Assigned to 328BS, 93BG, 8AF USAAF. 35 x combat missions. ETD.



Awards: AM (5OLC), WWII Victory, EAME (4 x battle stars).



Other members of the crew (not pictured) are identified in the note written in 2001. They flew in the 8th AF 93BG 328SQ aboard (mostly) B-24J "Lucky Lass" out of Hardwick.



Post war: He returned to the US and married Etta, raising three children.



COMBAT DIARY Ed Lampner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



Mission No. 1: July 29, 1944: Target: synthetic oil plant Bremen, Germany- Time 5 hrs 15 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs. Flak moderate to heavy barrage, inaccurate. Saw one ship in trouble. My first impression of flak, was that it was pretty, but somehow with magnetic attraction. Coles, our pilot was deathly white. I guess we were all a bit scared. Altitude 22000 ft.



Mission No. 2: August 16, 1944: Target, oil refinery Magdeburg, Germany- Time- 6 hrs 10 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs. Flak heavy, accurate. Saw one ship explode and spin down in a tight circle enveloped in flames that flashed three or four times. Believe I saw enemy fighters but could not be sure due to their distance. They threw a smokescreen over the city but too late to render our bombing inaccurate. Were fired on over Holland and it seemed a long time in getting back. Did a good job. Altitude 23000 ft.



Mission No. 3: August 25, 1944: Target, ammonia plant Leige, Belgium- Time 4 hrs 15 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs. Flak predicted and very accurate. Our ship sustained 28 flak holes, luckily no one was hurt. One piece of flak went through the nose turret, missing Tony by no more than a few inches. Auto-pilot was shot out as was the pitot static tube and heater. There was a hole in no.2 engine, in the wing, bomb bay, nose and tail. We were extremely lucky. Altitude 19000 ft.



Mission No. 4: August 27, 1944: Target, airfield 15 miles north of Berlin, Germany-Time 6 hrs- Bomb load 5000 lbs. RDX[10x500 lbs. high explosive]. We would be in range of the cities defenses. I admit I was scared, but resigned to do what must be done. We got as far as Heligoland and had to turn back because of adverse weather conditions. Meager flak was put up at Heligoland therefore got credit for the mission. Was not unhappy we had to turn back. Flew 150-P "Sweater Gal," that had 77 missions. Did not drop bombs. Jettisoned them into the North Sea.



Mission No.5: Sept. 27, 1944: Target, tank and armament factory Kassel, Germany- Time 6 hrs 30 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs. incendiaries. 10/10ths cover. Saw the ground only once. Flak meager barrage with fair accuracy. Did not see any enemy fighters, but they were there nevertheless. Later learned that the group immediately behind us suffered great losses due to the enemy fighters. Practically the entire Group was wiped out. This was our first mission with Dauber, our former co-pilot and now pilot. Coles grounded due to bad nerves. Temp, -38 degrees C. Had hydraulic trouble but landed without mishap. Escorts P-51s and P-47s.



Mission No. 6: Oct. 9, 1944: Target, marshalling yard Koblenz, Germany- Time 6hrs. Bomb load 6000 lbs. of incendiaries. Enemy fighters were in the area. Flak meager inaccurate. Fighter cover very good, probably because of the increased activity of the Luftwaffe. Cloud cover 6/10ths. Plane flying directly ahead disappeared through the clouds with two engines out, possibly made it down in Belgium. Temp. -33 degrees C. Was fired at by Allied convoy off Great Yarmouth, because of squadron leader's failure to answer challenge. We got the hell out of there. It is bad enough being shot at by the enemy but this is absolutely unnecessary. Air medal awarded.

Altitude 21000 ft.



Mission No. 7: Oct. 11, 1944: Target, marshalling yard Osnabruck, Germany-Time 5 hrs 15 minutes- Bomb load 5200 lbs., 52x100 lbs. Saw enemy jet planes, near the coast of Holland. Flak light and accurate, saw rocket flak, it looked a lot like our smoke bombs. It is more or less intended to confuse the attacking force. Plane to our right wing shot down, crew saw three chutes before the plane disappeared through the clouds. Bombing results excellent, really plastered the target. Flew 157W "Lucky Lass", our regularly assigned ship. Our ship in the 330th Sq. was 969C a damn good ship, Lucky Lass very good too. We made a beautiful landing in the fog, the visibility was less than 500 ft.



