Info About 2,000-bomber Raid, Dec. 24, 1944 (1 Viewer)

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

Hi everyone . . . I'm the new buck private around here.

I'm writing a rather unconventional bio about my dad, who was an R/O with the 467th BG out of Rackheath, Norfolk, but the structure of the narrative is formed around just one mission—the raid of the title, otherwise know as Mission 760, with the codename (I think) Cobra, from the moment he wakes up to the moment his feet touch the ground. That's the gimmick. It's currently at 36,000 words.

I'm not an author—I just like to write, but much worse, I'm no research fellow. It's a bizarre task (at least to me) that I've had trouble getting used to, but since I want all the details to be as accurate as I can make them, I have to know the facts. I'm using Gemini Advanced for help, but it hallucinates a lot and has to be watched very carefully. I of course don't ask it to write anything for me—I would never let a machine do that.

But some stuff she (sorry—I've created an instruction set to personalize the entities) just doesn't know—like, what altitude did the Group form up with the various squadrons? Obscure stuff like that, but central to the narrative (when do they go on oxygen? Yeah, 10,000 feet, but is that the altitude where the squadrons all meet and form the Group?)

And most times, Google Search is just pathetic . . .

At any rate, I was looking for a group of people who might know these obscure things . . . I hope I'm in the right place!

Cheers,

Nick

 

[fubar57]

K kamakiri B-24 Dad You've been here? 467th Bombardment Group Research - Home

 

[fubar57]

....and here.... https://digitalarchive.2ndair.org.uk/digitalarchive/Dashboard/Index/46

 

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

K kamakiri B-24 Dad You've been here? 467th Bombardment Group Research - Home

Yes . . . many, many times. But compared to other bomb group sites, it's extremely difficult to navigate, sometimes the info needed is on physical documents that are unsearchable, etc. But yes, I've gone to it many times.

I have a book on the 467th, but it's scarce on the details I need—this mission alone only gets 10 or 12 paragraphs . . . I've been relying on other bomb group sites that sometimes feature crewmen's recollections, but my obstinate need to dig deeper (what was the name of the medical kits issued to the R/Os? How many syrettes of morphine were in them? Were there any stations for other crew to access morphine?) sometimes just result in dead-end streets. But yes, and thanks!

 

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

....and here.... https://digitalarchive.2ndair.org.uk/digitalarchive/Dashboard/Index/46

Wow! No . . . I've seen some of the stuff elsewhere, but I'll have to explore the site more extensively! How come this site never came up in Google Searches? It might have saved me a ton of time! And I assume the 57 is the year? If so, me too! Thanks, fubar. It's saved me many snafus . . .

 

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

Excerpt:

The poor, poor gunners . . . the roaring winds coming in through their gun ports, which they can't close—the manufacturers briefly tried overhead metal shutters, but gunners complained that they just got in the way, and tended to fly off while the plane was plummeting to Earth.

There were supposedly windbreaks on the hull, but they just slowed the plane down. They were planning pup tents like what mountain climbers use, but these proved too difficult to zip shut.

So it was just hoped that acute frostbite and marble-solid trigeminal facial nerves would actually help in the dentist's chair . . . all said and done, a positive benefit-loss ratio.

But it was Pilarski, in the tail, who reaped the temperatures from all these screaming winds . . . sometimes you needed ice picks to haul him out. Thank goodness he was an imperturbable soul, laughing through adversity and shrugging off three-inch mantles of ice with casual flair.

"I don't mind, Robbie. I'm from Minnesota."

 

[fubar57]

You've probably been here as well, they have records of the BG... 467th Bomb Group (Rackheath) - ONLINE VERSION

 

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

You've probably been here as well, they have records of the BG... 467th Bomb Group (Rackheath) - ONLINE VERSION

Nope! How are you finding all this stuff? I have a lot of clicking to do.

 

[kamakiri B-24 Dad]

Heh . . . I'm from Canada too. Montreal . . . a transplant, but now happily Canadian.

 

[fubar57]

Left coaster now living in Central BC. Lots of times, when I look up Squadrons, Groups and Wings, I add PDFs at the end. The first link I posted that you didn't have, I searched 467th "Bombardment Group". The one above I searched 467th "Bomb Group"; same Group but I got different results