Talk:Operation Carpetbagger

I am a son-in-law of the late Col. Clifford J. Heflin, Commanding Officer of the (eventually designated 801st/492nd Group known as the Carpetbaggers)from(roughly)10 December 1943 until 22 October 1944. I just came across the Talk: Operation Carpetbagger webpage and would like to offer several clarifications and corrections of what has been posted. First, although officer Boone was among the founders of the Carpetbaggers and the unit could trace its formation to anti-submarine squadrons, Heflin did not form the Carpetbaggers in California and did not precisely form it directly from the 22nd anti-sub squadron. Instead, Heflin's records show that he ended his command of the 22nd squadron on 4 November 1943, then briefly assumed CO of the 482nd Bomb Squadron/Special Project until 5 February 1944, and on 6 February 1944 was appointed CO of the 328th Service Group which would become the Headquarters unit of the Carpetbaggers. Thus, Heflin was CO of an evolving set of units until 22 October, 1944, when the Carpetbaggers' role in Overlord and liberating France was complete and Heflin was quickly tapped for an even more significant command. Also, Heflin was born on 29 April 1915, so he was only 28 years old when he took command of what would become the Carpetbaggers and only 29 years old when he was appointed to his next command.

In addition, although the march of time may have overtaken them, there are two websites that, as of early February 2012, still offer a wealth of information about the Carpetbaggers and I believe they should not have been removed: http://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/CarpetbaggerMuseumHomePage.htm and http://www.801492.org/MainMenu.htm. Also, there is a very informative and free streaming video about the Carpetbaggers available here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/231587/the-military-network-the-carpetbagger-project-secret-heroes. Karovd000 (talk) 20:54, 8 February 2012 (UTC) --Karovd000 (talk) 20:54, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Delete LONG post

I deleted the text next under as not encyclopedic. I wonder where it came from. Paul, in Saudi 03:30, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I talked to a guy a while back who had been involved with this program and wanted to add material about it; I pointed him to this page. It's original material, but certainly usable. Shimgray | talk | 16:27, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

This is correct. The first in our own modified B-24's according to my log book was on the night of January 4, 1944 and was an 8 hour mission. However, I made two flights as crew member in an RAF Halifax on November 3 and 7 out of Tempsford Airbase to see how the operations were performed.

