Earl Eugene Wassom
Military
Pilot
Crew #554
466th BG - 785th BS 466th Bomb Group collection
466th BG Historian
Object Number - UPL 6908 - Lt. Earl E. Wassom Pilot Crew #554 466th BG - 785th BS
Flew 35 missions from 1 August 1944 to April 1945. And Flew 8 gas hauls, all to France. Early believes that this might be the highest number of any pilot in the 8th Air Force.
His plane was hit by Flak over Germany on a mission to Magdeburg but Earl made it to France after turning around ahead of the target. Earl's aircraft landed a wreck, but his crew escaped unscathed.
Earl got back to Attlebridge by truck and air. 10 crew members flew most of the missions together and came home together. 'Bottle Butt's Buggy. '
Earl was born and grew up in Oklahoma, and gained an interest in aviation as a child, after seeing a plane fly over so close that he felt he could see "its wings flapping".
Earl's crew referred to him as "Chief" because he was from Oklahoma.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
- Nationality: British
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Jamaica?
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Ol Soak
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 785th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Damifino
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron 785th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Pegasus
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron 785th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Peggy Ann
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 787th Bomb Squadron
Missions
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Attlebridge Arsenal, Station 120
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Blackwell, Oklahoma | 20 September 1923 | |
|
Other Truckin' Gas Haul Mission |
02440 Clastres, France | 13 September 1944 | "On the 13th our aircraft was loaded with over 200 five gallon jerry cans of 80 octane gas. Plywood floors were installed in the bomb bays and the cans of fuel were placed on these makeshift floors. Additional cans were stored in the waist section as well. I recall that this arrangement of cans stacked on top of each other filling the compartments of the aircraft didn't look as safe as a load of bombs! The loaders were not acquainted with the hazards of air turbulence. Upon our insistence the load was made more secure to the satisfaction of the flight crew. Our destination was Clastres Airfield in northern France, near St. Quenton. In our briefing we were warned that this airfield had just been liberated and that German troops were nearby to the east. My navigator charted a course avoiding the German held areas and we landed on a runway pockmarked with craters from earlier allied bombings. When we parked and shut down the engines we could hear the rumble of artillery in the distance. The battle front was nearby. The first people we saw upon deplaning was a squad of black soldiers. They gathered around our aircraft just looking. They were amazed at it's size and asked questions. They had never before been up close to a B-24. They all had shovels and had been detailed to fill in the craters in the runway and perimeter tracks. When we questioned them it was apparent that they were totally uninformed as to where they were. Trucks and ground troops suddenly appeared and swarmed over our aircraft, promptly unloading the 5 gallon cans. We were encouraged to take off immediately for Attlebridge." |
|
Other 9th Combat Mission |
Karlsruhe, Germany | 5 November 1944 | "Our target was the railroad complex at Karlsruhe and we were flying "Ma's Little Angel". Before we reached the target, we took some flak hits. Our #2 engine was hit, the prop would not feather, and we started falling behind the formation. I made the decision to try to get to friendly territory rather than bail out over Germany. Our altitude got so low that even small arms fire was hitting us. We took several hits in the bomb bay and gas fumes filled the aircraft. We were able to continue however and I chose to find and land at St. Dizier (I had been flown into this field several times on the gas haul missions in September). It was in American hands and was operating as a forward base for a P-47 group (the 405th FG, 9th AF). We radioed that we were coming in, but the tower told us to go around as there was a flight of P-47's taking off. They were poised at the end of the runway. I told them we were much too low to bail out and we didn't have the altitude or power to go around...We were coming in!! We did make it. Myself, Ross (the co-pilot) and Venegas (the engineer) were on the flight deck. The other seven members of the crew were in the waist. When we touched down, We discovered that the left main gear had been nearly shot away and the tire was flat. When the rims of the wheel hit the runway there were sparks flying everywhere. The bombardier, Bohan, when he saw this said to himself, "gas plus sparks equal BOOM" and he and the other 6 crewmen jumped out of the aircraft before it came to a stop! Ross, Venegas and myself sat in the cockpit exhausted and wiped out. I distinctly remember uttering my first prayer..it was simple and short; "Thank God." - Earl E. Wassom who went on to be an ordained minister. |
| Ponca City, OK, USA | 842 North Oak Street | ||
| Bowling Green, KY, USA |
Revisions
WWII Draft card
Corrected some typos in biography
He's still with us as I'm writing this
466th BG Archives - Report on Mission No 135 Castrop, Germany 2 November 1944
NARA research by Brad Sullivan
I saw Earl speaking at the Veterans Q&A at the Mighty 8th Air Force Reunion, Dayton Ohio, 2018
Attlebridge Arsenal - Brassfield & Wassom
Earl Wassom provided mission list
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / self & Page 436 in the book 2ND AIR DIVISIONby Turner Publishing Company, 1998 edition (D790.A2S45)
