Bunting's War
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
Description of a mission to Balikpapan, Borneo: 10 Oct 1944

Mission to Pandansari Refinery, Balikpapan, Borneo (2nd Sqn, 22nd Bomb Group)

Sources

This background draws on material published by Bob Hackett's article "Borneo Oil Fields and Refineries Under Imperial Japanese Navy Control"

Another source is MissingAirCrew

The Borneo Oil Fields

Japan's military capability during World War 2 was dependent upon access to the oilfields of Borneo. On 16 Dec 1941, less than 2 weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese landed in Borneo and began capturing oilfields. A month later Dutch owners destroyed oilwells in Tarakan and Balikpapan to prevent their use by the Japanese. In retaliation the Japanese drowned all Dutch prisoners of war in Tarakan and Balikpapan. More

Japan's dependence on Borneo's oil was a major vulnerability targeted by USAAF raids on the oilfields and USAAF and USN attacks on Japanese shipping. In Aug 1943 a bombing raid was attempted by 11 B-24s from the USAAF's 308th Bombardment Group from Australia More. (The men and the aircraft of the 308th). The Shady Lady story and documentary

In late 1943 the allied chiefs of staff agreed to a program of very long range bombing of oil facilities in Borneo. Because B-29 bomber aircraft were committed to the bombing of Japan, the task was allocated to B-24 aircraft. 5 raids were conducted from Noemfoor captured from the Japanese in Sep 1944. These 5 raids are described by Bob Hackett and MissingAirCrew

  1. 30 Sep 1944: 64 B-24s of FEAF’s Thirteenth Air Force’s 5th and 307 Bomb Groups (BG) and Fifth Air Force’s 90th BG struck oil installations at Balikpapan dropping 85-tons of 1,000 lb bombs.Video The 5th BG’s bombers damaged the Pandarsari refinery and set afire an oil tanker at dock. Fifth Air Force’s 90th BG “Jolly Rogers” and the 307th BG arrived late, found the target obscured by cloud cover and did not put bombs on target. More

  2. 3 Oct 1944: 40 B-24s of Thirteenth Air Force’s 5th Bomb Group and 307 Bomb Group flew unescorted missions against Balikpapan. They dropped 50-tons of bombs that damaged the Pandarsari refinery, lubricating oil refinery, cracking and sulphuric acid plants and oil storage tanks. 18 B-24s also bombed the Edeleanu plant. 7 B-24s were lost as were 24 Japanese fighters.

    "Both the 5th and 307th Bomb Groups of the 13th Air Force returned to Balikpapan. They hit the refinery complex and did damage, but at tremendous cost. The Japanese had anticipated additional raids and moved in 85 additional fighters from surrounding areas. Both groups took severe damage and the 307th would lose 7 B-24's and 63 men on this date. In all, both groups could supply only 12 airworthy aircraft combined following this mission. It was this type of defense over Balikpapan that rated the refinery complex as one of the strongest and hardest defended bombing target the Japanese had, rating equivalent with Rabaul in the Solomon's. The submarine USS Mingo was on lifeguard station and rescued 16 men: 6 were found in rubber rafts in Makassar Strait, and 10 were on a beach of Celebes island." MissingAirCrew

    Balikpapan, Oct 1944
    ^ B-24s of the 13th AF attack Balikpapan on 3 Oct 1944

  3. 10 Oct 1944: 106 B-24s of 5th BG hit oil refineries and an airfield at Balikpapan. 36 escorting Lockheed P-38 “Lightning” fighters claimed more than 30 Japanese fighters shot down.

    "Because of the losses and amount of fighter activity over Balikpapan, the best fighter pilots of the SW pacific area volunteered to fly escort for this mission. At first it was planned to fly the mission and return to a staging point to abandon the fighters due to lack of fuel range to make the mission round trip. However, with Morotai as a staging base, new larger drop tanks, and fuel efficiency techniques taught to the pilots by Charles Lindbergh, they were able to round trip with enough fuel left over for combat over Balikpapan. It was still the longest fighter escort mission of the war to date.v The 5th, 22nd, 43rd, 90th and 307th Bomb Groups supplied over 100 B-24's. Timed to meet the bombers over Balikpapan were P-38's from the 49th Fighter Group and P-47's from the 35th. The fighters were slightly late due to weather, but managed to cover half the air armada. The escort was a huge success with very few B-24's lost and a lot of Japanese fighters were shot down." MissingAirCrew

    Balikpapan, Oct 1944
    ^ B-24s attack Balikpapan on 10 Oct 1944

  4. 14 Oct 1944: 101 B-24s escorted by Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighters and P-38s again bombed oil refineries and associated industries in Balikpapan. 43 Japanese fighters were claimed shot down.

