Other crew members include:

• S/Sgt Charles J. Slaght TG CT 11/8/44 VILLACOUBLAY, AF (original Lt Noble Crew member)
• Lt Robert Maby NAV Lead Navigator (originally with 95th, later with 100th BG)
• Lt G. L Reid NAV with Lt Bethea Crew
• Lt B. H. Olson NAV with Lt Anderson Crew
• Sgt R. W. Pion TG with Lt Rice Crew
• Sgt Donald W. Harris TG with Lt Bethea Crew
• Sgt R. H. Walsh TG with Lt Schwank Crew

Mission Diary of S/Sgt. Charles A. Slaght, BTG on Lt Noble Crew and Tail gunner on Lt Paul Jones Crew

1. April 10, 1944 Reims, France
Light flak 10 or 15 FW-190’s Saw Eiffel tower In Paris

2. April 11, 1944 Rostock, Ger.
Flew North Sea –Denmark
One hell of a battle – Un-counted ME 210’s and FW – 190’s in and out of targets. Saw so many Forts go down in flames that I never thought I would see England again. Crew claimed 5 enemy fighters. Plenty of accurate flak. Ship hit in several places. Navigators face scratched by piece of flak. God was flying with us. No fighter support Spent 12 hours
in the air and will never forget it.

3. April 12 – 1944. Got into enemy territory and mission was recalled – Got credit for it. Saw some flak.

4. April 19 – 1944 Lippstadt
Moderate flak., Perfect fighter Support

5. April 20, 1944. Cherbourg, France
No ball target. Very accurate flak –Ship hit in many places. Waist (sic) door hinges shot completely off.. Found out that no-ball targets aren’t easy either P38 protection.

6. April 24 – 1944. Friedrichshafen
Flack along the way and at target – 10 hour flt. Fair fighter support – Saw Lake Constance, Swiss Alps. Planned to head for Switzerland if hit too bad. Some of the boys from other groups did.

7. April 25, 1944 Brunschweig, Germany – Plenty of accurate flak – Good fighter support

8. May 1, 1944. Sarrequemines. Marshalling yards. Light flak. M.E. 109’s made a couple of passes, Plenty of dog fights and saw a few fighters go down. Blasted hell out of that target.

9. May 7, 1944. Today we hit the big one-Berlin. I wasn’t too anxious to go there but now that it’s over I’m glad we did. Damned good fighter support most of the way. Terrific barrage of Flak at target. Lost two ships. The boys flying next to us got back but had a direct hit on the nose which blew the Navigator’s head off. The poor guy only had two missions to go. We hit the target so there’s (sic) probably plenty of dead Germans to make up for our losses.

10. May 12, 1944. Brux – Checho –
Another long assed run. Knowing it’s hard for fighter escorts to go in that far thought for sure we were going to do lot of fighting in and out of the target. We were just lucky as the group that went in ahead of us had shit knocked out of them by fighters . We saw a few pass us but they must have been low on gas and ammunition as they didn’t dare come within range. We got hit by something new today. Just outside Frankfurt I saw a terrific explosion off our nose. It was identified as a belly tank from a fighter exploding but then I saw a number of parachutes from above but no ships going down. We discovered they were shooting some kind of rockets up in front of us. When they got so high a parachute burst open with some kind of a large bomb. They were supposed to drift through our formations and explode. We lost a couple ships. Those explosions were terrific and I’m glad they missed us. Visibility at the target was perfect and we really made a mess of them. It was a gigantic oil plant. I saw columns of smoke come up as high as 10 to 15 thousand feet after we left the target. Twenty more to go. I hope we get a
couple short ones now.

11, May 13, 1944 (Osnabruck) Marshalling yards
Got the target plus damaging steel works bordering the target Medium Flak. Good fighter support.

12. May 19 – 1944 Berlin
After scrubbing these easy runs to France they finally sent us into the blue again. Guess where. That’s right, Berlin. Hot target – The flak was more accurate than it ever was. The first bursts I saw were a few feet from our nose and I wasn’t the only one who didn’t think we would make it through. This time our route out was up through Rostock as that was a secondary target if we didn’t hit Berlin. None of our crew liked that as we never forgot our second mission which was Rostock and they knocked the shit out of us. We passed over Rostock and headed over the Baltic Sea and I thought we got through. Then we saw red flak to our left and just as I thought it was a signal to the Luftwaffe. We had fighter protection all day until then and those bastards came in so fast they we(re) half way before anybody called them. They took our right wing man with them on their first pass and right then I knew we were going to fight our way out. They took a hell of a lot of B-17s that day but they made one mistake. After finishing nose attacks they turned right around and came in on the tail. Making those turns they were duck soup. A pair of them came past and they made their turn Mac picked one and I picked one. Mac got his. I scored hits on mine and then he settled on a straggler low on our right. Nobody on that ship was at their guns as they were getting set to abandon ship. He was my meat and I
gave him everything I had. Parts of his tail blew off, His engine began to smoke. Then I must have hit the cockpit as there was a big flash there. It must have been an incendiary. Then he pulled off and went down in a spin smoking. I got a fighter the first time I went to Rostock and so did Mac but we didn’t get credit for them. If they don’t give us credit this time I’ll sure raise hell. We paid for that mission but so did the Luftwaffe. I think they’ll stay away from our tail guns now.

