usaac

L. Charles Shinn and Frank Watson

I am Troy Watson, Jr. and on behalf of my brothers and sisters, Joyce West, Ann Haney, Ed Watson and Pat Watson am publishing this Dedication folder to honor my Uncle Frank Watson & his crew for all that they did for our wonderful country while serving in The United States Army Air Force during the second World War.

I met Etoile on a blind date (the first for each of us) on Dec. 28, 1939. Etoile was attending Neilson Beauty College, to become a "Beauty Operator". She was rooming with a classmate. The school was in Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX). She lived near the school. On July 3, 1942, she and I were married by a Methodist Minister in Kaufman, Texas. We honey-mooned that weekend in Dallas and I reported back in Houston the following Monday

Shortly after we were married, Etoile quit her job and came to Houston, getting a room in town. Wherever we went she would find a room. Room rates were very reasonable and everyone welcomed her in. From that time on, she came with me on all assignments, until I went to England. We had a 1940 Model Ford coupe, so that made life a little easier.

My military career began on November 25, 1940, when the Texas National Guard was mobilized. Along with my brother, Terrell, and my friend, A.J. Averitt (who won five Bronze stars as an infantryman during the war), enlisted in Battery A, 133rd Field Artillery. 36th Division. This unit was stationed in Dallas, Texas. When Camp Bowie; in Brownwood was completed and ready for occupancy in early 1941, our unit was moved in. Shortly after Dec. 7, 1941, I was on one of several gun crews that were sent to New Orleans to man artillery guns on merchant ships. These merchant ships were being sunk by Japan and Germany. They had no defense. Several gun crews were put on board these merchant ships. Our crew was never selected. After about 3 months we were sent back to Camp Bowie to join our outfit, however, in the meantime the 36th Division had been moved out to Florida. We were put in a Casual unit and eventually assigned to a Military Police unit that was forming at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. The unit was then sent to Houston, Texas. The mission was to guard defense installations. My duty was to be the Company Clerk. I had no experience, so I was sent to a Company clerk school in Ft. Sam Houston. My CO was what we called "retreads", I.e., older Officers that were brought back in the service for limited duty. He had been a WW1 pilot. He looked over my records and thought that I should try out for the Army Air Force. He suggested I go down to the Aviation Cadet recruiting office and see if they would take me. I was very surprised when I was accepted. I reported to the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center on April 3, 1943. This was a Classification and ground school Center. They selected cadets for bombardier, navigator or pilot training, or to be washed out. I was selected for pilot training and went through an intensive ground school.

Upon completion, of ground school in San Antonio I was sent to Parks Air College, in Sikeston, Missouri for primary flight training. Our aircraft were PT-19, a single engine, low wing; open cockpit, 2 place plywood aircraft. An inverted 6 cylinder 175 HP aircraft engine, built by Fairchild, powered the airplane. Our instructors were private pilots and were civilians. I completed Primary with a total of 65 hours flying time. My instructor, Mr. T. D. Medley owned the local theater. Next came Basic training at Strother Army Air Base in Winfield, Kansas. Our aircraft were Vultee, B-13's powered by a 450 HP radial engine, low wing, metal, 2 place, enclosed canopy, fully instrumented aircraft. I logged 72 hours in the BT-13 aircraft. We completed basic on Dec. 2, 1943.

I, along with many of my class were sent to Pampa Army Air Base, Pampa, Texas for twin engine advanced Training. My first flight in the Cessna AT-17 was on Dec.10, 1943, so we lost no time getting started. The AT-17 was equipped with 2-225 HP Radial Jacobs engines. It was also plywood and fabric covered aircraft. It was a four place, 2 seat (pilot & co-pilot) and 2 seats behind. It was built for civilian use, so it was a very plush interior.. Total pilot hours were 126. Training was completed Feb. 8, 1944 and I was commissioned a 2nd Lt., with a Pilots rating.

