· RUEL SK

64 CRUEL SKY
Edward A. Globis, were able to parachute safely, although tail gunner, S/Sgt. Lee H.
Coffin, nearly ended up in a wooden version of his own last name.
Soon after the men left the plane, the right wing of the now pilotless airplane
dropped and the ship headed in a northwesterly direction. It was as if it were picking a spot
to rest, distancing itself from the cruel sky where so many ships in the 445 th Group were
dying.
The plane fmally went down 400 m south of Reichenbach (Hessisch Lichtenau).
The FRENCH crew
Flying his last, but what turned out to by his most eventful mission, Lt. John French
had tried to maintain his position in fonnation as tight as possible, but so many planes were
going down, there simply wasn't a fonnation anymore.
Right waist gunner Sgt. Charles Huddlestun got two fighters. One was hit and
caught on fire at 75 or 100 yards during a level attack. The other was hit in a low attack
and blew up: "I saw either the pilot of that ship or one American bailout."
From the tail, Sgt. Herbert Schwartz heard his pilot come on the intercom telling his
men to take it easy and relax: "A hell of a remark to make at this time. One FW -190 came
for my tail and 1 started shooting, he pulled beneath our bomber streaming smoke. 1 had a
four second break at this point and looked over at Lt. Bruce's ship. There were seven
fighters attacking from his tail and one coming in at his side, all firing as they came in. All
his gunners were fIring back, their guns blazing, and just then another fighter attacked from
above. 1 don't believe the top turret man saw him as he was busy fIring at the other ships.
So 1 trained my guns on this particular plane and gave him a few short bursts as 1 was afraid
of hitting Lt. Bruce's ship."
"Immediately following'this, another fighter came at me. 1 started fIring. 1 knew my
bullets were hitting him because he came in so close that it was practically impossible for
me to miss. 1 saw his wing tip falloff and the plane started to spin to the ground. But 1
caught a glimpse of the pilot of this ship after his chute had opened. It
"Another few seconds break for me, but then 1 saw Lt. Bruce's plane engulfed in
flames. It happened in a matter of seconds."