A Commander's Description

I was a member of "The Carpetbaggers" and write this in the third person with the aid of old letters, my flight log book, official orders and my memory. What became known as The Carpetbaggers was formed by Captain Clifford J. Heflin in California as the 22nd anti- submarine squadron and after many missions on both coasts was transferred to England for more of the same work. After two months of this duty over The Bay Of Biscay secret orders came from General, William A. Donovan, head of the OSS. These orders disbanded the anti sub squadron and created the 801st Bomb Group (Provisional.) The designation Provisional was used because no one was certain that the B-24 aircraft or crews were suitable for the type of work to be undertaken. The orders expanded the one squadron to two, with two more to be assigned. Rodman A. St. Clair was given command of the 36th Squadron and Robert L. Boone command of the 406th Squadron. Their orders were to report in secrecy to a Royal Air Force Group at Tempsford, England. Tempsford, a base about 40 miles due North of London. All personnel were were sworn to secrecy and told that they would be flying spies into all occupied countries. The designation as "Bomb Group" was a deception. St. Clair and Boone each took two flights with Royal Air Force crews to see how their missions were flown, then trained their own men in the procedure. It was a wild and dangerous thing, but these were brave young men. ST. Clair had brought his number one pilot to also take the training flights. This was a wonderful little guy named Jimmie Estes. On his very first mission Jimmie's plane didn't come back. That was the group's first loss of the war. The remains of two badly mauled daylight high altitude Squadrons of the 492nd Bomb Group were later transferred in and the Carpetbaggers designation became The 801st/492 Bomb Group With St. Clair commanding the newly designated 856th Squadron, Jack Dickerson the 857th, Boone the 858th and Leonard McMannus the 859th. Losses were very traumatic for a commander. They were terrible blows because of the camaraderie attained. He also had the awful job of notifying the parents. Only an individual, personal, hand written letter would do, and that was a painful thing to do. Losses meant that replacements were needed. A normal high altitude crew was 10 men and as they arrived, the crew’s captain was told of the work, and that his crew would be only 8, not 10. The eight chosen were interviewed. One man was to be the dispatcher, one the tail gunner, and of course the engineer, radio operator, pilot, copilot, navigator, and bombardier. Why have a bombardier when you don't have a bomb sight or bombs to drop ?" The answer is simple. He was trained to drop things. He had the best view from the nose of the plane. He was the logical person to signal the dispatcher when to drop the agents and supplies. When the new crew was determined, several combat veterans just flew their pants off. When everyone was confident that the men were ready the squadron commander or second in command would give them a check ride. This was a night mission on a selected route over England. It duplicated the real thing, including a drop zone. Dummy Joes were dropped, and then containers and packages, just as on a regular mission. The aircraft were adapted to this kind of work by removing all gun turrets, all protective armor plating, all oxygen equipment, the bomb sight, and all but the minimum equipment needed. The reduced weight increased airspeed by 20 miles an hour, and In the days before jet aircraft that was a lot of air speed for a bomber. Two 50 caliber guns were left for the tail gunner to protect from night fighters. When the belly turret was removed it left a convenient 44 inch diameter hole, through which the agents were dropped. Spies officially were called agents, but known as Jose, so of course this was "the Joe hole." Cords were attached from the air frame to each parachute so that the 'chute opened immediately upon drop. That's a good thing because they were dropped at 400 feet and at that altitude there's just enough time for a 'chute to open. The drops were made at slightly higher altitudes if the terrain was very difficult. Joes were of different shapes and sizes and ages and of both sexes. They were American, British, French, Pole, Check, German, Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian. These agents were trained in espionage, sabotage, and guerrilla warfare. They blew up bridges and power plants and railroad engines and ambushed German patrols and gathered information. They were brave and intelligent and dedicated. They parachuted as singles, doubles and triples. The singles and doubles would meet up later to form a team of three. These teams consisted of a radio operator, a demolition expert, and a courier. The crews didn't know the names of the agents that were dropped, but did find out the names of some of the agents years after the war was over. One was a young Bill Colby who became head of the CIA 30 years later. Several types of airplanes were used. The B-24's were used for the drop operations. They were painted with a special non reflecting black. The C-47's were for landing very important agents behind enemy lines and for rescuing downed allied airmen and bringing back agents. The A-26's and British Mosquitos did the high altitude flights over Berlin for two way air to ground communication with agents. These were really dangerous missions A-26's were also used for an occasional desperately needed spy drop to the outskirts of Berlin. These were the worst because although there was a chance the joe would be delivered, the odds were not good the crew returning. The Group Navigator and crew was lost on one of these missions. The C-47 landing operations were exciting, because the crews were aware that the Germans knew of the operations and would like to trap them on the ground. Here's how a spy mission in a B-24 was flown: They were only made during the moon period because moonlight was needed to help navigate and find the very precise target sites. The location of our targets were sent to London in code by the guerrilla troops. They asked for more agents and guns and explosives and medical supplies. They fixed an exact time and place for parachute delivery with longitude, latitude, and code identification signals. Their requests were answered by BBC radio broadcasts with phrases like "Aunt Marjory is better tonight" which of course meant that a mission for a certain target would be scheduled. It happened just as in a war movie. British Intelligence in London got this secret information to us and the targets were posted on a huge map in the operations room. Colored pins were used to show each target. The color red meant extreme