Presentation Date: August 24, 2000
1st LT George Lymburn
B-24 pilot in the 445th Bomb Group, POW after Berlin Raid B-24 Pilot, 445th Bomber Group, German POW at Stalag Luft 1
"A B-24 pilot remembers Jimmie Stewart, the 1st Berlin Raid an unused chute"
Three key events dominate George Lymburn's World War Two experiences. More than 55 years later, he still vividly recalls his first solo flight, as he does being shot down on the first major daylight raid on Berlin, as well as his 'resolution' of that event forty years later, in 1984.
Yet, George couldn't resist telling those gathered for the August Wing dinner meeting about his exposure to actor-turned-pilot and leader Jimmy Stewart.
Of Stewart, Lymburn says, "In my opinion, every honor he's ever had awarded to him was well-deserved. When I flew overseas I was a First Pilot of a B-24 and a Second Lieutenant. Almost all of us were Second Lieutenants. And we're flying combat mission as Second Lieutenants, and everybody started getting promotions."
Lymburn says Stewart's promotion to the rank of Major in the 445th Bomb Group brought a request from the Captain. Imitating the halting manner of speech for which Stewart was known, Lymburn related Stewart's call for promotions of all the B-24 First Pilots, "Well, I'll, I'll tell you what...I, I'd really feel a lot more comfortable ...becoming a Major... if all my First Pilots were First Lieutenants." Lymburn says Stewart got the response he wanted, and so it became standard practice for First Pilots of the 445th to be First Lieutenants.
Gotha, Germany, February 23rd, was a target during the "Big Week" offensive against Luftwaffe's fighter force. The 445th BG took off with 29 B-24s and three aborted before reaching the target. Twenty-six bombers hit the target, but only half of them came home. Lymburn says his roommate was killed on that mission. Squadron commanders rotated leading the group from mission to mission, and when Stewart came up in the rotation on the next day after Gotha - - with the target Nuremberg - - Lymburn says there were reasons to be anxious. Yet Stewart led and the B-24s came in on target, dropped their payloads on an airport, made an extreme left turn to avoid flak batteries, and all aircraft returned from the mission.
Lymburn's military aviation had begun with flight training and his first solo flight came after little more than seven hours of primary in South Carolina. He described his flight instructor as "Ira J. Beaufort" - - as much of a Confederate as you might expect. The instructor told Lymburn to fly the base's flight pattern alone, land, taxi over for evaluation, and then repeat the sequence two more times.
George says he took off the PT-17, began climbing out and made his first turn when his eyes suddenly froze on the empty cockpit in front of him," where for seven hours I used to see the head of Ira J. Beaufort. And I started laughing, this uproarious laugh. And I'm looking around and the clouds are beautiful and the plane is in such sharp focus. I just couldn't stop laughing. It was such an exhilarating experience. And even today... when I think l of that solo flight, I'm still smiling."
Lymburn says in his excitement, he came around to land, touched down and took off for a second trip around the pattern - - before remembering the flight instructor's directions.
Landing, and taxiing over to the patiently-waiting Beaufort, George quickly remembered a piece of advice the instructor had given him earlier - - if anything didn't feel just right when landing, to give the plane gas and go back around for another landing. George says Beaufort just shook his head and waved the new aviator back out for another circuit.
Lymburn arrived in Tibenham, England and the 445th Bomb group in November, 1943. The Eighth Air Force had just begun its daylight-bombing offensive and attrition was high. Of the 445's original 64 bombers 58 would be shot down, meaning 580 crew members were killed or captured.
The first major daylight raid on Berlin came March 6, 1944. Lymburn says he was so excited to fly that he was not afraid when he took off his B-24 early that morning. The target was a factory south of Berlin, and it was heavily defended by flak batteries. Oily, black puffs of smoke filled the sky.
"I looked straight ahead of me, "Lymburn says, "and I often think it's like you're driving a car down the road and you see this huge brick wall in front of you. You're flying in formation, so you can't stop, can't turn." As the 445th flew towards the flak clouds, George remembers seeing the pattern of exploding shells. "I turned to my co-pilot and said, 'You know, we're going to get hit.' And I just knew we were going to get hit. And then, wham...and we were thrown way up out of the formation."
The trailing edge of the left wing had been hit, the flak ripping holes along the fuselage that left the tail section fluttering. George continued to fly the crippled B-24 while the crew bailed out. Then he clipped on his parachute and kneeled on the catwalk in the bomb bay. The B-24 had begun spiraling down, and while kneeling there, George says, "the knowledge came to me that I wasn't going to jump. So I got up and walked back to the flight deck and knelt between the seats... I take a snapshot glance at the airspeed indicator and it's going 270 mph...we cruise at 160. And I knew what was going to happen, because from the bottom of my feet, up my calves into my thighs, right up to my solar plexus came absolute, clear, perfect terror. And I screamed out 'Oh God I don't want to die.' "
George grabbed the control wheel, straightened the plane out of the spin and then pulled back until it leveled out, and he remembered from his primary flight training - - " Ira said,' when you crash land, pick out a green field.' I look over to my right, and I was about 16-thousand feet and I look over there, and there's a green field. And I land that airplane, with my wheels down and my flaps up, because we had no hydraulics."
"Then my tail gunner, Frank Cittadino runs around the plane and I ask, "Cittadino, did you just land here in your parachute?" George quickly discovered the gunner had been in the B-24's tail the entire time.
Lymburn and Cittadino ran from the B-24 just before a German Me 110 made a series of strafing passes on the downed bomber. When Lymburn tried to return to the bomber to recover his shoes (he was wearing flying boots), some German farmers stopped him. One of the farmers wanted to shoot him on the spot. German soldiers on bicycles approached, and Lymburn asked if this was the army. Lymburn says one farmer responded," Yes. Are you glad to see them?"
As a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1, George read poetry, Shakespeare and Cyrano De Bergerac, which influenced him to take up acting later in life. The experience of being shot down and captured returned forty years later when his son, Bruce, noticed in the book "The Mighty Eighth" a photo captioned..."a sole 445th BG B-24 lost on 6 Mar.1944 was 42-7566, Q+." It was George's aircraft.
When Bruce also discovered a flying B-24 in southern California, father and son made a pilgrimage to the plane. Sitting in the cockpit, Lymburn told son Bruce what really happened on March 6, 1944, providing a great release for George. Not long afterward, and forty years to the day when he wouldn't jump from the B-24, George made a parachute jump - - and that provided a catalyst for George to join a number of veterans organizations to share his experiences.
George was a key speaker at Cambridge Cemetery for the 50-Year Anniversary of VE Day in 1995, and his video "Just Tryin' to Stay Alive" not only documents that event, but also creates a contemporary context to the experiences of World war Two veterans.
George recalls a broad collection of experiences.
His speech before many veterans at Cambridge Cemetery at Madingly is colorfully painted with perspective and emotion, especially for the friends and family of those lost during service to their country. Lymburn is aiming to place a copy of the video in every school in the country.
"Just Trying to Stay Alive"
A documentary by George Lymburn
33 min. $20.00 (includes S&H within)
George H. Lymburn
email: B24Pilot@Yahoo.com