13. May 20, 1944 We weren’t finished until 10:30 last night and they got us up at two today. We were the only crew to go out of the barracks and we were sweating 12-B today. It was an airfield In France but the clouds were solid and we couldn’t bomb. Caught moderate flak in and out but no fighters. That was a nice way to get 12-B. 17 to go (I think the Date is wrong here, should be May 23, 1944 where the group was recalled from Troyes France, target Air Field…..MPF)

14. May 24, 1944. Well it was Berlin again today and what I swear it was worse than
our other Berlins and Rostock together. Bad weather messed up our formation just as we hit Germany. We saw about 50 fighters flying along side of us so far out they couldn’t be recognized. After flying there for about 10 minutes all of sudden they attacked enmass and went right through us. They knocked the shit out of us on that first pass. Then they turned around and began passing at the tail in threes and fours. By the time we hit Berlin we were one of three ships in our squadron that reached the target. The lead ship screwed up and after we got out of the flak at Berlin he took us right back through it and again the formation was all over the sky. We were sitting out there all alone trying to catch up to our lead ship but he was too fast for us. Flak got him. Then we got some more attacks and again we got the shit knocked out of us again. I don’t know where the hell our escort was. When we got back we checked up and found we had lost four crews out of our squadron and one was in our barracks. We missed those guys more than all the rest we lost. They only had a couple more missions to go. I claimed two today, Mac four, Swartz two. I hope we get credit for them because we really went through hell today. I never
want to see another mission like that.

15. June 2, 1944 Today we hit Boulogne gun emplacements It was a milk run and I’m glad of it as it was our first mission as lead and I didn’t want to see things get screwed up. It was also the first tactical mission in which B-17s hit the invasion coast. We caught some flak but no fighters. I wish we could get a few more runs like that.

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18. June 12, 1944 Today we got #18. The Luftwaffe has brought about 500 single engine fighters up and are probably going to use them on the beachhead and us. We were out to get one of the air fields where a lot of these fighters are supposed to be. We could not bomb as the target was overcast so on the way out we were looking for targets of opportunity but evidently they didn’t see anything worth bombing. It looked like we had a milk run as I could see the English coast ahead just beyond the French coast. I don’t know whether it was the lead navigators fault or not but he brought us out right over Dunkirk. I looked down and I could see those Flak guns spitting fire long before we got there so I knew what to expect. Those gunners were really good and they blasted hell out of us. Two planes went down and exploded a couple thousand feet below us and another one ditched. I saw some chutes come out of one ship and then I saw something never thought I would see the Jerries do. As soon as those chutes got low enough to reach with 20 mm’s they shot those guys in their chutes. A couple chutes caught fire and went down. I know now that the Germans are getting desperate because of the invasion, and I know what to expect if I ever go down.

July 7, 1944. Today after a nice long rest I got off the ground again. I didn’t know who I was flying with until I got to the briefing and found I was flying with Taggart’s crew (Lt Paul Jones Crew). I might go on as their permanent tail gunner. We went to Leipzig1080 bombers all went around the same area. It was my first mission as a tail gunner and I could see all the groups following us. We were one of the first groups in and as far as I could see there was nothing but bombers. It sure was a nice sight and I knew Jerry was sure going to catch hell today. We weren’t bothered much until we started on our home run and then they really gave us hell with flak. Quite a few were shot out of formation but
they all made it back. Flak was bursting so close under our belly that we could hear the explosions. There was a dozen holes all through that tail but none of them could find Billy. I saw so many different targets being hit in that section of Germany that I couldn’t count them all. Ours was war oil refineries and we really hit it. Black smoke came up as high as 15,000 ft. and I could still see it over an hour after we left the target. That was some sight and I’m only sorry I didn’t have my camera along. I only saw a couple fighters and some P51s took care of them. It was an 8 ½ hour run so I’m pretty tired now. I hope we get a couple short ones now.

20. July 8, 1944. Today weather prevented us going to our target so we hit a target of
opportunity. It was a railroad at Laigle, France. We hit it good and it ended up a good mission. No flak, no fighters Good deal.

21. July 11, 1944. Primary target was a jet propelled aircraft plant at Munich. Had to bomb industrial area in center of city by pathfinder. My old crew was in the pathfinder ship. The flak was terrific and we were hit in a few places. It was 9½ hours in the air. We had damn good fighter support but we didn’t hit any fighters. One of the other groups caught them. I’d hate to go there again.

