322nd Bomb Group

The story following details the disastrous events of one of the 322nd's missions; the last one flown from Rougham Field.

May 17th 1943 - Station 468 Rougham Field

The 322nd Bomb Group were still reeling from the 14th May mission, where they suffered a number of casualties, and lost Lt. Howell and his crew in a crash near home base at Browns Farm, Rougham.

On May 16th, the Group's new Commanding Officer, Colonel Robert Stillman, was called to a conference at Headquarters, Elvedon Hall, near Thetford. He was informed that reconnaisance photos of the P.E.N electricity generating plant at Ijmiuden on the Dutch coast, the target attacked on May 14th, had shown no damaage and was still in full operation. Col. Stillman was informed that VIIIth Bomber Command wanted the target to be attacked again the next day. Col. Stillman could not believe they were serious, stating that to attack the same target so soon could mean enemy defences would be ready and waiting for them. General Longfellow, VIIth Bomber Command, was adamant that the attack should go ahead, and although he sympathised with Col. Stillman's point of view, threatened him with the loss of his command if he refused to obey orders.

B-26 over a railway

Upset at the thought of sending his crews back to the same target so soon after their harrowing first mission, Col. Stillman returned to Rougham Field.

The mission commences

The order for the mission arrived at Rougham at 00:36 hours on May 17th asking for a maximum effort raid, flying the same route as on May 14th. Lt. Colonel Alfred Von Kolnitz, the 322nd BG's Chief Intelligence Officer, was alarmed that the same route was to be flown, as he expected heavy enemy opposition. He wrote a memo to Col. Stillman, ending it, "For God's sake, get fighter cover!"

Von Kolnitz's memo

The crews alerted for the mission were from the 450th and 452nd Squadrons, who with four exceptions, had not flown the first mission. One of these was Col Stillman, who was determined to lead. The 322nd could field eleven B-26 Marauders for the mission, with the 452nd aircraft leading.

Although the crews were confident of a second success, they all expected to meet stiff opposition, and many were convinced they would not return. Col. Stillman was also convinced that the mission was going to be a disaster, but was determined to do his duty, and ensure the target was knocked out this time. As he left the Intelligence Section after the mission briefing, Lt. Col. Von Kolnitz said, "Cheerio". Stillman answered: "No, it's goodbye". Trying to cheer him up, Von Kolnitz said, "I'll see you at one o'clock." "It's goodbye", replied Stillman firmly.

Takeoff

At 10.50 hours, Col. Stillman took off in the lead aircraft on the main East/West runway and made a left hand circuit of the field, with the other aircraft taking off at 30-second intervals. After all eleven aircraft had assembled in a 'Javelin' formation, Col. Stillman flew over the field at 11:10 hours at a height of 250ft. The formation raced to the coast and passed over the briefed departure point of Orfordness. On the ground, a Royal Observer Corps postmarked their passing at 11:20 hours.

The formation now turned East North East and after 15 miles, turned off their identification 'Friend or Foe' radar, and dropped to 50 feet. The Dutch coast was approximately half an hour away.

At 11:47 hours, and 33 miles off the coast of Holland, Captain Stephens in the 452nd Flight aborted due to power failure to the top turret and one engine not giving the correct boost. He made a 180° turn and headed back to England.

Formation flown by the 322nd

Getting lost

Five minutes from the Dutch coast, the rest of the formation increased speed from 200 to 250MPH. A convoy of ships was spotted ahead, and these vessels radioed to the passing aircraft that enemy radar was on the coast. As a result of this, Col. Stillman decided to turn the formation south. The shipping convoy was sailing near the Hook of Holland, which is 18 miles from where the 322nd should have made landfall!

Once the convoy was lost from sight, the formation turned back North East, believing they would cross the Dutch coast five miles from Noordwijk, near the Hague. In reality, on crossing the coast at 11:50 hours, the formation was 25 miles from Noordwijk and was heading towards Rozenburg Island, in the Maas River Estuary, the most heavily defended area in the Netherlands.

Heavy flak is encountered

As the formation passed over the island, they were showered by 20mm cannon shells. The lead aircraft took direct hits, which severed the flight controls, and killed Lt. Resweber, Col. Stillman's co-pilot. As a result of the loss of flying controls, the Marauder snap rolled, and Col. Stillman saw the ground coming up to meet him. His plane crashed upside down, but amazingly Col. Stillman, Sgt. Freeman and Sgt. Willis were all pulled from the wreckage alive. The two Sgts survived the first mission, and had now been lucky again.

The following flight, which was two miles to the south, also encountered heavy fire from the ground. Lt. Garrambone's aircraft was hit, he lost control and the aircraft crashed into the Maas River. Lt. Garrambone and three of his crew survived.

Believing they were approaching the target area, pilots and navigators looked for the landmarks they had noted on the mission briefing. As they were flying way off course, there were none, and they were flying somewhere between Delft and Rotterdam. Captain Converse now led the first flight, and taking evasive action to avoid flak, collided with Lt. Wolf's aircraft, which was leading the second element. Both B-26s went down, but four gunners survived from the two aircraft, one being Sgt. Thompson, the fourth veteran of May 14th.

