Target: Somme River Bridge - 2 August 1944 - Mission #142

This raid was against a tactical target, a bridge across the Somme River four miles east of Amiens.

All three Bomb Divisions of the Eighth were to hit this concentrated area in what was a complicated attack plan. Briefings for (36) crews were conducted between 1300 and 1400 hours and at 1610 all began take-offs. The 578th Squadron’s lead ship, equipped with the newly installed radio controlled release (RCR) gear, was unable to pick up check points on the bomb run due to haze, thus, causing the Group to get off course. As a result, two Squadrons bombed a railroad junction Target of Opportunity near the primary releasing (200) 1000# GPs through the clouds. No fighters were encountered but once again flak was moderate and accurate, particularly over Rouen, Amiens and St. Omer. Several aircraft were heavily damaged and (2) were destroyed upon return of the (16) battle damaged. The 579th Squadron took the brunt of the casualties suffered this day. In ship #107, First Lieutenant R. V. Pardue, the pilot, was so badly injured and the ship shot up that the entire crew bailed out safely near Lynth in Kent. Copilot 1/Lt Jernigen was killed when his parachute did not open. In aircraft #897, Lieutenant Tuchel’s crew crash landed at Woodbridge, all crew members safe. Lieutenant W. P. Sewell in #990 was forced to crash land his ship near Manston, crash land his ship near Manston, fatally injuring one crewman. From the 579th, also, Flight Officer E. J. White’s crew returned with wounded. The surviving ships recovered at base around 2145 hours.

An article in the December 1999 edition of the 392nd BG News provided more information about 2/Lt Tuchel's crash landing. "Capt Bob Tuchel, pilot, reported: We received heavy damage from flak over the target. Our hydraulics were shot out, and Richard O'Rourke, the nose gunner, had face injuries from the shattered plexiglass in the nose. With the hydraulics gone we had no ailerons, so we flew back to Wendling on the autopilot. Over Wendling we radioed in to describe our condition and were instructed not to land at Wendling but to fly south to Woodbridge instead. I didn't know for sure where Woodbridge was and night was setting in quickly. Somewhere en route more of the nose turret came loose with a noise like a flak burst. I thought we were being shot at again. By that time it was completely dark. We were flying at 500 feet and spotted a B-17 base below us. We asked for directions to Woodbridge, and just as we got there the lights came on. We cranked down the landing gear by hand and lined up for a landing. We approached at 120 MPH, and upon touchdown we cut the power to all four engines and the landing was successful until the crew used parachutes to slow us down. One broke loose and the other started to pull us off the runway. To steer us back on path, we started number 3 and 4 engines. It took all 10,000 feet of the runway and the grass berm at the end to bring the a/c to a stop."

CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR

S/S Abshier, Arthur L. (EnG) 579th KIA

This crew member was the Flight Engineer on 2/Lt. W.R Sewell’s aircrew flying in B24J Model 42-99990, Call Letter "Bar B" nicknamed "SHORT SNORTER". An article in the December 1999 edition of the 392nd BG News provided this information: "We were the perfect example of the phrase 'If you see the flak, it won't hurt you,' said 2/Lt Wade Sewell, pilot. "We were approaching the French coast on the return flight and thought we were clear of the flak areas that we had been briefed about when a burst went off under us and we lost three engines and 5000 feet of altitude before I could get the a/c under control. We went all the way back across the Channel on the one remaining engine. The navigator, 2/Lt W.J. Richards, gave us a heading for Manston, and when we broke out of the overcast at about 400 feet it was right in front of us. I was able to make a 180 degree turn, but with the one engine I could not line up with the runway, so we came down in a potato field about a fourth of a mile from the field. A hedge row finally stopped us. The first man on the scene was the owner of the potato patch, who demanded to know who would pay for his ruined potatoes. Our only casualty was S/Sgt Abshier." He is interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 79 Site 57. (Note: On the 18 September 1944 Holland DZ supply drop, this entire crew suffered fatalities and other casualties. See that date's mission report for for more information.)

1/Lt Jernigen, William R. CP 579th KIA

1/Lt Jernigen was the navigator on 1/Lt R.V. Pardue's aircrew flying in B24H Model 42-51107. An article in the December 1999 edition of the 392nd BG News gave details from an interview with crewmen T/Sgt Vance Sibert (radio operator) and S/Sgt E.G. Lanning, left waist gunner. "We were hit with flak on the bomb run, losing two engines and a lot of altitude very quickly. We were not able to bomb the target, salvoing them in the Channel on the way home. Over Calais, we took more AA hits. When we made the coast of England, it was bail-out time, because by that time the third engine had gone out. All the crew reached the ground safely except the co-pilot, 1/Lt W.R. Jernigen, who was killed. He was wearing a back pack chute and it did not open. T/Sgt Sibert speculated that since Jernigen was left handed and the chute had a right-hand draw, he might have missed the handle. The abandoned a/c came to earth at Maxted Street, between Lymbridge Green and Elmsted Court, about 8 miles east of Ashford, Kent. 1/Lt Jernigen is interred in Springfield (Missouri) National Cemetery, Section 31 Site 2343.

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #142