Our crew arrived at the 303rdbg, 360bs on 02/01/1945. We were carrying our gear into the assigned hut when three members of a crew were exiting. They gave us a cordial welcome and we exchanged names. The navigator said they were headed out to slow time an engine and invited me to come along. I deposited my gear and accompanied them. I was in the nose of the B-17 with the navigator during the four hour flight. I noticed a piece of equipment that I hadn't seen before. The navigator said it was a G-Box and proceeded to show me how it worked by making a run on the end of the main runway. He then turned it off and suggested I give it a try. I made three successful runs. Little did I know how important this experience would be. Our first mission on 02/15/1945 was to Dresden. The weather was lousy and instrument take-off procedures were being used. The weather was very bad on our return. They built a large bonfire at the landing end of the runway to hold the fog up. We saw the bonfire on our first landing attempt but lost it in the turn and had to go up and get in line for another try. Our fuel supply was very low at the time. The aircraft we were in was a lead aircraft equipped with the G-Box. I told the pilot I had used the equipment two weeks ago and thought I remembered the settings for the landing end of the runway. His response was go for it. To make a long story short we broke out of the fog dead centered on the runway and experienced a normal landing. Another new crew on their first didn't fare so well. All bailed out but the pilot and engineer. They landed at a fighter base collapsing the landing gear to avoid hitting workman. The only negative thing, some one stole my dress shoes while we were slow timing the engine.
