To a Hero
While Herman was out of commission with the ruptured eardrum, his crew flew seven missions. At the end of each flight day those not flying would wait in anticipation for the B-17's to return, counting each one as they appeared in the sky....
Mission 6 – January 7, 1944
The assigned target was I G Farben Industrie plant at Ludwigshafen deep into Germany. This was an important chemical factory, critical to supplying Germany's war effort. An interesting aside is the fact that IG Farben also had a plant near Auschwitz which used slave laborers...
Flak
According to Miriam-Webster's on-line dictionary, the word "flak" is from "Fliegerabwehrkanonen" ...
Mission 2 – December 5, 1943
On Sunday, December 5th, 1943, Herman was awakened for his 2nd missions at 2:30 am. The target for the day was the factories at the airport near La Rochelle, deep in France, southwest of Paris....
The B-17 Bombardier
Herman received Bombardier training at Victorville as well as navigator training at Carlsbad. He had been taught to use the Norden bombsight, that highly guarded military secret. ...
Mission 1 – December 1, 1943
Herman's' first bombing mission was on December 1, 1943. He flew with another B-17 crew whose bombardier had been grounded. Since he had arrived at Thurleigh barely ten days before, and his flying equipment hadn't been issued yet, he had to "beg, borrow and steal"...
Charles L. Stevenson
Charles L. "Steve" Stevenson was the navigator of Herman's original crew. He and Herman flew side by side in "the nose" of the B-17, and they became close friends....