A Brief Note on the Notes

These transcribed notes were taken from 10 sheets torn out of a 3 1/5 x 5 steno notebook. My father numbered and dated his missions 1 thru 22 and included the target, type of target, weather, distance flown, hours in the air and observations. Click on the photo for larger image.

With these notes and information I received from Gary Ferrell (Gary has done extensive research on the 34th)I have put this page together in the following format. The numbers 1-22 refer to my dad's numbering, the mission number in parenthesis is the official 34th's mission number. Next is the aircraft serial number the crew flew and in parenthesis, if available, the name of that aircraft. Following that is the pilot's name, usually Don McCutchan, but there are a couple of exceptions and the Squadron they flew with (always the 7th). The sentences appearing in bold below the above information are my father's transcribed notes. The transcription was done by me. There are eight missions with the target linked to a strike photograph. These images were found in the 34th's book published in 1946.

My father has always claimed the Flying Dutchmen as his crews' aircraft, but it now appears through official records they actually flew in 6 aircraft including Fancy Nancy, Gotta Haver, Ol' Buddy, Shaky and Missbehaven Raven. My father also flew as a substitute on March 19, 1945 in The Sex Maniacs. My theory is that my father remembers Dutchmen more vividly because their crew flew the Dutchmen on their last few missions, additionally, the crew flew Flying Dutchmen back to the States after VE Day.

When my father notes a PFF mission he is referring to the formation being lead by Pathfinder aircraft. Pathfinder aircraft were equipped with early radar. This was to make locating and bombing the target possible even in less than ideal visual conditions. Being late in the war, the Luftwaffe was in a much weakened state and the bombers had allied fighter escort throughout the mission. Flak was the main enemy hazard. Flak is a term that refers to anti-aircraft fire. But there were other tensions, imagine struggling to take off in a fully loaded B 17 using all the runway available, then forming up. Sometimes this occurred with no visibility, all a crew could do was hope or pray that everyone was maintaining their assigned course and altitude. Then it was off to another staging area and to repeat the performance, forming up to a thousand plane raid. It sends shivers down my back.

Besides the terror, there was also great beauty on some of these missions, notes of seeing the Swiss Alps, areas of France, Belgium from the air. There must have been the shimmering beauty of the English Channel and North Sea. My father's sense of humor is here, describing flak on one mission as 'unintelligible,' and on a mission where they became separated from the group, but eventually arriving at the target,"jet airfield shocked by our 2 ship formation." There was at least one 'mission' that involved flying 'brass' to Ireland for ice cream and Cokes. Sadly there was a Catch 22 aspect too, where it is my father's contention that many of the March '45 missions happened to set records in terms of bomb tonnage dropped in one month.

My father says the crew called him 'dad' because of his advanced age of 25! Many of the crews during WW II weren't yet 20. It's said we stand on the shoulders of past generations, the world is fortunate indeed that the WW II generation of men and women had-and has-such broad shoulders!

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