May 1944

The report of the 676^th told of the safe arrival from the states of Capt. Buenting and Capt. Miller with their crews. Eleven ‘Hump” missions and ten practice radar bombing missions were completed during the month. Among squadron activities was the setting up with the 677^th of a separate mess for officers, weekly news summaries by S-2, softball games between officers and enlisted men, along with mild cases of dysentery and heat prostration. The strength was 81 officers and 100 enlisted men.

The 677^th described a typical ‘Hump” mission, telling of the thousands of Chinese coolies on the runway, their friendliness and curiosity, the rather exciting way they have of running across the runway in front of the landing planes (thinking their evil spirits which are right behind them will be killed by the airplane), and the good living at the advance base. Col. Kinney, Major Lassiter, Major Smith, Major Steinemen, Major Martin, Capt. Welsh, Capt. Furchner, Capt. Sisson, Capt. Reid, and Lt. Hutchinson all feried gas over during the month. Major Martin’s #258 was converted into a tanker. Major Steinemen was appointed mess officer. Capt. Myers, squadron Armament Officer and Lt. Barnhart S-4 Officer. 71 enlisted men were awarded the good conduct medal.

Three crash landings in the 678^th Squadron made May an unforgettable month. Capt. Levitch, with one engine on fire was forced to crash land the plane in rice paddies 15 miles east of the field and although the plane burned until only the tail assembly remained, all of the crew got out with minor injuries only. Two weeks later, when Major Patrick had number 3 engine break away from the wing, he landed in a dried up riverbed with no injuries to personnel, and Major Cloyd set his plane down on the Charra runway with the right landing gear still retracted, this also without injury. The squadron officers held two Saturday night parties which wer huge successes.

The 679^th Bomb Squadron operations were kept busy schedulaing “Hump” missions and practice radar bombing missions at Holiday Island, some of the latter being formation flights. By the end of the month, practically all of the crews had completed these missions, both the amount of gas off-loaded and the skill of the radar operators increasing steadily. Capt. William Wyatt was unable to lower his landing gear on #317, so, following orders, he flew to Kharagpur and made one of the best two wheel possible with only minor damage being done to the plane and none to the crew. Capt. Curtis’ plane #246 was converted to a tanker and on his first trip near Chabua, while that base was undergoing a red alert, he saw around 12 unidentified fighters, so quickly making a 180⁰, he lost them, but circled the Jorhat airfield for an hour until the red alert was lifted and he could resume his flight. The daily officer’s meetings were renewed at the first of the month with a short daily news-cast by the S-2. There were also weekly orientation lectures as well as a quiz program and bingo games held in the S-2 room. Plane #234 and plane #307 arrived safely from the states, havng been grounded in Cairo and Karachi for fuel examination, Capt. Overton and Capt. Wyatt being the pilots.

The 5^th Bomb Maintenance Squadron describes the change of the working hours from 0600 to 1130 because of the extreme heat, except in case of emergency. All maintenance equipment was moved from the runway to the squadron revetment area, saving much time and effort. Transportation has improved, records are played in the mess hall, showers are better, and the all important mail situtation has improved. The strength of 17 officers and 371 enlisted men was lowered by one when Cpl. Raymond G. Kroll, from Chicago, died after a very short illness.