Parts and debris from the two Marauders hit a following aircraft called 'Chickersaw Chief', causing the pilot, Lt. Wurst, to crash land the B-26 in a field near the town of Mieje. Sgt. Heski, the top turret gunner, lost a foot in the crash, but this was the only serious casualty.

This left only Lt. F H Matthew and Lt. E R Norton of the third element of the lead flight in the air. Lt. Norton's co-pilot was his twin brother, J A Norton. These two aircraft joined the second flight to make a more effective force to bomb the target. Unfortunately, the second flight was as lost as the first, and had no idea where the target lay.

Trying to get home

Forty-five miles into Holland, the remaining aircraft decided to turn for home. Lt. Col. Purinton, who was leading the second flight, asked his navigator, Lt. jeffries, for a heading. Lt. Jeffries answered, "270 degrees", followed by, "Hold it a minute, I think I see the target - yes, there it is!". Bomb doors were opened and Purinton's co-pilot, lt. Kinney, sighted and dropped the bombs on what they thought was the target. In reality, it was the gasholder in the suburbs of Amsterdam.

All aircraft dropped their bombs when Lt. Kinney dropped his, but unbeknown to them, on a heading of 270 degrees, they were heading directly for the 'real' target at Ijmuiden. On passing over the 'real' target, they encountered more heavy flak, and Lt. Col. Purinton's plane was hit, but he managed to ditch it two miles offshore. Lt. Jeffries was killed in the crash and a German patrol boat picked up the rest of the crew.

Lt. Jones' aircraft was the next to be shot down and crashed. Lt. Aliamo was the only survivor.

The Norton brothers, now flying at 250MPH to try and make it home, were shot down west of Ijmuiden. Their tailgunner, Sgt. Longworth, was the only survivor of their crew.

Only two aircraft remain

Only Lt. Matthews and Captain Crane remained in the air, at some distance apart. They survived the coastal flak and raced for England. However their troubles were not over. When the marauders crossed the coast on the inbound flight, 26 Focke Wulf fighters were sent out on a combat alert from Woensrecth, Souther Holland, and were vectored to meet the bombers. At 12:18, they saw Lt. Matthews and Captain Jack Crane's aircraft flying low and fast over the North Sea, and they attacked.

On board Capt. Crane's B-26, there was trouble. Capt. Crane asked the top turret gunner and engineer, George Williams, to "Come up front, george, there is something wrong with the rudder." Williams checked the rudder cables, and repaired a damaged section with some safety wire from the rear of the turret. As he returned to the turret, the aircraft was peppered with bullets and he saw the port engine in flames. He called to Captain crane, but there was no reply. The plane started to lose altitude, levelled off, and then dived into the sea.

Sgt. Williams and Sgt. Jesse Lewis, the tail gunner, scrambled to safety out of the camera hatch, climbed into a life raft and watched the Marauder sink in about 45 seconds. The time was 12:24 hours, and they were 80 miles from England. They spent five days in the raft before being rescued and returned to England, and to the 322nd Bomb Group.

Lt. Matthews' plane was shot into the sea at 12:30. There were no survivors.

Meanwhile, in England...

Back at Rougham, the estimated time for the Group's return was 12:50 hours. On the Control Tower balcony, General Brady from 8th Bomber Command, and other watchers, were growing apprehensive. At 13:05 hours, an RAF listening post reported that it had intercepted a German radio transmission, which said that it had shot two bombers into the sea.

By 13:30 hours, it was decided that no aircraft were still airborne, and that a disaster had occurred, with all ten aircraft being lost. Of the 60 airmen shot down in enemy territory, 22 survived as prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war

No one was more surprised to have survived than Col. Stillman, who was one of the prisoners. He related his story after the war, and recalled, "The ship snap rolled, which is like a corkscrew. I wasn't scared, I didn't have time to be, but I knew this was curtains. A wing was down, I looked out of the window and saw the ground coming up to us. There was nothing to do but shut my eyes and wait. it's peculiar at a time like that, a man is not worried."

On seeing Col. Stillman walk into the Stalag Luft III, lt. Col. Purinton could not believe his eyes. "You can't be here", Purinton said, "You're dead - we saw you crash. I've already reported you and your entire crew dead."

Whilst a prisoner of war, Col. Stillman surmised that the mission was a disater, and one factor had contributed to its failure. When Captain Stephens aborted at the start of the mission, he climbed to 1000 feet. Col. Stillman did not blame him for this, as it was standard operating procedure for the B-26 in order to allow the crew to bale out if necessary. Howerver, Col. Stillman was convinced that in so doing, Capt. Stephens had unwittingly exposed his aircraft to enemy radar, thus alerting the Germans to the presence of the rest of the force.

Aftermath

As a result of the May 17th disaster, the 322nd Bomb Group were stood down, and the B-26 Marauder programme was put on hold temporarily. It was deemed suicidal to fly the B-26 at low level, so tactice were rethought, and the B-26 was used at medium level.

The 322nd Bomb Group were moved to Andrewsfield, near Braintree, Essex, as a part of this strategy and resumed operations on the last day of July 1943. Colonel Glen C Nye, the man who had nursed the 322nd Group in the early days of its existence, before Col. Stillman, was given command.