The Final Mission of Bottoms Up: A World War II Pilot's Story

Introduction

1 Introduction World War II was the age of death from above. Although in the earlier global war now called World War I stirring aerial combat among nimble fighters and the occasional bombing attack on cities were widely reported, the war of the 1940s was breathtaking in the employment of aircraft in the strategic decision to destroy the will and production facilities of opposing countries. That decision came with a high price, not only for those who were in the bullseye of bombing targets, but for the young men sent aloft in the service of their countries. Deep within the entrails of the National Archives are roll after roll of microfiche files known as MACRs. These detailed Missing Air Crew Reports are crammed with fascinating minutiae regarding each of the 22,951 U.S. military aircraft that were lost on operational missions during World War II. Anyone who is interested can order a copy of one of these reports, provided that the MACR number is already known. If not, a particular report might be obtained by knowing the name and organization of a missing airman. If that is unsuccessful, there are organizations and individual researchers available who might be able to shed light that leads to a single report. But anyone setting out to learn more about a missing relative or friend should be forewarned: The reports are ripe with information that might be useful in identifying a crash site, but very lean on what an individual flier experienced. The prose is sparse; there is no room for description of the terror, or the courage , or the professionalism of those young men who climbed into the fighters and bombers and transports so many decades ago and faced the enemy and their own fears in skies over Europe and North Africa and the Pacific and Asia. The reports were typed by largely nameless soldiers doing an important job, but they were never meant to re-create the lives of those gone missing. How do you report that “a pair of neon blue eyes that would light up when switched on by a heart-breaking smile went missing today somewhere over northern Italy?” 2 Introduction One MACR, No. 9888, concerns one aircrew of ten such young men, flying a B-24J (AAF serial number 42–51926) out of Spinazzola, Italy, on 18 November 1944. The target, 9888 tells us, was Udine Air Drome, Italy; the mission, Bombing . The weather enroute was hazy, with cirrostratus clouds building from 23,000 feet; visibility was 10 to 15 miles. The B-24J, nicknamed Bottoms Up according to the report, was part of the 460th Bomb Group (Heavy), 760th Bomb Squadron. It was equipped with three R-1830–65A radial engines, and one R-1830–43 engine; the serial numbers for each of the four are listed. Ten Browning M2 caliber .50 machines guns were aboard; the serial numbers of each of those weapons are duly noted. Finally, nearly half-way down the page, is the chillingly impersonal query: Personnel listed below reported as (check one): Battle Casualty, Non-Battle Casualty . An X has been placed by the first choice for the following ten names: Pilot: Darden, Randall B., 1st Lt; Co-Pilot, Lamar, Edgar L., 2nd Lt. Navigator, Craig, Wade M., Jr., 2nd Lt. Bombardier, Reynolds, Donald, 2nd Lt. Engineer, Webb, Hurston, S/Sgt. Radio Operator, Norlund, Swante B., S/Sgt. Assistant Engineer, Briganti, Mario A., S/Sgt. Assistant Radio Operator, Nordback, John F., S/Sgt. Air Gunner, Alder, Henry L., S/Sgt. Air Gunner, Sturtz, Bernard C., S/Sgt. The notation MIA (Missing In Action) denotes the “Current Status” of each man. Next of kin and address follow each name: Four Mothers, three Fathers, three Wives. The missing airmen hail from Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Minnesota, Connecticut, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and two from Tennessee. There follows page after page, about thirty in all, of follow-up reports. Four airmen in different aircraft who accompanied Bottoms Up and her crew to Udine give statements about seeing the Liberator hit hard by antiaircraft fire over the target, subsequently losing altitude and dropping behind the formation. And to the credit of those nameless and unhonored keepers of the reports, additions to the file were made even after the war, as further information became available on the condition and whereabouts of various air crew. Historians decades and centuries from now will doubtless find the MACRs to be valuable sources of information on the statistically horrifying war in...