Spring, 2010 - The Fifteenth Air Force

The Scariest Missionby Doug BeauvaisDear Editor,I have read the last coupleissues of the Cerignola Connection,and love the stories in there fromthe vets.My dad, S/Sgt Ray Beauvais(741) kept a diary of his fiftymissions, and I would like to sharewith the vets what my dad alwaystold me was his scariest mission.My dad passed on aboutthree years ago. Although my dadwas the funniest guy you wouldever want to meet, his most amazingtrait was that he showed no fear . . .ever. This was evidenced when hechallenged my 12 year old son tobungee jump while vacationing inSouth Carolina. As they ascended tothe jumping area, my son waspetrified. The lady in front of themwas so scared she started cryingand turned around. My dad, in hisfearless funny way, decided that hewas going to swan dive head firstand he did without hesitation. Myson was not about to let this oldgeezer one-up him so my sonjumped as well. No fear . . ever! Iguess after reading what he wentthrough in his 50 missions, howcould you fear anything afterward?I hope you can share thismission with your readers.Thank You.Doug Beauvaisdbeauvais@datarepro.comDate: June 26th, 1944Target: Moosbierbaum(Crude oil storage, refinery)Position: Tail TurretShip: 517 Irish LassieLoad: Eighteen 250-lb. bombs(Double load)Credits: 2 missionsFlight spot: Number 2 positionLow flight, 2nd section.We got stuck at the end ofthe runway and took off late. By thetime we got caught up with theflight, we had to take number 6position. As it turned out, I guess wewere lucky, because the crew thattook our position went down.This was absolutely theworst mission to date. In fact,they could not get any rougherand still come back. The 15th AirForce really took a beating, andour group took the worst of it.Our squadron (741) lostthree ships, 743 lost one and742 lost six out of seven ships.Not one of them was knockeddown by flak ... all fighters.I was late for briefing.When I got there, I saw the map,and I knew it was going to berough because it was a targetaround Vienna. We joined theformation over the Adriatic, andtook the Number 6 position.We crossed the coast ofYugoslavia, and headed towardsAustria without any trouble. Wewere almost to the I.P., andpicked up an escort of P-38's(we were supposed to have P-51's). They were returning froma strafing run.Just before we got to theI.P., somebody shouted"fighters!", and they were notkidding. There were ME-110's,ME-210's, ME-410's and JU-88's, all twin engine fighters. Idon't know exactly how many,but there were at least 25.A couple of fighters madea pass at our ship, and I claimeda probable on one ME-110. Ithink I hit him in the left wingnear his engine. The P-38'scame to our rescue and starteddog fighting them.When the fighters firstattacked us, it was a noseattack. They came in formation,right through us. I was gladwhen the P-38's took after them.The fight lasted severalminutes. I thought the worst wasover; then, the navigator thoughtit could have been a trap to pullour escorts away from us.It turned out that way.Just before "bombsaway", we got hit again and Imean "HIT!", this time by FW-190's and ME-109's, singleengine fighters. I have no ideahow many there were, someestimates were as high as 300.I'm not one to doubt it.There were so manycoming in at us, you did notknow which one to shoot at. Iknocked down one for sure, andI know I hit plenty of others.They were shootingrockets at us, and we got hitplenty. I saw B-24's go down leftand right. Some of the Germanfighters were so bold that theyflew formation with you! Theyreally did!.My right gun jammed,and I could not bring the ammoup to it. I only had the left gun,and sometimes it stopped whilefighters were bearing down onme. One fighter damn near gotme, he hit the horizontalstabilizer. The rocket explodedabout two feet away from me,and it was head high. I think itwas the fighter I shot down.A little later, anotherrocket came through the waistand hit my ammo for the leftgun. That left me with 250rounds, and I used them up in ahurry. I found myself without anyammo and plenty of fighters stillaround.The rockets kept hittingus, and doing plenty of damage.How we kept from getting17