Chapter 48-15 Villacoublay

William Dale Olmsted's 15th mission (US #442) as Flight Engineer for this combat crew in the 846th squadron was an afternoon B-24 bomb run on from the 489th Bomb Group, Halesworth England to German occupied airfield just on the southwest edge of Paris. It was just one of the harrowing 30 missions completed as several bomber planes from the group were destroyed and making it back to base was precarious. Villacoublay endured six bombing missions during the war and lost 43 civilians later during a 24Aug44 bomb run. That collateral damage hit the St Denis courtyard near the hangars at Clos .    St. Denis Church today.    [various Google Earth hacking for composite, runway craters appear to be from prior missions, this one plumes hitting lower left Breguet aircraft assembly hangar, maybe runup bomb run azimuth 114 degrees at 23,000ft ] " On a less tragic note, Bill Olmsted, the flight engineer on Captain John Elliot's 846th crew, said, "We got hit pretty good and lost an engine. Then we also lost the formation, not being able to keep p. (Co-pilot) Doug Strong was calling for fighter support, to no avail. Getting a little frantic, he said "Where the hell are you?" A voice came back, saying 'We're busy, but we'll be up there shortly.' It turned out they were down on the deck shooting up ME-109s as fast as they took off. Then the war really came home to Doug. There was a three-gun battery next to the river, and it was shooting at us. Being all alone, it occurred to Doug to say on the interphone, with much feeling 'Those SOBs are shooting at us!' He took it very personally. I'll never forget the tone and feeling in his voice.'  "A History of the 489th Bomb Group" , Charles Fredenthal.

25 June 1944 (VILLACOUBLAY) – Radio Operator John Foster's diary

Our target was Paris, and again it was one of those afternoon raids. It started off bad, with one plane not being able to get off the runway. It kept right on going, and plane parts were scattered all over. The plane caught fire, but 8 crew members managed to get out [Lt Eastham, received Soldiers Metal for bravery] . The heat started the bomb load off, and they blew up all the rest of the day. We took off right after it happened, and on the same runway. We had no more than passed over the wreckage when a bomb exploded, making Capt. Elliot veer way to the left.

“The next bad thing was the bombing itself. I was never so scared in all my life. We went through hell for fifteen minutes and I can’t see to this day how we managed to get through. When our formation hit the bomb run I was just waiting for the burst of flak that would blow our plane to bits. A hundred guns were firing at us, and I had resigned myself to getting it over Paris.

“At the IP I got down on the catwalk and opened the doors. I heard over the intercom that there was a hell of a lot of flak ahead but that we would probably miss it. In just a vew minutes the navigator (Rubin Kaplan) blared out ‘Pull her up Pappy. Pull her up, Pappy!’ ….Blackburn, in the ship ahead* of us was going down on fire* [AC# 42-94909 "SAFU", MACR, same one Olmsted nearly went down in day prior on Tingry- Lille mission] , and we were headed right into him. COVER GIRL [AC#42-94945] jerked up, and the flaming B-24 slid underneath us. At briefing I later learned the radioman was seen plunging from the plane on fire… This bomb run was terrible. We must stay on course, and, thusly, offer the best target possible to the flak batteries. Although it’s merely a matter of minutes, every one of them seems like hours, and there you are – a clay pigeon.

“Smitty yelled, ‘Bombs Away!’ This is one time I didn’t hesitate closing the bomb bay doors. At the end of the bomb run there were only two ships still remaining in the formation. The rest took off like wild geese, avoiding the damn flak. A woof woof hit right under the bomb bay and ripped out our hydraulic system. The bomb bay was immediately flooded with fluid, and there our troubles began. Number one engine started to smoke, so Captain Elliot feathered the prop. Marvin (Glassman) reported he had been hit, and all this time we were straggling from the formation. Someone yelled the oxygen was out and for us to check our regulators. It was impossible to keep up with the outfit on three engines, so the co-pilot (Doug Strong) called for fighter protection, and I started shooting green flares.

“As we passed back over the IP, Captain Titus’s PF [Path Finder Force to  illuminate target ] got a burst and was aflame from nose to tail. Several chutes were seen and the fellows floated directly into Paris. The P-51s and P-38s sure looked fine, and they helped us all the way to the loveable Channel. Someone went back and bandaged Marvin, and by that time we were over the field. This was the fifth time we had come back on three engines, but we didn’t know if we had any brakes. The fellows in the waist had chutes rigged up in case we didn’t, and Pappy brought her in perfect. When we got out of that ship we had more people around than we could do with. The plane had over a hundred holes in it, and it was a miracle that more than one person didn’t get hit. The heated suit cords on Bruner’s suit were cut, and rivets had been knocked into Pappy’s lap. The hit on the bomb bay door made a rip a foot long. It was impossible to fix her on the field, and it was necessary to take COVER GIRL to the sub-depot.

“Another B-24 coming in under the same conditions as ours, crashed short of the runway and killed eight of the crew……That was the most nerve-wracking mission yet, and Captain Elliott and Smitty are in the hospital with Marvin…Going to rest camp, hot dog! It was hard getting to sleep at night. Our last mission in the GIRL* .” (John Foster diary) [bear in mind this was just a day's work, prior day's mission to Tingry-Lille didn't get back till 8:20pm, then debriefing etc]

(*see story from John Robert (Jack) Kennedy) [Dad met one of those crewmen in a surprising coincidence, Tom McGory, in small nearby town of Dryden one day while wearing his Cover Girl bomber jacket. Tom was a football coach at Cornell University]

related web links

30 Missions text

30 Missions geographical plot

All WW2 Bombing Missions

489th Bomb Group

93rd BG

Target for Today Excellent 1944 AA Corps Govt movie puts you right back there to cover a whole mission. Real military personnel although campy stilted dialog. 1 1/2 hr  if glitch/reload

* Clarence J.Barras (pilot) 16Apr45 letter to Blackburn family. French civilian also wrote family resulting in grave identification. 

Mighty Eigth strike photo (from nephew of Brotherton below)

MIA Douglas Brotherton same day different target

KIA James W. Blackburn listed under Blackman on AC#42-94909, "SAFU"

MACR missing aircrew report and POW Osborne in 42-94945 Cover Girl

Glenn Miller, whose band was to play for the troops of Liberated Paris in Dec 1944 was to land at Villacoublay, but ended up missing never to be seen again.

On 25 June 1944 the 491st Bomb Group was also a part of this combined US Mission 442 and had returned to Paris for this Villacoublay run and had again lost one ship to the vicious flak over that city. The B-24 (44-40129) flown by 1st Lt. Marvin W. Butler of the 855th Ssquadron took a direct burst in the bomb bay and broke in two just aft of the wing. "The tail section floated down slow and easy like a big box kite," but nobody saw any chutes. Their web page also criticizes Dad's 489th group lead on the Bretigny mission 2Jun44. Routes chosen cost several ships.

1943 Villacoublay mission by 384th- 5 ships lost several evaded capture

Luftwaffe Kampfgeschwader_55 bomber group believed to have operated from Villacoublay

Luftwaffe Field Marshall Robert Ritter von Greim had HQ of V Fliegerkorps at Villacoublay.   His memorial.