Mission No. 8: Oct. 15, 1944: Target, marshalling yards Cologne, Germany- Time 5 hrs- Bomb load 6000 lbs. 12x500 including incendiaries. Temp. -32 degrees C. Saw one enemy jet plane, flak light and accurate, saw red flak, rocket flak and ever present black flak. Bombing results excellent. Saw billow of smoke rise to over 10000 ft. This was visible more than 50 miles away. This was my first target in the Ruhr, affectionately known as 'flak or happy valley', of course that 'affectionately' is a gross overstatement. We had a fire in the nose of the ship and No. 4 engine was throwing black smoke. Navigator passed out due to lack of oxygen and gashed his head in falling down. Bombardier took care of him. Our 10 minute oxygen checks paid dividends this time. Got away easier than expected. Very well pleased with ourselves.



Mission No. 9: Oct. 17, 1944: Target, marshalling yards Cologne, Germany-Time 5 hrs. 50 minutes. Bomb load 6000 lbs. armor piercing. Temp. -37 degrees C. 10/10ths cloud cover. I flew this mission with another crew that lived in our barracks. We bombed 30 seconds late. The radio operator very clumsy, I had to leave gun position over the target to re-plug my interphone cords. Could not make the radio operator understand what I wanted. Easier than I expected, but no milk run. anything is possible. Flak about the same as the first time.



Mission No. 10: Oct. 19, 1944: Target, diesel engine works Mainz, Germany- Time 6 hrs. Bomb load 8000 lbs. [8x1000]. Flew with our new co-pilot Reibold. Flak moderate to intense and accurate. Temp. -42 degrees C. All of us suffered from the cold. Must have hit something because of a column of smoke rising from the ground. Flew one man short since our spare gunner failed to show up. Our former waist gunner was sent to Italy. He was a damn good guy and we hated to lose him. We drew lots, that is the two waist gunners did. He was 28 years old and the oldest of us all [Pops Montgomery]. Our average age now is between 22 and 23. Rougher mission than Cologne.



Mission No. 11: Oct. 25, 1944: Target, repair depot for FW 190s, Neumunster, Germany- Time 6 hrs.- Bomb load 6000 lbs., 500 lbs. and incendiaries. We flew deputy lead and carried marker bombs. Rocket flak, looked a lot like our smoke bombs, but we were not easily deceived. Flak moderate and accurate but not too close. Got back early due to a favorable tailwind. We were in enemy territory only about 45 minutes. Bombardier's 12B mission. [We referred to the 13th mission as 12B to avoid a jinx.]



Mission No. 12: Oct. 30, 1944: Target: oil refinery Hamburg, Germany- Time 6 hrs- Bomb load 6000 lbs., 24x250 lbs. - Did not drop bombs. Clouds up to 29000. We flew at 29500 ft, the highest I've ever flown, the flak was up there too. The clouds probably obscured a lot more. Sweat out gas, due to high consumption due to carrying our bomb load at that altitude. We used up 2100 gallons gas. That was pretty damn good. We were cold meat, since our squadron became separated from the main body. All we had were four P-47s. The sight of those babies made you feel a lot safer, we were very glad to see them but we were still in a very bad spot. The contrails were extremely thick, had to watch very closely. Temperature was -52 degrees C. Very much disgusted, all that trouble and did not drop bombs, we got back and we'll have a chance to do it again. Awarded Oakleaf Cluster.



Mission No. 13: Nov. 4, 1944: Target: oil refinery Hanover, Germany: Time 6 hrs 20 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs, 12x500 lbs. Flak intense and very accurate, those boys probably had iron crosses for their marksmanship. I was scared stiff, I could feel my heart pounding through four or five layers of clothing. We were tail heavy causing inaccurate gas reading. We thought we had two hours gas left with four hours to go. After we dropped our bombs, the gauges read correctly. We had a route to Belgium all planned out just in case. number one, engine not giving any power, number four engine leaking oil, number three engine overheating, and there was no air in the nose wheel strut. Cigarette tasted wonderful after four hours at altitude.... It is now 9 PM and those Nazi bastards are sending over Buzz Bombs, If that were all I had to worry about, I would be happy. I heard two of them but did not see them. We lost two ships, several damaged, several wounded, one man died.



