 Coutesy of Michael J. Dancisak |
Frederick G. Abner, Jr. flew 18 missions as a ball turret gunner with the crew of Boojum and as a substitute gunner on other aircraft. The targets of the 456th Bomb Group during that time included army command posts, marshalling yards, railroad bridges, and airdromes in Italy, harbors in Yugoslavia, aircraft factories in Graz, airdromes in Vienna (Bad Voslau) and Steyr (Klagenfurt), Austria, industrial areas in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the main marshalling yard in Budapest, Hungary.
A complete list of missions is availble at the 456th web site.
Also refer to the 456th Bomb Group Calendar for a calendar by month of missions flown by the group, January - April 1944.
Coutesy of Michael J. Dancisak |
I remember two incidents in particular that my father related. On one occasion I asked him if he had ever shot down an enemy fighter. He laughed and told the story of how he had shot down some bomb bay doors. During a mission, an aircraft above and slightly in front lost its bomb bay doors. Fighter activity on this mission had been heavy. As the bomb bay doors floated down they lined up together and to Fred in the ball turret, looked like the wings of a fighter. He fired the two 50 caliber machine guns in the ball turret and to the delight of the rest of the crew, scored a direct hit and “kill” on the bomb bay doors.
Another incident that he told often as a war story involved a mission where heavy flak was encountered. (See Mission #10, March 22, 1944 in table below). On that mission, flak hit in the bomb bay causing fuel to stream out of several fuel lines. He reached out over the hole in the bomb bay and stuffed rags into one damaged fuel line, to stop the leak. He was able to stop the leak, but the fuel ran down the inside of his flight suit, burning his left arm and leg. The temperature at 25,000 feet was often below zero and the fuel was so cold that it basically caused frostbite burns.
George Dancisak, the flight engineer, also received burns from the fuel over most of his chest and back working furiously to stop the fuel leaks. Howard Hartman remembers seeing George with his flight suit off, naked from the waist up, covered in aviation fuel. Mic Dancisak remembers that his dad's skin, where he had been burned, bothered him through the rest of his life. The fuel leaks were stopped and the plane made it safely back to base. For some unknown reason, neither George Dancisak or Frederick Abner were awarded the Purple Heart for their wounds.
Missions Flown by the Crew of Boojum
* Crewman Reinaldo C. Garza was killed in action while flying on the airplane "The Paper Doll" which exploded in mid-air after being attached by fighters.
|
