Scrapbook: Russell Hatchett Collection

The scrapbook of Russell Hatchett

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Martin and Delana Merenda share this nice assortment of photos of her father S/Sgt. Russell T. Hatchett, as well as Russell’s Mission Logs and summary at the end of this page.

 

 

Training in the States

 

Hatchett with friends in Denver, Colorado

 

 

 

Russell Hatchett with Sergeant stripes.

 

Later photo of Russell Hatchett, now wearing Staff Sergeant stripes (unknown sailor)

 

Hatchett with a Langley Field shirt (family still looking for a time that he was at Langley Field)

 

 

Training in Pyote, Texas

 

Hatchett and Levitski

 

Front, from left: Acuna, Ramey, Hatchett. Back: Keller, Heeb, Levitsky.

Acuna, Keller, Heeb and Hatchett

 

 

Rattlesden

 

From left: Ken Ramey, Loran Heeb, WJ Levitsky, Russell Hatchett, Albert Acuna and Jack Keller

And another shot after shuffling the characters.

 

 

 

 

Front to back: Acuna, Hatchett, Ramey, Heeb and Levitsky.

 

Loran Heeb and Russell Hatchett

 

 

Getting off base for time on leave

 

Hatchett, Acuna, Levitsky and Heeb outside the Red Cross Club in London.

 

Levitsky, Hatchett and Heeb

 

Hatchett and Heeb goofing around in London

 

From left: Heeb, Hatchett, Acuna, lady friend and Ramey.

 

Walking to Piccadilly from Trafalgar Square in 1944. Nelson’s Column in the background.

Hatchett in Edinburgh

 

 

And back in the States

 

Russell T. Hatchett, Greensboro, 1945

 

 

Mission log and Summary

The Missions

# Area/Target Date Pilot & A/C # Comments
1 St. Pol-Siracourt
France, V-1 Launch Site
May 30,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at 3:00 am for 1st combat mission. Bomb load was six 1,600 lb. armor piercing. There was a little Flak but was not hit by any of it. Landed at 11:45.

Still Lost 12 Bombers & 9 fighters, but destroyed 50 Luftwaffe planes.

2 Hamm, Germany
Marshaling Yards
May 31,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at 3:00pm for second mission. Briefing at 4:00, Took off at 7:00. Bomb load was 1000 lb. GP. Had a lot of Flak but missed most of it. No enemy fighters. We had good fighter support on our side. Landed at 1:30pm.

There were no losses from the Bomber or fighter force

3 Boulogne, France
Heavy Guns on coast of France
June 2,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
CO woke me up at 4:00 for 3rd mission. Briefing at 6:00, Took off at 9:10. Bomb load was 500 lb. GP. Could not see target so we brought the bombs back. Landed at 1:30. There was little Flak and no enemy fighters.

There were no losses from the Bomber or fighter force.

4 Northwest France
Beach Defenses
June 5, 1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Got up at 3:00 this morning. No briefing. Bomb load was 500 lb. GP. We were supposed to bomb some big German guns but because of cloud cover we bombed the secondary target which was ten miles up the French coast. Landed at 1:30. Later that day Sollars & the boys said we had to get up at 1:00 tomorrow for a mission. Rumor around that D-Day invasion was about to start. “Let’s hope so” Lost 6 Bombers & 2 fighters.

There were no Luftwaffe planes losses reported.

5 Caen, France
French coast
June 6, 1944
D-Day
Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at midnight & briefed about the D-Day invasion. Bomb load was 500 lb. GP. We were supposed to bomb French coast a few minutes before the invasion started. Most ships brought bombs home due to poor visibility. Returned home at 10:45.

Two B-24s were lost. Eighth air force fighters destroyed 30 Luftwaffe fighters.

6 Lisieux, France
Normandy area
June 6, 1944
D-Day
Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at 3:00pm for second mission on D-day. Bomb load was six 1000 lb. GP. We got out of formation so we bombed with B-24s. We finally got back with our own formation. Weather was real bad. Had a heck of a time landing, but the pilot made a good landing. Returned to base at midnight.

Lost one B-17, one B-24 & 8 fighters. Downed 2 Luftwaffe fighters.