Mission No. 14: Nov. 5, 1944: Target: marshalling yards Karlsruhe, Germany-Time 7 hrs 10 minutes- Bomb load 6000, 3x2000 lbs. Those blockbusters looked like boilers as they plunked down so unconcerned but deadly looking. It was clear and we got a very good view of Germany, Belgium and France. Belgium is the prettiest, Germany's Black Forest looked very pretty also. England is the worse looking of the bunch. I have no desire to set foot in Germany, at least while it is in Nazi bastard hands. Number two engine not worth a damn, had to sweat that out. Had to wait for truck to interrogation for a half hour, was dead tired. It was a very long mission. Lost one ship.



Mission No. 15: Nov. 6, 1944: Target: canal locks of the Mitteland canal, Minden, Germany- Bomb load 6000 lbs. 3x3000 lbs. Partial visibility, flak meager accurate. Enemy aircraft attempted attack on low left squadron, we were flying high right. P-51s made them run like hell. They [the enemy aircraft] were jet propelled. One P-51 fighter group leader called up on the radio, "little friend to big friend.., are you happy now." Roger, you can say we were happy. Number four supercharger out over target and number three leaking oil. Saw a ship from another group hit by flak. He lost two engines and went down to 10000 feet still under control, finally lost sight of him. Perhaps he made it back. I certainly hope so. My heated equipment P-poor.



Mission No. 16: Nov. 9, 1944: Target, Battle area 8 miles south of Metz, France- German artillery positions-Time 6hrs.- Bomb load 6000 lbs, 3x2000 lbs.- Temp: -45degrees C, Flak meager, accuracy fair. Bomb results at least one mile short of the target. Very discouraging since it was very clear. Had a pair of binoculars, very helpful in observing an aircraft in distress. Ran into snow storm on the way back. Made perfect landing. [Much to our surprise and pleasure, our crew was cited by General George S. Patten for having destroyed an ammunition dump at Fort L'Assine on this mission.] Altitude 25000 ft.



Mission No.17: Nov. 10, 1944: Target, marshalling yards, Hanau, Germany- Time:7 hrs - Bomb load 4000 lbs, 40x100 lbs. Only four close bursts of flak. Surprised the hell out of me, since it is only 10 miles from Frankfort. There were a few scattered openings in the clouds. Our 'brilliant' bombardier put two holes in the vertical stabilizer. Tail gunner's [Chuck Nowlin] heated suit went out. Sanders replaced him and the bombardier replaced Sanders. Chuck came up on the flight deck, which is much warmer than the rest of the ship. Rather uneventful and tiresome trip. Rocket flak spread over wide area.

Altitude 20500 ft.



Mission No. 18: Nov. 21, 1944 [Second Oak Leaf Cluster]: Target: Oil refinery Hamburg, Germany-Time 6 hrs 30 minutes- Bomb load 6000, 24x250 lbs. Temp: -35 degrees C. This is the first time since Magdeburg, that I felt sick, not physically though. Lt. Gourley, a damn good Joe, shot down and now missing. He was flying wing to us on the right. They were hit in the bomb bay over the target. Gas poured from the bomb bay and the wing. They stayed with us as long as they could but could not keep up. They lost two engines and started down, they were last seen heading back across Germany toward Belgium. We were bounced around several times by flak in the thickest barrage I have ever seen. The sky was almost obscured by the bursts of flak. There was 3/10ths cloud cover over the target. We dropped our bombs 30 seconds late because of release trouble. Ran into several batteries of accurate flak on the way out. Double whew !! Lost two ships. Altitude 22000 ft.

[Note: Lt. Gourley and crew landed in Belgium, returned three days later with wild stories about Brussels.]



Mission No. 19: Nov. 26, 1944: Target: viaduct, Bielfield, Germany-Time 5 hrs 10 minutes- Bomb load 7000 lbs, 7x1000. Flak meager inaccurate. Did good job of bombing, laid down an excellent pattern. It was very clear and I could see Germany plain as day, could see homes, canals and countryside. Saw a V2 [German rocket vengeance weapon] launched. It was far out out but you could see it rise twice our altitude at least and going like a bat out of hell. My turret dome froze up and I couldn't see very much. Everything worked smooth, good job.