    "The 5th, 22nd, 43rd, 90th and 307th Bomb Groups again escorted by fighters from the 35th, 49th and now the 8th FG's bombed the refinery complex one more time in this series of missions. This time, some of the fighters arrived a planned 15 minutes early and really tied the Japanese down. A significant number of Japanese fighters were shot down and very few bombers were lost again. The refinery complex, following these four missions was for the most part out of service."

  5. 18 Oct 1944: More than 120 B-24s and fighters launched a major strike on Balikpapan, but the strike was curtailed by bad weather. Only 8 B-24s and 8 P-38s reached the target.

This page describes the experiences of Robert W Hulme (pilot) and Hager Blair (tail gunner) in B-24J-120-CO serial #42-109971 of the 2nd Bombardment Squadron, 22nd Bombardment Group during the third of these raids, on 10 Oct 1944.


Source

This story is copied from
Lt Col RW Hulme's website

Mentioned

Crew:

Other aircraft:

Crew of rammed B24

  • Lt Donald J. Clarey: Pilot
  • Lt James T. Chapman: Co-pilot
  • 1/Lt Ira O. Bakken: Navigator
  • Lt Elimen J. Cazeau: Bombardier
  • T/Sgt Martin L. Verne: Engineer
  • S/Sgt Charles S. McLaughlin: Asst Eng
  • T/Sgt: George J. Winter: Radio
  • S/Sgt Leroy Burrell: Asst Radio
  • S/Sgt Paul K. Hayes: Gunner
  • S/Sgt Harold J. Hockaday: Gunner

1st Lt Robert W Hulme: Pilot

"On October 10, 1944, all B-24's that could fly were sent on a combat mission to Balikpapan, Borneo. The 22nd Bomb Group of the Fifth Air Force was stationed on Owi Island, a small coral island about a mile long and one half mile wide located between Biak Island and Japen Island north of western New Guinea. I was leading "B" flight in the 2nd Squadron. We were to bomb oil refineries and other installations there. Each ship had two bomb-bay gas tanks, 3100 gallons of 100 octane, and all the bombs it could carry. We took off starting at 1:00 a.m.

We were airborne, barely, shortly after 0100 hours. Huge thunderheads were in the area. (One of our ships, flown by 2nd Lt. Kelly, flew into one; it lost 5000 feet altitude and stressed the wings so badly that the airplane was junked. He aborted.) I dodged the storms as best I could and proceeded on the course the navigator had given me before he went to sleep, as all the rest of the crew were doing.

We assembled at a pre-arranged island after daylight and proceeded to the target. Our intercom was out.

The first thing I saw, as we neared the target, was a Jap fighter 10,000 feet above us in a vertical dive. We were flying at 12,000 feet. Smoke was following him. Suddenly he exploded. A puff of smoke and a crescent-shaped wing tip floating like a leaf were all that was left.

Then all hell broke loose. P-38's were above us at about 30,000 feet. (I heard later that Maj. Richard Bong was credited with two kills that day.) Dogfights were everywhere. About this time, a Jap fighter flew into a B-24 directly ahead of me. I think it was from the 19th Squadron. Both exploded. I immediately flew through where they had been a moment before. Nothing was left but smoke. The Japs were dropping phosphorus bombs through our formations. They would explode and send streamers everywhere.

As we approached the target, smoke was already almost up to our altitude from the bombs of ships ahead of us. I was leading the last flight over the target. We had a camera on board, and the operations officer had told me to be sure to get good pictures. We dropped our bombs. Since our intercom was out, I didn't know when the radio operator had finished his picture taking so I continued straight ahead. As the other ships dropped their bombs, they made a sharp left turn back out to sea. After a minute or so (it seemed like an hour), the radio operator told me that he had the pictures. He had to run through the bomb bay after finishing his pictures to advise me.

My flight of three ships was now miles behind the rest of the formation. I immediately fire walled the throttles, racked old 971 up on the left wing and headed for the rest of the formation in the distance. Suddenly I thought of my wing men. They were stuck like leeches right on each wing tip. We now approached the rest of the formation. They appeared to be hanging on sky hooks.

We went by the 2nd squadron like they were tied. Our speed and momentum were so great that we were passing everyone. I told co-pilot Lt. Richard Farver to drop the wheels and flaps. Finally, we slowed down and tagged onto the first group that had gone over the target.

Several of the ships had sustained damage. Some had smoking engines. Some engines were feathered, stopped with their thin edge forward to cut down on wind resistance. (If a damaged engine was allowed to continue windmilling without oil, it was prone to disintegrate and take a wing with it.)

