By Andrew A. Rooney, Stars and Stripes Staff Writer
February 18, 1943

Five of the toughest Nazi fighters yet encountered shot down by the crew of one Liberator. . . .

Three more, from Goering's prize squadron, blasted out of the sky by "Little Audrey," a Flying Fortress which came through it all with 50 to 60 holes in her streamlined body. . .

Overjoyed buddies welcoming home a crew that had been erroneously reported as missing. .

These were the stories that came out of the homecoming of Eighth Air Force bombers that returned to their bases in Britain today after dropping hundreds of tons of explosives on St. Nazaire, one of the biggest Nazi U-boat bases, in a daylight attack. For the Liberators it was their second raid in 19 hours, following Monday's visit to Dunkirk.

Good-naturedly ribbing the Forts, the navigator of "Miss Dianne," a Liberator piloted by Capt. Clyde Price, of San Antonio, challenged the B17s to match their record of five enemy planes shot down.

The navigator, 2nd Lt. J. A. Augenstene, of Pittsburgh, also recounted the engagements:

How They Did It

"As we were flying in the tail-end formations, the Germans would attack Fortresses flying ahead and below us from the front, circle around, and then come at us from behind.

"The first plane we got," Lt. Augenstene continued, "was blasted from 200 yards away, exploded and went all to pieces in the air. The second stalled when it was hit, plummeted straight into the clouds below, leaving a trail of smoke behind."

Sgt. Balton L. Snell, of Marked Tree, Ark., top-turret gunner, and Sgt. J. C. Wyer, waist gunner from Clarksburg, W. Va., each got two of "Miss Dianne's" victims. Sgt. Lewis J. Fleshman of Virginia, the tail gunner, got the fifth.

Fleshman's bullseye was scored on a plane that made the fatal mistake of exposing a vulnerable underside as it turned.

The rest of Capt. Price's crew were 2nd Lt. Robert E. Forrest, of Columbus, Ohio, co-pilot; 2nd Lt. M. P. Gross, of Denver, Colo., bombardier; Sgts. Kenneth Laughton, of Pine Grove, Cal., radio operator; Kenneth Erhard, Clearfield, Pa., waist gunner, and Earl W. Holton, Mulliken, Mich., rear-hatch gunner.

Crew members in "Little Audrey" said that enemy planes they met had yellow noses, the markings of the notorious Goering Squadron, reputedly the crack fighter force of the Luftwaffe.

1st Lt. William Polantoni, of Fredrickstown, Pa., accounted for two of "Little Audrey's" victims, while 1st Lt. Charles F. Jones, of Chicago, Ill., formerly attached to the RAF Coastal Command, shot down the third.

The plane, piloted by 1st Lt. Edward J. Hennessy, of Chicago, was hit by flak as she started her bombing run.

"The ship was jolted 15 feet by the concussion and flak scattered through the plane," Lt. Hennessy said.

S/Sgt. Allan F. Meaux, of Madison, Wis., was saved from injury when a large piece of flak struck the ear-phone in his helmet and stopped just short of his head. Sgt. Robert G. Adams, of Stephenville, Tex., felt a piece of flak tear into his parachute. His oxygen tube was also cut, but he crawled from his tail-gunner's position to the radio room before losing consciousness. Other crew members revived him.

In the nose, Lts. Polantoni and Jones were thrown to the back of the compartment. Lt. Polantoni recovered quickly, returned to his bombsight and made the necessary adjustments in time to get his bombs away accurately.

Meanwhile Lt. Hennessy and 2nd Lt. Rogers Littlejohn, of Spartanburg, S.C., co-pilot, were having their own troubles. The windshield in front of them was shattered and they had to guide the ship with the gale in their faces and the danger of flying glass present.

After the bombs were away the fighters appeared.

Of all the exchanges of congratulations, those received by Capt. William H. Brandon, of Nashville, Tenn., and his crew of the B24 "Avenger," were especially warm. They came from buddies who heard the erroneous report that the plane was missing.

1st Lt. C. S. Griffin, of Kansas City, Mo., co-pilot, who participated in five previous raids, said, "the flak was pretty terrible over St. Nazaire. For a while there was so much of it, smoke from shell bursts looked like clouds."

A contrary bomb-rack mechanism which refused to open the bomb bay doors didn't prevent 2nd Lt. William E. Hill, of Louisville, Ky., bombardier of the "Avenger," from taking a crack at the sub pens. He just released the entire bomb rack and the weight of the bombs tore the doors open. The ship came home with the bomb bay doors flapping in the breeze.

The German fighters, whose force was estimated between 30 and 50, were thought by many fliers to be the toughest opposition yet encountered, although others said it wasn't as tough as that on the Feb. 4 raid on northwest Germany.

"Looked like their top-notch men to me," said Capt. Clifton Pyle, of Marshall, Tex., pilot of a Fortress.

Just as Lt. Warren Anderson, of Lawrence, Kan., bombardier of the B17 "Butch" sat over the bombsight, a three-inch slug of flak put a hole in the transparent plastic nose of the ship right where his head had been.