danger from ground and air fire. Blue meant moderate ground and air fire, and green meant a relatively fire free zone. Pins were red for the drop areas in Holland, Belgium and Germany. Commanders put off picking those until last. They didn't like those at all. Targets were picked one by one in rotation by the Squadron Commanders. The Pilots, copilots, navigators and bombardiers then met to draw flight plans to and from the target. The radio operators met to receive the code signals for their respective targets, then to their aircraft to assure that the radio equipment was in perfect order. Each flight was a solo flight and each crew selected it's own route. Individual takeoffs began around 2200 hours. The occupied coast was crossed at 6000 or 7000 feet to avoid ground fire, then the pilot immediately dropped to 500 feet to make it harder for the German single and twin engine night fighters to see them. They found their was to way to the target in the following manner. The Navigator needed a light, so he sat in a curtained off cubicle behind the pilot. He had a rudimentary radar like navigational aid called Gee. It was like a tiny television screen that showed the airplane's position on a grid when it wasn't jammed by enemy counter measures, and over the continent It usually was. This forced the navigator to use dead reckoning. Since he couldn't actually see the ground he had to mark off distances and compass directions on a map and blindly keep track of distance, direction, and time. He did this very well. Navigators had damn well better . The unknown wind force and direction combined with night flight makes for great caution in navigation on a mission of this sort, and because of enemy ground fire the crews had to know exactly where they were every second. They didn't have the luxury of being just slightly off course, so it was important that the pilot, copilot, and bombardier each have a map and each each keep track of position by use of rivers, lakes, towns, and railroads. and verify position with each other by intercom. The Bombardier, in the Plexiglas nose of the plane was in the best position for map reading, so was relied heavily upon his judgment and eyesight. Railroads are a wonderful check point but they can be deadly, because the Nazi put large caliber guns on each train. In addition to enemy fighters and ack ack there was one more hazard, That was the hilly country in some of the drops. Reception committee lights can be more easily seen by the enemy from the top of a hill so the reception areas preferred were in valleys or flat areas. The drops were made from a very low altitude which was pretty dangerous. Therefore, in extremely hilly country they might make the drop from 600 feet instead of 400. One of the crews miscalculated and crashed into a hill, killing all but two. They were so well trained that to lose a crew in this manner was hard to take. They also had one near miss. One of the planes came back with the tip of a tree embedded in it's wing. This is about as close to death as you want to come. A few inches lower and another crew would have been lost. When the estimated time of arrival to the target was approaching the crew began looking for the underground's reception committee lights. These were usually arranged three in a row with a light to the left blinking a code letter such as Z for Zebra. If the signal was correct , then the pilot slowed to 120 MPH, dropped to 400 feet, flew over the lights and dropped the agents through the Joe hole. This was a pretty tricky maneuver, because 120 is just above stalling speed, and at 10 miles an hour under that the aircraft would just fall out of the sky. On a second pass the containers of guns, explosives and ammunition were released from the bomb bay and the medical supplies and radio equipment were dropped in packages through the joe hole, all of them by parachute. After the drops they just got the hell out of there as fast as they could, heading for England and clear of railroads, but dropping propaganda leaflets over small towns. By the way, it was an automatic death sentence for a Frenchman to be found with an anti Nazi leaflet. The night's work ended with a debriefing of the crew by the intelligence office which was much welcome by the crews. There was one more thing before bed , and that was bacon and real eggs. On the subject of food, they had well balanced meals with canned fruit, powdered milk, powdered eggs, potatoes, bread, beans, spam, Lots of brussel sprouts and cabbage, and very little fresh meat, but they got the butter that those at home didn't get so that they could, and for that they were thankful. Very little meat ? They took care of that and flew to Scotland and Ireland and came home completely loaded with meat . These trips didn't really cost the taxpayers, because they would have been flying on training flights anyway, and they might as well train by adding to their diet and morale. How they found the money for the meat is another story. Willie Staple, one of the pilots had landed in a cornfield below Paris and nosed over. The group was contacted by his radio operator who advised that a propeller and engine had been damaged. The next night a crew including mechanics flew a new engine and prop to him. It was a terrible, rotten, cloudy, dark night. The Nazis were nearby, so the underground reception committee used only flashlights to show the landing area, and it was one of the worst, because woods grew up to the landing spot, and the landing area was short, and it was damned hard to see the ground. The pilot had to stagger over the trees just over stall speed, then cut the power . His first attempt was not quite right, but he was determined to complete the mission, so he had another go at it and this time thought "the hell with the Germans", and flicked on the landing lights. God bless the crew, they didn't blink an eye and a nice landing was made. The underground reception committee weren't fazed by this maneuver either. They just unloaded the plane, pushed it over near the wooded area, camouflaged it, and the mechanics started to work on the damaged plane while two of the Frenchmen took the crew, in uniform, by back streets, into Paris, to an old building where a group of the underground gave them a gala feast. They did take off for England before dawn but had terrible headaches. They didn't get any medals, but accomplished the mission and certainly had a party! They did have losses such as one replacement crew which had passed all tests and was scheduled for their first mission. They were really eager, and when there was a slight magneto drop on one engine during run-up the pilot promised the crew that he would abort if the engine didn't smooth out after takeoff. It did smooth out so on they went across the channel. They