384th BGHA - July 4, 1943

July 4, 1943

384th Bomb Group Mission #6

Target for the day: Gnome et Rhone Aircraft Engine Plant in Le Mans, France

The Inferno | Courtesy of 384thBombGroup.com⇗

July 4, 1943: The 384th flies their sixth combat mission to Le Mans, France.

Their target for the day was the Gnome et Rhone Aircraft Engine Plant.

The 384th flew as the Lead Group of the 103rd Combat Wing, and with them flew a YB-40 gunship from the 92nd Bomb Group to provide extra support.

Leading the Group on this mission was The Inferno⇗ with Major Raymond Ketelsen (Commander)⇗ and 2nd Lt. Richard Thompson Carrington (Pilot)⇗.

15 aircraft completed this mission, 2 had to abort due to mechanical failures, and 2 would be lost.

The Group had gone 5 days since their last mission, so they did not have a good indication of weather conditions and what to expect from enemy fighters.

Cloud cover was heavy, and because of this, they arrived to the French coast 5 minutes late, as detailed by 1st Lt. James R. Martin-Vegue (Group Navigator)⇗ in his narrative report⇗.

Before even making it to target, Lakanuki⇗, piloted by 2nd Lt. Lawrence Wayne Myer, had their emergency life raft come loose and inflated midflight. As detailed in Missing Air Crew Report 3035⇗, 2nd Lt. Myer dropped out of formation and took the aircraft into a steep dive to attempt to free the life raft.

Lakanuki | Courtesy of 384thBombGroup.com⇗

As this happened, the engine stalled and caused Lakanuki to go into an uncontrollable spin before ultimately crashing 40 kilometers away from Le Mans. Nine of the crew were killed in action, and only S/Sgt. David Lloyd Butcher (Tail Gunner) survived. He was able to evade capture with help of the French Resistance.

S/Sgt. David Butcher (Tail Gunner, Survivor), S/Sgt. Jack Davidson (Radio Operator, KIA) and S/Sgt. James Lynn LaRue (Top Turret Gunner, KIA) | Courtesy of the Ken Decker Collection, Mark Meehl, and 384thBombGroup.com⇗

2nd Lt. Thomas Brzoznowski (Bombardier, KIA) and 2nd Lt. Lawrence Myer (Pilot, KIA) | Courtesy of the Ken Decker Collection, Mark Meehl, and 384thBombGroup.com⇗

S/Sgt. Jack Davidson (Radio Operator, KIA), S/Sgt. James LaRue (Top Turret Gunner, KIA), S/Sgt. Kenneth Christensen (Waist Gunner, KIA), and S/Sgt. James T. Carter (Ball Turret Gunner, KIA) | Courtesy of the Ken Decker Collection, Mark Meehl, and 384thBombGroup.com⇗

The rest of the Group continued on, and though they were slightly delayed from the weather, they made it to target. By then, the clouds had cleared, which allowed for good bombing conditions. In his S-3 Narrative⇗, Captain Alfred Charles Nuttall⇗ recorded that "There were 159,500 pound bombs dropped at the target, a bombing run of approximately 2½ minutes."

Nymokymi | Courtesy of 384thBombGroup.com⇗

Captain William Dolan detailed in his mission report⇗ that approximately 100 enemy fighters (Focke Wulf 190s) immediately went after the Group. This would result in the loss of another B-17, Nymokymi⇗, named after the home states of its crew.

Sgt. Willard Freeman (Ball Turret Gunner) detailed in Escape and Evasion Report #263⇗, "For some reason we were forced out of position just over the French coast." However, they were able to drop their bombs on target. After doing so, they were singled out by enemy fighters. Their #1 engine caught fire, oxygen system was destroyed, and then 2 more engines were lost.

The enemy attacks caused a fire in the nose of the aircraft that killed 2nd Lt. Francis Hackley (Navigator) and 2nd Lt. Donald Irvine (Bombardier).

Despite the chaos, F/O Gordon Erickson (Pilot) held the aircraft steady, allowing for most of the crew to bail out before crashing near Belfonds.

1st Lt. Clifford Charles Dartt (Co-Pilot) and S/Sgt. Paul Welch (Radio Operator) were captured and taken prisoners of war.

The remaining six crew members successfully evaded capture with the help of the French Resistance. S/Sgt. Freeman and S/Sgt. George Ashworth (Waist Gunner) bailed out at 18,000 feet, with Freeman fracturing his ankle upon landing. French civilians immediately hid them both in a barn.

Sgt. Charles Mankowitz (Tail Gunner) was shot in the leg while on board, bailed out through the tail hatch, and was rescued by a Resistance member, with whom he communicated using a French-English dictionary. He carried Mankowitz on a stretcher to a forest hut where he was reunited with S/Sgt. Freeman, and the two spent 47 days recovering under the care of the underground.

The rest of the crew, F/O Erickson, T/Sgt. Robert H. Penly (Top Turret Gunner), and S/Sgt. Frank J. Mingerter (Waist Gunner), were helped through separate underground networks. They were able to avoid German search parties, and eventually crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain to reach safety.

Today, memorials stand in France in honor of both the Lakanuki and Nymokymi crews.