· RUEL SK

66 CRUE1JSKY
Bombardier, 2nd Lt John C. Woodley, told his navigator to jump fIrst, but 2nd Lt
Porter M. Pile, declined his offer. So the bombardier bailed out, hoping the wounded
navigator would follow him.
In the rear, the right waist gunner, S/Sgt. S. E. Howell Jr., was shot in the lower left
chest. The left waist gunner, S/Sgt. Elwyn 1. Hornsby, pushed him out the escape hatch.
Then he bailed out Tail gunner, S/Sgt. Ralph H. Bode, was standing by the escape hatch,
ready to leave.
On the flight deck, Lt. Hansen kept on flying the plane. Engineer, T ISgt. Charles C.
Palmer, and radio operator, Triplett, were standing by the top escape hatch dubious about
jumping. Off oxygen, copilot, 2nd Lt. Herbert C. Bridges Jr., went out the top escape
hatch, hoping the others would follow. But the B-24, punched by numerous shells,
shuddered, erupted in flames and exploded.
Six men died, trapped inside or tumbling down helplessly. The wreck crashed 2 km
southwest of Richelsdorf.
The MOWAT crew
Inside the top turret of Hot Rock, engineer, Sgt. Theodore Myers, fIred his guns until
they became too hot. "They kept jamming and I couldn't charge them any more. A shell
exploded near the top of my turret and it looked like one of the guns was bent. The smoke
of the shell got on the glass and I could not see out. I pressed the intercom switch to call
the pilot and tell him my turret was out. But the intercom wasn't working, so I got out to
warn him."
When he stepped down on the flight deck, he felt a heavy vibration in the plane. "I
looked forward and saw the pilots for an instant. Lt. William Mowat and 2nd Lt. Orville P.
Smet seemed OK. The radio operator, T/Sgt. Earl B. Groves, was sitting on the floor at my
feet with his flak suit and helmet on; he seemed to be all right too. I looked through the
door going into the bomb bays; several large streams of gasoline were shooting down
against the bomb bay doors, and around the inside of the plane.
"A mist of gas was floating up forward onto the flight deck. The frrst thing that
came into my mind was to try to stop it. I knew that if a shell ever entered the ship with all
that gasoline squirting around, the ship would explode. I climbed down into the bomb bays