Service Diary of Owen N. Wahl

[The following is a transcript of photocopies received from the estate of John McClure, a boyhood friend of Owen Wahl.  How they came into McClure's possession is unknown at this time.  Material and information in brackets are my additions.  Also in brackets are my best guesses concerning illegible words.

Feb 1st 1945

No. 1  Moosbierbaum

20 min. I.P  Recall

Credit for mission

Flew with Lt. Evans  [Robert W. Jr.]

Feb. 5th 1945

No. 2 Salzberg                     588

Light flak. Easy mission

Flew with Lt. Fahrer [Gerald]

Landed at Foggia for gas. Right gear collapsed.  Ship wrecked.  Got back next day.

Feb. 7th

E.R. with Lt. Erwin [Donald?]

776      Fire in No. 4 engine. Tried to salvo on takeoff, no soap.  Finally got altitude & feathered engine.  Dropped bombs in Adriatic & returned. 

Feb. 8th            269

[Circled 3 in margin – circled numbers refer to official missions]

Vienna Marshaling Yards

Heavy flak, not too accurate.  Flew with Lt. Buesing [Robert].  Good pilot.  Good results.

Feb. 13th

E.R.  776            Runaway Prop 10 minutes out on course.  Met E.R. board 2nd time.  Engine turned out to be damaged the following day.  (ER again)

Feb. 15th            IV

[Circled 4 in margin]

Vienna Marshaling Yards.  PFF

Flak heavy to intense & damn accurate.  Picked up burst in No I 

Lost 100 gal. or more of oil.  Smoked like hell.  Didn't lose engine. Good ship. 360

Feb. 17

360 out. 188 spare  721st

E.R.  Kunz [Julius, Wahl crew navigator] accidently salvoed bombs while checking doors. ([A-----] of Zgreb)  Should have flown mission out.  E.R. board again.  Live & learn.  Bombay door flapping in slipstream didn't tear them on landing.  721st plenty sore. 

Feb. 19 – 360 lost – good ship

Haines [William] and crew bailed out over field.  One gear up and one down.  #1 feathered.

Too bad it wasn't 776.  We'll get that son of a b____ yet. 

February 22

[Circled 5 in margin]

Primary target Rosenheim Ger.

Alt 15,000 – first low attack we've had.  Solid overcast in target area.  Made one run over target – couldn't drop so we made a 180° tried again with no success finally bombed an alternate – Piesendorf marshalling yards.  Boxes were all scattered.  No one hit enemy.

Flew 231 – good ship on gas

Amdur [Harry] lead, Ward [Bill] in no. 2, we had no. 3 spot.  Buesing [Robert] flew a damn good four.

February 25

[Circled 6 in margin]

Target, Linz Austria, north marshalling yards.  24,000 ft.  Flak goddamn heavy and intense barrage type.  Target was visual and Jerrie really on the ball.  Results were good.  Two ships with rack malfunction.  Schmittz went down with Y-2 #2  from a direct hit.  Blew the nose off.  Hit was back of nose wheel well.  Not much hope for Schmitz.  Grand guy.  Y-2 also lost #3 over target.  Rest of the box badly shot up.

Amdur [Harry] lead, good lead.  We flew #5, wound up in #2.  Bill [Ward] in #6 came up to #3.  Had flak holes in rudder and stabilizer.  Also flak burst carbon smudges on rudder about ½ foot in diameter. Rough mission.

March 1st

[Circled 7 in margin]

Target Moosbierbaum oil refinery. 

Mission was flown on P.F.F.

Martus [George] lead, his last mission the lucky devil.  Narramore [Aubrey] in #3, his 34th.  He finishes tomorrow.  Flew #5 again in 269.  Bill [Ward] across in #6.  Ran into heavy cirrus at 23,000 just at I.P.  Made a 360° thru clouds and formation was badly scattered.  Almost collided with another group.  To hell with these 360°s on instruments.  Had vertigo bad.  Mac caught us in a steep turn.  Flak insignificant which is unusual for this target. 

Other than clouds, mission was a milk run.  Semeler [?] flew his 1st with Wnukowski [Raymond].

