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Enlisted into the Army Air Corps shortly after his birthday however he had to wait until he was 21 because Bob’s mom would not sign for him. Bob was working at Douglass Aircraft for two years but had it on his mind to beat the draft. |
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Went overseas to Europe through North Africa to Lecce, Italy which was the heel of Italy. Bob was a B-24 Liberator pilot; he liked the B-24 J because it had super engines. Bob’s longest flight in a B-24 was from South America to Africa which was 13.5hrs in the air; the B-24 did have an auto pilot but it was up to the navigator to point them in the correct direction. |
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Bob completed 14 missions before he was shot down on his 15th mission over the Ploieti oil fields in Romania. Bob became a POW and was held on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania for six weeks and five days before being liberator by the Russians. Bob’s normal plane was called Miss Please (44-40324) but it had suffered damage the day before so he was piloting a backup plane which did not have a name. The plane was composed of three main sections and when the plane was hit it exploded, the bombardier, navigator and nose turret gunner were in the first section and did not survive; Bob was in the second section with a pilot, flight engineer, radio operator, and ball turret gunner; the third section included the tail gunner, turret gunner, and two waste gunners composing of 11 people. Bob’s right leg was broken, his left leg was hit and broke when he hit the ground. Bob was unconscious but his radio operator saved his life by putting on his parachute putting him through the bomb door and pulling his rip cord. Bob woke up a few times to notice he was in the midst of flak and was captured within a couple hours of landing.
After being liberated he was sent to an American hospital where he met his nurse who he later married. They recently went to Washington, DC on Honor Flight. |
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