FALCONARA PICKUP CO-PILOT On one of the first missions we flew from our base in San Pancrazio, Italy, I
by Frank Lordi
Bombardier
remember flying over some mountains that were very high. At the base of the
mountains was a very small town that was quite peaceful and beautiful. We are
on radio silence when flying over enemy territory, however, on this day a loud
voice broke radio silence, I thought, shouting - Stanley Adelson “Vot a spot for a
tailor shop”. We all had a good laugh at Stanley’s expense, but I thought we
broke the rule of silence. (It was over the inter-com, not the radio). It was “Red”
Baker, our crew chief. It relaxed us and took a lot of tension out of the mission,
which incidentally was a successful one.
Frank Lordi and Wesley BakerWe also made several missions to Germany, only to find that the primary and
secondary targets were covered by clouds and could not be bombed. We were
not permitted to bomb a target unless it was visible. Consequently, we returned
to our Italian base, and jettisoned our bomb load in the Adriatic Sea before
landing. We were not permitted to land with a full bomb load. Sam Carbone and
I defused a lot of bombs and are responsible for a part of the mountain of bombs
now located in the Adriatic Sea.The mission that “Swede” Severson, our pilot, got hit with flak and the crew had
to land in Falconara, Italy, I was told they had to crash land. Well, I was not the
bombardier on that mission because I had orders to go to headquarters to be
promoted from Flight Officer to Second Lieutenant. (It was not a crash landing, I
was misinformed). I never saw Swede again after that mission. It was my
understanding that he got hit with flak on the nose and “Red” had some real
problems getting the blood to stop and keeping him on oxygen, until the co-pilot
Lt. Reed got the ship landed in Falconara, Italy. I remember waiting for our crew
to return from that mission and I became quite concerned when the other crews
began returning and ours was no where in sight. I recall Captain Wright, a pilot
in our 376th bomb group getting in touch with me and informing me that Swede
had been hit and had to crash land in Falconara, Italy. He told me that all the
other crew members were fine. He had orders to pick up the crew the next day.
He asked me if I would like to fly with him acting as co-pilot “more like sitting in
the co-pilot seat to make the pickup. I was quite anxious to go, I was concerned
about Swede’s health and the condition of the crew members. Well, we made
the trip safely the next day and returned successfully with all the crew. I guess I
can say I did fly once as co-pilot in my tour in Italy.
Frank Lordi
Bombardier
15th Air Force
376th Bomb Group
513th Squadron
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