From "The Stars and Stripes", August 1944
She's a Liberator and her name is "All American." The boys paint footballs on her fuselage instead of bombs to represent missions flown.
The target was the Hermann Goering Tank Works at Linz, Austria, one of the most strongly defended areas in all of Germany. When the "All American" returned, the Goering outfit no longer was so well defended. The crew of "All American" alone painted 14 swastikas on her fuselage in addition to more footballs.
"We had turned at the initial point and were about two minutes into the bomb run when I saw six or seven Jerries of the yellow nose fighter group come up from below and get the Group leader with a direct hit in his bomb bays," said 1st Lt. Robert Arbuthnot, Salina, Kansas, pilot. Conditions were just right for the attack."
I saw them about the same time from the nose turret," said Sgt. Warren E. Moss, Ravenswood, W. Va., who is credited with two ME-109s, "And then Massie called out fighters on the tail. God, the interphone was busy!"
"They came in six in a line, sweeping up the length of our formation," said S/Sgt. Eliza S. Massie, Dayton, OH, the tail gunner who was credited with two FW-190s. "Then, when the fire got too bad for them, they began to hang back and pounced on the stragglers. I saw seven of our squadron go down."
"I was at the bombsight trying to get the target when it started, " said 1st Lt. Joseph T. Novak, Dunnore, PA. "What I did get in the sights were a lot of chutes and some burning B-24s. It wasn't a good sight. Then the pilot said to salvo the bombs and I did."
Sgt. Robert L. Molyneux, Dansville, NY, the right waist gunner, was credited with three ME-109s. He blew the pilot of the third right out of his cockpit with tracers, he said.
"All guns are set to stop firing when they are aimed at parts of your own plane," said T/Sgt. Hugh G. Baker, Memphis, TN, top turret gunner, who got two FW-190's and one ME-109, "I was tracking one Jerry all the way around and when the guns cut out suddenly, my stomach dropped right through the bomb bay. But as the turret continued around, the guns cut in again, and the plane exploded about 50 yards off the nose."
The left waist gunner, T/Sgt. Eric C. English, San Angelo, TX, destroyed two ME-109's.
"That tail gunner, Massie, was all over the place," said S/Sgt. Roy M. Walkama, Ironwood, MI, who blasted two FW-190s out of the sky. "When I ran out of ammo, Massie came back from the tail turret and gave me enough to stay in the fight."
"Yeah," said Sgt. English. "And the flight surgeon wanted to ground him more than once. He was the coolest guy aboard."