Doyle Shields

Military
media-41670.jpeg UPL 41670 Henningsen Crew; 447th Bomb Group, 710th Squadron; photo taken at Rattlesden, England. Standing, L-R: Doyle Shields, Robert Manuel (?), Eldon Henningsen, Jerry Rothstein, Eugene Wulfe (?),; Kneeling, L-R: William HOlloman, Harry Long, Lee Plant, Otis Lumpkin, John Kates. Although the crew is posed in front of 43-38731 (Blythe Spirit), that aircraft was assigned to the 711th squadron and is probably just a convenient backdrop. 447th Bomb Group collection

from Pictorial History of the 447th Bombardment Group (H) https://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/41056

Object Number - UPL 41670 - Henningsen Crew; 447th Bomb Group, 710th Squadron; photo taken at Rattlesden, England. Standing, L-R: Doyle Shields, Robert Manuel (?), Eldon...

Doyle Shields



Lead Navigator, 447 Bomb Group, Rattlesden, England



Doyle Shields was one of the charter members of the North Texas Chapter of the 8th Air Force Historical Society. He also made presentations frequently to school groups at the Vintage Flying Museum. The following is paraphrased from an early draft of his unit history “Rattlesden Raiders” which he allowed me to print in the chapter newsletter, Briefing.



“Our faithful B-17 lifted off at 08:25 and we climbed to join the 710th squadron. The briefing that morning said that this would be a long mission, but not too tough since there were only 16 anti-aircraft guns in the target area. Our target was the V-2 rocket launch site on the northern coast of Germany. Being a relatively new crew, they had put us in the middle of the formation. We had no problem getting to the target except the #3 engine tried to run away a couple of times, but pushing the ‘feather’ button brought it back under control.



We passed the target to the north then started a long slow right turn and hit it heading west at 25,000 feet. Perhaps five or ten seconds after bombs away there was a thud, the plane shuttered and banked sharply to the right. Our pilots fought to level the ship out. The 2nd thud was a round hitting the #4 engine which immediately showed signs of losing power. A third round hit us in the tail section and a fourth ripped a huge hole in our bomb bay. Apparently we had flown right down the track of a four-gun anti-aircraft battery of German 88s.



At this point we dropped out of formation, our #1 engine was dead and on fire. The pilots put the plane into a sharp side-slip to the right and managed to extinguish the flames. A piece of our tail was shot away, the elevators were damaged and the #4 engine was still losing power. Someone suggested that we head for Sweden, but Bud, the pilot, reminded us that there was no air-sea rescue in the Baltic. If we didn’t make it we would only last a few minutes in its frigid waters. Instead we headed west across Denmark towards England. We didn’t know it at the time, but we also had several holes in our fuel tanks.



None of the crew had been injured, but damage to the plane was preventing Sgt. Hollman, our ball turret gunner from getting out of his turret. Hollman thought we were about to bail out and told the co-pilot to do whatever was necessary to save the crew. Other crew members went to work on the turret to free him. Bud, order all guns and ammo be jettisoned to save weight. A few minutes later, the plane lurched violently to the right. The pilots recovered it, but it did the same thing again. This raised the fear that something important was about to break off the plane. A quick check of the crew revealed that it was just our tail gunner opening his escape hatch on the right side of the tail to toss out his guns and ammo. The door acted like a rudder.



The #4 engine made a low growling noise and stopped. Bud punched the feather button and low-and-behold it worked. The big propeller slowly spun to a stop. Checking the fuel consumption, we found that we appeared to be burning it at twice the normal rate.



We check the figures again, but they were right, we had no chance of making it back to England. The #2 engine picked this time to make a loud hissing noise and begun spewing a thick stream of oil out of the cowling before stopping altogether. Down to one engine, we now had no choice but to ditch. The good news was that they got Hollman out of the ball turret about this time. Everyone but the two pilots gathered in the radio room.



At 16:25 hours they set us down about 30 miles off the coast of Holland. True to her nature, she took to the water like the princess she was. No seams opened up and the plane stayed afloat for about 36 minutes before going nose down. She slipped beneath the water leaving a trail of bubbles and an oil slick. An air-sea rescue P-47 showed up, dropped a dingy and smoke to guide a rescue boat. He circled until the boat showed up. After a couple of hours we were all very seasick. “It’s going to be a long damn war,” Bud said. It was his fifth mission, my third. We were picked up by an air-sea rescue boat and were back at our base the next day. To add insult to injury, we were informed during debriefing that we had been shot down by an anti-aircraft gun battery operated by a girl’s school.



