Target: Munich - 12 July 1944 - Mission #130

For the second day running, the Group was sent back to the same target under the same bombing options. It would fare much better this time. General briefings for (34) crews were held at 0545 and 0645 hours and at 0915 hours all began take-off. A total of (31) ships went over the target, releasing (310) 500# GPs by PFF means, but results were again unobserved due to the 10/10th cloud cover. Once more no fighters were encountered but flak over target was heavy and accurate. While no ships were lost, (6) were battle damaged by AA fire. All returned safely at Wendling about 1515 hours.

A press release in the 392nd Group History Folder in the National Archives gives these details about B-24 #41-29131 and the 1/Lt Holliday crew: "Rapidly building a record as a miracle ship, the B-24 Liberator flying Patch returned from Munich on its 58th mission with two engines out and two more holes punched in it by flak. Two more holes in the flak-battered aircraft meant a total of 2502. With a record of more holes per mission than any other bomber on the base, the Flying Patch was brought back from Hitler's old headquarters by 1/Lt Ben L. Holliday. Never favored by operations and always on the active list as soon as it is patched up, the Patch flies frequently. The mission to Munich was the second to that in two days by the Patch, Lt Holliday and his crew. Holding his bandaged right arm, while waiting for the ambulance to take him to the hospital to remove a piece of flak, Lt. Holliday told how he and Patch picked up flak holes. "Flak knocked out number one engine-the outboard engine on the left wing-just as we began our bomb run," reported Holliday. "Shrapnel hit the propeller done and all the oil ran out. I yelled at the Bombardier to drop his bombs. Two minutes later flak came through the right side of the ship beside the co-pilot. It sliced his microphone cord, bounced off the metal handle of the parachute rip cord and slewed off to the left to hit me in the right arm. Stung like a bee sting." The copilot, Lt Paul U. Daniel, cut in. "When I told the radio operator to see how badly Ben was hurt, he had to slice thru his flying clothing to bandage it. Ben told him to be careful and not to cut his shirt as it was his best one. With number one engine out," the copilot continued, "we flew several thousand feet below the formations, hedgehopping from Group to Group. Suddenly something went wrong with the number three engine-inboard on the right wing. We could get only partial power out of it, and it shook as though it were coming right off the wing. We thought nothing more could happen to us but about half way home number two engine quit. The fuel system had broken down, but we didn't know that at the time. There we were flying along with two engines out on the left wing and only one and a half on the right. We must have flown pretty close to 400 miles before we got number two engine back into operation again." "Fighter cover was swell," resumed Lt Holliday. "Four P-38's picked us up when we left formation and escorted us almost all the way back to the channel, then four P-47's took over. When I saw the P-38's overhead I had the boys throw out everything that was loose. Guns, ammunition, and all excess baggage went overboard. With two engines out and a third acting up, the position was too precarious to keep anything we didn't need. After the engineer found out what was wrong with the fuel lines, we came on in with very little trouble." "The Flying Patch is the miracle ship of the Group, "commented Lt.Col. Lorin L. Johnson, commanding officer of the unit. "It has flown nearly half of the Group's entire operations, been to Berlin, Friedrichshafen, Politz, Bremen, Kiel, Frankfurt, and other tough targets, taken more than the usual amount of damage and still keeps on flying."

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #130

Maj. Keilman and Capt. Holloman, C.C. flew in PFF ships.