Mission No. 20: Dec. 5, 1944-Target: marshalling yards, Munster, Germany -Time: 5hrs- Bomb load 6000b ls, 12x500bs- Temp. -40 degrees C. Flak light inaccurate,10/10ths cloud cover. Saw rocket, red, white and black flak. Easier than expected. Bombs went out perfectly., didn't have a bombardier. My tooth ached, co-pilot had cramps, pilot half soused. We were first back and we set down smooth as silk. Fifteen [missions] more to go. Hydraulic system screwed up. Altitude 23000 ft.



Editor's Note: D- Day was 12/6/1944



Mission No. 21: Dec. 11, 1944- marshalling yards, Hanau, Germany-Time: 7 hrs, 35 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs, 6x1000 lbs- Temp.-35 degrees. Bomb run took 50 minutes, two runs on target. Capt. Langford, command pilot, really screwed up. We [our group] was all alone, dead meat for enemy aircraft. We were lucky again. We had no flak at the target but we had moderate, very accurate flak at Karlsruhe. Saw two ships [vessels] sunk off the coast of Belgium, saw tank traps on Belgian beaches. Lots of rocket flak, inaccurate, intended to confuse. We were supposed to fly over Paris as part of liberation ceremonies. Couldn't do it because of weather and we were low on gas. Had a hell of a headache. Lost one ship. Altitude 23000 ft.



Mission No.22: Dec. 24, 1944- Ahrweiler, Germany- Time: 6 hrs- Bomb load 6000 lbs, 24x250 lbs- Temp. -35 degrees C. Visual, not a cloud in the sky. We hit a forest, was I mad. The other squadrons hit the target. Flak light and accurate. More ships up today than I have ever seen. Snow was on the ground. We had every opportunity to hit the target but our leader screwed up. Xmas eve tonight. One ship came in with half right rudder and elevator gone. It had over one hundred holes. We had only one hole. Practically every ship hit. Altitude 22000 ft.



Mission No. 23: Dec, 25, 1944 [Christmas day]-Target, Hallschag, Germany-Bomb load 6000 lbs. We levelled the target, beautiful bombing. Made emergency landing at Woodbridge [designated field for emergency landings]. We were really hit. Hydraulic system knocked out. An 88 mm went through right wing and then exploded. Waist gunner hit in back of head with flak. He was saved by flak helmet which was on backward. [brim was deeper at the front of the helmet]. Holes in wings, bomb bay, and tail. Co-pilot missed by 6 inches. One incendiary bomb stuck. I was in the bomb bay trying to repair the hydraulic system. I leaned on the bomb and it went out through the closed bomb bay door. I almost went out with it, and without a chute. We had Xmas dinner at Woodbridge, treated royally. They gave us rum, beer, etc. We were picked up by plane about one hour later. Roughest mission I've had. Merry Christmas!



Mission No. 24: [3rd Oak Leaf Cluster]: Dec. 29, 1944-Target Heinbach, Germany-Time: 5 hrs, 15 minutes- bomb load 6000 lbs. Cloud cover 4/10ths, light accurate flak. Not much to write, very tired. 5 holes in ship. Makes four straight. Altitude 22500 ft.



Mission No. 25: Dec. 30, 1944- Target- Mechnich, Germany- Time 5 hrs.-Bomb load 6000 lbs, 24x250 lbs. Temp: -32degrees C. We dropped four live 250 lb. bombs through the bomb bay door on to the runway. I'm still shaky. Mission was a milk run. I'm dead tired. Rode on flight deck. Burson [I believe he was a spare gunner, flying with us] flew the top turret. After a milk run this was pretty close to getting killed. We're all still shaky. An enemy jet propelled fighter flew parallel to us for about 15 minutes. Altitude 22000 ft.



Mission No. 26: Dec. 31, 1944- Target- marshalling yards, Euskirchen, Germany- Time 5 hrs 45 minutes- Bomb load- 6000 lbs, 12x500 lbs. Temp. -40degrees C. 10/10ths cloud cover. Flak meager, accurate. Uneventful.



Mission No. 27: Jan. 13, 1945- Target marshalling yards, Worms, Germany- Bomb load 6000 lbs. Temp. -50 degrees C. Time hrs 15 minutes- Could not locate our group on forming, attached ourselves to another group. Our own group was hit by flak. Sweat out gas, and landed in the fog. Visibility was about 2000 yards. Dauber made a beautiful landing. Altitude 22500 ft.



