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Our load that day was 52 100# bombs on each ship. We could carry twelve 500# bombs or four 2000# bombs. These last loads were used for the factories making the planes and ball bearings.
We used fire bombs along with the 100# bombs for oil fields. Part of the formation dropped the fire bombs and the rest used the 100# bombs to help spread the fire through out the oil fields.
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The name of the plane we were in was called “OH MONA”, and the number was as follows: 42-52343. It was a B-24H model.
On retrun at Attlebridge, I remember being carried off of the plane and tossed into an ambulance for the ride to the base hospital.
As far as I know the ship never flew again.
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Except in two or three missions I always served as the nose gunner, Biarritz was one of them. As it was the first mission for the rest of the crew they sent along an observer who rode in the nose turret. I rode waist gun that day
We all changed tail colors about then. BG.466th changed from a circle with an L in it into three horizontal stripes : red, white and red.
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Planes from deep dark green to metal color.. If you look at “OH MONA” picture , for us, this happened after our Biarritz raid.
As far as I know the 458th and also the 467th groups were with us as we were in the same wing and nearly always flew together. (2)
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As I remember our total time for the raid was around nine hours. (3)
This mission was, if not the longest, one of the longest of the war in Europe.
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