1 | B-24-J-1-FO 42-50519 "Orange's Crate" (airframe mission #6) Emerson Turret 78th BS FORMATION: Low DATE: 5 April 44 MISSION # 20 TARGET: Ploesti, Romania - Marshalling Yard / Oil Storage | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | |||||||||||
3 | |||||||||||
4 | Position | Rank | Name | Missions Complete | Kills this Mission | Total Kills | Awards | Status Fit for Duty | |||
5 | Pilot | 1st Lt | Ab Orange | 7 | AM | FfD | |||||
6 | Co-Pilot | 2nd Lt | Basil Tottenham | 7 | AM | FfD | |||||
7 | Bomb | 2nd Lt | Ben Virden | 6 | AM, PH | FfD | |||||
8 | Nav | 2nd Lt | Vale Neumann | 3 | FfD | ||||||
9 | Engr/TT | T/Sgt | Benedict Jackson | 3 | 1 | 1 | FfD | ||||
10 | Radio/Stb W | S/Sgt | Frank Dunn | 7 | AM, PH | KIA | |||||
11 | Ball T | Sgt | Jake Bender | 7 | 2 | 4.5 | AM | FfD | |||
12 | Pt W | S/Sgt | Donald Stroll | 4 | 0.5 | FfD | |||||
13 | Stb W/Nose | Sgt | Vince Dipalo | 7 | 2.5 | 3 | AM | FfD | |||
14 | Tail T | Sgt | Tommy MacDonald | 7 | 0.5 | 4 | AM | FfD | |||
15 | 6 | 15 | |||||||||
16 | |||||||||||
17 | Enemy A/C | Intrcptd | B-24 Hits | FBOA - FCA - FCAB - destroyed | Claims - Probable - Confirmed | ||||||
18 | Bf-109 x4 | - 1 - - 2 | 2 - - 1 | ||||||||
19 | Bf-109 (R) x4 | 1 | - - 4 - 3 | 4 - - 3 | |||||||
20 | FW-190 x8 | 1 | 15 | - 1 - 3 - 2 | 2 - - 1 | ||||||
21 | Me-410 x1 | 2 | - 1 - 1 - | 1 - - 1 | |||||||
22 | Flak | 3 | |||||||||
23 | TOTALS x17 | 1 | 21 | - 3 - 8 - 7 | 9 - - 6 | ||||||
24 | |||||||||||
25 | BOMB RUN: 50% | ||||||||||
26 | CREW CASUALTIES & STATUS | ||||||||||
27 | S/Sgt Frank Dunn KIA, foot severed and bled out | ||||||||||
28 | DAMAGE: Category E points - 15x superficial = 15 / Pt Waist Gun = 10 / Pilot Window = 10 / KIA = 10 / Suit Heater = 10 / Landing Gear = 25 / Wing Spar = 25 / | ||||||||||
29 | A/C DISPOSITION: | ||||||||||
30 | CREW CHEIF: SGT Baker Rogers (0 modifier, +1 level every 10 missions) 14 missions | ||||||||||
31 | AWARDS AND DECORATIONS: | ||||||||||
32 | S/Sgt Frank Dunn - posthumous Purple Heart | ||||||||||
33 | 2nd Lt Ben Virden belatedly awarded Air Medal | ||||||||||
34 | PROMOTIONS: | ||||||||||
35 | AFTER ACTION REPORT | ||||||||||
36 | - Quiet until we saw a 190 chased off over Yugoslavia. - As we left Bulgaria a couple of 109s attacked head on. Immediately the port waist gun broke. No hits and they broke off after their first pass. They were followed by another 109. My forward guns chewed him up and he disappeared behind us. - Over Romania a couple of a couple of 109s bookended us from 12 and 6 and my guys knocked them both out of the sky. Next another pair of Romanian 109s. One was shot down on his first pass, the other on his second pass. And then, four 190s! My gunners continued to be on fire, destroying 2 and discouraging a third. The fourth scared the daylights out of me when he put a shell on our windscreen. - We'd been pretty lucky until we were near the IP and our luck ran out. A 190 from our 6 riddled us; Dunn in the waist had his foot shot off and bled out before we got home, Mac's suit heater in the tail got knocked out, our stbd flap got hit, and we had lots of ventilation. The flak punched a hole right beside my head but didn't do real damage. In spite of the flak and smoke on the ground, Ben had a good drop. - Off the target two more 190s and a 410. The 190s were driven off and the Me shot down. - I decided to trust our briefing that indicated no enemy a/c until Yugoslavia, and had Mac move up from the tail and plug into Dunn's heat. About 45 minutes from the coast I descended to warmer air and ordered Mac back into the tail. - A 190 was showing interest but a Lightning distracted him, although a 109 got past and paid for it. - Flying low we attracted some flak that punched a good sized hole in our stbd wing root. - As we made our approach it became apparent that somewhere a hit had knocked out our port landing gear. I had everyone brace themselves and tried to stall the a/c 5' above the ground to minimize our speed. The weakened wing spar gave way and we lost a wing, spun around, and came to a stop. I had everyone check in and was relieved when everyone reported nothing more than bumps and bruises. Except for Dunn. We all lined up and watched the corpsmen take him away. - I want to commend my gunners on some outstanding shooting today, they're the reason I'm able to write this report. And by the way, sir, Orange's Crate is also a write-off and we'll be needing a new aircraft. | ||||||||||
37 | |||||||||||
38 | |||||||||||
39 | |||||||||||
40 | |||||||||||
41 | |||||||||||
42 | |||||||||||
43 | |||||||||||
44 | |||||||||||
45 | |||||||||||
46 | |||||||||||
47 | |||||||||||
48 | |||||||||||
49 | Respectfully Submitted by 1st Lt Orange | ||||||||||
50 | Using TFT (Variants used: TFT Axis Fighter Aircraft Add-on Module (personal modification to not mix German and allied fighters. If a (I), (R), or (H) comes up, all fighters in that wave are the same nationality.) /Chris Riches' Variant Table for Mechanical Failure / Bruce Peckham’s German Fighter Pilots variant / Fuel Tank Leaks / Axis Aircraft Hit Effect Multipliers / Claiming Destroyed, Probable and Damaged Aircraft / Crew Chiefs/Jasta6 GAF Placement Variant / 509th Wound and Recovery) | ||||||||||
51 | |||||||||||
52 |