MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
A video I just saw on Youtube described a bombing error and that led me to recall another one I read of.
The 47th Bomb Group flew A-20's and then A-26's in the Med. One one mission to hit a target near the front lines a rookie pilot swing wide during one turn and found himself behind of the rest of the force. Anxious to catch up, he dumped his bombs so he could go faster. The squadron commander greatly feared that the bombs had hit Allied forces. Back at the base, he sat by the phone, fearing he would get a phone call telling him that the bombs had killed hundreds of Americans. And sure enough, the phone rang, and worst yet there was a general officer on the line. This was bad news; you did not get calls from generals unless something was a big deal. The general asked "Who was that crazy pilot that swung so far out past your formation today? Well, he hit a gun we had been trying to knock out for weeks, blew it completely away. Tell him he did a good job!"
A B-26 unit was directed to destroy a bridge in Europe and did so, but got back to base only to discover they had hit the wrong bridge. Their commander stood them at attention out on the flight line and proceeded to chew them out for making such a terrible error. Then jeep came up and two officers asked if this was the unit that had destroyed the bridge. The commander admitted that it was. The officers replied that Gen Patton wanted their leader to be awarded a medal. His troops were chasing a German force that was cut off by the bridge destruction and as result he captured them all.
The 47th Bomb Group flew A-20's and then A-26's in the Med. One one mission to hit a target near the front lines a rookie pilot swing wide during one turn and found himself behind of the rest of the force. Anxious to catch up, he dumped his bombs so he could go faster. The squadron commander greatly feared that the bombs had hit Allied forces. Back at the base, he sat by the phone, fearing he would get a phone call telling him that the bombs had killed hundreds of Americans. And sure enough, the phone rang, and worst yet there was a general officer on the line. This was bad news; you did not get calls from generals unless something was a big deal. The general asked "Who was that crazy pilot that swung so far out past your formation today? Well, he hit a gun we had been trying to knock out for weeks, blew it completely away. Tell him he did a good job!"
A B-26 unit was directed to destroy a bridge in Europe and did so, but got back to base only to discover they had hit the wrong bridge. Their commander stood them at attention out on the flight line and proceeded to chew them out for making such a terrible error. Then jeep came up and two officers asked if this was the unit that had destroyed the bridge. The commander admitted that it was. The officers replied that Gen Patton wanted their leader to be awarded a medal. His troops were chasing a German force that was cut off by the bridge destruction and as result he captured them all.