had just started their let down to low altitude when they were caught in searchlights and immediately took a direct hit. It blew away the horizontal stabilizer and killed the tail gunner. The pilot called for bail out. The navigator got out the open bomb bay doors just before another direct hit to the cockpit. He saw the plane burst into flames. Four more of the crew were killed. One other had parachuted safely, a third landed in a tree, severely wounded. The Nazis found him and cut him down. They refused medical aid and grilled him for three days. He gave only his name, rank and serial number. An eye witness told the underground that a Nazi soldier became furious, took out his pistol and shot him in the head. The navigator and radio operator finally managed to contact the underground and were picked up by one of the crews. People have asked if they weren't scared, afraid of being shot down. The answer is, not really. A combat mission is a very intense thing. It takes a lot of concentration. There's just no time to be scared. If you're shot at you take evasive action. If an enemy plane gets on your tail you get rid of it. If your plane is hit you try to keep it flying. Oh, there were a few who couldn't handle the stress, and they disappeared from the scene very quickly. There a 24 year old officer who seemed a responsible pilot and was made operations officer of one of the squadrons. Operations schedules combat and training flights. After awhile It was noticed that he hadn't flown any missions recently, so was asked to schedule himself for the next night. He said "I can't", "what the hell do you mean you can't ?" he was asked. He said that on his last mission he was caught in ground fire on the way to the target and was attacked by a night fighter on the way way back and he didn't ever want to go through that again. He was told that most men had been shot at and were flying, and so would he. He said he guessed he was a coward, that he was scared to death and he plainly refused to fly. The flight surgeon talked to him and then chaplain. He still said no. Now It would raise hell with morale if no action was taken, so he was told if he refused he would face court martial and no doubt stripped of his rank and wings and transferred. He said he understood but just couldn't fly so the court martial followed and he was shipped off to ground duty somewhere else, busted in rank and without wings. Pressure did build up mission after mission until after 25, combat fatigue became a problem. That's why a tour of duty in the air was 25 missions. This was an arbitrary figure because some men could stand more than others. But an airman could stand the pressure if there was a set number of flights and a promise of a 30 day leave at home before another tour of duty. This officer's problem was not combat fatigue because he had only 8 missions to his credit. His was a morbid fear of combat. He had to go. At the time, those in charge were pretty damn mad, because a poor choice had been made for an important job. It is hoped, though, that he's had a good life. his decision saved his life, because his fear surely would have gotten him and his crew killed. About the men: The older ones- that is, the 25 and 26 year olds were generally married and fairly serious. Cliff Heflin, group Commanding Officer was much older at age 30. The flight surgeons and some administrative personnel were ancient. Some of them were at least 40 ! Most of the airmen were fun loving and fearless kids in their teens and early 20's . One of the pilots who was 19 when he arrived in combat told his commanding officer at a reunion a few years ago that he saw him as his Steve Canyon (a comic strip hero in those days.) As commanding officer It was important on the nights when not on a mission, to be in the tower when the crews started coming back at two and three and four in the morning. He would jump in his jeep and greet each crew. One night one of the aircraft from a mission to Holland staggered into the field with one engine shot out, the bomb bay doors missing and part of the tail gone. They had been hit by massive ground fire and a night fighter. Fires had been started inside the plane by exploding ammunition and grenades Their survival was due to the courage under fire of a brave and well trained and highly disciplined crew. Amazingly, only two of the crew of eight were injured. The radio operator had been shot in the leg and groin, and the tail gunner had a 20 millimeter shell through his foot. The flight surgeon sedated them and administered emergency procedures on the way to surgery at the local hospital. The maintenance crew marked off this airplane into grids to count and repair all of the holes. They quit counting at 2,100. It was patched up and it flew again and was known as the 1000 holer. People want to know how the Carpetbaggers got their name. I don't know the true story, but here is one of them: General Donovan was asked by British Intelligence if he would head up an effort to help double the number of agents and supplies that The Royal Air Force was dropping to the occupied countries. The General knew General Jimmie Doolittle and explained what was needed and asked if the The General could help. Well, General Jim told General Bill that he knew a wild man who had a squadron of one of the the best damned crews in the air force who he knew would go anywhere and do anything and would pack their bags in a second, just like a bunch of Carpetbaggers. There is much more to the story of this group. Thomas Ensminger, the son of one of the crews and a trained historian has written three volumes which contain a nearly complete record of every mission as well as pictures of the crews. These are titled "Spies, Supplies and Moonlight Skies" He has a fine web site. Google will get you there if you just ask for 801st/492nd bomb group and will also take you to several other excellent web sites describing the carpetbagger operation. Ben Parnell, brother of one of the crew members was first to write an excellent history entitled "Carpetbaggers", published by Eakin Press. Colonel Robert W. Fish has compiled a Book mostly of anecdotes gleaned from group members which I found informative and amusing. If anyone is interested in any of these books I can put you in touch with a source of the above account can be checked with the group historian, Tom Ensminger and with Ben Parnell. As in all historical matters there will be differences, I am sure. Robert L. Boone

Removal of dead external links

I removed both of the following external links from the article:

• The Carpetbagger Photographic Archives
• Carpetbaggers: Flying secret missions behind the lines

because both are dead (404 page not found from the site host). Onesweettart (talk) 19:26, 4 January 2012 (UTC)