Lt Pete Ebersole arrived at Rattlesden on December 22, 1944 as copilot of the Coleman crew (709th). His sketches below illustrate one of his combat missions.
Note that the two sketches of the cockpit of the B-17 include “Kir C Charlie” marked on the instrument panel — suggesting the flight (or flights) flown in 43-37667 “Barbara Jane,” assigned to the 709th, and known to have carried the tail letter “C” from the fall of 1944 until it crashed in the UK on a training flight in April, 1945.
No. 1 Briefing
No. 2 Loading
No. 3 Take off
No. 4 Assembly
No. 5 The Pilot
No. 6 Formation
No. 7 Bombs Away
No. 8 Landing
No. 9 Parking
No. 10 Debriefing
You can also read Ebersole’s flying log; first a day-by-day account of his time in the service, followed by comments on his hours of flying time.
Provided by Mr. Pete Ebersole and Mr. Keith Hardie