Date |
Sgt David S. Gray's Notes, January 1943 |
| January 1 |
First day of the new year we started with a bang. A raid with 3 B-26's on a port between Bizerta + Tunis shipping off the coast and a Jerry flying field Major Rudell got a JU-52. Lt. Sears got a JU-52. Lt. Morhouse got a JU-52 not bad haven't heard the rest yet. Had a big mail call tonight got 14-16 letters all of Sept + Oct. Snapshots from Ruth. What if I fill this damn book before I get home I think it'll break even. |
| January 2 |
It seems the Major pulled his rank to attack those planes (JU-52 no guns) "Jake" was leading left wing and reported them asking permission to leave B-26's Major pulls out + does it He got one with a Lt. Sears got one and another pilot got 1 Some new pilots had some hair raising experience taxing the 38's today. Some had 30 hrs ferrying 38's and others have 300 hrs on P-40-F's Makes Jake an old man with 400 hrs on 38's alone. A woman "Life" "photog" was here today. Painted "Jake" "Eileen" "Dot" on the plane. Jerry tonite came over + dropped 3 or more bombs way W. of field. |
| January 3 |
Very eventful day = first I snapped my neck while making pre-flight. Dr. couldn't unsnap it. second. "mail call." package from folks. very good = money belt. candy, gum much needed gloves and socks. Package from Aunt Myrtle. SS Pierce "cigs" candy 'lb cake very good. letter from Joe Ma{gg}. Australia I guess. pictures of my room from folks and also all of them. (made me homesick) Just as was getting dark 6 JU-88's came over. 2 at a time. Sure was a lot of metal thrown at em. may have hit one that was particularly low. One dropped 3 bombs near hangar. |
| January 4 |
48 bombers + 38 fighters over Bizerta today. Some enemy fighters but didn't attack. Stayed on plane all day. nothing eventful New pilots checking out + putting in time. 10 Yank Spitfires came in B-26's practiced bombing. They need it. only 1 month from the states. Got belly tanks, gas and oil for plane. 38's were up until well after dark hoping for a Jerry. no luck tonite. 3 of those 5 or 6 that came over were hit so badly they crashed + were killed or captured. Dispersed the planes over a wide area today. Have a long walk now 4 or 5 times a day. |
| January 5 |
Same old story today flapjacks for breakfast. But otherwise same old lousy English rations- mutton stew etc. Lt. Myers came back from raid on {Sfax}with a blown supercharger. left engine dead. had to pump pump hyd. to get wheels down. He flew it very nicely. Mouse's ship-scrap I guess. The chutes from the JU-88 crew were made in New York in 1941. Its a great war. |
| January 6 |
Nothing eventful but a blown out supercharger. Buckets get lose and over target area they pull 60+ inches of mercury. way up on R.P.M.'s and she lets go. |
| January 7 |
Had a fatal crash this P.M. A Lt. from a Bombing outfit took one of our 38's off and had to low pitch on prop and too much throttle. burned out left engine and it quit. tried to turn back but didn't trim ship and spun in on the turn. Supposed to have been checking out on it. Gas tanks exploded when she hit. may have killed 2 arabs under it. 1260 rds of ammunition. Otherwise day was uneventful. |
| January 8 |
Best rumor yet is that the useless men and ranks in our outfit is going to be transferred and the remainder go back to the States also that our April payroll will be in the States. sounds good. Guess I'll lie low on Cadets Worked on ship as usual. |
| January 9 |
Worked pretty hard on ship today We have been pulling a running 25 hr inspection and pulled most of a 100 hr inspection today. Wrote letter home. Got one old one from Mom. |
| January 10 |
Had our first real bombing tonight. really necessary to hug a fox hole 2 or 3 Jerries just after dark. Each dropped 3 or 4 bombs fragmentation so there was plenty of fragments hitting the {bags}. One of the Keesler gang. got concussion of his chest. was 15' from bomb. They circled for 15 mins. before diving. JU88 or the new Stuka. First one started 3 fires. a B-17, C-47 + P-38. One kid killed beside the B-17 They also ground strafed and then its rough. bullet thru our water tank. |
| January 11 |
