Navigator · 328th Squadron · Of Jersey City, NJ.
F/O Eric E. Ericson served as navigator on B-24H 41-29656, 328th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, on the 26 February 1945 combat bombing mission to Berlin.
Reported missing in action on 26 February 1945 when engines 3 and 4 failed for unknown reasons. Subsequently returned to duty.
Assigned to Cadle's Crew and trained at Boise for lead crew duty. Went to England aboard Queen Mary. Assigned to 93rd Bomb Group (H), 328th Bomb Sqdn.
On second mission, Feb. 26, 1945, Berlin, Germany flying tail end Charlie, took a hit that wiped #3. Within 10 minutes #4 was likewise hit. They hit their bailout point on target three miles NE of Berlin some two hours after first being hit. Hit the Nylon at 3600 feet. Broke through approximately 900 feet.
After much transferring they flew via USSR C-46 from Poznan, Poland to Brest Litvosk. Took 35 mph express wood burning train to Kharkov then to Kiev and Poltava, the USAAF Airbase there. Went via ATC to Teheran, Cairo, Athens, Naples, Marseilles, Paris and London.
In 1992, two really great guys headed west, Sam Kesler, co-pilot and Bob Faulkner, nose gunner. They were down to eight. They flew North Atlantic with Bill Fisher's crew. Greatest thrill of his military career was to have his two tech sergeants run 35 yards, grab him by both hands saying, 'Thank you for bringing us home.' That was worth the 12 medals he accumulated. The 2nd ADA Journal carries their story a bit more.
On the Berlin run he plotted an astonishing 250 mph ground speed and thought of the Cleveland Air Races just before the first flak burst. After #3 and #4 were feathered he navigated in solid undercast with a B-5 drift meter, taking two or three fixes every five minutes off faint cloud texture a hundred to a hundred fifty feet below. Cadle turned the wounded B-24 into the two dead engines toward the Oder. Number 1 and number 2 were brand-new Pratt & Whitney engines installed the day before. They passed Berlin about twelve miles south at 9,000 feet and drew no flak. The ship held 6,700 feet for five minutes after Erickson asked the crew to pray. He bailed through the nosewheel door at about 3,600 feet, five miles inside the Oder, and landed in mud. Two days later a Russian command post map put them on that bulge, about 25 miles northeast of Berlin. Sixty days later they reached the USAAF base at Poltava, the first crew there from the 26 February raid.
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.
Born Jersey City, NJ April 25, 1922. Enlisted AvniC October 1942. Graduated Harlingen AAFGS 1944. Graduated San Marcos AAFNS August 1944.
Articles, columns, and letters naming this airman in the 2nd Air Division Association journals and the group’s own newsletters. The summaries below are ours; the pieces themselves belong to the writers and publications that produced them.
On 26 February 1945 a 93rd Liberator on the Berlin run lost two engines over the Oder, held altitude long enough for the crew to jump, and came down in Soviet-held ground.
Original documents behind what this page says about this airman — reports, records, and histories the archive holds and is free to reproduce. Check the sources for yourself.