The Saga of B-24 '117'
by Herman (Red) Moldenhauer (779)
Page 3
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The following paragraph is a direct quote from Lt. Jones in one
of his letters to me, written 12-15-89, Davis Ca. "Old 117 was a strange airplane. In
one mission over Northern Italy, the airplane turned to the left and down. I had full right
rudder and aileron and it still heeled to the left and down. I could have chopped the top
two throttles but I would have hit plane below us. We fell in a slow spin from 18,000 to
3,000 feet. I had taken my hands and feet off the controls, and I knew this was "IT".
There was a very bright pink light. It seemed I was in a tunnel walking beside a stream
of water. The light was at the end of the tunnel and there was a "Presence"
there. There was a definite knowledge that I was separated from my body. There was
an abnormal feeling of peace, joy, happiness and contentment. About 3,000 feet the plane
righted itself and we came back to base." This is the first I knew of this experience.
John said after returning home his wife, Nancy, told him he had an "out of body
experience."
(Ed. of the 464th BG newsletter - Although the autopilot was not
energized during this "formation" flight, could this have been another case of
the Sperry Autopilot creating havoc as it was reported to do by other pilots? Reference
464th BG August '97 newsletter)
When we received our first bomb group roster, I found
John Jones name. I wrote him hoping this was the right Jones, it was. We wrote back and
forth for quite some time. John was a Doctor now, and started a free clinic for the young
people on drugs and alcohol. He also told me he had lung cancer. I was trying to find a
time to go see him, but John died before I was able to go. This has bothered me ever
since. The irony of this, John lived in Davis, Ca. at the time I was stationed at Travis A.F.B.
Ca., only 40 miles away, life is not fair.
One morning during our preflight inspection we saw fuel
leaking out the drain hole in center wing. After checking the underside of both wings,
we found fuel stains on right side. After defueling right wing, putting jacks in place, we
removed the stress plate. On the stress plate written in red wax pencil, "Condemned
Do Not Use", Some rivets were not bucked, some screw holes elongated. Some
rivets on wing spars were 2" long, were just bent over. We had our inspector, M/Sgt.
Spivey, look at this, he checked to see if there was one available, no luck, so we had
to put the same one back on. Of course the fuel leak came from the last fuel cell to
remove. One of the upper corners developed a soft spot. Another 24 hour day for us.
One afternoon the old dog came back with all four bomb
bay doors flapping in the breeze, tied shut as good as possible with bomb arming wire.
The hydraulically operated doors were slow to open, so the bombardier dropped the
bombs through the doors. Now here was another bad job, to get 4 new doors to operate
close to what the original ones were. The sheet metal men helped with their metal shears
and files, and still took most of the night. We worked on the doors whenever we had time,
but they still were not quite right.
Close to the end of flying combat missions for the "old dog",
operations needed the airplane to fly flight crews to Rome for rest camp. There were two
new pilots that came out to preflight and wanted me to fly as an engineer. Most of us
crew chiefs were used to flying. We always flew on test hops to "slow time"
a new engine. On a new airplane we flew when the pilot wanted to know the "stall
speed." We checked out new engineers on fuel transfer, and how to parallel generators.
I jumped at the chance to see Rome. The pilot told me to bring my khakis and mess
kit.
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From the Nov. '99 issue of the 464th Bomb Group Newsletter.
Published with the permission of Tony Schneider, Sec./NL Ed. (464th, 776)
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![[Graphic] Snapshots from the 464th Bombardment Group.](../images/flagd.jpg)