Target: Koblenz - 9 October 1944 - Mission #182

Two plans were provided for this mission. Plan "A" was for the oil refinery at Zeitz while Plan "B" had two options depending on the target weather: If visual, to strike the airfield at Giessen; or, if PFF, the marshalling yards at Koblenz.

At 0800 and 0915 hours, 22 aircrews were briefed with Lieutenant Teague assigned Lead Bombardier in the 576th. All ships began take-off at 1120 hours. Target weather was undercast and 21 bombers hit the yards at Koblenz according to Plan "B". Results of the (144) 1000 pounders released on target through 10/10ths clouds were not observed. There were no fighters but flak once more was moderate and accurate. Only 2 bombers were battle damaged and all returned by 1745 hours.

CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR

T/SGT Gallo, Frank E. (R/O) 578th KILD

This crew member was flying with crew Pilot Capt. Ben Alexander on a PFF maintenance test flight in the local area on ship #42-7478, a B-24H Model, Call Letter "P-Bar", and nicknamed "FLYING CRUSADER". According to articles in the February and May 1990 issues of the 392nd BGMA News, other members of the crew were copilot Presley Broussard, navigator Tom Kirkwood, and engineer Rupert Sutphin. They took off shortly after lunch and quickly checked out the radar navigation equipment. After getting a heading from the navigator, pilot Alexander began his descent through the cloud cover. He recalled, "We broke out of the clouds at a low ceiling of about 300 ft., achieved visual contact with the base, and, as we were readying our turn onto the base leg, the problems began. First, the #3 prop ran away. With Presley's help on the rudder pedals, re-setting the vertical stabilizer and with great effort, we slowly managed some directional control. I had Press pull the power off #3, lower the gear and help me get lined up with the runway. When we were about a mile from the field, I suspected we had lost another engine as we couldn't maintain desired altitude on our approach. We were over a small village above a street with businesses under and ahead of us when the left gear brushed the top of a tall tree.

"It was time to forget reaching the runway. I hit the intercom button warning the crew to prepare for a crash landing, headed for a small field a short distance to our left and plopped the ship down about 50 feet beyond a 6-foot high hedgerow. We were in line with two large trees some 200 yards away. With very little directional control, I was depending mostly on hope and luck to pass between them. The left wing made it, but the right wing hit and completely sheared the trunk of the tree on the right about 10 feet above the ground. Spinning rapidly clock-wise P-Bar bounced into the far bank of a 4-feet deep bog, breaking the fuselage open just back of the trailing edge of the wings. It came to rest with the left rear stabilizer and rudder resting atop the left wing, with fire engulfing a large part of the fuselage aft of the flight deck.

"At this time, the flight deck was still fairly upright, and the crew, except Gallo, were able to climb up and out the upper escape hatch without injury. After counting noses and realizing Frank was still in the wreck, Press and I tried to work our way up into Frank's station. However, the fire and 50-caliber slugs screaming around us chased us out. I just hope Frankie never knew what hit him. We did realize that there was never a sound coming out of the plane.

"Everything I described after the right wing hit the tree until P-Bar came to rest was just a blur while it was going on. The next day, after everything had cooled off, Major "Pappy" Cornelius, the Group Engineering Officer, helped me reconstruct the plane's action I described above. The centrifugal force set up by the spinning action caused by the wing hitting the tree I'm sure saved us on the flight deck from serious, if not fatal injury. Heck, my co-pilot hadn't even buckled his restraining belt! If we had hit that bog straight ahead, worse things could have happened."

(Note: P-Bar was one of the Group's original complement of planes and came over with the air echelon in July or August of 1943. A painting of P-Bar Peter, the FLYING CRUSADER, was nicely accomplished by talented English artist Frederick T. Searle in 1990.)

T/Sgt Gallo is interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 12 Site 1817.

Broussard, Alexander, Kirkwood in front of wreckage.

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #182