The Hungarian 109 pilot “Mike” Karatsonyi emigrated to America and became friends with his former enemies Bob Goebel and Art Fiedler, who had flown P-51s against the Pumas in 1944.
REFLECTIONS
From the perspective of six or more decades, former Fifteenth airmen—like all veterans—inevitably look astern, trailing slipstreams of memories.
Ralph Anderson, a B-24 group’s armorer, was like many Foggia veterans:
I did not go into towns very often, as they were very smelly as they were primitive and had no sewer systems, so the streets were the sewage lines. I did get to travel some and visited famous places like Rome, Florence, Naples, Leghorn, and Pisa. I was hitch-hiking to Naples and saw Mount Vesuvius erupting ash all over everything. Being twenty years old and not a history student from a small town in Pennsylvania, I did not even know what I was looking at most of the time. Years later I would see something or place and say “Yes, I saw that during the war.” My wife and I have traveled in Europe but not back to Italy. I guess I figure I have seen it before but I am sure it’s different today.31
In contrast to “the joy boys of the Eighth,” bomber crews in the Fifteenth did more with less. “Our food was terrible,” said one airman. “Our only decent meal was before a mission, and might be chicken. Mostly we got corned beef in blocks and we’d have to cut pieces off the slabs. Sometimes we stole K rations because they were better. Most places were off limits in town because food and water were contaminated. I only made three or four visits [to Amendola] because the place was all torn up. People were selling souvenirs mostly made from crashed airplanes. We were told to avoid the girls—a lot of them had bleached blonde hair because they tried to attract Germans before we got there. Some had blonde headed, blue eyed kids.”32
The 484th Group in the Forty-ninth Wing had an eye on the far horizon. One veteran wrote of his comrades,
[T]hey were not fatalists, they knew the power would soon pass into their own hands and had to survive to keep traditional values safe. The people back home were depending on them. What depressed all airmen was the appearance of the Me 262 jet powered fighter. With determined vigor the jets were tearing huge holes in USAAF bomber formations. Luckily the Luftwaffe squadrons were small and the losses could be tolerated. But! But! Why hadn’t the guys back home come up with something better? The airmen were determined then and there to do something about this outrage when they returned home. Today’s precision Air Force is proof. . . . This retired generation of Pearl Harbor, its job now almost complete, wants to sit back and write its memoirs.33
A 450th Group ball turret gunner, Hugh Jones, spoke for thousands of combat aircrewmen in 2001 when, commenting on his wartime journal,
The teenage cool sets my teeth on edge at this date, but I thought I was telling it as it was. There are also several points I would make now as I look back that I had left out as I set forth each mission’s report.
For example, the bravado was exactly that: I was often very frightened during the missions, particularly during the actual bomb run.
The moment after the bombs away call remained a frightening moment because I was also looking down at the bomb site from the turret, and I could see not only all the flak around me, but I also could see the parachutes and damaged planes that had been hit and were out of control, some going down in flames, some with parachutes flitting out, one by one; sometimes with no chutes appearing.34
Some fliers, however, found fulfillment in European skies. Fighter ace George Loving said, “As a twenty-one-year-old P-51 Mustang pilot assigned to the Thirty-first Fighter Group, I flew fifty combat missions as a flight, squadron, and group leader escorting formations of hundreds of B-17s and B-24s bounded for targets all across eastern and southern Europe. It was a great adventure.”35
Another Mustang ace candidly said, “On the day the war ended I sat down and cried, and not because I was glad it was over.”
The correspondent Ernie Pyle was the most popular chronicler of the Mediterranean war, writing about fliers as well as GIs. In his 1944 book, Brave Men, he wrote, “There was some exhilaration there in Italy, and some fun along with the misery and the sadness, but on the whole it had been bitter. Few of us can ever conjure up any truly fond memories of the Italian campaign. The enemy had been hard, and so had the elements. . . . There was little solace for those who had suffered, and none at all for those who had died, in trying to rationalize about why things had happened as they did.”36
Today, the veterans of the “Forgotten Fifteenth,” their numbers rapidly dwindling, look back on their experience and know that Pyle’s tribute remains as valid as ever.
