Sortie2ADB-24Aborted
42-51569.Over Target of Opportunity.
Mission 863 · 04 March 1945
Serial
42-51569
B-24J
Fuselage Code
AG
Squadron
330th
Ted's Traveling Circus
Aboard
10
men
The crew.
§ 10 aboard
Name
Position
Serial
Hometown
On this flight

1LtWalter F. Hughes
Pilot
Station 1
O-764680
Santa Barbara
Completed his tour
Returned
→
LtDouglas A. Schetter
Co-Pilot
Station 2
—
—
Returned
→

2LtLouis H. Windsor
Navigator
Station 3
O-712976
—
Returned
→

2LtRalph Hendershot
Bombardier
Station 4
O-0768958
—
Returned
→

SgtConway Thorstenson
Engineer / Top Turret
Station 5
39464774
—
Returned
→

T/SgtNorbert L. Ecclesfield
“Eck”
Radio Operator
Station 6
3904111
—
Returned
→

SgtMichael J. Kusnir
Waist Gunner
Station 8
35236546
—
Returned
→

SgtBoyd L. Justice
Tail Gunner
Station 9
38440786
—
Returned
→

SgtRobert T. Lee
“The Old Man”
Nose Gunner
18215267
—
Returned
→

SgtCarroll F. Ruby
Gunner
33734687
—
Returned
→
The load.
§ 6,000 lb aboard
M17
Incendiary Cluster
12× 500 lb
TypeIncendiary (Cluster) · Magnesium/oil
Weight6,000 lb
FuzingHughes Memoir
The flight.
§ Ship’s Record
The Day
Took off fromHardwick (Sta. 104)
Landed atHardwick (Sta. 104)
The Record
ResultAborted
Record confidenceInferred
Formation
Flew with330th Squadron
Fuel & Equipment
H2X scope photoNo
The target.
§ As Briefed
Target of OpportunityUnknown
As the log wrote itSo. Germany
Notes.
§ From the Record
The briefing called for an airbase at Hall in southern Germany. The weather had other ideas. Contrails were dense and persistent from 10,000 to 25,000 feet, visibility near zero, and the formation came close to several collisions on the way in. The recall order came over Lake Constance, before the IP. The bombs went out over Germany on the navigator's own GEE readings. Results were unknown.
The fighter escorts got lost in the same conditions.
Back at the base, the ground crews suggested it had been the most successful mission of the war, reasoning that the smoke from the bombs would surely convince German wives to demand Hitler end things at once.