Had to disperse ships and gas even more today. 400' between ships. Gas 200' from them. Some Xmas packages but not many. Everyone dug much deeper fox holes. I haven't dug one. I think the irrigation ditch is deep enuff. Because I'll get off the field after they start a fire. |
| January 12 |
Pretty rough day today Ship flew twice. had to gas it with a handpump. {qve} time today was a low level {P-}38 ground straffing. Lt. Smith was shot down Had one engine out and was left behind and two 109's got him. Rookie replacement took over for another hour but boy he didn't even know how to start it. I can't understand the way they are doing things now. Some of our other 38's escorted B-17s over a Jerry field were the 190 + 109's are. They must be gettin cocky or some wheel-chair officer gave the orders cause they bombed at dead noon from 10,000' at 150 M.P.H. |
| January 13 |
Two B-17's got shot down by A.A. had to fight off lots of fighters and the escorting 38's only had one Belly tank. Lt. Myers stayed with a B-17 that had 2 right engines shot out + 1/2 the crew dead. until he was low on gas. When he came in the engines couldn't be started again only an inch of gas in one tank. No flight today. big winds. Put on as Part of guard for {week} leaving Settergren all alone on plane. Planes aren't even secondary any more. then they give us a pep talk |
| January 14 |
The straffing raid by our 38's of the 12th destroyed 50 Trucks with troops. {W.E.} cannon blew em up. The B-17's ruined the airfield and 30 planes beside shooting down 14 109's on way home. Radio said we lost none but we lost Lt. Smith + 2 B-17's. The B-17's with 2 engine left got back OK. One Lt. in 94th got D.F.C. Lost two 38's on the raid tonight today. Pulled guard tonight. |
| January 15 |
Went into Biskra Today. had Bath and got pants pressed. Bought some wine and tangerines. Will go in again and get some souvenirs. Raid Tonight at 8:30 2 or 3 JU-88's First dive they dropped a flare. A.A. was much better drove em away with a barrage instead of trying to hit em. One was shot down within our sight. They other reported by French cracked on mountain. Pulled guard from 10 - 2 AM. |
| January 16 |
Went to town today Was going to buy some presents but everything was to cheap in quality and to expensive. Tom Morrison and I had date with couple of French gals. I can just barely talk with em. Funny. Stayed with them couple of hours and left em. Got some wine and came home. Got news of Buzz Wagners death in Fla. also heard about Rickenbacker {down} at sea and rescued. |
| January 17 |
Guard last nite and again tonite. Got a haircut today. Write letter. Nothing doing. Planes escorted B-25's this morning. Guard again nothing doing. very cold. |
| January 18 |
Planes went over Tripoli today. Heavy dog fights. Lost one bomber but crew bailed out. 71st got 3 Jerries 109's Went to town. fooled around. back for super. guard from 6-10 P.M. Beautiful moonlite. Landy bought a Kerosene lamp in town for our tent works good but first we burned Aviation 100 oct. and it boiled so kerosene it is. Heard about Berlin being bombed for 2nd nite. |
| January 19 |
Did a washing - boiled em twice. Went on guard at 10 P.M. - 2: AM. {Elfrie}, [probably Jack Ilfrey] the 94th ace was chasing the stuffing out of 2 Spits from the 52nd this evening. Really gave them sumpin to think over. Used his combat flaps and stalled around on one wing tip with his nose held high. |
| January 20 |
Went in town again and took a steam bath Tom and I. We met couple of French gals had some wine with them in the park. brought some French bread home with us. |
| January 21 |
back on the plane today. Settergren is sick abed. 24 of the 38's are ground straffing supplys on the road coming out of Tripoli to Tunis. {Garbes} + Sfax Engine missed a couple of times on takeoff but he kept going. Takes a lot to make Jake turn back. Very successful raid On the road Tripoli to {Gabes} the whole road is clogged with German truck convoy. The P-38's started tankers truck on fire and 2 109;s down They stopped the traffic Then tonight the Beaufighter [cont'd on January 22, 1943] |
| January 22 |
