Subject: B-17 Boomerang Barbara, waist gunner James Baldock part 1
From: [email-masked] (Michael Fitch)

SUBJECT: B-17 Boomerang Barbara, (introduction) waist gunner James Baldock.

                              - Part 1 -

        Mark Watson had contacted James Baldock and asked if he had any
information on his missions in the B-17 Boomerang Barbara. Yesterday
Mark received a package in the mail from James Baldock. In the package 
was a copy of the Baldock Family History and copies of his B17 flight log.  
In the Family book is, among many facinating stories, a section on James 
Baldock's World War 2 involvement. I will be including James Baldock's log
entry in the remaining Boomberang Barbara articles.
        James Baldock joined the Boomerang Barbara crew on Jan. 11, 1944.
This was his 12th mission, Boomerang Barbara's 10th mission. He flew his
previous missions on several other B17s including ones named "Hard Luck" and 
"Sweatheart".  His story is no less interesting than William J. Watson's and 
Albert Soriano's. The following is from his family history book:

        "From the time I finished Gunnery School in 1942 until I went into
B-17's I was authorized to draw flight pay. This amounted to an extra 50%
of my base pay and required that I fly four hours a month. Sometime during
each month Operations would notify us what day we could get that time in, or
we might accrue the time over several days of short flights. After I got to 
England, our flying time requirement was met in various ways and means! We
flew in everything from a Piper Cub to an AT-6, A-20, and even a British Bi-
plane - an old Tiger Moth - which was really fun. One day I got to ride in a 
British Horsa Glider. It was a big troop carrying glider which carried 30 or 
40 troups and it was pulled behind an old Whitney Bomber - a real antique. 
The sensation of flying in a glider is very different from a plane. There is 
no vibration and no noise except the wind whistling through the guy wires.
        Finally they transfered all of the fellows who had gone through
Gunnery School to the 11th Combat Crew Replacement Center where we had a
couple of weeks schooling. After that, we were shipped up to The Wash, a big
bay in Northern England where we were given a few more days of gunnery
practice and from there sent to different 8th Air Force Bomb Groups where
replacements were needed.
        On August 26th, 1943, I transfered into the 561st Squadron of the 
388th Bomb Group in the 3rd Division of the 8th Air Force, flying out of
Knettishall, about 75 N.E. of London. I have a log with a brief description
of each mission, but I will tell you only about a few of those which stand
out in my mind. I flew twenty-five missions, the first on October 9th, 1943,
and the twenty-fifth on March 6th, 1944. We would sometimes fly several days
consecutively and then be off for maybe a week before flying another mission.
The weather and the condition of the planes often determined our schedule.
I flew the first two missions as a radio operator gunner and the rest I flew 
Right Waist position.
        My first combat mission was the longest mission of the war up until
that time. We flew across the North Sea, across Denmark to Gdynia, Poland.
Our target was a battleship in the harbor of Gdynia, and at the same time we
were being used as a diversion to draw the fighters away from other bombers
which were going to a Focke-Wulf aircraft plant at Marienburg, Germany. In
the radio position there is no view at all except up! I could hear the engine
noises, and the flak outside, and it was very frightening. As we returned
across Denmark, we encountered lots of flak and several German Fighters. We
identified an outdated JU-87 (Stuka dive bomber) and concluded that the 
Germans were pretty desperate to have resorted to using such out-dated 
planes. Most of the planes they were using were twin engine - ME-110's,
ME-210's and the JU-88's. It was the first time they had ever used rockets.
When they fired them, it looked like the enemy plane was blowing up with a
big puff of smoke, but followed a few seconds later by an explosion outside
(hopefully) of our plane.
        Mission #5 we flew to central Norway and bombed a Hydro-Electric 
plant at Rjuken, Norway. We flew in at low level - about 12,000 feet, so the
hills were not very far below. It was beautiful scenery with the snow covered
mountains in plain view. I wrote in my log - "Lovely place, Norway!"
        My first mission was with Lt. Eccleston, second with Lt. Yenerich,
and third. Lt. Swift with whom I stayed until they finished their twenty-
five missions in January of 1944. After that I was assigned to Lt. Robert
Bailey's crew and was with him until I completed my missions.
        I was still with Lt. Swift at Christmas time, 1943, and because we
had been flying quite regularly and had had some fairly rough duty, we were
sent to the American Red Cross Rest Home at Moulsford Manor for several days.
It was a beautiful little country Inn on the Thames River, Back in the 
country about fifty miles from London. When the Red Cross took it over, they
retained the servants and we were treated royally - a far cry from barracks
life! The Food was much better, of course, and we had a typical English
Christmas dinner - right down to the plum pudding. It was a wonderful
experience.
        Later on, the middle of February (I was then with Lt. Bailey) our
crew was in need of R & R so we again sent to Moulsford for a week. The thing
I remember most about that week was attending an Irving Berlin Show.
        I would guess that we returned from 75% of our missions with some
flak holes in our plane. One time my oxygen line was severed by flak, and
another time Smitty, our tail gunner, thought he had lost his foot. Actually
the flak hit his foot like a hammer, but didn't even break the skin. We were
very fortunate in that not one of our men was injured from enemy action. I
give credit to God who answered my prayers and those of my parents and 
others.
        All of my missions took place during the winter. They would get us up
early - seemed like the middle of the night - for breakfast. They served real
heavy pancakes...it's a wonder any of the planes got off the ground! After 
that, we would go to the briefing room where they gave us our assignment -
told us where we were going and what to expect. After scaring us to death,
they would take us to our plane and we would have maybe an hour before take
off to get our guns ready...and pray!
        We wore electrically heated flying suits, something like an electric 
blanket. This was plugged into the plane's electrical system. We also had        
electric gloves and boots which plugged into the suit. These kept us snug as 
a bug as long as they worked. Over this electric suit we wore flight 
coveralls and that was plenty unless the suit went out. In that case we had 
to throw on sheep skin flying suits. Sometimes the temperature would fall as
low as 55 or 60 degrees below zero. We also had a flak suit which we wore 
almost constantly from the time we entered enemy territory until we were out
of danger of flak. It weighed 20 or 30 pounds and was constructed of over-
lapping pieces of metal like a suit of mail, but covered with a fabric. Over
all that we wore our parachute harness, but never put the parachute on unless
notified by our pilot to do so.
        The right waist gunner and the left waist gunner were back to back,
and we stood on armor plate all of the time. We kept a piece of corrigaged
cardboard on top the armor plate to give us a little insulation from the
cold metal. In the waist position, you stood by an open window with a .50
caliber machine gun protruding through the opening. If it was 60 degrees
below zero, imagine the wind chill! I remember well one mission when my suit
burned out shortly after we crossed into enemy territory. I ran in place for 
three or four hours just to keep from freezing!
        When we had climbed to about 10,000 feet the pilot would notify us 
and we would don our oxygen masks. We plugged them into a fixture over our 
heads which connected to the plane's oxygen system. Most of our missions were 
in the 19 to 22 thousand foot altitude, so we would sometimes have that 
oxygen mask on for four or five hours at a time. Breathing oxygen for such a
long time leaves a person ravenously hungry. Before each mission we stashed
a candy bar in a little pocket of our flight coveralls, just below the knee,
and as soon as we could get free of the mask, we would go for that Milky Way
or Mars Bar! It would be frozen solid and it tasted soooo good!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

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    Michael R. Fitch    DISO/UNRIA    (DSN) 850-9961    (614) 692-9961    
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 E-mail:   [email-masked]   -or try-   [email-masked]