· RUEL SK

The Preparation
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that had the typical 50 mission crush. Others were looking even raunchier than some
seasoned veterans were (see illustration a).
The replacement crews had made the endless 12-hour trip from Goose Bay,
Labrador, to Ireland. They had flown proudly in brand new aircraft over North Atlantic;
their bomb bays loaded with spare parts. They had hit the coast of North Ireland with a
sigh of relief and landed at Nutts Corner. There, the kids did not keep their toys which
were prepared to ETO standard before being sent to the bomb groups.
The crews went to a pre-combat, ground school training center where they had
various classes, ranging from English aviation, country life and weather, venereal disease
(VD) prevention, to what an aviator could expect while flying a mission, including how to
conduct oneself if shot down. But no flying.
After a few days, they departed for their Bomb Group which was just outside the
hamlet of Tibenham. There they attended more lectures before starting to fly. Then there
were flights to let them see what their base looked like in the middle of the East Anglian
countryside, crowded with airfields (See illustration b). Their squadron commanding
officers (CO) were the almighty men deciding when the rookies were ready to fly combat
missions. Usually, the new pilot was sent along with one of the older crews to see what
transpired. Sometimes he went as a copilot, sometimes he sat on an ammunition box
between the two pilots. The new crews were sometimes relegated to older aircraft, the
newer birds going to experienced crews.
The Maynard Jones crew was assigned for this mission to A Roughhouse Kate, an
olive drab B-24H model, their third B-24 in eight missions. For their second mission, they
had flown a brand new plane. They brought it back only to have it junked for parts. In all,
they had two ships shot up so badly they were declared Category E (beyond repair).
Twenty-one year-old Lt. Mercer and his bunch had shown up in Tibenham after D­
Day, June 6. As a replacement crew, they had flown over eight different planes. Some
were spares from other squadrons that were not in particularly good shape. In fact, they
had to abort on three occasions because of mechanical problems which prevented the ship
from reaching combat altitude. It was mission number 29 for Mercer and the seventh time
he had flown G for George.