Date: Oct 24, 43
Dispatched: 52 Aborts: 9
Mission: Top cover to B-26’s Field Order: 166
Time Up/Down: 11:33 hrs 13:56 hrs Leader: Major Duncan
Target: St Andre
Claims Air: 00-00-00 Claims Ground: 00-00-00 Lost/Damaged: 00-00
Group arrived at R/V at 12:30 hrs. No bombers seen. Crossed French coast at 12:40 hrs, 25,000ft,10 miles north east of Fecamp. Group leader informed by 56 Group that they were going a little higher. Controller advised bombers on course on time just before landfall. Because of overcast leader climbed to 34,000ft before breaking out of cloud in vicinity of Le Neubourg. Flew course south of Danville making left turn passing over St. Andre de Leure, out west Dieppe, 24,000ft at 13:17 hrs. Nothing of importance to report. Capt. Rose and Lt. Herfurth of Group HQ participated. Lt. Herfurth returned as escort for Major Bailey.
350th: Major Rimerman. T/U 11:45 hrs. T/D 13:45 hrs. Total flight time 2:00 hrs. No R/V was made with the bombers although Squadron was on course on time. Sqdn climbed through overcast to 33,000 ft or 34,000 ft and came out above the overcast as Major Rimerman’s radio went out. No e/a No flak. No action.
| Major | Ben | Rimerman | (Sqdn Ldr) |
| Capt | John B. | Rose | |
| 2nd Lt | William J. | Price | |
| 2nd Lt | William F. | Tanner | |
| Capt | Stanley R. | Pidduck | (Flt Ldr) |
| 1st Lt | Tom | Lorance | |
| 1st Lt | Charles W. | Dinse | |
| 2nd Lt | John H. | Winder | |
| Capt | Dewey E. | Newhart | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Francis T. | Walsh | |
| 1st Lt | Wayne K. | Blickenstaff | |
| 2nd Lt | Robert S. | Hart | |
| 1st Lt | Wilford F. | Hurst | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Richard A. | Stearns | |
| 1st Lt | Melvin P. | Dawson | |
| 2nd Lt | John | Zolner |
351st: Major Duncan. T/U 11:25 hrs. T/D 13:55 hrs. Total flight time 2:30 hrs. Route: St Vallery en Caux – Damville to St Andre, out near Dieppe.
| Major | Glenn E. | Duncan | (Sqdn & Gp Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Lloyd A. | Thornell | |
| 1st Lt | William R. | Burkett | |
| 2nd Lt | Harold J. | Morris | |
| Capt | Orville A. | Kinkade | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Herbert K. | Field | |
| 1st Lt | Frank N. | Emory | |
| 2nd Lt | Francis L. | Edwards | |
| 1st Lt | Gordon B. | Compton | (Flt Ldr) |
| F/O | Cletus | Peterson | |
| 1st Lt | William J. | Maguire | |
| 2nd Lt | Benedict E | Kraft | |
| 1st Lt | Vernon A. | Leatherman | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Richard D. | Stanley | |
| 1st Lt | Francis N. | King | |
| 2nd Lt | Edgar J. | Albert | |
| F/O | Joseph E. | Wood | (spare) |
| Major | Shannon | Christian | (Listed as flying in Sqdn records) |
| 1st Lt | Harry F. | Hunter | (Listed as flying in Sqdn records) |
| 2nd Lt | George F. | Perpente | (Listed as flying in Sqdn records) |
352nd: Major Bailey. T/U 11:33 hrs. T/D 13:46 hrs. Total flight time 2:13 hrs. Squadron left English coast on time and made an orbit over English channel, but did not see bombers at any time. Layer of cirrus overcast extending from 26,000ft to 34,000ft was encountered and Squadron went through these clouds in order to form top cover so that enemy coast and lower Groups could not be seen. Squadron was beleived to be in general area of the target when recalled. Could not establish contact on fighter-bomber channel so there was no way to determine if protection was afforded bombers.
| Major | William B. | Bailey | (Sqdn Ldr) ERTN |
| 1st Lt | Herman | Herfurth | (listed in MSR) |
| 1st Lt | Gordon L. | Willits | |
| 2nd Lt | Russell | Moriarty | |
| 1st Lt | Edward M. | Fogarty | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Richard V. | Keywan | |
| 1st Lt | Clinton H. | Sperry | |
| 2nd Lt | Glenn C. | Callans | |
| Capt | Raynor E. | Robertson | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Hildreth | Owens | |
| 1st Lt | James N. | Poindexter | |
| 2nd Lt | Harry E. | Dustin | |
| Capt | Charles J. | Hoey | (Flt Ldr) |
| 2nd Lt | Joseph | Schillinger | |
| 1st Lt | Gordon S. | Burlingame | (listed in MSR) |
| 2nd Lt | Maurice | Morrison | |
| 1st Lt | Wilbert H. | Juntilla | (Spare) |
| 1st Lt | Leroy W. | Ista | (Spare) |
| 2nd Lt | Donald J. | Corrigan | (listed in Sqdn records) |
| 1st Lt | Charles W. | Kipfer | (listed in Sqdn records) |
*Note that for all three Squadrons there are two flight line-ups available. The Squadron records and a Mission Summary Report (MSR). The names listed above are a combination of both sources and an accurate line-up seems impossible to confirm.
Group Aborts/Early Returns/Battle Damage:
| 42-74671 | ABT lost flight | YJ-T | |
| 42-8457 | ABT tach out | YJ-O | |
| 42-7906 | ERTN escort | YJ-L | |
| 42-7972 | ABT supercharger out | YJ-P | |
| 42-74736 | ERTN escort | YJ-U | |
| 42-22477 | ABT instruments out | YJ-S | |
| 42-8380 | ABT loss of belly tank pressure | YJ-A | |
| 42-8466 | ABT engine cut out | SX-B | Major Bailey |
| 42-8374 | ERTN escort | SX-D | Lt. Herfurth |
At 18:30 hrs that evening 1st Lt. Charles W. Dinse of the 350th FS was returning home from Goxhill after visiting a former Squadron member Lt. Farlow. Making a night landing he lowered his landing gear too late and bellied in Major Rimerman’s plane LH-V (a/c 42-8001):
I was flying number 4 position in an eight ship flight. We approached the field and peeled off in two sections of four. Being dark, Captain Newhart called on the R/T and told the flights to take plenty of space.
After peeling off, I put my landing gear handle in the down position at the time I saw the gear of the ship ahead of me coming down, after which I proceeded to make a normal approach. Just as I was about to set the ship down, the Control Tower at the end of the runway shot a red flare, however at that stage it was too late to go around. I believe that I landed touching the tail first and coming down on the bomb rack. I immediately cut all the switches and jumped out of the plane.
Major Rimerman’s reaction to the breaking of his aircraft is not known…
353rdFighterGroup 