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July 19,
1944 - Mission:
the ball bearing works at Schweinfurt, Germany. We were flying in the high
squadron in the outboard position. (see the diagram of the six plane high
squadron.)
Erratic power output on
the bomb run caused the aircraft to fall back. An adjustment was required to get
back in position. The bomb load was dropped upon the signal from the lead
bombardier of the group. During the bomb run, the tail gunner, Finnigan, was
calling flak bursts at 6 o’clock at distances of 2,000 feet, 1,000 feet and
500 feet. The fourth shell went through the midsection of our plane and exploded
about 50 feet above the fuselage. It was just 10 seconds after the bomb load had
been dropped! Rudder and elevator control cables were severed by flak, but the
autopilot proved functional. Still in formation, the fifth shell exploded under
the two inboard engines (#s 2 & 3), taking them out. A large piece of
shrapnel hit the armor plate that the co-pilot was sitting on and pushed him
against the overhead Plexiglas. Shell shock shook him up and he wasn’t much
help thereafter.
With two engines wind
milling, I could not stay with the formation, so I pulled out and watched them
depart. An attempt was now made to feather engines 2 and 3, but it was
unsuccessful.
With the condition of the
co-pilot, I got Duplechain, the engineer, to call for fighter escort. (Three
P-38’s responded and covered our lonely flight).
A discussion with the
navigator lead to a decision to take a westward heading towards France (and
England).
The 45 minutes from the
target were accomplished by losing altitude, reducing power on engines #1 and
#4. Also, I used every trick to keep the cylinder head temperature down. When
the temperature gauges were at the top of the red line, I rang the bell for bail
out.
Duplechain handed me my
parachute, told me that everyone was out, and wished me good luck. I climbed out
of the left seat, went to the bomb bay and saw that Art Schwaiger, the ball
turret gunner, was on the floor trying to get his parachute harness on. (the
turret was too small for him to wear his harness). I climbed back into my seat
until he waved and went out. In the forward catwalk, I switched off the
auto-pilot and went out the forward escape hatch with my hand on the ripcord.
The slipstream pushed my arm and the pilot chute deployed and caught on the ball
turret guns. It slipped off and the plane went on. As Art and I were floating
down, the ‘Silver Slipper’ went through some crazy gyrations before going
in.
Note:
Charles (Chuck) Quinby died June 21, 2000 at the age of 77. On at least
two occasions, his skill as a pilot saved the lives of his grateful crew.
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