IN MEMORIAM
As of 2012 about seventy-three thousand Americans were still missing in action from the Second World War, and most of them, of course, will never be found. They lie in long-lost hasty graves, entombed in sunken ships and planes, lost in jungle overgrowth, or simply blasted into nothingness in the era of high explosives.37
The common sentiment among survivors is that those who came back should always remember those who didn’t. Some take that obligation to extraordinary lengths. Lieutenant John S. McConnon was a 376th Group navigator in August 1944 when his Liberator was shot down over Albania. Four fliers safely bailed out; the others died. The McConnon family in Pittsburgh had little additional information, but with demise of the Soviet Union, travel restrictions eased in the former Communist bloc. John’s brother James corresponded with Albanians interested in helping American families, leading to a possible find in 1995. James went to Albania, and three years later U.S. Army MIA searchers recovered three skeletons that were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. Lieutenant McConnon was identified, as were Major Frank Blakely and Sergeant Wayne Shaffner. In 1999 the McConnon family survivors buried their brother in Oakland, Pennsylvania.38
There have been other relentless searches. Staff Sergeant Martin Troy, a thirty-year-old married draftee, was a 460th Bomb Group crewman. He became a B-24 waist gunner and went missing on a June 30, 1944, mission to Hungary. A squadron mate, bombardier Joseph “Jerry” Conlon, recalled that Troy was the only crewman from the lost Liberator not found, and Conlon was determined to bring him home. He made three trips to central Hungary looking for the crash site, and he “pestered the hell out of the U.S. military” to pursue the clues. His persistence was rewarded. In 2007 American military searchers found bones thought to be Martin Troy’s. Positive identification came in 2008, and months later Sergeant Troy was buried at Arlington Cemetery in the presence of his ninety-year-old brother.39
Not all searches have been conducted by Americans. On December 17, 1944, Arsenic and Lace was one of ten 461st Group Liberators lost on an Odertal mission. Lieutenant Gerry Smith’s plane was shot down by fighters near Olomuc, now in the Czech Republic. But local residents wanted to honor the memory of their allies and contacted Smith’s daughter Claire. In December 2010 the researcher Jirka Cernosek sent the crew’s families photos and a video of the monument’s dedication.40
THEN AND NOW
Today Foggia has far less aviation activity than seventy years ago. Gino Lisa Airport is served by three airlines, mainly from Milan, Turin, and Palermo. They fly Agusta 109 helicopters and Saab 2000 turboprops. The Saab carries fifty-plus passengers at 350 mph or better—a cruise speed seldom attained by World War II fighters.
A visit to Foggia conjures up an era that came and went with astonishing speed and violence. In 1941, aerial fleets of hundreds of multi-engine bombers were almost unknown. Four years later they were common in Europe and the Western Pacific. Then, with the end of World War II, air armadas became extinct, never to return.
A handful of the aircraft remain. Of some twelve thousand B-17s produced, only ten were still flying in 2013. Excluding a handful of navy versions, only two of the eighteen thousand B-24s remained airworthy. The Fifteenth’s fighters are still represented by roughly 150 flying Mustangs out of fifteen thousand produced and half a dozen of the ten thousand Li
ghtnings built.
In the twenty-first century the concept of air power has evolved into “aerospace dominance,” including cyberspace. Current operations bear no resemblance to those of the 1940s, when the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today’s airmen penetrated well-defended enemy airspace and manually put gravity bombs on target. The U.S. Air Force’s primary missions now are airlift and “remotely-piloted vehicles,” firing precision guided weapons controlled by computers continents away. In 2013 the Department of Defense created the Distinguished Warfare Medal for drone pilots, ranking below the Distinguished Flying Cross but, unaccountably, above the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart for combat wounds.41
It’s a different world today, with new technologies to fight new enemies. When World War II aircrewmen hear about drone operators being studied for signs of stress, the veterans shake their heads. One gunner bomber responded, “Stress? You were nineteen years old. They got you up at 4 a.m. and you might be dead by noon. Don’t tell me about stress!”42
The armadas that trailed cottony contrails across the European skies represented an enormous investment of people, material, and effort that only Britain and America ever achieved. The Fifteenth’s war was fought from the ground up: from the sticky clay of Foggia to battlefields five miles high, from Ploesti to Berlin. In its eighteen months the Fifteenth dominated Europe’s southern horizon, smashing the Axis Vulcan forges in a sanguinary effort that remains largely unknown seventy years later.
But let the final word come from the German who perhaps appreciated the Fifteenth’s achievement better than any other man. In his memoir, the Nazi armament minister Albert Speer wrote,
I could see omens of the war’s end almost every day in the blue southern sky when, flying provocatively low, the bombers of the American Fifteenth Air Force crossed the Alps from their Italian bases to attack German industrial targets. Not a German fighter plane anywhere in sight; no antiaircraft fire. This scene of total defenselessness produced a greater impression upon me than any reports.43
However little the Fifteenth Air Force was honored in its own country, the enemy knew its worth.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My profound gratitude goes to Bill Hess, a lifetime friend and colleague. Our relationship began when I was in high school, only about two years younger than when he flew missions from Italy as a B-17 gunner. Bill has been unstinting in his support for this project, and much of what I learned about the Fifteenth as an institution is due to him.
Other Fifteenth airmen I’ve enjoyed knowing include the late Colonel Bob Baseler, commander of the 325th “Checkertail” Fighter Group. If there was a more colorful CO in the Mediterranean Theater, I don’t know who it was. Additional Fifteenth veterans from the American Fighter Aces Association include Barrie Davis, Art Fielder, Bob Goebel, George Loving, and Tom Maloney.
