MEMOIRS OF JAMES KERMIT KANGAS

James Kangas went into the U.S. Army Air Corps right after his 18th birthday, and was discharged right before his 21st. His B-17 bomber crew first assembled in Drew Field, Tampa, Florida in the spring of 1944. They trained out of Drew Field, and then flew to Savannah, Georgia to await their orders. While in Georgia, the crew was awarded ‘Crew of the Month’ and took a B-17 to New York for the weekend. While there, they had a photo taken of the enlisted men at Jack Dempsey’s Bar on Broadway.

Once they received their orders, they flew to Vermont and onto Goose Bay, Labrador where they stayed overnight. Then they flew on to Iceland, where they landed in the dark and were taken by truck to barracks during a snowstorm. There they stayed overnight and were awakened early and driven by truck to the flight line. That morning, the men had trouble finding their plane amid the 100 or so on the ground, and after searching without finding their pilot nor plane, they found a hanger and went into the boiler room to warm up. They fell asleep and were found four hours later! Jim remembers that they got a “royal chewing out” and took off late for Valley Whales, Scotland. They were the last plane out of Iceland.

When they reached Scotland, they stayed overnight and then got on a train to their last stop at Grafton-Underwood, U.K. At Grafton, Jim was assigned to the 384th Bombardment Group, 546th Squadron. He and his crew got their B-17 assignment and proceeded to ready themselves for their upcoming missions.

The first 13 missions were flown with this same crew:

Pilot – Raymond Cook (Ohio) (Now living in Pennsylvania)
Co-Pilot – Phillip Leavitt (Arizona) (Now living in Idaho)
Navigator – Roy Walker (Michigan) (deceased)
*Radio Operator – Tom Hannus (Pennsylvania)
*(Unfortunately, Tom Hannus was killed while flying as an extra on his 4th mission.)
Flight Engineer – Houston (Pete) Dossett (Tennessee) (Now living in Tennessee)
Waist Gunner – Howard (Krup) Krupsky (Michigan) (deceased)
Tail Gunner – Forrest (Barrel) Green (Michigan) (deceased)
Toggalier – Clarence (Gus) Gustitus (Pennsylvania) (whereabouts unknown)
Ball Turret Gunner – James (Shortround) Kangas (Minnesota)

Phillip Leavitt, Co-Pilot

Roy Walker, Navigator

Forest "Barrel" Green

These crewmen worked together as a strong and close team. Jim says they were “just one of the many crews of the 546th Squadron who flew out of Grafton-Underwood.”

Jim stated he was a small part of the whole group and it was a WE and not ME effort in the war. This crew was extremely close knit, and there was a 'take care of each other’ attitude among them. Jim notes that, although he did like the movie Memphis Belle about the legendary B-17, he found the crew’s behavior in the movie to be an embarrassment. He never heard of, nor was witness to, that kind of chaos in any B17 throughout his many missions. He said that his pilot, Ray Cook, was a professional and would have put an end to it immediately. Jim called the movie “real Hollywood.” You never in any way behaved like that. In fact, he recalls that during the mission, there was mostly silence. It was expected that you pull your weight and nothing but while you were in the air. And you did what you were told. It was a combined effort, men depending on each other for life itself, and they took great pride in their work and in each other.

"Hell On Wings"

The men depended heavily on their pilot, Ray Cook, a great pilot who was a flight instructor before the war. Philip Leavitt who was the co-pilot was also rock steady. Every member of their crew was vital to their survival. Jim recalls that Phil always said he had complete faith in the B-17 - if it got you there, it could get you home in pieces most planes could not fly without.

Ray Cook, Pilot

First 13 Missions: 1. December 12 1944 – Meisburg, Germany 2. December 18 – Coblenz, Germany – Gannamon 3. December 23 – Ehrang, Germany – Kassel 4. December 28 – Bruhl, Germany – Bonn 5. December 31 – Neuss, Germany 6. January 1 1945 – Derben, Germany – Polbergen 7. January 2 – Geroletein, Germany – Karlsenble 8. January 3 – St. Vith, Belgium 9. January 5 – Neiber-Breisen, Germany – Koblenz 10. January 7 – Blankheim, Germany – Koblenz 11. January 8 – Kilberg, Germany 12. January 20 - Mannheim, Germany 13. February 1 – Mannheim, Germany. Crew bailed out over England on the return trip because the plane iced over. Two crewmembers broke their ankles.

Jim recalls that on days when you flew a mission, you were rousted out of bed in the early morning and always in the dark. You had breakfast, went to the briefing, picked up your guns and were dropped off at your plane’s hardstand. You then got into the plane and waited in line to take off in the dark in mostly miserable weather. Jim will never forget the sound of the plane revving up to take off. You’d think it would never get in the air - and then it would be up and gone!

