Mission 100

This is from the 456th Bomb Group history book:
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15 August 1944

Group mission 100, the target Beach no. 264B, Southern France. Prior to the mission the Group was continuing to fly night training flights and everyone was wondering what it was leading up to, and on the morning of the 15th the answer came through in the form of an order.

"This was it!" At 2400 hours a briefing was held at Group Headquarters. There had been many rumors that there would be an invasion of Southern France and at last the job was to be done.

The first call came at 2245, the first night mission of the 15th Air Force was to begin.

Six bombers dropped 6.1 tons on ground operations in the south of France. The flak at the target was heavy, scattered and inaccurate, no enemy fighters were encountered. One bomber was lost. The results were indeterminate due to the weather. The combat flight time was 6.40 hours.

The crew and bomber that was lost was crew #47 in A/C #487 of the 746th Squadron. The plane flown by Lt Curtis Winn had just lifted off the runway headed north when it crashed, exploded and burned. Cause unknown. The combination of darkness and the explosion precluded any accurate reconstruction of the accident. There were no survivors.

The crew:
1st Lt Curtis Winn, Pilot*
2d Lt Robert A. Schieritz, Co-pilot
2d Lt Charles C. Fisher, Navigator
2d Lt Walter B. Rau, Bombardier*
Sgt Quentin Smith, Radio Operator
Sgt Norman Highman, Engineer
Cpl William E. Ames, Turret Gunner
Cpl Charles Collins, Turret Gunner*
Cpl John Proctor, Turret Gunner*
Cpl Robert Nast, turret Gunner

*Interred in American Military Cemetery, Sicily-Rome
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