Presentation Date: March 27, 2003
COL Grif Mumford USAF (ret)
* Entered USAAF September 1940 as a Flying Cadet * Original Member of the Famous 95th Bomb Group(H), ETO * Command Pilot, B-17s, B-24s * Leader of the First Daylight Bombing Raid Over BERLIN! * Served 30 Years in USAAF/USAF * Entered USAAF September 1940 as a Flying Cadet
* Received Wings at Stockton, CA
* Geiger Field, Spokane, Washington
* Original Member of the Famous 95th Bomb Group(H), ETO
* Command Pilot, B-17s, B-24s, ...
* Leader of the First Daylight Bombing Raid Over BERLIN!
* Served 30 Years in USAAF/USAF, from WWII, Pentagon, Alaska, Korea
Leading the First Daylight Raid on Berlin
" I wonder if they realize the significance of this mission, that it could be the turning point of the war..."
There’s a photo which undoubtedly has failed to receive the popular viewing it deserves. It’s an image of Gen. James H. Doolittle standing with Harry "Grif" Mumford. The significance of the photo is that it captures the leaders of the first bombing raids on the capitals of Japan (Tokyo) and Germany (Berlin). The photo was taken just minutes after Mumford and the 95th Bomb Group returned from Berlin. The young mission leader, still in his bomber jacket, has a special look in his eyes. Mumford today says when Air Force brass came out to the field at Horham when the bombers landed, he didn’t know whether he’d be commended or court-martialed.
Today, Mumford knows he made the right decision 59 years ago, and he told the Golden Gate Wing’s March dinner meeting audience what key events with the 95th Bomb Group led to the first daylight bombing mission on Berlin, March 4, 1944.
Harry G. "Grif" Mumford was born February 28, 1918 in Altamont, Missouri, although he only remembers back to the days of growing up in El Paso, Texas.
In September, 1940 Grif joined the Army. Aiming to serve in the Air Corps, Mumford had to first fulfill a two-year college stint. He took the train to Santa Maria, California to study and begin basic training in Stearman PT-13s. One of his vivid recollections of that training focused on the primitive instrumentation in those open-cockpit planes.
"We had a needle and ball and a compass in the back seat," says Mumford. "But no instrument panel. No speedometer. We learned to judge the speed of the aircraft by the sound of the wind passing through the struts... And strangely enough this worked."
The next phase of training came in the Vultee BT-13, a faster aircraft than the Stearman, but much less forgiving, especially in low-speed, tight turns. Mumford and his class of 41C was in for another adjustment as well. Poor weather had the cadets moving to Bakersfield, where they lived among tents and slit trenches, and had to eat poor meals for about six weeks.
Moffett Field in Sunnyvale was the next stop, and it was there Mumford’s class experienced not only the washout of some cadets, but also a fatal accident for a fledgling pilot whose plane spun in while the cadet was turning toward final approach to the airfield.
The last phase of training, flying the AT-6, took place at Stockton.
Mumford says the North American-built advanced trainer "was more sophisticated than either the PT-13 or BT-13 and much sturdier. And it was nice to have a full instrument panel."
The Air Corps soon discovered though that Stockton couldn’t accommodate both basic and advanced training. So Mumford and his class were transferred to Mather Field, outside Sacramento, and a return to living in tents.
In a few months though, the class of 41C was back at Stockton, and it was there where Mumford and Jim Morehead (a fighter ace with the 5th Air Force) got their wings and Lieutenant bars... shoulder to shoulder, in April, 1941.
It was also a place where the automobile industry had a brisk business, selling to newly commissioned officers. Mumford says he bought a ‘41 Chevrolet convertible prior to his first assignment as a flight leader, chief of supply and flight instructor back at Moffett Field.
On December 7, 1941, Mumford was the Officer of the Day, posted at the front gate to Moffett, which Grif says became a magnet for all the military brass in the Bay Area.
"Needless to say, that was a very exciting day!"