March 8

[Circled 8 in margin]

Primary target covered 6/10.  Bombed an alternate Maribor Loco depot.  Visual but about 5/10 cloud coverage.  Bomb run only 3 mins. Flak heavy moderate and accurate.  Bombs were 700 ft. short and hit RR yards.  Capt. Taylor [Dayton R.] lead with Zahn [?] lead bombardier.  Flew x-1 #8 in 645.  Good airplane, easy on controls.  Box returned all intact.  Picked up a few flak holes.  Bursts very close, 3 being under left wing.  Tail turret also hit.  Mission as a whole rather easy.  Dropped in a little on landing.  Strong head wind – milk run –

March 12th            Yoke I

[Circled 9 in margin]

Vienna – primary Florsidorf [Florisdorf] Oil refinery.  Mission PFF (9/10 coverage)  Rendy [rendezvous?] was rough – flew in clouds for most of it.  Lost formation before rendy and fell in with yoke II.  Powell [Elmer N., capt.] lead Y-1 with Bushnell [Kenneth, listed in 721st] leading X-1 and wing.  " [ditto mark beneath Bushnell] gave a poor lead.  Lot of trouble for box leaders.  Flak was inaccurate in our box.  X-2 badly hit (#2 man went to Russia) two others made emergency landings.  Our box landed all intact.  We flew #10 spot in 269.  Mission as a whole rather easy.  Lots of flak at 9 'o clock over target.  Only one 8 shot burst hit our box. No. 4 tac gave impression we were losing an engine.  Mac [Fred McDonald, co-pilot] made landing.

March 13th            Yoke 2

[Circled 10 in margin]

Primary Regensburg main marshalling yards.  Mission flown PFF.  Target 10/10 with two small breaks in overcast.  Flak very meager, almost four or five miles at 12 o'clock level.  No flak at the target.  Unusual, as the last time this group hit there, they were awarded the Presidential unit citation.  Results must have been good, entire 15th struck.  Black smoke broke thru clouds (12,000 ft) just after we passed over target.  Smoke was visible for 45 min. after leaving target. (150 miles)  Amdur [Harry] lead yoke 2 with Capt. Nelson [Wayne H.] leading group.  Good lead.  Flew 269 #6.  Ward [Bill] lost #4 over target and came home with us.  We moved from #6 to #3.  Good mission, "milk run."  Time 8:10

March 16th            X-Ray (?) II    no. 7

[Circled 11 in margin]

Primary Wiener Neustadt M/Y [marshalling yards]

No flak reported and none sighted.  Mission milk run on that score.  Powell [Elmer] lead (his last mission).  Dragged us [illegible] clouds (cumulus) iced up bad and lost airspeed indicator.  Had to drop from 10,000 to 4,000 find a hole and go up thru it.  Caught the formation at Cosca (?) our [two illegible words].  All ships broke formation.  Y-2 #2 man (Sieman [?] 723q) blew up on take off.  Threw a prop and ship caught fire.  Pilot, engineer, and navigator killed.  Others escaped bombs and ship exploded leaving huge crater.  "Bottoms Up" also lost.  Started up thru clouds with us.  Hasn't been heard of since.  Just like Saurer [Roger C.] in 536 a few days ago.  Downey[John P.] and Knight [Laurin S] went down with him.  Flying in that type of clouds shows very poor judgement.  Time 6:50.

March 21            X-II            #5            2334

[Circled 12 in margin]

Neuburg Airdrome – primary.

Target was visual.  Results seemed fair from observation.  Hit revetments, hangars, barracks, and runways.  Carried 100 lb. frag clusters.  What a mess.  Half were dropped "safe."  First mission that Eddie [Weseman, Wahl crew bombardier] didn't fly with the crew.  No flak.  A few unidentified aircraft.  This was mission 121 for 2334.  Not a bad ship for its age.  One E.R. from our box (Schiesler [Schliesser, Phillip?]) who had a inop. turbo.  Amdur [Harry] lead X-2 with Legg [John] leading group and wing.  Legg "slow flew" again today.  145-150 on return.  Held 19,000 all the way to the coast.  No good.  Karsonovich [Joseph] in #4 did a poor job.  Erratic and hard to fly off from.  Mission as a whole a milk run.  Time 8:00.

March 23            X-2            #5

[Circled 13 in margin]

Primary St. Polten M/Y

Target was visual with no clouds whatever.  No flak, made 360° on I.P. to avoid 449th.  Flohr [Milton F.] lead with Amdur [Harry] as copilot.  Kunz [Julius] flew nose nav[igator]. in lead ship.  We flew #5 in 269.  Easy mission.  Time 7:50.  Results were fair.  Bombs were 2/3 over Briefed aiming point.

Time 7:50

March 25            Yoke 2                        #10

[Circled 14 in margin]

Primary Cheb Airdrome in Chez.

75 mi. northeast of Nuremburg. 130 mi. so. of Berlin.  Longest mission flown from this base.  1450 miles.  Time 8:45

Field was covered with ME 262s.  98th fragged revetment areas.  We hit hangars with 500 lbs.  Results were good with lots of smoke and burning debris and aircraft.  Black splotches of smoke showed aircraft destroyed.  #2 man salvoed 5 sec. late.  Bombs fell in Cheb.  We flew #10 dropping back and did our own synchronizing.  Eddie did a good job.  Bombs right into burning hangar area.  Mission very long and tiresome with fighters in [----  h----ward].  Sighted one ME 109.  Milk Run.  Time 8:45