We Rock
The moments for individual thought, reflection or activities except preparing for combat were rare for an airman in 1944. Down time was precious and generally used to catch up on correspondence with those at home or maybe a chance to see some of the English countryside. There were also offerings of some movies and an occasional visit by a USO performer.
The Ground crews and enlisted airmen listened to music, played ball, played cards and read magazines. However, free time was occasionally used to concoct schemes that gave all a more effective part of the destruction of the Third Reich's war machine. The ground support crews and enlisted airmen conspired to design a new arsenal for the war effort. It took just a few hours to gather the needed materials and to celebrate the completion of their task, it was suggested that they cap off the newly designed arsenal by signing their names on it. Also messages to Goering, Goebbels and even Hitler were inscribed. Having loaded the new weapons on board the Swamp Fire the night before, the crew only had to go through the standard procedures for today’s mission, hopefully it would be Germany.
06:30 hours- We arose and prepared for the mission briefing at 07:30 hours
07:30 hours- Mission briefing - target? Yes, Germany!
08:20 hours- Boarded Swamp Fire and went through flight checks
09:38 hours- Take off perfect - no problem with additional weight and load secured
10:40 hours- Rendezvous with other bomber squadrons was perfect and it’s off to cross the channel
13:30 hours- Most of the flight was smooth and uneventful no fighters so far, could this end up a milk run?
14:40 hours- After a little evasive action we neared the primary target and set up for the bomb run- still no fighters, but plenty of flak!
15:13 hours- Bombardier Herk Harris announced all bombs away & right on target – so it’s a left turn and head for home but first; we had to find a target to unleash the secret weapons on.
15:14 hours- Matt our navigator says perfect target dead ahead in less than 5 minutes - just enough time to prepare
15:18 hours- Gunners and ground support crewmen of the 379th and Swamp Fire enter aviation combat history by dropping a large salvo of used aircraft parts and autographed British river rocks on the Third Reich!!!
“It was around 1969 I believe” said Byron Clark the Swamp Fire’s Co-pilot. “If I remember correctly I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, you know how boring that can be.”
“I don’t remember what the magazine was, Reader’s Digest or National Geographic, something like that. Anyway, I saw an article about the allied bombing campaign in WWII. It went on about how effective it was and surprisingly, at just how accurate our carpet bombing had been. A German lady was giving testimony on her impression of our accuracy. She stated, that all in all she was impressed that we did attempt to hit primarily military installations and support factories. She mentioned that they lived in a small town near some of the major target areas. Most of the time they felt safe enough to watch the raids from their front stoop. All that changed one day when they heard a terrible noise coming from inside of the house. They ran inside and climbed the stairs to see a large hole through the roof and when the dust had cleared she found a rock in her bed.”
“I laughed loud, hard and long disturbing the entire waiting room. The looks I got made me lose control even more. Every time I saw the face of one of these unknowing onlookers, I also saw the face of my fellow crewmen and thought; there’s one confirmed hit for our boys!”