Crew 33 and FLAK MAGNET: Their Finest Hour

When that second salvo of flak burst almost in front of our formation, I think each of us in the front section of our ship sensed that the next salvo would be in our midst. Obviously the German gunners were getting our altitude, speed, and range. Even so, we weren’t quite prepared for the tremendous impact when the shell slammed through the left side of the bomb bay and tore a huge hole in the top of the fuselage as it exited. For some reason it hadn’t exploded on the way through, but had done great damage.


The shuddering first concussion of that shell was almost instantly followed by a far worse dilemma. Every Liberator crewman’s greatest fear…fuel and fumes inside the airplane! And this wasn’t just a trace of fumes. It was a torrent of raw fuel vaporized instantly, a potential giant fireball waiting for the slightest spark to ignite. We had all seen other B-24’s disintegrate in an instant from the combination of fuel and oxygen.


We were Crew 33, 753rd Bomb Squadron, 458th Bomb Group, 2nd Air Division, Eighth Air Force. Our base was at Horsham St. Faith, a village on the outskirts of Norwich, England. When our group first arrived in England in January 1944, it consisted of the usual four squadrons. At that time each squadron had 18 combat crews and 16 B-24 Liberator airplanes. That meant that each squadron had two crews without an assigned bomber they could call their own. We were one of those crews.

Read More: 458th Bombardment Group (H) - Honoring those who served with the 458th BG during World War II.


B-24H-10-CF 41-29273 J4 Q Flak Magnet (Mike Bailey)

Crew 33 - March 8, 1944 - Crash landing at Watton (Harold Armstrong)​

 

Was the Liberator prone to fuel fires? Or were all US bombers susceptible?

 

The B24 was prone to fuel leakage from the center tanks. The B29 was also prone to this but to a lesser degree. One way to mitigate the problem was to keep the bomb bays slightly ajar, which kept any fumes from building up. But that introduced some problems in that sometimes, the bomb bay doors failed to open all the way when on the bombing run.

 

Nice Sys...Because the bay doors might freeze?...Am reminded of Wile Coyote stomping on the rock to be released and kill roadrunner. Wild About Hurry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I think it had something to do with some mechanical interlocks getting jammed up that were the safety mechanism for preventing bomb release with the doors closed.

 

Icing could cause issues with the doors as could debris thrown into the door tracks during takeoff. It was not unusual for crews to override the safety switch and drop their bombs through the doors if the doors could not be opened. The weight of the bombs (or a man who stepped off the catwalk) would pull the door rollers out of the tracks and allow them to drop free.

 

My father was the co-pilot on the Flak Magnet when it was shot down.

 

Really? That makes you one lucky son of a gun. Some stories would be nice.

 

I do understand how lucky I and my 2 brothers are. My dad didn't talk much about his experience until toward the end of his life. I had done research on the computer and ask him to verify some of the info and finally he would talk. When they were shot down on that last mission, he was injured trying to get out of the plane. The rounds that killed Lt Spaven just missed him but as he exited the ship through the bomb bay, he injured his head. When he got down some of the rest of the crew tried to hide his and their parachutes in a pond , but were captured by German soldiers, which also saved his life. Had the local folks caught them, they would have killed them on the spot.