Captain Harry R. Ankeny's Combat Diary
Page 11
flak. They hit my ship over Hanover but armor plate under
the engine saved it. We were sure glad to get home. Very
good weather all day. Capt. Lingo went down during the
mission. Lt. Adams got 2 ME109's Johnny Pugh got a 109.
My operational hours to date are 57 hrs. and 35 minutes
and our squadron has downed 43 planes with a loss of 13
good men. Not too good.
23rd April, 1944.
A new type of mission for me--a dive bombing mission
into Germany. We were briefed to dive bomb an airfield
near Quakenbruc, about 100 miles past the Zeider Zee.
Lt. "Rocky" Hill flew my wing in Lt. Hagan's flight and
we were the last flight in the group to make our run. Capt.
Hiro led the group and didn't do a very smart job. When
we arrived over there, he circled the field twice with the
whole group in trail. Well by the time we started our dive
the flak was pretty heavy, just picked a hole and dove from
20,000 to 12,000 ft. when we released. Was a very successful
mission--don't think we did much damage.
24th April, 1944.
Started out to Munich Germany on Lt. Hagan's wing.
My electrical system went out as we hit the enemy coast
so I turned back. The boys who got thru did O.K. Adams
and England both got 3 ME110's Hank Beal got 2 ME110's
Lt. A. E. Smith took several head-on passes at 110's and
was hit by one of their 20 mm. He was damn lucky to get
home. He had 13 pieces of shell fragment in his body and
his plane was a mess--a lucky guy. Lost a good man, Lt. Conn-
aghan. He collided with a 110, knocked its wing off but they
thought he bailed out safely. The other squadrons in group
lost two brand new boys--one headed for Switzerland.
25th April, 1944.
Flew on Lt. Adams' wing in Capt. Broadhead's flight
to southern France our mission was to escort the heavies
over Dijon airfield. Lt. Col. Graham our group C.O., led
the group and going in we went clear past the target into
Switzerland was very beautiful down there, almost wanted
my engine to quit. Turned around over Lake Geneva and picked
up the bomber just before they dropped their loads. Bombing
results were excellent. Didn't touch the field but flattened
Copyright © 1996, Harry R. Ankeny