A Citizen Soldier in the Air - a B-24 Liberator pilot's story.

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A Citizen Soldier in the Air.

Night attack on Rabaul

While based at Iron Range, the 321st flew some night missions against the large Japanese naval and air base at Rabaul, on the northeast tip of New Britain (New Guinea). Charlie recalls his very first mission from Iron Range, just a day or so after arriving there.

It was a night strike on Rabaul, with five or six B-24’s, led by their squadron C.O., Col. Faulkner. They were only allowed to use very faint wing-tip lights for night formation flying, which generally was not a problem - until you passed through a cloud.

"You would lose those lights in a cloud, so you’d be flying blind, hoping the other guys would all hold a steady course! It all worked out though, and I don’t recall any formation accidents."

Rabaul harbour from the Air

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But before they could form up, they all had to get off the ground - and that mission got off to a bad start. The very first B-24 to take off (not the C.O.’s) veered off the runway on its takeoff run, crashed in the jungle and caught fire. The fire detonated the bombs, and all of the crew were killed. Charlie recalls that Col. Faulkner told the remaining pilots that they didn’t have to fly the mission that night - any one could back out, with no penalty.

"We all went anyway, but it was damn nerve-wracking to see one of your buddy crews get blown up like that." There was a lot of flak over the target, but they all returned safely to base. Quite a warm welcome to the Southwest Pacific!

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