Soon, Mumford was part of the 95th Bomb Group, and headed to Geiger Field and Ephrata Army Air Base in Washington, and Rapid City, South Dakota where training took on a whole new importance. For it was the cold climate of the great Northwest, that turned a "paper" 95th Bomb Group into the pilots and flight crews that flew B-17s in frigid conditions against targets on the European Continent, and maintained them mission after mission. Of Ephrata, the second training base, about 100 miles west of Spokane, Mumford recalls - -
"The engineers who constructed that god-forsaken place did a real half-ass job. No doubt they couldn’t wait to get out of there. The facilities were rustic in the extreme and could serve only one purpose - - to test the ability of the 95th to exist and train under austere, hardship conditions. One wonders, in retrospect, whether a German agent had infiltrated the Air Corps Training Selection Committee, for if ever there was a ‘jumping off’ place to nowhere in 1942, Ephrata was it."
Mumford remembers B-17s grounded in Rapid City. With limited hangar space, bombers stored outside overnight could not be started the next morning due to frozen engine lubricating oil.
Geiger became a test of men and machines, and the birthplace of the 95th. Grif says those who trained there, "learned that America is truly a melting pot with all sharing the same aspirations and goals. Loyalties and lasting friendships were soon established among this diverse group of individuals."
In short, the 95th - - pilots, crew members and ground crew - - molded into a team.
By March of 1943, in what Grif calls ‘a questionable state of readiness’, the group flew the South Atlantic route to England, while the ground crews were shipped via the North Atlantic. The 95th first set up shop in Alconbury, then Framlingham, before ending up at their final home base of Horham.
"1943 was a year that challenged the fiber of everyone’s physical and emotional being. It was a time when everyone was learning, on the job, new tactics in the air and new procedures on the ground, all under combat conditions.
"Longer summer days brought longer missions over enemy territory and with meager fighter support. Daily ‘maximum efforts’ became the norm, and when groups were unable to muster a full group of aircraft due to excessive battle damage, a composite group was formed with aircraft from two groups."
Grif made special note of the tactic Luftwaffe fighter pilots used in these early days of the European bombing campaign.
"In the early days of the war, they would attack head-on, at the same level as the formations. Before they got to the first B-17, they would roll over on their back and fire their cannon and machine guns. And I think that everybody was so shocked at seeing this display of aeronautical skill that our gunners were so amazed they were just watching and not firing at them. After awhile, when we got over that part of it, the Luftwaffe stopped that nonsense."
Mumford’s montage of 95th Bomb Group memories is rich - - "...the cold and rainy days, long nights of fitful sleep, new sights and sounds, personal challenges, alerts, standowns, relief, heavy drinking, combat, the loss of comrades, weekly rations of spam, Brussels sprouts, powdered eggs and powdered milk. And that will cheer you up, drinking powdered milk, I’ll tell you. Movies, mail from home, passes for a weekend off, citations, medals. The list is as long as the number of men of the 95th with tales to tell."
The Key Missions
From Mumford’s preface to the book Memorials of the 95th Bomb Group (H), we get snapshot glimpses of the missions which earned three Presidential Unit Citations.
* The first Shuttle Mission - - England to Regensburg to Africa to England - - was flown in 17 August 1943. The formation, composed of of all participating combat groups in the 3rd Air Division was the longest flight to that date over the strongly defended enemy territory. The mission wrought vast damage to aircraft factories and a major blow to Germany’s war effort.
* Munster - - The most intensive air battle to date was flown 10 October 1943. The 95th led the 13th Combat Wing and the entire 3rd Air Division in this historic air battle. Without fighter support, the Wing was subjected to relentless and intensive attacks by more than 250 German fighters. Although the formation suffered losses from the fighter attacks, the 95th Bomb Group, displaying great valor, courage and determination, completed one of the most accurate and compact bomb drops of all WWII, becoming an inspirational example to other units of the 8th Air Force.
"When we first arrived in England," said Mumford, "Each aircraft had a bombardier... who would use his bomb sight to drop his bombs. So you would have 36 aircraft doing their own thing and none of them seemed to be coordinated. So after awhile, an entire group would drop on the bomb drop from the lead aircraft. And that turned out to be the wise thing to do."