I, along with some other of my classmates was selected for 4-engine pilot training at Ft. Worth Army Air Base. One of my classmates was one " William C Holden," later to become a movie Star. I did not know him at the time, but later looking through my records, he and I were on the same orders, including being on the same ship to England. He was assigned to a different group once in England. Another Classmate, and good friend was Woodrow Wilson, from Wink, Texas, was later assigned to the 15th AF in Italy. He was killed while off duty, riding a motorcycle. I was very sorry to hear about it.

James Holt, Ernest Sorrentino, Kenneth Rabin, Frank Watson, Dean Johnson

I reported To Ft. Worth, in late February, and completed B-24 Transition training May 3,1944 and ordered to report to Lincoln Army Air Base on May 11,1944, to the Classification and Routing Pool. It was here that I met and was assigned my crew to be, and to be assigned to Biggs Army Air Base, in El Paso Texas.

At Biggs, the crew was introduced to the B-24; each crewmember had completed school for their specialty. Gunners completed gunnery school, Etc. Here we learned to work together. This was the real thing. This was rightly called combat school. We had practice bombing, navigation, gunnery, and formation flying. Unfortunately, we lost 2 planes SW of Roswell, NM. While on a formation training flight, we encountered some clouds and 2 somehow got together & crashed. Combat training was completed in late July .Our crew was ordered to report to Topeka Army Air Field in early August. On August 4, we received orders for overseas assignment. I said goodbye to Etoile and my brother Leon and his wife Mildred, who lived in Kansas City. We were put on a troop train for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. After a few days in Camp Kilmer, we bussed to New York about midnight and boarded a troop ship named "Kunsholm" a passenger ship on Swedish registry. A sister ship was in service as a Hospital Ship, the “Gripsholm". Our ship was a first class passenger ship. This was the first time I really noticed the difference between enlisted and Officers. The Officers had staterooms and ate in the Dining Room, with silverware and china, and we ordered from a menu. It was not your typical troop ship.

Our ship docked in Liverpool. It was 10 PM, Double British Time, and the sun was still up. We went to a staging area for a few days. This is where I was first introduced to "warm" beer. We were assigned to a base in North Ireland to learn about radio and other British flight procedures..

Finally, we were assigned to Squadron 7 89, 467th Bomb Group at Rackheath, near Norwich, England.

When we arrived, in late August, our Group was "stood down" from combat operations. The group was flying gasoline to France, supplying General Patton’s troops as he was racing across France, having broken out from St. Lo. France. Meanwhile, since they would not let our crew fly the gas runs. Those guys were bringing back Champagne, brandy and other liquor’s. In the meantime we were flying practice missions. It was a little known fact - at least in our group that our group flew more practice missions than any other group in the 8th AF.

Maybe that’s why we nicknamed our CO, "Black Al" Col. Albert J. Shower”.

Its no wonder that at war's end, that the 467th Bomb Group had the best "on target" bombing record in the entire 8th AF. Also, after VE day, "Victory in Europe", The 467th Bomb Group led the 8th AF in a fly-by over London. Also one of our aircraft named "witchcraft" flew 130 missions without an "abort". One of the best, if not the best record. A model of this aircraft, with 467th colors and markings is on display in the 8th AF Museum in Savannah, Georgia. Shortly after VE day the Witchcraft was on display under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In October 1944 the 467^th Bomb Group resumed combat operations. I flew my first mission on Oct.3, 1944. I flew this mission as co-pilot with another crew. This was normal procedure, to give a new pilot some experience. That first mission was to Gageneau, Germany, a Daimler-Benz factory.

I flew a total of 30 combat missions, all over German territory; Ending on April 9, 1945. Our crew was designated a lead crew in November after 7 missions, the remaining 23 missions were all lead crew missions.

All crewmembers of a crew were evaluated to become a lead crew from pilot to tail gunner. I was very fortunate to have such an excellent crew.

We flew 3 missions to Berlin. On a mission to Zossen (30 miles South of Berlin) on March 15 our target was German GHQ, also Hitler’s bunker and where he died a little later. On this mission we flew Wing (3 groups) Deputy lead encountering heavy flak. We went back to Berlin on March18 flying group deputy lead. Flak punctured one of the main fuel tanks; we lost a lot of fuel before it sealed itself. I was very iffy, with all the fuel fumes and the fact we were over 500 miles from base with low fuel. We lost 2 ships on this mission. One of the ships managed to get to the Russian lines, which were on about 30 miles East of Berlin. The crew bailed out, but the Russians, not believing they were Americans, almost killed them before being convinced they were "Americans” despite having US escape flags.

