Date |
Sgt David S. Gray's Notes, April 1943 |
| April 1 |
Put back hyd pumps make action faster. New radio man joined the outfit directly from States. He is an operator of which we have no need for whatsoever. Ed went in town after my pictures Terrible that all I can say don't know send home or not. LMN washed out on landing. Lt. Means blew rt. tire pulled him into drain ditch. snapped nose gear + rt wheel gear. prop hit. hi speed quite a mess. |
| April 2 |
Up on the plane till dinner. stayed in camp rest of day. Rainy. nothing doing. |
| April 3 |
ran the ship up + covered it up again. rainy day. came down to camp and put 2 layers of boxes around tent full of dirt makes tent hi enough to stand up in. got small pox vaccination Lt. Means [Lt. George Means] didn't return from wheather mission . |
| April 4 |
washed down ship. Lee went up for two hours with Jake. Duncan with Cpt. Eiland + Mouse with Jake played volley ball. wrote a letter to Shirley. Saw "Cadet gal" in town Back to ship in evening to put on extra tank. Dive bombing mission a success = 4 with a 500 lb and 4 escorting. made direct hits on convoy ships. 105 B-17's bombed Naples flying field and docks. |
| April 5 |
Lt Means was found and buried he flew into a Mt in the overcast. He was a swell guy. Had lot of hard luck since he's been with us. crashed and burned. 71st planes went out at 6:00 this morning to catch JU-52's from Sicily. B-17's bombed their field after they left, and the base in Africa they were going to. P-38's shot down 25 of JU-52's and about 8 109's Jake got a 109. Lt. Rush [Lt. George Rush?] in 27th used to be with us got one Lt Shine damaged one. 82nd was supposed to be top cover but went [cont'd on April 6] |
| April 6 |
[cont'd from April 5] down to attack so 71st had to stay on top. 13 of em went out again this P.M. for about 4 hrs but couldn't find a thing on whole coast. Pulled a bum hyd. pump off left eng. new {cammo} rt eng. New vacuum pump left eng. Mission cancelled. Bob, Lee + I went in {Chateauda} for supper and saw "Call Out The Marines". sank convoy Dive bombers completed mission |
| April 7 |
Ran ship up this morning checked battery. Mission called off. cloudy. Expect Rommell pull out any time. B.B.C. give the P-38's 31 victories {on} the JU-52's + 109's That's us + the 82nd. B-17's pulled biggest raids yesterday. P-40's + P-39's doing great job with ground forces also the A-20's. Spitfires escorting C-47's etc. |
| April 8 |
Nothing doing today some new pilots getting in little time. Pilots day off. What a war. pancakes for supper ate 10 of em wrote letters. |
| April 9 |
Nothing doing today cloudy-cold. just a few joy rides [cont'd from April 10] Makes our group 2nd best in Air Corps. 1st is in Pacific against Japs which is a snap anyway. 71st is by percentage the highest cause we have lost the fewest ships. Col. Garman watched the show from above the fight lasted about 10 mins. 85 B-17's went out 94th escorting. 82nd got 13 ships today too |
| April 10 |
Our big day today. 27th did top cover while we did fighting. left at daybreak. 16 ships led by Jake in our ship. Spy gave word of JU-52's from Sicily to Tunis. We were waiting for them. Our total 25 confirmed victories Jake got 2 Italian Macchi fighters and 1 JU-52 and a damaged probable. got a prop conduit shot out + an oil line stopped engine + set her in Bone. Every other Pilot got at least one ship. Sears got 3 making him an ace. Wiseman got 3 Rivers was top man with four down. Britain got 2 It brings our Squad total up to 40+ ships. [cont'd on April 9] |
| April 11 |
34 of 94th went out. 82 got 30 planes this morn but lost 3 not too good. Lee went to Bone in piggyback to fix up ship. back for supper. get ship tomorrow 8th Army almost to Sousse bunch of bombers went out. Lt. Sullivan [probably Lt. James Sullivan] cracked up in Algiers. Both props ran away he hit runway at 160 M.P.H. went over the end + snapped nose strut damn good job to bring in P-38 with both engines out. |
| April 12 |
Early mission escorting B-17's Lt Sears got another brings him to 7 it was a 109. Bolton got 1 + Schneider. They were indicating 600 M.P.H. Brings out total to 46 ship 8th Army beyond Sousse still moving. 3 missions of B-17's today. besides all the 25's + B-26's. 5th Army closing in. I seem to be homesick tonight. We are going to send out an advanced echelon soon. Be my luck to stay + load trains. Lt. {Lavelly}done for belly tank dropped on his canopy. |
| April 13 |
Put new spinner on where other was shot. Jake was going to take me up this P.M. but had a meeting took Coghlin up A.M. 8th Army 30 miles from Tunis may have taken it. 5th + 1st closing in, in last 15 days Allies shot down 300 axis planes. on this battlefront. B-17 crashed near camp everyone killed. Something fishy. |
| April 14 |
The day of days for me. Jake took me up for 1:15 minutes in the piggyback (LML) boy it was tops. 11,000' down to 300' and tearing along on the deck at 430 M.P.H. Pulled it up into a stall for me at about 9000' fell off on one wing. went over Constantine shot up a B-17 + a C-47 A new "J" from 82nd blew engine up in dive bailed out + hit stabilizer died in hospital. |