Mission No. 28: Jan. 14, 1945- Target Herman Goering works, Hallendorf, Germany- Time 6 hrs, 40 minutes- Bomb load- 6000 lbs. Temp. -40 degrees C. Flak in Holland, accurate, light to meager at the target. Bandits [enemy fighters] in the area. Could see P-51s dog fighting with enemy aircraft. They [the enemy aircraft] were queuing up at Dumar Lake for a mass attack. We weren't touched. Flew Lucky Lass. We are now in the 328th Squadron. Only one more to go for Dauber, Sanders and Tony, seven more for me. I would have liked to finish with my crew. Sweated out faulty no's 3 and 4 engines and low on gas. I saw devastation caused by bombing. Very excellent job.

Altitude 23500 ft.



Mission No. 29: Jan. 28, 1945- Target- coke factory, Dortmund, Germany- Time 6 hrs 15 minutes- Temp. -55 degrees C. Flak intense, accurate. Saw one ship blow up. We had about 25 holes in the ship, pretty well scattered. Never saw so much flak in one place. This was my third trip to "happy valley." We had three engines over the target. My guns froze up. I had a hole in my turret, so did Tony. Pilot Dauber, Sanders and Tony all finished. Now I have six more to sweat out.



Mission No. 30: Feb. 16, 1945- Target- marshalling yards Osnabruck, Germany-Time 5 hrs 30 minutes- Bomb load 7000 lbs. Temp. -20 degrees C. Cloud cover 10/10ths until one minute after target. Saw city clear as crystal. Bombs hung up on right side, front bomb bay. I went out on catwalk and kicked them out. Emergency salvo cam stuck. Worked on it for about half an hour. Hydraulic lines were squashed on the right side of bomb bay. On return, ceiling was 200 ft. Sweated out landing. Left front bomb bay door was dropped through. Flak light, fair accuracy. Flew with Pilot, Turrentine. Altitude 22000 ft.



Mission No. 31: Feb. 19, 1945 [4th Oak Leaf Cluster]- Target- marshalling yards, Siegen, Germany- Time 5 hrs 50 minutes- Bomb load 6000 lbs, Temp. -20 degrees C. Cloud cover 10/10ths. Flak at coast after target and battle lines. Uneventful. Flew as waist gunner. Ideal mission. Everything worked smooth. Flew with Pilot Calfee. Good pilot. Altitude 20000 ft.



Mission No. 32: Feb. 21, 1945- Target-marshalling yards, Nuremberg, Germany- Time 7 hrs 45 minutes. Flew with pilot Calfee as waist gunner. Was very tired. Ship- 225B, piss poor. Right waist gunner, sick. Easier than expected. Saw Frankfort plain as day, 15 miles away, at 3 o'clock [direction]. Took a picture with K-20 camera of a marshalling yard. [camera mounted over rear hatch]. Sweated out gas.



Mission No. 33: Feb. 22, 1945- Target- marshalling yards, railroad round house, Otiibergen, Germany- Time- 7 hrs. Bomb load 5200 lbs. 10x500 lbs, plus 2x100 lbs.- Beautiful visibility. Biggest mission I've been on. Took pictures with K-20 camera. One ship in group ahead, blew up. According to the "Stars & Stripes", [U.S. forces newspaper], there were 6000 allied planes over Germany that day.

Altitude 8000 ft. [the lowest altitude of any mission]



Mission No. 34: Feb. 24, 1945- Target- oil refinery, Misberg, Germany-Time 6 hrs.- Flak moderate, accurate. Sweat it out in the briefing room. Fighter cover beautiful. Wore a flak suit for the first time.



Mission No.35: Finis: Feb. 25, 1945 [5th Oak Leaf Cluster]- Target-marshalling yards, Aschaffenberg, Germany- Temp. -30 degrees C.- Bomb load 5000 lbs, 10x500 lbs.- Time- 8 hrs15 minutes. Flak at battle line accurate as hell. Two ships knocked down. Visual bombing. Longest mission I've had. Flew with Lt. Smith's crew. Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd finish. I feel thankful, to who or what, I don't know. I thought I'd be very jovial and noisy. Quite the contrary. I feel relieved and once again look eagerly forward to the future. Bombing results excellent. Altitude 22500 ft.