Doyle went on to fly a full 30 mission tour, and then returned to fly 20 more. He became the lead navigator for the group. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medals and the French Croix de Guerre.

















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Units served with

The insignia of the 447th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Places

Revisions

Date
ContributorBombay
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Cour de Gurre>Croix de Guerre

Date
Changes
Sources

Sources: Conversations with Doyle, and presentations made by him. I also referenced the material from his book Rattlesden Raiders which was published in the chapter newsletter Briefing in October of 1995. lda 3/22/16

Date
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Sources

Doyle Shields

Lead Navigator, 447 Bomb Group, Rattlesden, England

Doyle Shields was one of the charter members of the North Texas Chapter of the 8th Air Force Historical Society. He also made presentations frequently to school groups at the Vintage Flying Museum. The following is paraphrased from an early draft of his unit history “Rattlesden Raiders” which he allowed me to print in the chapter newsletter, Briefing.

“Our faithful B-17 lifted off at 08:25 and we climbed to join the 710th squadron. The briefing that morning said that this would be a long mission, but not too tough since there were only 16 anti-aircraft guns in the target area. Our target was the V-2 rocket launch site on the northern coast of Germany. Being a relatively new crew, they had put us in the middle of the formation. We had no problem getting to the target except the #3 engine tried to run away a couple of times, but pushing the ‘feather’ button brought it back under control.

We passed the target to the north then started a long slow right turn and hit it heading west at 25,000 feet. Perhaps five or ten seconds after bombs away there was a thud, the plane shuttered and banked sharply to the right. Our pilots fought to level the ship out. The 2nd thud was a round hitting the #4 engine which immediately showed signs of losing power. A third round hit us in the tail section and a fourth ripped a huge hole in our bomb bay. Apparently we had flown right down the track of a four-gun anti-aircraft battery of German 88s.

At this point we dropped out of formation, our #1 engine was dead and on fire. The pilots put the plane into a sharp side-slip to the right and managed to extinguish the flames. A piece of our tail was shot away, the elevators were damaged and the #4 engine was still losing power. Someone suggested that we head for Sweden, but Bud, the pilot, reminded us that there was no air-sea rescue in the Baltic. If we didn’t make it we would only last a few minutes in its frigid waters. Instead we headed west across Denmark towards England. We didn’t know it at the time, but we also had several holes in our fuel tanks.

None of the crew had been injured, but damage to the plane was preventing Sgt. Hollman, our ball turret gunner from getting out of his turret. Hollman thought we were about to bail out and told the co-pilot to do whatever was necessary to save the crew. Other crew members went to work on the turret to free him. Bud, order all guns and ammo be jettisoned to save weight. A few minutes later, the plane lurched violently to the right. The pilots recovered it, but it did the same thing again. This raised the fear that something important was about to break off the plane. A quick check of the crew revealed that it was just our tail gunner opening his escape hatch on the right side of the tail to toss out his guns and ammo. The door acted like a rudder.

The #4 engine made a low growling noise and stopped. Bud punched the feather button and low-and-behold it worked. The big propeller slowly spun to a stop. Checking the fuel consumption, we found that we appeared to be burning it at twice the normal rate.

We check the figures again, but they were right, we had no chance of making it back to England. The #2 engine picked this time to make a loud hissing noise and begun spewing a thick stream of oil out of the cowling before stopping altogether. Down to one engine, we now had no choice but to ditch. The good news was that they got Hollman out of the ball turret about this time. Everyone but the two pilots gathered in the radio room.

At 16:25 hours they set us down about 30 miles off the coast of Holland. True to her nature, she took to the water like the princess she was. No seams opened up and the plane stayed afloat for about 36 minutes before going nose down. She slipped beneath the water leaving a trail of bubbles and an oil slick. An air-sea rescue P-47 showed up, dropped a dingy and smoke to guide a rescue boat. He circled until the boat showed up. After a couple of hours we were all very seasick. “It’s going to be a long damn war,” Bud said. It was his fifth mission, my third. We were picked up by an air-sea rescue boat and were back at our base the next day. To add insult to injury, we were informed during debriefing that we had been shot down by an anti-aircraft gun battery operated by a girl’s school.

Doyle went on to fly a full 30 mission tour, and then returned to fly 20 more. He became the lead navigator for the group. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medals and the French Cour de Gurre.
Sources: Conversations with Doyle, and presentations made by him. I also referenced the material from his book Rattlesden Raiders which was published in the chapter newsletter Briefing in October of 1995.

Doyle Shields: Gallery (2 items)