We continued to retrace our route back to Owi Island. After several more hours we were approaching Sansapor Island, which was located about fifty miles west of the northwestern tip of New Guinea. We had a fighter group located there, also some American infantry. I asked Sgt. M.Q. Murphy to check our gasoline. He came back and said we were about out. We landed at Sansapor. It was about dark so we decided to R.O.N. (Remain Over Night).

We were attached to the infantry company temporarily for meals and quarters. After a meal of dehydrated potatoes and Spam, I started back in the direction in which I thought my assigned tent was located. It was pitch black. As I was groping my way along, I fell into a garbage pit that the G.I. cooks had dug to dispose of kitchen waste. It was about eight feet square and deep. I was standing in the pitch dark with greasy water up to my knees. I couldn't get out. I cussed and hollered for about five minutes before a soldier with a flashlight found me. Several soldiers pulled me out of the pit. They showed me to a make-shift shower – a fifty-five gallon oil drum filled with water – so I could get rid of the sour food-grease smell.

Next morning we gassed up. Then we flew on back to Owi Island.

Extremely heavy anti-aircraft fire, Jap fighters shooting and dropping phosphorus bombs, and Kamikazes made this a pretty rough mission. Old number 971's gunners were credited with downing three Jap fighters. We logged eighteen hours. This mission was one of, if not the, longest of the war.

Nose gunner Sgt. Cucurillo was credited with one definite Zero shot down and one probable. Sgt. Hagar Blair, in the rear turret, had one definite Zero. He said that Zeroes were all around us. Suddenly he saw a Jap directly behind us. Hagar said he just squeezed his triggers and the cowl flew off the Zero and he could see the pilot's face. The pilot was killed instantly.

When we have a Squadron reunion, we get together – those who are left of us – for a drink to commemorate our return from 'The Big One.'"


Source

This story was originally posted on Aerothentic, but that site no longer exists.

Sgt Hager Blair

Sgt Hager Blair: Tail Gunner

"We had a lot of rather long missions in the B-24s but nothing like this Borneo mission, We took off at night and sometime after daylight formed up. 1/Lt Robert W. Hulme was B-Flight leader, We had a bomb bay auxiliary fuel tank to give us the necessary range to get back to Noemfoor. In these open aircraft the noise and vibration in particular in the rear really wore on one after several hours. The weather was good as we approached Borneo, one of the waist gunners called out over the intercom "look at the fighters taking off from that airfield" - sure enough I look to my left from the tail turret, and several were taking off. Since we had no fighter escort we expected them to ooze shooting, instead they made big sweeping passes, seemingly from front of formation to rear.

They dropping phosphorus bombs. These thing would explode and several streamers would fly out in all directions. I saw one aircraft get hit between number one and two engines and the wing came off like cutting butter, then he went out of control. Another plane had a fire in #2 engine and they stayed with her until the wing almost burned off. They bailed out then she blew up. All this while from time to time we would get some shots as the fighters made their passes.

All at once this fighter flared out dead behind us. He was so close I could see the expression his face (to this day I can remember how surprised I was - in fact it seemed like I just froze body mind time and space the only reason anyone on that crew above got back that day was that this guy didn’t shoot). I'm not sure but I believe this was a Ki-61 Tony ‑ it seemed like eternity but I finally pulled the triggers, no aiming, no moving the turret, just shoot. He was dead to the rear of my guns - some cowling came off and his left gear moved and he was gone.

I'm sure it was only a second or two but in my body and mind stood still. By this time we had been over the target and were back over the water, All at once the aircraft shuddered and I was looking at the sky almost straight up. I thought we had been shot down, but I couldn’t have got out anyway. What the pilot had done was as soon as we were clear, he nosed down to get speed and to get the hell out of there. It was a long ride home and we were worn out when I was able to finally get out of the tail. I had some tuna and a piece of bread after I picked the weevils out of it, but this was common and no big deal, but the tuna was so dry it was hard to eat. We landed, got fuel and headed back to Owi.

We were debriefed we never got to check the debriefing as all hell was breaking out and we were flying often and long. The Philippines invasion was coming up. I ended up on Leyte before rotating back to the USA."

Aerothentic Comment

The four Liberators lost on this mission were:

  • B24J-125 serial # 42-110005, under the command of 1/Lt Earl A Blessing. Eight parachutes were seen but the crew remain Missing In Action to this day. It is believed they were all captured and executed by the Japanese.
  • B24J-180 serial # 44-40774 which collided with a Japanese fighter over the target. It crashed seven miles north of Balikpapan.

  • B24J-80 serial # 42-100206 named Liberty Belle which forced-landed on Batudaka Island, north of Sulawesi, after being damaged over the target. Under the command of 1/Lt J. C. Tafaro, the uninjured crew of ten were all later rescued by a PBY.
  • B24J-60 serial # 42-100005, shot down over the target.






© 2024     Note: Researchers have our family's permission to use any original material on this website.