Monday

In England, Verne writes in his diary . . . .

02-05-45

Joe¹ is definitely our first pilot. Sure glad of it. He’s one of the swellest guys I’ve known. Jackpot on mail today with seven letters from the States. Makes me feel much better. Practice mission today, but with skeleton crew. Just taking it easy around the barracks. Sure was tired from Berlin raid.²

Notes & Commentary

¹ “Joe”, 2nd Lt. Joseph M. McAllister of Portland, Oregon was Combat Crew 87’s co-pilot. In the fall of 1944, he trained with Combat Crew 87, then called Crew 7678, at Alexandria Army Air Field at Alexandria, Louisiana. He was promoted to 2nd Lt. from F/O while at Alexandria.

² Two days ago, Verne mentioned that he had spent over 5½ hours in the enemy territory during the Berlin raid. For a complete understanding of how these missions were run and the activities of the various crew members, see the War Department documentary “B-17 Flying Fortress Heavy Bombers over the Nazi Germany”.

“B-17 Flying Fortress Heavy Bombers over the Nazi Germany,” Training Film I-3384, First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, 1944. You Tube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwlVH5KcWSs : accessed 3 February 2015)