On a mission to Perlberg (20 miles NW of Berlin), we were jumped by two ME262 jets and those were the first jets we had ever seen. The attack didn't do any damage to our formation but did shoot down one of our ships in a formation close by.

On Dec 24th and 26th we flew missions in support of our troops during the Battle of the Budge.

My last mission was to hit an airfield near Munich. It was a very long mission and no enemy aircraft were sighted.

By this time Germany had lost much of its Luftwaffe. It really was a great experience flying over Paris and the white cliffs of Dover on the way to Rackheath. Combat finished! We had a nice finish. Over the base, the photographer took a picture of our formation overflying; we were congratulated on having a good close formation. I still have the picture.

Decorations I was awarded: The Air Medal with 4 clusters, and The Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the War, I left England aboard the "Fredrick Lykes”; A U.S. registered troop ship, from Southampton, England and docked in New York on May 23, 1945. It was the first troop ship to arrive in NY after VE day. We got a special welcome. We didn't think anything of it. We were just glad to be back on U.S. soil. We returned to Camp Kilmer (from which we departed for England. We left Camp Kilmer by troop train heading for Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. It took us about 2 or 3 days to get to Ft. Worth. I'm sure we had advance notice that we would stop in Ft. Worth. I don't remember how long we were in Ft. Worth-one to two hours. Boy was I glad to see everyone. At the time I had no idea how long before I would be back. I thought that I would be on a couple weeks leave. We arrived at Ft. Bliss on May 28th. On the 29th I was notified that I had enough "points" to get out of the service right then, or stay if I preferred. I opted to go on reserve status, but get out of active duty after going on terminal leave (7 days). I got on an American Airlines DC-3 that day, called Etoile that I would arrive at Meacham Field, Ft. Worth later that day. That was a very happy day; I was a civilian for the first time since Nov. 25, 1940.

{From Troy: I remember our family going to the Ft. Worth train station (I was 13 years old) to welcome Frank home from the war and to see him off. We came up from Denton, TX to see him. His beautiful wife Etoile was there also. We stood around and visited for a few minutes, then Frank, just prior to having to board kissed Etoile in a long good-by embrace and every GI who was already on the train hung their heads out of the open windows and really carried on and Hollered " Kiss her for me!!" and lots of other wolf calls. Hundreds of GI's were getting aboard the train going off to be released into civilian life and they were all one extremely HAPPY bunch!! . It was a very memorable moment in time. During the war, Dad, in his way, was very worried and also proud of his little brother. Franks Mother, My Grandmother, Avis was also extremely worried and proud of both her sons who went off to war. Frank & his crew flew 30 missions over Germany and then he came home, became an air traffic Controller at Albuquerque airport, raised one son, Steve, became an astute Real Estate investor and stayed in the Air Force Reserve being promoted to Lt. Col. By the way, I’m not saying Uncle Frank is a tightwad but he will squeeze a nickel till Jefferson says “calf-rope”. One quick story: Frank is now 86 years very young and still plays golf every chance he gets. One day, we came upon a hole that required a long drive over water. Frank knew he couldn’t hit it that far but decided to try anyway. He pulled a range ball out of his bag and teed it up. We noticed it and warned him that if the Marshall saw him playing a range ball, that they might run him off the course. He said: Why should they? – it’s not one of their range balls!! We died laughing.}

