Kevin J. Bowers

World War II Air Corps Missions

1944-1945

My Missions - Italy

• Introduction
• Missions
  • Mission 1
  • Missions 2-3
  • Mission 4
  • Mission 5
  • Mission 6
  • Mission 7
  • Missions 8-9
  • Missions 10-11
  • Mission 12
• Sorties
  • Sorties 10-20
    • Sortie 10
    • Sortie 11
    • Sortie 12
    • Sortie 13
    • Sortie 14
    • Sortie 15
    • Sortie 16
    • Sortie 17
    • Sortie 18
    • Sortie 19
    • Sortie 19A
  • Sorties 20-30
    • Sortie 20
    • Sortie 22
    • Sortie 23
    • Sortie 24
    • Sortie 25
    • Sortie 26
    • Sortie 27
    • Sortie 28
    • Sortie 29
    • Sortie 30
• Images/Pictures
  • Original Diary
    • Item 3.1.1
    • Item 3.1.2
  • Item 3.2
  • Item 3.3
• Biography

 

 

 

 

MISSION 7

We took off with 500 lb. bombs to bomb Munich. We never got there. The weather was fairly bad. We flew all over Germany ending up near the Swiss boarder (sic). We went over a fairly large town at 22,000 feet and got scant flack.

We did not drop our bombs, so we went back over it at about 18,000 and got more flack this time fairly accurate. We still didn't drop our bombs. The lead navigator was apparently lost. We turned right; then left; then right again; et cetera. By this time we had used up so much fuel that we had to drop our bombs in the Adriatic in order to get home. We made it, but a lot of planes landed at bases other than our own to refuel. The mission was a total loss.

On the mission I couldn't get my left gun working because the ammunition had jammed the feed mechanism. Everyone on the crew blamed me - somewhat unjustly, I think. The result was that the pilot told them about me at operations. I think I'll be switched to another crew. It may be for the best.

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