Ragged Irregulars of Bassingbourn (Marion H. Havelaar).pdf

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The
91sT
BomtiardmentGroup
· in
World War
II
Marion HI Havelaar
W[TH
William NHess
I
Foreword by Roger A, Freeman
Schiffer Military/Aviation History
Atglen, PA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
he Authors would like to express their sincere appreciation
and gratitude to all of those who so generously assisted in
this history. We would like to particularly recognize Hilary
"Bud" Evers, 9Ist Bombardment Group Historian, for all his input
and advice, to Joseph Harlick for his labor and cooperation in mak-
ing so many wonderful photos available, and to Paul Andrews for
his excellent listings of the 91st Group aircraft. Many thanks are
also due our many contributors; Bill Adams, Roger W. Armstrong,
Larry Baird, Thomas E. Bass, Boeing Historical Library-Audio
Visual Archives, Wilfred Bouchard, John Bunch, Paul Burnett,
Herbert Carpenter, Robert Casey, Bill Conlon, Leonard Cook, Dale
Darling, John D. Davis, Hubert Donahue, Eighth Air Force Memo-
rial Museum Foundation, Jeffrey Ethell, Paul Fishbourne, Vincent
Fonke, Roger Freeman, "Tex" Frye, Jack Gaffney, Leonard
T
Gamblin, Charles George, Charles R. Giauque, Richard Hamilton,
O. Harper,
w.w.
Hill, Charles Hudson, Robert E. Kuhnert, Bob
Lammers, Alfred J. Lanfear, Roger Layer, Bill Leisure, Paul Limm,
Cecil G. McConnell, Gerald McDowell, Allen Morey, Marvin
Nichols, Jack Padgett, Earl Pate Jr., G. William Potter, William
Pulliam, Mike Rheam, Armando Sinibaldo, Jackie Starcer, Russell
Strong, Robert Strane, Charles
V.
Welbes, and David W. Williams.
If
there are others that we have missed, please accept our gratitude.
For all that gave so much encouragement to this project, our appre-
ciation.
Marion H. Havelaar
William N. Hess
This book is dedicated to all the men of the 91st Bomb Group
and especially to those who gave the supreme sacrifice
so that the rest of the world might be free of tyranny.
Dust jacket artwork by Steve Ferguson, Colorado Springs, CO.
SOME DON'T GO DOWN EASY
On February 21, 1944, the second day of the "Big Week"
raids on the Wehrmacht aviation industry, the Ragged Irregu-
lars lost
Miss Ouachita,
and she didn't go down easily. Be-
fore reaching the target at Munster, she became separated from
the 323rd Bomb Squadron elements high over Hanover where
she was ravaged in at least four firing passes by enemy inter-
ceptors, possibly the Focke-Wulf 190s of JG 11. Gunners
Morningstar and Klem were seriously wounded, and engi-
neer Brostrom was killed. The enemy fighters having spent
their 20mm ammo, drew alongside for one fateful moment,
flew a curious escort to the shattered bomber before she
reached the relative safety of the clouds far below. Pilot 2Lt.
Osterberg's only hope was a low level run for the Dutch coast.
Ninety minutes later, touch
Miss Ouachita
would suffer
a final encounter with the Fw 190s of JG 1, ten miles short of
the Dutch border. In the head-on attack flown by ace
Gruppen-
kommandeur
Heinz Bar, co-pilot Beran was killed and
Osterberg was wounded. She bellied in near Lingen, still one-
hundred miles from the English Channel. Two days later,
Allied fighters strafed the B-1? and set her ablaze, but Luft-
waffe personnel had long since stripped all the salvageable
equipment from the hulk.
Book Design by Robert Biondi.
Copyright
©
1995 by Marion H. Havelaar.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 95-67618.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any forms or by
any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or information
storage and retrieval systems - without written permission from the copyright holder.
Printed
in
the United States of America.
ISBN: 0-88740-810-9
We are interested in hearing from authors with book ideas on related topics.
Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
77 Lower Valley Road
Atglen, PA 19310
Please write for a free catalog.
This book may be purchased from the publisher.
Please include $2.95 postage.
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