Ernest R Fleck attended bombardier school for 18 weeks at San Angelo, Texas and Pueblo, Colorado. On January 31, 1944 he was assigned to the 471st Bomb Group at Westover Field, Mass. where he was assigned to a crew and trained until April 16, 1944 for deployment to Europe. On April 17, 1944, 12 B24H crews departed Mitchell Field, NY. They flew their new B24Hs to Dow Field Maine, then to Labrador, Newfoundland and finally landed in Ireland where they further trained for combat in Europe. They arrived at Wendling on May 25, 1944 and his crew flew their first mission on June 4. He completed his 30 missions on September 12. A very quick 30 missions especially considering that the crew appeared to get a 30 day leave in August after completing 27 missions. Believe that is when Dad visited Scotland. The plane they flew over from the US was #42-52472. part of the 392nd Bomb Group. After his combat tour, he was sent to Midland AAF Base and Childress AAF Base in Texas to be a bombardier instructor. From June to September 1945 he was detailed to the War Bonds sales effort in the New England area and was then discharged to enter law school at Notre Dame.