Bombs Away Buckaroos!!: Diaries of a WW II B-24 Crew

By Rick Albright

Accompany Lt. Carl H. Albright as he pilots a B-24 heavy bomber on 35 missions over Germany. Read the diaries of the crew and learn of the close calls, tragedies and camaraderie these men experienced as they flew their B-24 into enemy territory and back!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257195633

Book preview

Bombs Away Buckaroos!!

Diaries of a WWII B-24 Crew

By

Rick Albright

Albuquerque, New Mexico 2007

Copyright 2008 by Rick Albright

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

YRISARRI Publishing

50 Raschel Lane

Tijeras, NM

eISBN: 978-1-25719-563-3

Acknowledgements

446th Bombardment Group Association, Santa Ana, CA

Eighth Air Force Museum, Savannah, GA

Norfolk Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton, England

Pima Air Museum, Tucson, AZ

Second Air Division Memorial Library, Norwich, England

Stars and Stripes Newspaper

U.S.A.A.F Photographers for their bravery and contributions to the memory of the air war in Europe and especially to S/Sgt John K. L. Peterson, the waist gunner who took the cover photo and the photo on page 58

Joe Amrein, Norman Temple and William P. Tucker for their diaries

Paul Casten and Bill Davenport for their contributions to maintaining the memory of the accomplishments of the 446th Bombardment Group and writing the brochure The Sky Was Their Battlefield which is used in the chapter Day of the Mission

And to

My Dad

Lt. Col. Carl H. Albright U.S.A.F. (retired)

Preface

I did not learn about WWII from my father. He didn’t talk about it very much and I didn’t listen when he did. He was an officer in the Air Force whose job was flying planes and working with weapons. To me his job was just another career option and his WWII experiences were a part of his career choice. It was when we were older that Dad began talking more about his experiences and I started listening.

I was a teacher and used my father as a resource in my classes. I thought my students were getting a pretty good education, they were learning about World War II from a participant. It was in my classroom where I finally heard his story. I realized that there was an important part of his life I didn’t know about. I had never understood the courage it took each time he flew a mission. I had always thought he was just flying airplanes.

Dad had many pictures, his diary and other memorabilia from WWII (Carl H. Albright’s Archives). I thought I would put them together so that my children and grandchildren could have his story. While working on the project, I found my Dad’s story compelling.

As I learned what he and his crew did during the war, I began to understand the meaning of valor. They would climb into a plane early in the morning and spend the next six hours, or more, flying to Germany to drop bombs and then fly back to England. Along the way they could expect to be attacked by enemy fighters, fly so high that if the oxygen supply was damaged they wouldn’t survive, watch flak from enemy anti-aircraft artillery bursting around their planes, all while sitting in a cramped metal fuselage at subzero temperatures.

I have put this book together so my children and grandchildren will understand what these men did, draw inspiration from their patriotism and dedication, and understand they were common men who faced death on a regular basis to secure the future of democracy and freedom for them.

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The B-24 Liberator

High Flight

By John Gillespe McGee Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I‘ve climbed, and joined the tumbling myth

Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of-- wheeled and soared and sung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Part One

Over Here

1. A Nation Goes to War

The experiences of the men and women who lived and fought during World War II contain valuable lessons we can use to view current world problems. WWII was perhaps the last war for which there was a clear purpose and a definitive ending. The children and grandchildren of the WWII generation have endured wars whose purposes have been clouded by controversy and questions about America’s motives.

This was not the case in WWII. The men and women of America heeded the call of their president and with uncommon courage and sacrifice they proceeded, with their allies, to destroy the dictatorships that were threatening the world. Men and women from all walks of life devoted themselves to America’s war effort. Uncommon valor became commonplace for American fighting troops.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the issues for which Americans fought very clear. He consistently stated and restated them in his messages to congress and made frequent reports to the nation with his fireside chats. He never wavered from the principles of justice and humanity. In his report to congress on January 6, 1942, he set forth the cause of the democracies in these immortal words.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward for a world founded upon the four essential human freedoms:

The first is freedom of speech and expression, everywhere in the world!

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, everywhere in the world!

The third is freedom from want, which translated into world terms, means economic understandings, which will secure to every nation a healthy, peaceful life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world!

The fourth is freedom from fear, which translated into world terms, means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of aggression against any neighbor, anywhere in the world.

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FDR gives a radio address to America

These principles became the motivating force behind every action by the allied forces and can help us to understand the purpose of American men and women of that generation as they volunteered to defeat a common enemy.

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FDR used the radio to unite Americans!

It is important to understand who they were and what they did. Perhaps we can see our struggles more clearly using their motivations as a model. This book will give the reader an idea of what it was like for a B-24 crew on their missions over Germany. Maybe by learning about this crew and their missions, it will be easier to understand our success in World War II and give us hope for future successes.

The men who flew these missions were born to the Greatest Generation, and lived through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II and the technological boom at the end of the twentieth century. They have seen great changes during their lifetimes, from a world that was large and disconnected to a world that is small and connected. Through all of this, the Greatest Generation has continued to adapt, to change, to look at the world through different eyes and offer wisdom learned in their lifetimes. Their experiences in World War II taught them that Americans could accomplish anything if we work together.

Fighting the war created bonds between the men who shared the loneliness of being away from family, the fear of dying, the joys of newfound friendships, and the sorrow of destruction. All Americans shared these feelings because the men who went to fight were only one part of a total war effort.

Carl H. Albright was one of these men. When he became a pilot in WWII and began his missions over Germany, he kept a diary, so did others on his crew. Joe Amrein and Norman Temple also kept diaries. In addition, another member of the crew, William Tucker, provided notes for some of the more memorable missions. Over the years Carl gathered these writings together and they are the core of this book It is through Carl’s life and the diaries of these men that we can experience what it was like to fly together into the wild blue yonder. They had bombs in their planes, fighters and flak surrounding them, and a mission to accomplish.

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From FDR’s speech after Pearl Harbor

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Rosie the Riveter represented women’s support of the war effort.

World War II was a defining moment in the history of the United States and she showed herself a power to be reckoned with as a defender of freedom. It was also a defining moment in the individual lives of the men and women who lived through, fought in, and helped the war effort. They are forever bound together. It all worked because, just like the crews in the battles, Americans pulled together.

At the end of WWII the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces stated,

The success of our Armies would have been utterly impossible without the magnificent support of the American people in supplying an almost insatiable demand for the sinews of war. For they made our country the "Arsenal of