, banged a wingtip in the tops of some trees, since cut down. And Freddie Fredendall could only say "I heard the music, that's as close as I want to come" when he returned from a three hour mission with his tail wheel doors peeled back like the top of a sardine can, and jammed with brush after skimming a three foot hedge at the west side of the field on takeoff.

Most anxious men of the month were First Lieutenant Duane D. "out-Hout" Inthout, sweating out his plane the first time one of our new pilots flew it on a mission, and Capt "Lad" Lutman hounding the S-2 section for his Air Medal. "It's not that that the Lad is really worried about the medal," he would say, "hell a little ribbon don't mean a damn to me. But if I get enough of them fast enough I might get back to see the wife and kids by Christmas, see".

Good natured Lad also rated some sort of recognition as the most browned off man in the squadron on the 11 May escort mission to Saarbrucken when his flight was fired upon three times by B-24s. "Hell", he said, "if those guys shoot at me again I'm going to shoot back. It's them or me. We were going down to protect a straggler and they were just firing all over the place".

After three missions escorting B-26s, the boys decided that bomber pilots who could fly straight and level though four miles of flak were pretty good after all. Only sour note was the mission of 28 May to Chartres when the B26s flew all round Chartres which was plainly visible to us, and then bombed somewhere else. The Colonel leading our group finally asked the bombers in exasperation "do you have the slightest idea of where you are and why ?"

Most embarrassed man of the month was Major Tice. Visited by a couple of old Fifth Air Force friends in Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, he took a P-38 up for a quick turn around the field and flew with one quarter flaps down. In 1942 he ran up 100 combat hours on '38s, covered the battle of the Bismarck Sea, strafed the Kokoda trail and bombed it, and got himself two Zeros. "It's just been so long since I handled one, " he explained as he fined himself ten dollars "but it sure felt good. I still think they handle lighter and better than the 47, for all their weight and extra engine".

Between missions during the early part of the month, all the pilots banded together into a labor force policed up two large glider crates and a corrugated iron ammunition shelter and made themselves a comfortable briefing room and snack bar. Major Tice taxied the "clee track" around for the heavy pushing and hauling, while First Lieutenants Sherman N Crocker, "OutHout" Int-Hout and Second Lieutenant Leroy Graham acted as carpenters in chief..

The Cleveland Cletrac M2 7 ton high speed tractor was used by the USAAF for towing aircraft and heavy ground equipment.

At the end of the month the gang was intact, respectful of flak but confident still wondering where the hell the Luftwaffe kept itself and ready for invasion. "I know just where they are going in" said 2nd Lieutenant Floyd F "Ramblin' Wreck" Blair. "They are going to land on both sides of the Cherbourg peninsula and cut that thing off. There's all kinds of good beaches around there."

May 17th 1944, 1st Lt Raymond F Gay jr, 2nd Lts Denzil B Lee, Charles R Koerner, Elton B Long, F/O William W Donohoe* joined squadron.

* F/O stood for Flight Officer, a rare grade in the U.S., lower than 2nd Leutenant but higher than a non-commissioned officer.

photo from Sam Skelrigg via Bob Williams and the 404th Fighter Group Association

Chuck Viccellio (Killed in Action), Joe Sherwood (Deceased), Bert Espy (Killed in Action), Harry Nystrom (Deceased), Bill Abraham (Deceased), Giles 'Granny' Wright (Deceased), Sam Selkregg, Clarence 'Nellie' Nelson (Deceased), John Robinson, Joe Landa and Wayne Anacker.

Bob Johnson (Killed in Action), Jack Connor, Robert 'Count' Colwell (Deceased), Jerry Tullis (Deceased), Jack Shelton, Walter 'Doc' Williams, Jack Tueller, Luciano Herrera, Bill Kerr, Claude 'Obie' O'Brian (Deceased), Leo Moon (Squadron Commander), Joe Wilson, Ben Kitchens (Killed in Action), Ernest 'Tibbo' Tibbets (Killed in Action), Chuck Caldwell and Ralph Smathers.

On May 1 1944 this squadron became operational fulfilling the hopes and desires of all its members since activation. The first mission was uneventful, but due to the tension of going into combat for the first time it will be remembered by all members of the squadron as one of our most difficult missions. Fly specks on canopies were "Bogies", Bogies were undoubtably "Bandits", all flak no matter how inaccurate was "accurate, heavy, intense" - the highest official categorisation describing flak activity as reported in the mission reports. The briefing was very detailed and lengthy and the interrogation a frenzy of mixed emotions and exuberant tales. Happily enough, when the smoke of battle had cleared we concluded it to be an uneventful fighter sweep. On the same day we had another fighter sweep, this time making a deeper penetration into France and this mission too was uneventful.

Having once broken the ice with our first mission we were set now to take everything that might come in stride, but lo in swept bad weather and back again to the tortuous grind of listening to listening to intelligence officers in ground school, a horrible ordeal.

