Presentation Date: November 28, 1996
Tim Crowley
ETO B-17 Pilot - "To Russia and Back" ETO B-17 100th BG Pilot
To Russia and Back
It was mid-1944 when the 100th Bomb Group was selected to fly on the first "shuttle mission" from England to bomb Germany and fly on to Russia. As well as the strategic reasons for shuttle trips, there were political goals of fostering better relations with the Soviets.
Tim Crowley was a "seasoned" 100th BG squadron commander on that first shuttle mission, on June 2nd. He told members and guests at last month's Squadron meeting that the "Bloody 100th" lost three or four B-17s over the target. It was on the way to the Ukraine when Crowley got his excitement for the day.
Since handling a Flying Fortress in tight formation was a lot of work, Crowley and his co-pilot traded off flying 20 minute shifts. Near Warsaw after the mission, a gaggle of Me-109s attacked. Crowley was napping when the twin .50 cal. gun turret over his head began firing on the fighters.
" Man, I damned near went through the roof of the airplane when I heard that thing go off. That's a terrible way to wake up when you hear all of a sudden a real bad noise right above you".
The fighter escort for the shuttle, P-51s of the 4th Fighter Group, chased away the 109s, claiming seven of them.
Landing at Mirogrod, Crowley says the crew spent the night, "sleeping like logs" in an old schoolhouse. During the night the airbase was bombed, but it didn't wake Tim or his crew up. The next morning Crowley heard 72 of the shuttle B-17s were shot up on the ground at Poltava. So, the 100th's commander moved his B-17s at dusk from Mirograd to an airbase at Kiev. Overnight the Germans bombed an empty Mirogrod. The third night the Group moved to Kharkov, and the Germans bombed Kiev. The leapfrogging continued until the Russians repaired the strip at Mirogrod, and the B-17 crews refueled and bombed-up for a mission over Germany.
Crowley says Russia was not very nice. "There were guards with tommy guns around our barracks all the time we were there." But the biggest surprise was at Kharkov, where crews bathing in the showers were shocked to have Russian women walk right up behind them with soap and towels.
The Group left Mirogrod for a mission in Poland, then shuttled south to Italy. On the way, they ran into trouble flying only about 7000 feet near the Adriatic Sea. The Germans had built AA sites along the mountain tops. Well below their normal cruise altitude, the B-17s were surprised by flak, but luckily didn't lose anybody. They next flew a mission to Czechoslovakia, then returned to England, bombing a site near the Normandy invasion along the way. Thanks to the German air raid on Poltava, only 62 of the original 144 planes returned to England.
Crowley had 28 missions under his belt when he'd left for the shuttle mission - - and figured the four missions on this shuttle run - - he had 32. Crews were being sent home after 30 missions, so while returning, Crowley celebrated by shooting off a few .50 cal. bursts. On landing, he discovered the Army Air Force had upped the number of missions to 35. And then, assured he'd get three easy missions to finish his tour - - he was sent to Merseberg, Magdeberg and Munich.
Crowley never had a crew member hurt on a mission until over Munich. His bombardier was hit five different times - - in the gaps in his flak suit. Both the bombardier's and Crowley's oxygen was knocked out. So Crowley survived the 4-hour flight home drawing oxygen from a 15-minute walk around bottle.
"It was sort of strange. You'd fly along until you couldn't see anything. Then you'd swig on the bottle until you could see again. In any event I had a hell of a headache the next day, and I finally learned what oxygen deprivation does to you."
Merseberg was one of Crowley's most memorable missions - - when 150 German fighters rose in defense. Most were Fw 190s, with 20mm shells armed to explode at 800 yards or impact, whichever came first. Attacking in waves of 50, the Focke Wulfs "cleaned up the group in front of us pretty well. I only saw one German fighter go down, and I think he stalled out. He didn't look like he was hit at all. Our gunners were so lousy it was pitiful."
The name "Miss-Chief" was the only nose art painted on Crowley's B-17. "Frankly I thought these guys were nuts. They go and put these fancy ladies and all that on their planes. I always thought to myself, "hey if I was coming in to shoot at these people, and something caught my eye, that's what I'd shoot at.' So, as long as you remained anonymous...that sure worked for me."