22. July12, 1944.Well today was the same damn target as yesterday (Munich), Again
we had to bomb path finder because of cloud coverage. Today it was pretty bad. For a while I didn’t think we were going to get back. Before we got to the target our super chargers went bad and we had to fall out of formation. I was scared shitless. Instead of getting rid of the bombs we were over the target alone and we caught all kinds of flak. They shot out No. 4 engine and punctured our outboard gas tank. We lost a lot of gas before we got it all transferred and that made our chances for getting back harder. Over V.H.F. I could hear quite a few other ships taking off for Switzerland and that’s where
I thought we would end up. I could see the Alps and it was really a temptation. The leader sent some fighters back to protect us and one leader came up and sat under our right wing and talked to us over V.H.F. for awhile. That P-51 was really pretty and that boy had18 swastikas on his fuselage. He couldn’t stay with us long but he said he would be around if we needed him. We really sweated that one out. We got back on two engines but were back and that’s what counts

23. July 13, 1944 Munich again. That did it. I’m getting to know that place as well as London. Again they shot hell out of us but again we made it back in one piece. That was the closest I ever saw those rockets come. Some more crews went to Switzerland again. Sometimes I wish we had have gone yesterday too. Maybe they’ll lay off that place for awhile.

24. July 14, 1944.Today we went on a secret mission way in France. We dropped arms
and ammunition to some fighting French. They had three fires burning in a field so we could spot them. That was the best one I’ve been on so far. The only time we were at Altitude was when we were over the coast. then we dropped down to low altitude all the way over France. I really got a nice view of France from that tail. At the target we dropped down to 500 ft. and I could see French soldiers and girls waiving (sic) at us. One girl was throwing her dress up in the air. The chutes were all colors and they really made a nice sight. Then we passed over the target again to get a good look at where the chutes hit. They all went right in the field. Good mission. No flak or fighters. Fighter support getting better every day.

25. July 17th, 1944. Auxerre, France Today would have been one of my best raids if only I had have had some sleep before we went. I kept dozing off and I beating my brains out trying to stay awake as we were right in the heart of German fighter territory. We hit the bridge derrick and also wiped out the railroad marshalling yards. It was an important target as three railroads converged there but for some reason they had not moved any flak guns around the target. We caught very little flak and I only saw one ship get a direct hit. The Lufftwaffe also must have taken the day off. Today made 25. Now I have to do ten for Doolittle.

26. July 18th, 1944. Today I flew In place of another sick tail gunner. We hit oil
refineries North (sic) of Kiel, Germany. It was a damn nice mission. The target was completely overcast so to me it was just a long joy ride over the North Sea. We caught some flak and a couple ships were hit. None went down.No fighters and our support was fair.

27. July 24, 1944. Target was enemy troops on the front line at St. Lo, France.
We were to open the way for a big infantry drive. The target was overcast so we couldn’t drop our bombs for fear of hitting our own troops. A B-24 got a direct hit and blew into a thousand pieces off to our right. Anything can happen even on a milk run.

28. July 25, 1944. Target was troops on the Front line at St. Lo, France. Today the weather was better and the bombing results were good. I like to go on those missions. We lost a ship today but I saw the full crew bail out. This was our first mission with a nine man crew.

29. July 28, 1944.Target was oil refineries at Merseberg, Germany. The flak was heavy at the target but it would have been a milk run except for one thing. I saw Jim Noble and the rest of old crew go down in flames. When I got back Mac was waiting for me and he was crying like a baby. I could hardly hold the tears back myself. I didn’t even go to interrogation. Mac and I went to the barrack to talk things over. I only hope they all got out. Today we also lost a crew with two best men on it. One was Inskeep (BTG from Lt Stansbury Crew) He graduated with Taggert and I.

30. July 29, 1944 Today we hit the same target as yesterday. Today we really wiped those refineries out. For over an hour after we left the target I could still see black smoke from those refineries coming up. Groups that hit the target after us passed through it at 25,000 ft. We were really lucky to get through that flak as it was worse than I ever saw before even at Berlin.I had five holes right by my head --I don’t know how it missed me. This was my D.F.C. mission. We lost six ships today. They were attacked by jet propelled fighters.

31. July 31, 1944. Munich.
Today we hit the jet propelled aircraft factory The flak was plenty rough and accurate. We had about a dozen holes and naturally half of them had to be in the tail section. We were lucky enough to miss fighters as they knocked hell out of the boys around us. I only hope this luck can holdout a few more missions.

32. August 5, 1944. Magdeburg-Krupp works providing tanks. We had pretty clear weather so we did a damn good job on that target. I saw at least half dozen other targets hit in the same area. There were bandits around us in and out of the target. They got a couple passes in on the boys in front of us but then our fighters happened thru and there were countless dog-fights going on all the time and I saw quite a few fighters go down. We lost five ships ourselves One B-17 blew up right off our tail from a direct hit in the bomb bay. They went down in a solid sheet of flames. I saw one chute come out. Lady luck was flying with us again. Three more to go