Add-on: I've just run across my Navigators own account of our missions. He has some additional info on lot of these. After all, he had a desk, and could write down lots of stuff. I was busy just trying to keep that beast in formation and a few other things that keep coming up. I will try to take each mission individually and de-cipher some terms or words you may not be acquainted with. Mission # 1 Coblenz GEE box - a navigational aid using two or more radio stations, D.R. "dead- reckoning (time-distance-wind) Mission # 2 Cologne We assembled our formation in an area using a nav. aid close to base. Unbeknownst to us the Germans using the frequency of our nav. aid, overpowered it and substituted their own Nav. aid. After flying several minutes from our base, and not ever reaching our nav aid I began asking the Nav about our position. He quickly determined we were very near Germany So we quickly made a 180 and hauled A--. Mission #3 Cologne PFF (Early radar), G.P.- General purpose bomb. IB - delayed fuse to penetrate

Mission #4 Neumuenster Mission #5 Hamburg We lost #3 engine, we were in the clouds, and were climbing trying to top out, we had a heavy load, pulling lots of power when the engine began to fail. We were in a large formation of over 1000 aircraft, not knowing where they were, all I could do was to peel off an get out of there as quickly as possible. At 17,000 feet we were clear of clouds but had a cloud deck below us. We took the shortest route to the coast,(north sea) fortunately no Luftwaffe came up to meet us, but the Anti-aircraft homed in and began letting us have it. We immediately began taking evasive action, i.e. changing direction 30 degrees every 20-25 seconds. It took that long from the time the projectile was fired to reach our altitude. Their fire was very accurate, we began dropping chaff (small aluminum strips - on radar they look like an aircraft) When the tail gunner reported that they were shooting at the chaff, it we figured we had it made.

Mission #6 Misburg On the bomb run,(. that is about 10 minutes before reaching the target) the aircraft has to be flown straight and level-regardless of flak or fighters) so the bombardier can locate the target and get the Norten bomb sight on target. He then takes control of the aircraft and keeps it on target. While on the bomb run, Sodano, the radio operator's duty is to sit on the edge of the flight deck hanging his feet off in bomb bay with the bomb bay doors open and to assure the bomb bay doors remain open by pressing a lever that controls the doors with his foot. If the doors are allowed to creep , the bombs will not release during our bomb run, we were hit by flak that punctured the hydraulic reservoir. Red hydraulic fluid began flowing out of the reservoir into Sodano's boot, he began screaming that he had been hit and was bleeding. It was only the hydraulic fluid. Even though we had no hydraulics’ the crew had to crank down the landing gear and flaps, the brakes have a separate reserve air reservoir that’s good for one application of the brakes. Fortunately the landing was good enough that one application was enough.

FR left - Carl Dottore, Hugh Donlon, Leonard Maharrey, Gordon Wagoner, Gerard Sodano, Back row - Dean Johnson, Frank Watson, Ernest Sorrentino, Kenneth Rabin

Mission #8 Aachen This mission was in direct support of our troops. They were being hard pressed by the Germans. Their front lines were very close together with ours, but relatively stable. . Our command set up a system, I believe scr-51. It was a nav. aid set up for aircraft approaches in inclement weather. I t was an electronic beams radiating out from the approach runway. On the dash of the aircraft was an instrument with blue on one side and yellow on the other. with needle that would show the aircraft’s position relative to the beam; Either yellow or blue side. This instrument was set up along the front lines between US and the German front lines; Yellow in German territory, Blue-US side. The deadline for dropping our bombs was 1245.Since we had a late takeoff we barely made the drop ontime-1244. To my knowledge, this was the only time this system was ever used in WW2.

The remaining missions, as reported by Navigator Dean Johnson were pretty well self-explanatory, or comments I have made elsewhere.

Navigator Dean Johnson's account of Mission #30 (our last) is quite contradictory to what I reported. It was somewhat rougher than what I reported .I think the realization that this was the last of combat was most on my mind. I do remember we were very close to the Swiss Alps and seeing Lake Constance before we turned back to the north for our bomb run on the German Airfield at Lechfield.

Other than Holt, these were our original crew that were assigned before we went overseas. Radar Operators were in short supply and only flew with "Lead crews" Since they made us a lead crew after 7 missions, he flew with us on many missions. My co-pilot was an outstanding man. Early on they took him away from me and gave him a crew. They never assigned me another co-pilot. I never knew who was going to be in the right seat, except on high target missions, then it would be a "command pilot" who would be responsible for the entire squadron, group or wing.