I was fortunate to become more than casually acquainted with General Jimmy Doolittle in the 1970s and ’80s. He led such a richly varied, influential aviation life that command of the Fifteenth Air Force often is reckoned among his lesser accomplishments. As is often the case, in retrospect I wish I had engaged him more often about establishing the Fifteenth, but his perspective was invaluable.
More World War II veterans groups are turning over the controls to children and grandchildren. Via the 449th Bomb Group’s “next generation” I was fortunate to establish contact with Laura Caplan, whose flight surgeon father, Major Leslie Caplan, became a revered figure among POWs.
Among the most remarkable people I have ever known was the late General Johannes Steinhoff, who led a Luftwaffe jet unit against the U.S. Strategic Air Forces. Terribly burned in a crash at war’s end, he made a full recovery to become West Germany’s senior airman in NATO. I had the pleasure to work with him on two symposia, and his perspective was always fresh, astute, and compelling. Thanks to Colin Heaton for putting me in touch with General Steinhoff’s daughter Ursula.
In the 1980s I found myself sharing ramp space with Canadian citizen Franz Stigler at Pacific Northwest air shows. His Bf 108 with twenty-eight victory bars on the rudder—testament to his wartime record as a Luftwaffe pilot—always drew a crowd, and Haya was a popular figure at hangar dances.
Another German transplanted to Canada was Oskar Boesch, best known for his sailplane aerobatics performed to classical music. His recollections as a twenty-year-old Focke-Wulf 190 pilot still reverberate in my memory.
The Fifteenth fought five other Axis powers besides Germany: Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. Their role in the southern air campaign, though less than the Luftwaffe’s, required coverage for completeness and objectivity. My splendid European sources are cited in the appendix.
Archival support came from Dr. Daniel Haulman and Lynn Gamma of the Air Force Historical Research Agency. When I ran out of my own sources, they and their colleagues answered my pleas promptly and efficiently, providing essential documents for often-obscure subjects. Meanwhile, Terry Aitken and Brett Stolle were equally helpful at the National Museum of the Air Force.
Frequent supporters included Dr. Frank Olynyk, the world authority on aerial victory claims, and longtime colleague Fred Johnsen, who provided numerous photos.
A dip of the wing to my fine agent, Jim Hornfischer, who recognized the value of a “Forgotten Fifteenth” history from the beginning.
Finally, a word to other World War II historians. Over the past eight years, I have logged time’s inevitable effect upon the ranks of those who survived the greatest conflict of the twentieth century—or any other. In 2005 one-quarter of the contributors to my study of the First Battle of the Philippine Sea were deceased upon publication. That figure rose to 40 percent with Whirlwind in 2010 and passed 50 percent two years later with my history of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
Historic memory is perishable—it has a shelf life. As this volume is published, the “Forgotten Fifteenth” was established seventy-one years ago. Its remaining veterans’ median age is nearly ninety. In aviation terms, they are rapidly “departing the pattern.”
For those intending to record the Second World War, I offer three words:
Do it now.
Barrett Tillman
March 2013
APPENDIX
ABBREVIATIONS
KIA: killed in action
KIFA: killed in flying accident
POW: prisoner of war
ORGANIZATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE
Most dates are wing headquarters under Fifteenth Air Force control. Individual groups often arrived later. Bases are as of April 1945.
5th Bombardment Wing
Foggia
B-17s, November 1, 1943
2nd Bomb Group
Amendola
97th Bomb Group
Amendola
99th Bomb Group
Tortorella
301st Bomb Group
Lucera
463rd Bomb Group
Celone
483rd Bomb Group
Sterparone
47th Bombardment Wing
Manduria
B-24s, November 1943
98th Bomb Group
Lecce
376th Bomb Group
San Pancrazio
449th Bomb Group
Grottaglie
450th Bomb Group
Manduria
49th Bombardment Wing
Castelluccio
B-24s, 29 December 1943
451st Bomb Group
Castelluccio
461st Bomb Group
Torretta
484th Bomb Group
Torretta
55th Bombardment Wing
Spinazzola
B-24s, March 1944
460th Bomb Group
Spinazzola
464th Bomb Group
Pantanella
465th Bomb Group
Pantanella
485th Bomb Group
Venosa
304th Bombardment Wing
Cerignola
B-24s, December 1943
454th Bomb Group
San Giovanni
455th Bomb Group
San Giovanni
456th Bomb Group
Stornara
459th Bomb Group
Giulia
305th Fighter Wing (Provisional)
Fano
P-38s, September 4, 1944
Subordinate to previously existing 306th Wing
1st Fighter Group
Lesina
14th Fighter Group
Triolo
82nd Fighter Group
Vincenzo
306th Fighter Wing
Mondfolfo?
P-51s, January 15, 1944
Previously included all Fifteenth Air Force fighter groups
Forgotten Fifteenth Page 27