quote:
Karen Shapiro Mathis

Top contributor
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1h
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From the diary of Moe Shapiro (my father):
January 8
Well, we finally made our first sortie as a crew today. Our target was Linz, but due to a heavy undercast we had to bomb our primary alternate which was Villach. In the heart of Austria. At Linz, we were supposed to destroy the Marshall Goering works. Too bad we couldn't make it. The funniest part of our mission was that we didn't even drop a bomb. We flew Charlie-31 and no one in the box dropped a bomb. However, the rest of the group did drop them, and we got credit for the mission. Not that we didn't deserve it. We went through hell and high water. To begin with, enroute to the target, while still in enemy territory, our supercharger on #2 engine went haywire. I changed amplifiers and it continued pretty well. I did sweat it out though. Just a few minutes after I got number 2 going, #1 started misbehaving. I fooled with that until it behaved fairly well. It finally gave out and we had to feather it on the return trip. If there's anything a crew member hates, it's a feathered engine. Anything can happen after that. Power is lost and you soon lag behind your formation, ready to be preyed on by enemy fighters. It's a rough feeling.
Handsman's crew which was flying Charlie 23 never did come back from the mission yet. The last we saw them, they were falling back. They may have made a forced landing somewhere. After that, we saw a real thriller. Major McNealy's crew which was flying Abel 12, all bailed out when an engine caught fire. That is, all except McNealy. He returned the ship safely to the base. He was there when we got back. Some of the men have already been picked up and are safe. As far as I was concerned, I had a tough mission. Even though we encountered very little flak, I went through quite an ordeal. Aside from the engine trouble, my oxygen and heating outlets were inoperative. I damn near froze. I had to leave my turret and go back to the waist. I thawed out a bit back there. Anyway, the boys thought it was a milk run so we'll let it go at that. As long as I got the sortie in. I got a letter from Ann tonight but that's all. I was dead tired and hit the sack early. We're not scheduled to fly tomorrow. Sherard flew as our bombardier today in place of our missing Seirer. They were the best buddies before the catastrophe. Darland, who has 14 missions, flew as our co-pilot in place of Schoenfeld.

From the 15th AF FB page. This is not my father.