| April 15 |
slept till noon raining read guard at 10 - 2:0AM. 6 paratroopers dropped south of {Air M'labio} so we had a roving jeep patrol all night. Gave us chance to sign for aerial gunners today but I don't like the sound of it. B-17's have enuff so it means B-26's + that's rough. 22 years old today and I still have more trouble with David S. Gray than any guy in the outfit. Ice cream, donuts, and coffee in the club with 301st Dance band. WACS + Red Cross gals. |
| April 16 |
slept till noon worked shaved saw "{Tootlight} Serenade" Betty Grable + John Payne. very good. Jack Elfries 94th ace left for U.SA today but he put on a show first. Most beautiful flying in a 38 I ever saw. dive. pull up, roll. {Isamelmoin}and fall off the stall. Officers had a dance with the nurses. Wish I could go in + dance with em. That's when being an E.M. hurts. Lt. Shepard [probably Lt. John Shepard] took me up in ship for hour took pictures by rolling ship over on its back. First guys on rotation left. |
| April 17 |
guard last nite from 2 - 6 AM. Tried to sleep in morn couldn't. read + wrote all day (guard 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.) went up to see Jake back from mission went to Palermo took 5 hrs. Couple of gunners in B-17's killed |
| April 18 |
Got up early to work on ship engine rough so we checked mags. distributor and changed all spark plugs. got back in camp for chow. Go on guard at 10 - 2 AM. |
| April 19 |
Leaking belly tank so plane couldn't go on fighter sweep. They saw JU-52 but were too low on gas to attack P-40's + Spits shot down 76 JU52 Had to change exhaust plugs again. Reconditioned plugs were bad. All OK now. Got about 10 letters from home Gals in the Gas Co. now. go on guard at 2 - 6 AM. |
| April 20 |
as usual guard from 6 -10 |
| April 21 |
rained hard all day + nite rained lot of guys right out of their pads we did OK. Went into town saw "Panama Hattie" and stayed for the "Variety Show" pretty raw show. But the women there liked it. |
| April 22 |
Everything soaking wet and mud everywhere. cleared off + very hot ran the ship up. fooled around. |
| April 23 |
This morn the plugs very bad on intake L eng. new ones to. at noon still had so {not} moisture. Finished plug change and it began a terrible pour. hard for an hour. Then stopped at chow we saw what looked like snow at the bottom of mt. it turned out as water. 1/2 hr later our whole section of camp washed out in tidal wave 2' deep. we worked like hell + built a damn all around out tent and kept it out. lucky everyone else washed out. still raining tonite.
Clipping:
WASH-OUT
My flying days are over
My helmet's laid away
My wings are clipped close to my sides
My dreams have gone astray
No longer can I......like the gull
Soar, dive and fly
No longer can I chase the clouds
Chained to earth...am I
How well my mind still visions
My classmates eager, true
They toss their hearts up in the sky
To chase it in the blue
Soaring, climbing, banking, diving
Graceful birdlike things
Oh....how I envy those who fly
I wish.....that I had wings
Yet still I know tis not for me
My niche I haven't found
Perhaps tis written in the book
That I stay on the ground
To keep them flying....Planes and men
Must be the job for me
For deep inside...I burn with pride
As wings....spell victory |
| April 24 |
Rained hard all day about 3:00 PM water started coming up thru the floor so we moved our pads into the building used by 27th Operations had supper with Frank E. Everyone building new huts on side of hill. The 1st Fighter accreditted with the {Luier} "Rex" which we sunk yesterday with 100 lbs. |
| April 25 |
Easter Sunday. Got up had breakfast with 27th dug hole for new tent and worked all day long until 8:00 I'm really tired. Ed + I sleeping in new tent |
| April 26 |
Line Sgt. Caudill turned Settergren into Capt. Eiland for not running ship up. before 8:30 AM. No mission pretty chickenshit. He is on camp detail. Coghlin is on guard so I'm on the ship alone. she went up twice today. dive bombing practice. 3rd time it began to rain + hail like hell. cloud blew up + let go. Hell of a country. |
| April 27 |
Our new tent pretty much in order now. Jake went out with 500 lb bomb escorting B-17's after shipping didn't find a thing (5 hrs) 3 letters came in. Haven't heard from folks couple of weeks. |
| April 28 |
Had a talk with Capt. Eiland this morn and he said I had a good chance for flight training and will see Col. Garman and do everything he can may get my break when this mess is over. no mission cloudy and rainy. B-17's went. pulled 25 hr on plane. |
| April 29 |
Capt Eiland took plane on mission and returned in 2 hrs because of dirt in reverse relay. dryed up 2 cells in battery may have burned Gen. out if went longer. Nothing doing on mission Saw "Gentlemen Jim" |
| April 30 |
bad prestone leak in left outboard radiator. pulled that off. In afternoon We (Coghlin + I) changed exhaust plugs on left engine. damn recondition plugs are lousy. only about 10 hrs on em. Saw "Pied Piper" |
WWII Notebook Journal of Sgt. David S. Gray