Flew on the 'Little Rebel' - Member of Haendiges crew

 

 

Target Ruland, Germany

23rd March 1945

"It was another one of those long flights deep into the heart of Germany. Flight duration was eight hours plus and the target was an oil refinery at Ruland, 30 miles from the Russian lines. Briefing had revealed that the 8th was to be out in full force, but that we were part of a very small task force going deep in alone. Target weather might be poor, and gas and bomb load were maximum, we were told.

Four hours later, our entire task force had been assembled without any difficulty and we were crossing the front lines at 20,000 feet, still climbing. The flak at the lines was negligible, thanks to our ground forces, as they were throwing a heavy barrage at every enemy flak gun in the area. T’was coordination at its best.

An unusually strong wind was blowing at our backs and our ground speed was closer to 300 than 200 miles an hour. Ahead of us we could see the weather we were briefed on, and it seemed like no time till we were in it. There was no going around it or over it, for it appeared to extend from the North Sea to the Alps and up to 35,000 feet. But the 8th Air Force never has turned back regardless of the circumstances, and we held our heading.

When we arrived in the Leipzig area we were tooling along in a tight formation – it had to be tight so we could see our lead ship as the clouds were quite thick. My group had managed to stay together, but we had lost everyone else in the clouds. We were tense because of the bad weather, and also because Jerry might be in there clouds with us. But we really didn’t know that he was.

The bombardier had just completed an oxygen check and everyone in the ship was okay, when I saw tracers pouring from the tail of the bomber in front of me and at the next instant I saw a plane only 50 feet off my wing racing by and in a sharp bank to the left. It was a ME 262 – the dreaded German Jet Plane.

I got on interphone and was only half done bawling out the gunners for not seeing it in time to fire one shot at it, when the tail gunner interrupted me with “ME 262 coming in at 6 o’clock level sir.”

I then turned to concentrate on the task of flying, and I waited and waited while the ship vibrated from the blasting of six 50 cal. guns. It seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, out of the top corner of my eye I saw it – the Jet was out of control, burning, and upside down. It crashed into the midsection of a bomber in front of me, and the explosion was terrific. The heat from it temporarily made my ship unbearable, and the debris was falling thru the entire squadron. One other fort was crippled and dropped from formation, while a 1000 lb bomb fell thru my left wing, making a good sized hole; but we stayed in formation. About this time, I noticed that the Jet had fired a 20 mm shell thru my number-one prop blade.

But by this time the next wave was coming in, and another bomber burst into flames and left formation. They were the boys who used to sleep in my hut. And the Jets kept on coming till they’d made seven attacks and more bombers left the formation.

Why they quit, I’ll never know. Certainly it was we who took the beating. But they did, and we were thankful.

My plane was badly crippled, but with the throttles full forward we stayed in formation throughout the bomb run, and most of the way back through Germany. We were still 75 miles from friendly territory when my number-one prop shook loose from the terrific vibration of having a hole in it, and it went spiraling through the air into space. There was no alternative but to leave the formation and to go home alone – if we could make it home.

To save our gas we tooled across France, Belgium, the Channel, and to our base in England just as slowly as we could. The drag from the 2 ½ ft hole in our wing was a hard pull for only three engines, and the gas we had left after landing wouldn’t drive a car to the corner drug store. But we made it.

After the engines were out in the parking area, all nine of us piled out of that airplane so fast it was funny. I’ll never get over how wonderful it felt to have my feet on the ground; I was just overjoyed, and I jumped up and down on it cause it felt so good. Five of the original 13 ships in my Squadron had landed an hour before, and another one had straggled in with us. One more had landed in friendly Franke, but the rest are M.I.A. yet today.

So that’s the roughest mission I’ve ever had (out of 34), and ever hope to have. My crew has now been officially credited with shooting down a German Jet, and we are mighty proud of it, too. We are the first and only crew to ever shoot down a ME 262 in my Squadron Group, and entire Wing."

Lt. Carlos W. Deremo