Posted By Fred Preller on November 07, 2007 at 04:57:05:
In Reply to: Re: interpreting flight records posted by Steve on November 07, 2007 at 03:40:17:
: : : My father, Robert D. Gilmont, served in the 306th Bomb Group, 369th Squadron as a radio operator-gunner. Dad is gone now, and we have found his list of operational sorties. I notice that not all missions were counted. One is marked with a dash and the term ABAND - which might mean "abandoned." Others--short missions to France--are also not counted and marked with the word "SPARE." What does "SPARE" mean? Can anyone help interpret this?
: : The term "SPARE" means that the aircraft and crew were briefed to fly to a certain point in the mission (with full armament and ordnance load) and to be prepared to fill in for any aircraft that aborted. If no aborts, they would return to base without entering enemy territory. Typically, each group would put up a couple of spares for each mission. A spare aircraft that returned without filling in did not get credit for a combat mission, EVEN THOUGH THEY EXPERIENCED ALL OF THE HAZARDS OF FULLY OVERLOADED COMBAT TAKEOFF, CLIMBOUT, AND ASSEMBLY as all the rest of the combat mission crews.
: : The one marked ABAND sounds interesting. I am sure the rest of the people on the message board would like to know the group, squadron, and date! Might have been that the formation abandoned the mission due to weather or something. Please post this info and let us work on it!
: : Cheers,
: : f3
: Fred,
: Once a SPARE sortie was recalled, did the crew have to jettison the ordinance and/or fuel in order to meet a maximum gross landing weight
: restriction or was the landing equally as dangerous??
: Steve
Steve,
For most of the mission reports I have read (for the 384th BG), the ordnance was specifically mentioned as having been brought back. There was no mention of jettisoning fuel, etc., but that would have been more of an operational detail, rather than something you would see in an mission summary.
The mission reports also usually state what the aborts did with their ordnance, whether they were brought back or jettisoned.
Interestingly, on a couple of missions where they couldn't find the target, there is mention of the group jettisoning bombs over the North Sea or English Channel. Apparently there were some areas set aside for that. And there is a theory that Glenn Miller's airplane flew over one of those areas and was knocked down by jettisoned bombs - talk about a zillion-to-one shot!
Cheers,
f3