Captain Harry R. Ankeny's Combat Diary
Page 16
it was terrific. Ordinarily flak appears black in large
puffs but these were so close you could see large orange
flashes and see the fragments bursting around the flame--
I never thought we would all get out but we did. A 354th
group boy joined us and we headed back home over the North
Sea. I didn't want to go near land. Navigation worked
perfect and we arrived home in good time.
24th May, 1944.
Bomber escort to Berlin flying in Capt. Hagan's
White flight with Lt. Starkey on my wing. Starkey is really
an eager boy--he'll try anything. Took the bomber into
Berlin--missing the flak barrages pretty well. Our withdraw
fighter support came in and we headed home. About that time
the bombers were severely attacked by a large force of jerries
but we couldn't help them. We cruised on home, dodging cities.
They, the bombers, hit the rail yards in Berlin, Germany.
25th May, 1944.
Another bomber escort to the middle-east part of
France, Metz and Neuers. I flew as element leader in
Major Gates' Green flight with Lt. A. E. Smith on my wing.
We picked up the bombers on time, escorted them over the
target and clear back to the English coast. Saw the bomb-
ing very clearly. Our particular box missed the rail yards,
their target, in Metz.
27th May, 1944.
Our job today was to provide escort for the bombers
while they bombed the rail yards at Stuttgart, Germany, 50
miles below the Ruhr (Happy) Valley. Stuttgart and surround-
ing towns are large industrial localities. Started out as
spare in our squadron. Got almost to rendezvous when around
100 fighters tore thru the bomber formation. Just then Lt.
Lehl had to return with a bad engine and I had to escort
him back. We got back OK but missed the big fight. Our
squadron got 6 planes, the group score 21. The group lost
4 pilots, including Capt. R. D. Brown from our squadron.
Copyright © 1996, Harry R. Ankeny