by Wesley Baker
Flight Engineer B-24
Wesley "Red" Baker and Sammy Carbone
Hanging Laundry on B-24 at Bermuda
We flew B-24 transition at Charleston, South Carolina. From there to Mitchell Field, Long Island, NY to accept a new B-24 to fly overseas to Europe.
We departed from Bangor, Me. the morning after a heavy snow storm. We had to be ploughed out to be able to take off.
Got weathered in Bermuda for one week. From there we flew to the Azores.
Leaving the Azores we flew into unexpected "soup". Our flight instruments went out because we lost vacuum. The pilot, co-pilot and I decided, if the pilot could keep us upright with the needle and ball and altimeter, we would continue on for Marrakech, North Africa.
It was then the crew in the waist told me on intercom that number two engine was smoking. It wasn't smoke- it was trailing a stream of oil. We continued on deciding we could fly on three engines, and could also jettison some equipment to lighten the load. We arrived safely in North Africa. from North Africa we flew to Gioia del Colle, thence to San Pancrazio from which we flew our combat missions.
We were hit in the nose by route flak on our return from bombing the Marsalling yard at Wienerneustadt, Austria, our first mission. Frank Lordi, the Bombardier, was hit with flak between the front and back pieces of the flak suit causing an ugly wound in his side. He was brought to the flight deck and given first aid.
There were other missions with flak over the targets.
One memorable mission was a top secret all-out mission against German Troops in the Po Valley, Italy, a mission involving the entire 15th Air Force. We had markers on the ground. After we flew over the markers we started pattern bombing with 100 lb. demolition and 20 lb. fragmentation bombs. The Germans retreated rapidly out of Italy.
It was at Brenner Pass where Germans had our altitude with flak. We were off target and was told to do a 360 degree. The lead pilot then thought it was too risky, and to hit our alternate targets. It was then that flak came through the windshield hitting the pilot in the face. Plexiglas flew back in my face causing my eyes to tear, my eyelids freezing together and when I whirled around my oxygen line snapped loose. I took off my gloves and used the warmth of my hands to thaw my eyelids so I could see to snap my oxygen line back together. That's when Lt. Reed, the co-pilot, said help the chief.
I gave him a compress and put him on free-flow oxygen. We left the formation and flew to Falconara, Italy to get the pilot to the hospital. The Tuskegee Airmen gave us fighter cover to Falconara. They were outstanding pilots.
We were grounded for about a week waiting for a pilot to come fly us back to San Pancrazio. Lt. Sevenerson was left at the hospital in Falconara.
While at Falconara flight line I saw a B-17 that was on the same mission that we flew at Brenner pass. It was loaded from nose to tail, wing tip to wing tip with holes like Swiss Cheese. It came into Falconara with only three alive out of a ten man crew, as I was told by a ground crewman.
When we arrived back in San Pancrazio they were breaking camp, and B-24's were being ferried to be placed in a pool at Gioia del Colle. I was selected as Engineer on a B-24 to fly to Gioia del Colle. I asked the pilot to do a buzz job over our base. We flew way wide of the base and came in at tree top level. I shot a string of flares on the way in, saving one red flare in case of emergency. Prop wash caused tents being dismantled to fly out of the hands of those dismantling them. Our props took twigs out of a tree outside the orderly room. We hedge-hopped all the way to Gioia del Colle. We had to gain altitude to get over a town on a hill and flew between steeples. When we landed I got out and kissed the ground and was so shaky I could not light my cigarette. The pilot calmly took the matches and lit it for me and said, "You asked for it!" and I said, "Never Again."
During the war we did some wild things that we couldn't get away with today.
The last I saw of my pilot was in the early 1990's, after leaving him in 1945. Since then, he is deceased, also my co-pilot.
I had a reunion with Sam Carbone, Ball Gunner, Stanley Adelson, Radio Operator, and C.W. Dana Davis, Navigator, in 2000 on Long Island, NY. It was the first time I had seen or talked to them since 1945.
To those who told me upon arriving in Italy all that was left was milk runs, I say as long as the flak looks so thick you could walk on it, I don't call it milk runs.
Wesley (Red) Baker
Flight Engineer