7 Nantes, France
Rail Bridge
June 7, 1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-97296
Up at 11:30 am. We didn’t fly our own ship. Bomb load was 500 lb GP. Took off at 4pm. Did not drop bombs due to overcast. “When we returned to base, the Jerry’s were bombing the airfield. We flew around in the dark for a long time before landing at an air field near London. Had chow (which was very poor) and a double shot of Scotch there. Took off for home field the next morning. Made four approaches on landing strip before finally landing. We are darn lucky to be alive.

Two Forts & three Liberators were shot down over here last night.”

8 Boulogne, France
Coastal Guns
June 11,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Up at 1:30, Bomb load was twenty 200 lb. GP bombs. Had to make two runs on target. Landed at 10:00. The bomb group returned to base without issue.
9 Florennes, Belgium
Airfield
June 14,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at Midnight. Bomb load was 250 & 500 lb. GP. “Had a little Flak but wasn’t hit by any. Was expecting enemy fighters, but had good escort support”. Landed at 9:30 am.
10 Hannover, Germany
Oil Refinery
June 15,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at midnight & briefed. Jerry’s were over the air field again. Shot twenty 10 millimeter shells and dropped bombs. The bombs did not explode. We took off at 4:10. Had a lot of Flak on this mission. Ship was hit in three places that we could see. Had to feather No. 1 engine. Came back on three engines, but was able to stay in formation.
11 Hannover, Germany
Oil Refinery
June 18,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 238060(cannot find a 42-38060)
Awaken at midnight & briefed. Bombing the oil refinery again. We went over at 18,000 ft and got the heck shot out of us by Flak. It was the heaviest I’ve seen. The 447th lost two ships. One from the 711th squadron and one from the 708th squadron. We got about five Flak holes. Landed at about 11:35.
12 St. Jean D’Angely, France,
Air Field
June 19,1944 Lt. J. A. Sollars
A/C# 42-38052
Awaken at 1am & briefed. We didn’t bomb the target because of cloud cover. No. 1 & No. 2 engines began to fail so we had to jettison the bombs. We had to leave the formation. Four P-38’s brought us back. We were the last to land.
13 Cuxhaven, Germany
Air Field
July 18, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
original crew
Back with original crew flying with Lt Dahlgran in A/C# 231582 that we named “Ol Scrapiron”

Got us up at 1:30am for mission. Took off at 4:20. Bomb load was ten 500 lb. bombs, dropped at 19,000 ft. Had a little Flak, no fighters. Seven hour trip. Home at 11:15.

