TARGET: LAUNCHING RAMP V-I
GORENFLOS, FRANCE
20 APRIL 1944

The target was a No Ball installation situated south of the village, located ten miles southeast ofAbbeville. It was a ski shaped launching ramp for V-i bombs. Other units of the Eighth attacked other installations in the Calais and Cherbourg areas. The Group used a new twelve plane formation, and dispatched two boxes on its target. The A box was led by Captain William F. Smith as Air Commander and Lt. J. L. Smith was the pilot. The B box was led by Major George C. Hozier as Air Commander and Captain Jerry Godfrey was pilot.

Lead crew Lt. Jesse L. Smith

Lead crew Lt. Jerome E. Godfrey

Takeoff was late in the afternoon, at 1615. Bombing results were good, with the bomb pattern centering within two hundred feet of the MPI. Flak was moderate but accurate. One anti aircraft shell hit the Deputy Lead plane of the B box, piloted by Lt. Walter S. Milne, at the radio compartment, and exploded inside. The remnants of the craft plummeted nose down. Only two of the crew survived the crash. Eleven aircraft from the A box and eight craft of the B box sustained damage.

Target Gorenflos, France

The aircraft broke apart between the tail wheel and the waist door. The craft hit the ground with a terrific explosion. Four of the crew parachuted to safety.

(Compiler’s note: For Lt. Carl E. Gamblin’s account of the mission, see Chapter 19.)