Dad wrote about the following event that happened in January 1945.

"One evening the Squadron operations officer appeared unannounced at our tent, sat down and told me that he had a proposal. Ever since Oct. only a limited number of missions had been getting through to their targets so on the bad days, if it was possible, "lone wolf" bombers were being sent out to penetrate the weather and bomb either a specified target or one of opportunity. Would I be interested in taking our crew on one of these flights? This sounded good to me for: it aroused my sense of adventure; I was flattered that I had been picked and it would be a relief to put in a mission without flying formation for eight hours. So I told him that I certainly was interested. My three tentmates couldn't help overhearing our conversation and as soon as he left they took off. In short order a delegation consisting of the nine members of my crew arrived and they let me know in no uncertain words what they thought of flying into Germany all by ourselves. My first reaction was: "Who is in charge of this crew, anyway?" But then I relaxed and told myself that we were in this together. So I went to Operations to tell them that I would not be a volunteer."

The group also sent out two and three-plane missions as well. They lost some ships due to icing on the wings of the planes.

Anyone familiar with these operations? Did they do the same in the 8th AAF out of England?

Ken

Ken Alexander
Son of 1st Lt. Clair B. Alexander Jr.
Pilot, B-24s: 10/12/1944 - 04/24/1945
15th AF, 49th Wing, 461st BG, 764th BS
Torretta Airfield, Cerignola, Italy

ORIGINAL: Ken a B24 Fan

Dad wrote about the following event that happened in January 1945.

". Ever since Oct. only a limited number of missions had been getting through to their targets so on the bad days, if it was possible, "lone wolf" bombers were being sent out to penetrate the weather and bomb either a specified target or one of opportunity.
The group also sent out two and three-plane missions as well. They lost some ships due to icing on the wings of the planes.

Anyone familiar with these operations? Did they do the same in the 8th AAF out of England?

Ken

 
Ken,
 
To answer your question about the 8th AF, I never heard of such events in the 8th AF.  The notion that a lone bomber had a better chance to "penetrate the weather" seems inexplicable to me.  I flew from Oct 9th 1944 'till February 1945 from England into Germany and never heard of any lost ships due to wing icing, nor any planned 1, 2 or 3 bomber missions. 

Bob Gilbert
Ball Turret Gunner, Goldin crew
381st Bomb Gp., 533rd Bomb Sq.
US 8th Air Force

kEN; The  Fifteenth AF did fly lone wolf missions,at  least one because I was on it. Our pilot was Raymond McKinley and we had volintered to fly any mission that was asked of us.One day just before dinner Mac came to our hut and said"Get your gear we are going to a briefing".We got on a truck and went to group hdqts for briefing. The target was Blechiemer Germany. there were speccial instructions that if the target was clear we were not to go over it but go to our alternat target. The primmary target was clear so we successfuly bombed the alternate target.There were three planes on this mission spaced three minutes apart at take off. Two plannes did not go over  the primary target the third plane did they said that the bombadier's window was frosted up and they thought that the target was cloud covered. We did a lot of night flying  in our training in the state so that night flying was not new to us ;however when the search lights came on it got a little exciting ,but Mac came on over the interphone and said" Hang on boys Iam gong to take her down a little.' When he pulled back on the yoke that old bird shuttered and groned but we got away from the lights. The bombadier -navigator Lt.Levy was the best one that I ever flew with.  Ther are just two members of McKinleys crew still living Marshall Weaver and myself. Fred Movey 

Fred, when was your night mission? I don't remember any while I ws there, Jan to war's end, 1945. I did some night training in the states. We all did some, but not a lot, and none after I got overseas.
RHD

Re Lone Wolf Missions
I failed to identify what group that I was in it was the 716 BS 449thBGG.my tour was from Sept 1944 to March 1945. My  mission log book has gone astray so that I can't give you the exact date of the mission that we flew. I have checked with the only othe member of our crew and he does remember the mission but does not have the date that it was flown.   Fred Movey 

Mention of 'Lone Wolf' operations is made in the 449th Bomb Group Association's book "Grottaglie, and Home" on page 252:
 
"According to Dr. Richard Marcus of the University of Wisconsin who has researched the topic, the 15th Air Force flew 627 missions between October 25th and December 12, 1944 which were classified as "Lone Wolf' operations.
These all involved single air craft or small formations against targets in Austria and Germany.  Col. Jack Randolph (Group Commander, Oct. 1944 - 1945) recalls that the 449th flew a number of missions in this category."
 
I hope this will be helpful, or at least interesting to those involved in this subject.

ORIGINAL: donall

Mention of 'Lone Wolf' operations is made in the 449th Bomb Group Association's book "Grottaglie, and Home" on page 252:
 
"According to Dr. Richard Marcus of the University of Wisconsin who has researched the topic, the 15th Air Force flew 627 missions between October 25th and December 12, 1944 which were classified as "Lone Wolf' operations.
These all involved single air craft or small formations against targets in Austria and Germany.  Col. Jack Randolph (Group Commander, Oct. 1944 - 1945) recalls that the 449th flew a number of missions in this category."
 