14 Merseburg, Germany
Leuna synthetic Oil Refinery
July 20, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Got us up at 1:00am, took off at 4:20 for mission. Bomb load was ten 500 lb. GP bombs, dropped at 20,000 ft. Had a hell of a lot of Flak. Saw no enemy fighters. Saw one ship go down, two parachutes from it. Home at 2:40.
15 Petiers/St. Lo area
Enemy Lines
July 24, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Got us up at 7:30am. We were supposed to bomb the enemy lines to help ground troops on the French front but did not because of overcast. Hardly any Flak but still got a hole in the nose. Landed home at 4:30.
16 Ostend, Belgium
Coastal defenses (large guns)
Aug. 4, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Mission started at 10:30. Bomb load was six 1000 lb. bombs, dropped at 24,000 ft. It was the 1st mission as leading group. Bombing results were good. Mission was short & uneventful. Landed at 4.00pm.
17 Belfort, France
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Aug. 11, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Got us up at 4:00am. Take off time was 6:45am. Bomb load was ten 500 lb. bombs; dropped at 15,000 ft. Second mission as lead group. Bombing results were good. The return trip was uneventful. Landed at 3:10pm.
18 Seine River Area
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Aug. 13, 1944 Lt. E. L. Duke
Flying w/Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-31582
Up at 7:30am, take off time was 9:45am. Bomb load was 38 100 lb. bombs; dropped at 29,000 ft. 3rd mission as lead group. Bombing results were good. Landing gear nearly fell down, finally landed at 3:30pm. We just made it.
19 Bremen, Germany
Industrial Port city
Aug. 30, 1944 Lt. E. L. Duke
Flying w/Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-31582
Up at 11:00am. Take off time was 1:00pm. Bomb load was 38 100 lb. incendiary bombs, dropped at 24,500 ft. Had plenty of Flak. 4th mission as lead group. Landed at 8:15pm.
20 Gustavsburg, Germany
Aircraft Plant
Oct. 9, 1944 Lt. F. A. Gunn
Flying w/Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-97804
Started take off at 11:00am. Bomb load was five 1000 lb. bombs, dropped at 25,000 ft. Reached the target without problems. Results of the bombing were unknown. Started landing at 5:20pm.
21 Hamburg, Germany
Oil Refinery
Oct. 25, 1944 Lt. F. A. Gunn
Flying w/Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-31582
Briefing started at 6:30. Bombing the oil refinery again. We went over at 24,500 ft and dropped twenty 250 lb. bombs. The trip was uneventful both ways. The group made it back without losses.
22 Hannover, Germany
Oil Refinery
Oct. 26, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Briefing started at 8:00. Bombing the oil refinery again. We went over at 26,000 ft and dropped twenty 250 lb. bombs. There was the usual black cloud of Flak bursts over the target. The trip was uneventful both ways. All planes made it back without losses.
23 Neumunster, Germany
Aircraft plant
Nov. 6, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# ***572only 572 was 42-97572 Feather Merchant, but was salvaged prior to this
Take off started at 6:30. We went over at 23,000 ft and dropped twenty 250 lb. bombs. The return trip was uneventful. The group made it back without losses. Started landing at 1:42pm.
24 Koblenz, Germany
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Nov. 21, 1944 Lt. M.A. Lefebvre
w/ A.W Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-31582
Take off started at 7:30. We went over at 26,000 ft and encountered heavy Flak. Dropped twenty 250 lb. bombs. The group lost 7 B-17’s. Started landing at 3:15pm.
25 Mainz, Germany
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Dec. 4, 1944 Capt. J. F. Robertson
w/ A.W Dahlgren’s crew
A/C# 42-31582
Briefing started at 7:30. Bombing the railroads again. We went over at 22,000 ft and dropped a mixture of GP & incendiary bombs. The trip was uneventful. All planes made it back.

Of note: One might think that bombing targets repeatedly meant that we were not doing a good job. The Germans, using slave labor from overrun countries became quite adept at repairing railroads.

26 Koblenz, Germany
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Dec. 10, 1944 Lt. A. W. Dahlgran
A/C# 42-31582
Take off started at 7:30. We went over at 24,500 ft and dropped a mixture of GP & incendiary bombs. The trip was uneventful. There were 290 B17’s in the armada attacking Koblenz, along with the escort of 226 P-47’s & P51’s.
27 Darmstadt, Germany
Marshaling (railroad) yards
Dec. 12, 1944 Lt. M.A. Lefebvre
w/ A.W.Dahlgran’s crew
A/C# 42-97819
Take off started at 8:27. We went over at 25,500 ft and dropped a mixture of GP & incendiary bombs. Led mission as lead low group. Flak was our only opposition. Bombing results were poor. Landed at 3:51 pm.

“My last Combat Mission”

 

Summary

Pilot/Crew/AC # Combat Missions
A.W. Dahlgren & original crew, AC# 42-31582 Ol’ Scrapiron. 7
Different pilots & original crew, AC# 42-31582 Ol’ Scrapiron.
2W/E.L. Duke
1W/F.A. Gunn
1W/M.A. Lefebvre
1W/Capt. L.F. Robertson
5
Different pilot & original crew, different AC
10 W/J.A.Sollars AC# 42-38052 Lucky Stehley Boy
 
1 W/ J.A. Sollars AC# 42-97296 Royal Flush
1W/ J.A. Sollars AC# 42-38060 (unknown ac #)
1 W/F.A. Gunn AC# 42-97804
1W/M.A. Lefebvre AC # 42-97819
14
A.W. Dahlgren & original crew, in a different AC # ***572 (???42-97572 Feather Merchant was salvaged prior to this date) 1
Total Missions 27