* The first American daylight bombing of Berlin - - 4 March 1944. Of the 850 heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force dedicated to this mission, only 33 aircraft of the 13th Combat Wing (95th and 100th Bomb Groups), led by the 95th and Grif Mumford, bombed the primary target, overcoming such obstacles as inclement weather, extreme cold, enemy fighters, and heavy antiaircraft fire.
"Indeed, the entire world awakened to the fact that no target in Europe was immune
to air attack in daylight by the 8th Air Force, and that the surrender of Germany was just a matter of time. Once again, the dedication, fortitude and courage of the 95th made a noteworthy contribution to total victory. "
Mumford compared the colorful personal account of one 95th BG pilot who flew that first Berlin Mission - - Glen Enfield - - to the Unit Citation for that mission. The Citation mentions terrible weather conditions, fighter attacks, a heavy concentration of flak, and states, "Nevertheless, the 95th Group maintained a tight defensive formation and released forty two and a half tons of high explosives on the cloud-covered German capital.
"... Nine bombers were damaged by enemy aircraft, four were lost. Forty-one officers and enlisted men were wounded. By heroically electing the the more hazardous of two equally acceptable and honorable courses of action, the 95th Bombardment Group clearly distinguished itself above and beyond all other units participating in this momentous operation."
A portion of Grif’s version of that mission’s turning moment focuses on a radio message the bomber stream received on the way to Berlin, a message to scrub the mission. The Eighth Air Force had scheduled a mission to Berlin the prior day, March 3. But, due to bad weather, the bomber formation was recalled. (The March 3 mission was led by Grif’s friend, Lt. Col. Harry Conley, who spoke to the Golden Gate Wing, August, 2001.)
The next day, March 4th, with Grif leading the bomber stream, radios in the B-17s heading eastward loudly and clearly received communications not to bomb the German capital. Mumford says he determined, based on the radio signal’s strength at the location it was heard, that it was a bogus message by the enemy.
"The whole aircraft stream got the same message. The message said, ‘You are to turn back and abort the mission.’ And everybody was doing that. The radio operator said, ‘Let me get them to confirm.’ Because we had experienced the Germans on our radio frequency (sending false messages), he wanted to confirm that, but couldn’t get a confirmation because the second, secret message that both the aircraft and the command back in England had, wasn’t heard. He tried three times and never got an answer."
So Grif said, "Okay, we go on."
With most of the formation having turned back, Grif and the remaining bombers forged on. Outside his B-17, Grif recalls the air temperature gauge read minus 65 degrees.
"Forget the temperature. Look at that flak. The bastards must have all 2500 guns operational today. This has to be the longest bombing run yet... Krumph.. Boy that was close, and listen to the spent shrapnel hitting the airplane. Look at the gaping hole in the left wing of the number three low element... an 88 must have gone right through without detonating... Damn, won’t we ever drop those bombs? ... Bombs away... the sweetest words on any mission. OK, let’s go home...
"What a great crew I have the good fortune to fly with today. Certainly makes a Commander’s job easier. Al Brown has fine tuned his crew as well as any I have flown with; well disciplined, possessing great esprit and courage with each prepared to go the limit and then a little something extra thrown in. Today certainly proves that point...
"I wonder if they realize the significance of this mission, that it could be the turning point of the war... Stinking weather, fighter attacks and flak over Berlin so heavy it could be walked upon is enough to get out of this wieners-and-kraut-land and back top Jolly Old...
"We made it... Wonder what old ‘Iron Ass’ LeMay will think of the show his boys put on today... *
After landing at Horham, Mumford found out. Generals Doolittle and Lemay met the returning mission leader, and instead of a court-martial him for refusing the order to return, they pinned a Silver Star on Grif’s chest.
* from Berlin - "Big B", by Grif Mumford in the anthology "Courage*Honor* Victory", c. 1987 by the 95th Bomb Group (H) Association.