I hope this will be helpful, or at least interesting to those involved in this subject.

 
donall,
 
That is a stunning number (627) of these "Lone Wolf" missons over a period of about a month and a half!  Do you know what was the purpose of reducing the quantity of aircraft in these missons?  Why were they discontinued after December 12th?
I learn something every day on this wondeerful site.
Thanks, Bob

Bob Gilbert
Ball Turret Gunner, Goldin crew
381st Bomb Gp., 533rd Bomb Sq.
US 8th Air Force

Thanks Guys:

Bob, Dad's group removed all of the wing deicers from their Liberators. They lost a couple of ships on these lone wolf missions. It was speculated that the cause was icing on the wings.

Fred, thanks for relating that. How did you feel flying into Germany with only 3 planes? Were you more or less comfortable than in a large formation?

Donall, I too am staggered by the number of missions flown! I thought only a handful were attempted. Is Dr. Marcus' work available for reading?

Ken

Ken Alexander
Son of 1st Lt. Clair B. Alexander Jr.
Pilot, B-24s: 10/12/1944 - 04/24/1945
15th AF, 49th Wing, 461st BG, 764th BS
Torretta Airfield, Cerignola, Italy

Gentlemen ~
May I preface this post by stating that previous to Ken's original post on this subject (6/21/08) I had no knowledge of "Lone Wolf Missions/Operations" etc..
 
By chance, I happened to be reading "Grottaglie, and Home" and thought it would be interesting to share it's quote concerning this topic.  I, too, was very surprised by the number of missions - 627.
I initially thought it to be 627 sorties, which seems to be a more realistic figure in my opinion.
So some research was conducted via "Google".  I gained no tangible background on this subject and/or Dr. Richard Marcus.
However, I did find minimal mention of this on the 461st BG newsletter and supposedly reference is made in the book "The Diamondbacks: The History of the 99th Bomb Group (H)".  Possibly someone who has access to this book could share it's details on these missions.
I'm certain someone on the forum will eventually be able to share more substantial background on this most interesting aspect of WWII.
 
 

ORIGINAL: Ken a B24 Fan



Bob, Dad's group removed all of the wing deicers from their Liberators. They lost a couple of ships on these lone wolf missions. It was speculated that the cause was icing on the wings.

 
Ken,
 
We also had the deicer boots removed in our group and I believe all of the 8th AF, but others will know for sure.

Bob Gilbert
Ball Turret Gunner, Goldin crew
381st Bomb Gp., 533rd Bomb Sq.
US 8th Air Force

Ladies and Gentlemen:

My research indicates that "Lone Wolf" seems to be a term used almost exlusively by 15th AF.

G. Combs
Niece
First Lieutenant Clay Byers
Navigator Bombardier Radar
1st September 1944
482nd BG (Pathfinder)
389th BG
466th BG

Ken,  Good evening!  From what I have read, I would tend to agree with other posters that the "lone wolf" tag was exclusively used within the 15th AAF. I have found nothing in several books I am currently reading involving the 14th, and it appears that it does not appear in the literature of the 8th.  I've attached a "link" from the 15th AAF, 459 BG, which talks about "bad weather missions," but does not use the "lone wolf" terminology.  Best Regards!  Steven
    
http://www.459bg.org/Solo_Missions.cfm

Best Regards!
Steven P. Puhl
Willow Run Historian  (RET.)  
Home of 8685 Ford B-24 Liberators
Life Member: Yankee Air Museum

I met a Mickey Operator this past weekend (August 17,2008) during theCollings visit to the MAPS Air Museum in Canton, Ohio. Turned out thathe was in the same 461st BG as my father! He was in the 767th BS. Iasked him if he was going to the reunion in Dayton this year and hesaid he wasn't. He had gone 20 years ago and didn't know anyone becausehe didn't fly with a regular crew. He always flew lead or "Bad Weather"or night missions and seldom with the same crews because he was aMickey radar operator. I asked him if the "Bad Weather" missions werethe same as the "Lone Wolf" and he said yes, but the night missionswere also "Lone Wolf."

He said typically they would flysingle bomber or three-ship missions. If there were three planes, theywould fly single-file a minute or two apart. They would bomb theassigned target only if it was overcast. If it was clear they wouldhead for the secondary or a target of opportunity.

I toldhim they asked Dad to volunteer for one of these missions and I relatedthat Dad's crew voted it down. He was quite surprised and said hedidn't have a choice in the matter. He was told to fly the missions.

He flew under both systems of mission tallies, 50 missions or 35 combatsorties. He said because of "two-fors" and then the revised system, hecompleted his tour with credit for 66 missions.

His name is R.T. Holmes and he lives in Akron, Ohio.

Ken

Ken Alexander
Son of 1st Lt. Clair B. Alexander Jr.
Pilot, B-24s: 10/12/1944 - 04/24/1945
15th AF, 49th Wing, 461st BG, 764th BS
Torretta Airfield, Cerignola, Italy