THE RED LIGHT FLASHED

The red light flashed on and bullets and flak started slamming and rattling against the side and top of the plane I yelled at my two helpers to get ready to heave the stuff out Sweat started streaming down my face and back as I saw a line of machine gun bullets start to peel a line of holes down the wing in the direction of my position near the open door Anti aircraft batteries cut loose with an ear splitting roar the smell of burnt cordite filled the plane I glanced at my two helpers and felt a little relieved when they looked just like I felt their faces were white and showed the evidence of the terrific strain we were under I got a glimpse of a German tank trying to line us up with his eightyeight but we were out of his range before he could fire

Then there was a terrific flash and the plane shuddered as another plane in our formation received a direct hit and disappeared in a flash of flame and black smoke The green light flicked on so I let out a yell tripped the switch that dropped the parabundles and in the same motion with a sudden surge of desperate strength heaved the one hundred and fifty pound bundle out the door as though it were a football As soon as that was out of the way I joined the radio operator and the radar man with their bundles We yelled heave heave heave as we unloaded the other bundles and boxes to the accompaniment of rattles bangs and cracks as stuff hit the plane In a few seconds we had our load out the door and floating toward the ground With one quick tug we hauled the static lines into the plane and called the pilot to get out that we were all unloaded The plane whipped around and the left wing pointed toward the ground as the pilot gave the throttle full range and started out of there fast as hell As we straightened out I got a glimpse of a white house that seemed to be on fire from the amount of guns firing from the windows One gun in particular was sticking out an upstairs window and seemed to be pointing directly at the door in which I was standing It was spouting flame and I could feel the plane shudder as bullets plowed into the bottom and sides

The pilot claimed we were doing better than 180 mph as we hurried away from the DZ drop zone Our wings were almost brushing the ground as we slid in and around the trees and hedgerows Suddenly we flashed out over the beach and started to climb out over the bay It was a pitiful sight to see another C 47 stagger out over the water then pancake down in a swirl of spray Planes staggered out on fire and immediately plunged into the water As we flew out over the bay I focused my binoculars on the planes coming out of the DZ Boats in the bay were scuttling to the downed planes and in some cases I could see figures struggle out of the escape hatches onto the wings and from there crawl into the rescue boats I checked the instruments and everything seemed okay

Then I glanced back through the observation dome and counted eight planes still in formation We continued back over our prearranged route and in time were back to our home field The weather was still bad so we had a little trouble landing at Saltby We landed okay and turned off the runway While taxiing the left engine heated up so the pilot cut it off and we taxied back to our area on one engine When we hit the revetment I jumped out to put the pins and locks in and discovered that the underside of the plane was covered with oil The left nacelle was dripping with oil and the wheel and tire were covered When I checked further I found that a bullet had penetrated the oil tank and we had lost most of our supply We were lucky to make it back with both engines running Quite a few planes didn't return and those that did were badly shot up A lot of men were wounded and those not wounded were in a bad nervous state Planes from other squadrons were coming in for landings and several were firing red flares to show that they had wounded personnel on board These landed first while the other planes circled

We were taken to a briefing The squadron physician was there to give us our one drink strictly for medicinal purposes The name of each recipient was carefully checked so he couldn't chisel two I got two as my radar man didn't drink The liquor didn't quiet my nerves a bit but it did give me a good appetite We finished our stories and ate chow Several beds in the barracks were going to be empty after this day's mission and we all avoided looking at the empty spaces while we readied ourselves for the sack

June 8 1944

Plane grounded for repairs Turf and Sport Special was in pretty bad shape An explosive shell had hit the left engine firewall and blown a large hole in this metal safety guard and at the same time splattered lead through the cowling and oil tank We were lucky that the hole in the oil tank was small and only allowed a small bit of oil to escape Another of our planes was so badly damaged that it wouldn't fly so we removed our oil tank and exchanged it for the one on the crippled ship Depot repairmen replaced a stringer in the tail section and replaced supports in the wing We fixed the firewall and cowling ourselves

After we finished patching and daubing the holes with paint the outside of the plane was well speckled with patches As we worked on the damage we found out how close we had come to getting knocked off that is the three of us because we were all in about the same position when the plane was hit Machine gun bullets are fixed in rotation first an armor piercing bullet an explosive bullet then an incendiary bullet or some such order An incendiary bullet came through the flaps penetrated the floor hit the ceiling and fell back to the floor An armor piercing bullet came through the right side of the plane missed my head and helmet by about an inch and went through the side of the plane The next in the series an explosive bullet hit back of the toilet blew out a stringer and plastered the sidewall full of holes Just jumble up the series of bullets a little and the three of us would have had it

OTHER PLANES DOWN

We had reports on a couple of planes that were missing One of the planes had had an engine shot out and the fuel pump on the other gave out so the crew chief radio operator and navigator took turns at the wobble pump all the way across the channel They landed on the nearest available field in England The pilot and crew did a hell of a good job to even get it back to England because it was inspected and declared unsafe to fly so they left it there for junking Another plane was badly battered and had landed on another emergency field The crew chief had been hit on the flak vest by a direct burst of an explosive bullet The vest turned aside the worst of the explosion but small particles had entered his stomach where the vest tied together The wound didn't seem serious but he was hospitalized for weeks and almost died

Bing Wood the author of this diary was a horse racing enthusiast He named his airplane.TheTurf and Sport Special after a popular racing magazine

C 47 42-92841 NOTE

The C 47 described in Bing's diary has been restored and is on display at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base Delaware It was plucked from a storage area where it was waiting to be taken away and used as target material It had already seen service as a training load for helicopter crews learning to pick up crashed or downed aircraft for transport to their bases for salvage or repair The high point of this restoration was a visit by Crew Chief Bing Wood The museum director Michael Leister asked Bing if he could identify the aircraft for sure His response was I can if I can get inside and when he climbed the ladder he looked at the floor and then the top and said This is it When asked how he knew so quickly Bing pointed to some patches in the floor and ceiling and told us all that the German bullet had also passed through the bucket seat he had just vacated to check some lines Bing has since died but the airplane is on display at Dover

Crew of 292841 D Day Normandy 6 June 1944

Maj C N Smith A C Commander
T Sgt Bing Wood Crew chief
1 st Lt T E Yarbrough Pilot
S Sgt Morris Rubin Radio operator
1 st Lt T C Knuckles Navigator
Sgt R P Bodmer Loadmaster