May 7 1944, good weather again favored us and the squadron had its first dive bombing mission. Col. McColpin, our Group Commander led the mission as well as our first two, due to the fact that Major Moon, our Squadron Commander, was flying with another group to gain some combat experience. We dive bombed marshalling yards at Arras with very good results.

May 8 1944 found the boys very excited returning from a fighter sweep. They had seen their first enemy aircraft. Me 109s and FW 190s were seen between Chalons and Reims but they didn't attack. Major Moon led our squadron for the first time on this mission.

May 9 1944 found our boys attacking a rocket gun target (V1 launch site) direct hits were observed on the target and flak that had everybody holding their breath were encountered at Neufchatel. Again on the 9th. we flew top cover for the 507th squadron which attacked another rocket gun target and this mission was very uneventful.

May 10 1944 again we were blasting railroads attacking the yards at Arras. Major Moon and Bob Johnson cleared the target area of flak by dropping fragmentation bombs on the target before the remainder of the group attacked. They flew so low they had to turn to avoid colliding with the water tower of the town.

May 11 1944 found our boys escorting heavies for the first time. It was a gruelling mission of four hours duration. Joe Sherwood, our Operations Officer, led this mission and upon returning said his seat was worn out and he wanted to know where the hell the Luftwaffe was, after all going to Saarbrucken on a long four hour mission was long enough for Goering to send up some of his boys and if he had to wear out his seat for four hours Herr Goering should send up some planes to relieve the boredom..

May 13th 1944 again we were top cover while the 506th and 507th squadrons of our group dive-bombed the marshalling yard at Tournai. The mission was uneventful.

May 19 1944 our target was Beaumont sur Oise Airdrome but weather made it impossible for us to attack. However we had our first encounter with Jerry. Six Me 109s jumped our squadron near Rouen which was extremely unfortunate for them. When the shooting was over we had our first victory. Ben Kitchens dove after a 109 from 12,000 feet and caught him at 500 feet and shot him down. On takeoff Jack Connor failed to get his heavily loaded Thunderbolt in the air and crashed at the end of the runway considerably damaging his aircraft. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Jack jump out of his ship uninjured. Jack said that this was the time he heard those bells ringing.

May 20th 1944 again we served as escort for B26s attacking Evreux Fauville airdrome near Paris mission was uneventful.

May 21 1944 our mission was to attack rolling stock southeast of Paris but bad weather forced us to return without making an attack.

May 22 1944 found our boys on what Drexel Morgan called the "milk run" - as easy as the milkman delivering milk door to door. We were ordered to attack Bethune for the third time and our pilots found it great sport to tear up the railway yards again.

May 23 1944 again we served as guardian angels to B26s attacking targets in the Caen area, mission was uneventful.

May 24th 1944 found us again on what our pilots called the seat hardener mission. On this occasion we escorted B24s to Paris and returned. Upon interrogation Sam Selkregg shouted with his buoyant enthusiasm "No Hits, No Runs, No Errors" meaning mission uneventful.

May 25 1944 Our mission was escorting B26s to Liege, Belgium and again results uneventful.

May 29 1944 Our mission was to escort B17s returning from Berlin. Our squadron made its deepest penetration into the continent. Making rendezvous with the bombers at Grebenham was uneventful but bad luck dogged our takeoff and landing. Harry Nystrom failed to get his heavily laden ship in the air and crashed on the end of the runway. He luckily escaped without a scratch. Ed Pounds caught some flak in the tail of his ship and his tail wheel failed to lower when he landed. His ship was under control at first but with no tail wheel his ship became unmanageable and rather than crash into some ships that were taxing he jammed on the brakes and his ship nosed over and went on its back. Ed escaped with only a small cut on his head, a very lucky pilot.

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A photo taken by a 9th AF P-38, group and squadron unknown, while escorting B-17's along with the 508th Squadron. Its not know if other 404th Sqdns's were involved. (photo courtesy Stephen Tueller)

May 30 1944 our mission was to escort heavy bomber stragglers from Holland, mission uneventful.

May 31 1944 found us again to be supporting heavy bombers but old man weather dogged us and rendezvous was not made. Joe Landa said he heard the bells ringing when he spun from 15000 feet while in the overcast, finally pulling out at 2000 feet, a harrowing experience.

Summarising May we find the squadron flew a total of 22 missions with a breakdown as follows, 3 fighter sweeps, 7 dive bombing missions, and 12 escort missions. After a month of operations every member of the squadron recognised that our excellent record was due to the tireless work and excellent leadership of Major Leo C Moon.

We are happy to report we dropped 42� tons of bombs, successfully escorted B26s, B24s and B17s, destroyed one enemy aircraft and suffered no casualties among our ranks.

Also due much credit for the success of our squadron in May are the enlisted men of our squadron whose tireless efforts enabled us to accomplish our excellent record.