Mission No. 138

UDINE, ITALY   MISSION NO. 138   January 31, 1944 This is the official report of the mission, during which,  Robert "Hooker" Kolstad's plane was shot down  The Group wound up the busy month of January 1944 "with a bang" on the 31st and really plastered the airdrome installations at the Udine/Campoformido Base, which is just 3 1/2 miles southwest of Udine. It was one of the best jobs of precision bombing ever done by this unit and ended a month when twenty-four (24) missions were flown, which is a record for this Group, if not the Air Force. Twenty-nine (29) missions would have been flown, but the weather caused the cancellation of five of them. Incidentally, one of the twenty-four (24) missions flown was later declared "No Mission," but it has been counted here, for the formation was in the vicinity of the target and staved off a fighter attack, so credit's being taken for it.  The installations there were extensive and included five large hangars, one medium hangar, barracks, guard room, control room, officer's mess, stores buildings, motor transport building, a school building and the officers' quarters, and all were in a confined V-shaped area that presented a beautiful target.  There was some resistance that day, too, but it seems that, the greater the resistance, the better the bombing for, in many instances, when there wasn't any opposition, the bombing was below the usual standard. The first wave didn't get any flak, but the second wave did, and it was slight to moderate in intensity and fairly accurate.  Some 25 to 30 fighters (Me-109s, FW-190s, and twin- engine planes) attacked the second wave, too, before, during, and after the bomb run. The fighters were aggressive and continued their attacks for about 18 minutes. All planes appeared to be using rocket shells, in addition to 50mm. and came in low, mostly between 5 and 7 o'clock to as close as 300 yards, in some instances. This resistance caused the loss of plane to flak, and fourteen (14) others were slightly damaged ( nine by flak and five by fighters), but no one was injured.  The plane lost was from the 96th Squadron, and it was last sighted at 1305 hours at 45-08N - 13-44E, which is about thirteen 13) miles north-northwest of Pola, Italy. Apparently, it caught some damaging flak on the bombing run, but the plane dropped its bombs and stayed with the formation, until the turn was started, at which time it began to lag and go to the left. It nearly caught up to the formation several times, but finally lagged some distance and finally parachutes were seen coming from the plane.  It seemed that the men had plenty of time to jump, for they came out of the plane at ten- second intervals. At least seven crew members were seen to bail out and, no doubt, they all did, for the for mation finally got so far away from the plane that no one could see exactly what happened to it. It was alone, at any rate, and not being molested by fighters. It was suspected, from the course the stricken aircraft assumed upon leaving the formation, that the pilot was trying to make it to Yugoslavia, before going down, for the crew members would have a better chance of not being taken prisoner in that country than they would have, if they landed on Italian soil. The missing men were Robert R. Kolstad       1st Lt.  0-792717  Pilot; Eau Claire, Wisconsin  Victor A. Brockman       2nd Lt.  0-801504  Co-pilot; Nazareth, Texas  John V. Harrop      2nd Lt.  0-811607  Navigator; Chicago, Illinois.  James W. Shea,       2nd Lt.  0-731750  Bombardier; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  Archie M. Hartgrave       T/Sgt.  37120495  Upper Turret; Ainsworth, Nebraska Hayden B. Speede       Sgt.  14151378  Lower Turret; Hattiesburg, Mississippi  Joseph W. Gibson       S/Sgt. 12172678  Right Waist; Broadalbin, New York  William K. Fleming Jr.,       32536723  Left Waist; Tuckahoe, New York  Joseph (NMI) Habif       12152216  Tail Gunner; Los Angeles, California  Willard R. Parrish       T/Sgt.  34208980  Radio Gunner; Chattahoochee, Florida  In return for the lost aircraft, the gunners shot down seven (7) of the aggressive fighters and credit was given to the following:  DESTROYED  Robert R. Thornton..... 1 FW-190      S/Sgt. 6576284  Upper Turret Gunner, 49th Squadron      Jacksonville, Florida  John J. Kenlein..... 1 Me-109       Sgt. 32605551  Upper Turret Gunner, 49th Squadron       West Orange, New Jersey  David A. Harris..... 1 FW-190      Sgt.  31150756  Right Waist Gunner, 49th Squadron      North Monmouth, Maine  Cleo L. Corley..... 1 Me-109      S/Sgt. 17046948  Tail Gunner, 96th Squadron       Independence, Missouri  George W. Stasik..... 1 Me-109      S/Sgt. 13107027  Right Waist Gunner, 96th Squadron       McKee's Rocks, Pennsylvania  Arlin J. Stearns..... 1 me-109      Sgt. 18169914  Tail Gunner, 96th Squadron       Paragould, Arkansas PROBABLY DESTROYED  Donald F. Center..... 1 FW-190      S/Sgt. 18169171  Left Waist Gunner, 20th Squadron       Heber Springs, Arkansas.  According to the bomb strike photographs taken by seven cameras, there were forty-five (45) aircraft on the ground at bombing time, forty-one(41) single- engine, and three (3) twin- engine, and one (1) multi- engine. Of these, nine (9) single- engine fighters were destroyed and four others were damaged by the two Groups that bombed.  Other damage done by the 2nd Bomb Group included: a heavy concentration of hits that blanketed the northeast two-thirds of the installations with heavy destruction of buildings; a direct hit on the central hangar of the southeast line that probably destroyed it, as well as the small building adjacent to it; a damaging near miss on the extreme northeast hangar of the southeast line; direct hits and probable near misses on probable central and control administration building at the northeast end of the landing area between the two hangar lines; direct hits and damaging near misses on the north east half of the barracks buildings in the northeast hangar with partial demolition; direct hits on the two hangars and probable shops between them at the northeast end of the northeast hangar line, that partially demolished them; direct hits or very damaging near misses on seven of the nine buildings located between the northeast hangar line and the administration and quarters units, that severely damaged them; at least two of the five quarters buildings hit directly and severely damaged; direct hits and damaging near misses on the central and westerly of the three hangars under construction to the east of the quarters buildings, which partially destroyed them; several direct hits on the railroad adjacent to the airdrome on the north and the highway on the south, that cut the former in several places and cratered the latter; a small concentration on the south, that post-holed that portion along the south hangar line and about one-quarter of the width of the runway and many direct hits on the landing area between the two hangar lines that post-holed it well.  The 2nd Bomb Group preceded the 99th Bomb Group over the target and was led by Captain Harold L. Chrismon, Commanding Officer of the 20th Squadron.  The bombing took place at 1249 hours, from 22,000 feet and 117 tons of 1,000 general purpose demolition bombs were used. P-47 escort was furnished by the 325th Fighter Group. Two additional men, besides the combat crews, went on the mission. One was T/Sgt. Newey 0. Stephens of the Group Intelligence Section and the other was Sgt. Lowell A. Greer, Aerial Photographer from the 96th Squadron.  This was the first time the latter had gone on a mission for that purpose, and it was the plan for him to procure photographs of the formation and oblique views of the bombing. His first attempts weren't too successful, however, he will be going on missions frequently and should be able to obtain some very good pictures for use in educational and public relations work.