[cont'd from January 21, 1943] dogged it at one end then at the other and then in the middle. Pilots could see British 8th Army coming in Tripoli and Germans leaving the other side. The French are going North on the Germans flank. The U.S. 5th ARMy is coming east on em also the 1st DIV. It won't be long now. Fixed the leak in the packing on the nose strut. plane didn't fly. Jake informed me he is on D.S. at {Lacinia} to train new pilots--- [cont'd on page: January 23, 1943] |
| January 23 |
[cont'd from January 22, 1943] Will give him a rest. He has completed around 60 missions. 50 gave him the D.F.C. Settergren still in hospital with flu. Straffing mission on the convoy again but things to hot lost two ships. Moving today. somewhere near Constantine. Planes go on a mission nobody here when they get back. That's a good one. Got a swell sweater from Ruth today. very nice of her. Also a lot of late mail. |
| January 24 |
Left Biskra around 7:00 A.M. this morn and rode all day. Makes you realize the vastness of this Hell hole of a country. Can tell the minute we roll into a town if the people are Pro-nazis or not. If they are then we really give out the Limey butts and chocolate Went thru a beautiful pass in the mountains, distances are so deceiving and the mountains are really tall. right into the clouds. C-47's fly down the passes. |
| January 25 |
Got the tent fixed a little better today Got straw for our pads. They say they re going to take our tarp away from all of us enlisted men that have them. Means we'll have to put up our small pup tents. Changed exhaust plugs in the engines and some bad leads and no new ones in supply maybe we can fix the old ones - doubt it Playing Landys new records tonight. |
| January 26 |
On the plane from breakfast till after supper. The mess hall is way up near the planes over a good mile from the tent area. Plane still out for plug leads. Supply hasn't any. We have only about 15 planes left at the most and only about 8 in commission Guess we'll be home by June I mean hope. Jerry over twice this evening - no bombs. Taking our tarp away from us tomorrow. |
| January 27 |
Heard today that the President + Churchill had a conference here in Africa 1st part of the month. Got ahold of some sugar + milk on the train trip and one of the guys had some coffee So first real coffee since the states. Finished the plane today. Has a badly cracked windshield. Jerry passed over again about 8:00 P.M. |
| January 28 |
Got new windshield put in. Plane went escorting Fortresses from Biskra to Sfax. 18 B-25's 18 B-26's 20 - B-17's and about 16 - P-38's went. Lt. Newman got a 109. {Russ} got a common slug thru the cowling into the valve head cover thru a bulk head and rested in the bottom of the prop spinner. A very lucky shot. Lt. Sauer didn't even know he was fired on. Needs new valve head cover + piece of cowling. B-17's carry 9 - 500 lbs bombs out of this field. 97 direct hits today on Sfax, |
| January 29 |
Raided Sfax Put plane back in commission. Saw movie "I married an Angel" McDonald + Eddy in an old grainery. Sound was very weak. film kept quitting. B-17 came in today after raid with wounded co pilot. hit by shrapnel. He has lost one eye. These B-17 E + F's are from Burma India and Egypt. They have been overseas 15 months with only 3 of original planes left. The ones they have, have 500 hrs. Their ground crew stay overseas 2 yrs so I guess we're over here for some time. |
| January 30 |
New pilot flew our ship today. escorted B-25's and B-26's over Sfax. Rommell is trying to evacuate + bring in shipping supplies. May not last much longer. Lot of anti-aircraft set up around here now. Probably move soon. Lot of mail today. Box of candy Bars from Uncle Harold. Plane came back with some cowling in front of supercharger cracked. No replacement Heard that Capt Wells {we} left in England [cont'd on January 31] |
| January 31 |
[cont'd from January 30] got killed ferrying {a} 38 to Africa Dec issue of "Flying" came in. Everyone wants to read it. Had our own breakfast of fried eggs. Put new gages in gas tanks. Helped instrument man KRAMER check flight indicator screens and tachs etc. Biskra dust on em thick. Still waiting for a new piece of cowling before ship in commission. Eating white bread with butter + beer. we bought from Limeys. first since England. |
WWII Notebook Journal of Sgt. David S. Gray