The enlisted men would not assume their crew positions inside the plane until they were ready to cross the English Channel. They would then have to hold these positions for 7 – 10 hours until they were over the Channel coming back. Jim spent many hours in the cramped ball turret, tending his guns. Because they did not always fly the same B-17, the condition of the plane fluctuated. He said that some were clean, some were dirty and since you were on oxygen you tended never to hyperventilate. You would pull up through the tube any of what had happened before you! A B-17 it does not have much to protect you from the outside. It was not pressurized and must have been 20 - 40 degrees below zero at times. Even with electric suits and oxygen, the missions seemed long and uncomfortable.

Jim said his pilot always felt that the secret of a good defensive formation was to hold tight in position so that your wing tip sometimes entered the line from the tip of the wing to the tip of the horizontal stabilizer of the other plane. When B-17’s got too close to one another, the crew would point their guns at the plane to back off a little – never firing, of course.

During the wintertime in England, they flew in dangerous weather for the majority of the missions with 8/10ths dense coverage. Due to the weather, they knew they were over target when they dropped the bombs, but most of the time they could not actually see it. What they would see is the bombs going down from the formation - quite a sight. It was disappointing when they could not drop their bombs and had to return without the mission counting, and dropping the bombs into the Channel on their way back.

One episode that Jim recalls was on return to England from a mission during bad weather. They had a near miss, nearly hitting barrage balloon cables as they were coming out of the fog and flew between two smokestacks.

On another mission they nearly had a head on collision with a Lancaster Bomber. It was so close that Jim in the Ball Turret looking down could see the English Pilot and Co-Pilot looking up at him and read their names on their wings. British bombers flew without any formation and were referred by the B-17 crews as ‘crows’ or a ‘flock of crows.’

The main hazard on that they encountered during all missions was flak. They did not encounter any direct fighter involvement with the exception of a brief encounter with a Messershmidt 262 Jet Fighter.

Last 22 missions were: 14 February 9 1945 – Meisburg, Germany – Ludzkendorf 15 February 15 – Dresden, Germany 16 February 25 – Fredrichshafen – Germany – Ulm 17 February 26 – Berlin, Germany 18 February 28 – Hagen, Germany 19 March 2 – Rositz, Germany 20 March 4 – Ulm, Germany 21 March 7 – Geissen, Germany 22 March 12 – Betzdorf, Germany 23 March 14 – Minden, Germany 24 March 15 – Zossen, Germany 25 March 18 – Berlin, Germany 26 March 19 – Planen, Germany 27 March 20 – Hamburg, Germany 28 March 22 – Westherholt, Germany 29 March 24 – Vchta, Germany 30 March 26 – Meinder, Germany – Wurzburg 31 March 28 – Berlin, Germany 32 April 3 – Kiel, Germany 33 April 4 – Freiburg, Germany 34 April 5 – Ingolstadt, Germany 35 April 25 – Pilsen, Czechoslovakia – received major flak damage to plane and landed safely in Luxembourg. This was also the last mission flown in the war and last mission flown out of Grafton-Underwood.

(Only missions completed were credited. There were many more that were flown but not accounted for, as Jim only kept track of the ones that would earn him his 35 missions.) He flew about 8 to 10 of these remaining missions with his original co-pilot, Philip Leavitt, who then became a lead pilot.

“That’s That!” These were the last words scribbled on the original sheet that held these numbered and named missions. Jim then became a member of the Lucky Bastard’s Club.

Upon completion of his 35th mission he left England from Liverpool preferring to take a ship rather than fly back to the states. Jim was happy to see it end, as he was a long way from home and life as he knew it. They set out on a Liberty Ship in the last convoy of the war. The North Atlantic seas were stormy and they encountered icebergs and dense fogs. It took 28 days to reach Boston. Jim has never been on another ship.

But there are sights and sounds that even now come back to in remembrance - the cold, early morning takeoffs where you thought you would never get up off the ground; the sight of so many planes in formation and the sight of a lot fewer heading home; the flak beneath his ball turret and the silence after. Jim remembers the toggalier would drop the bombs and say ' Bombs Away' as he watched them go on their way.

More memories - the flights scheduled one on top of each other; getting back and getting your guns cleaned, going to debriefing, getting a shot of whiskey, eating and then back to the barracks. He said you never got to know a lot of the crews for they would just hit the bunk, then head out on the next mission. For those who did not come back, someone would come and pack up their lockers and, for a day or so, the bunks would be empty and then new crews or 'spares' would fill up the bunks.

When flying as a spare crewman, you did your job. These crews were not as close - if they knew each other at all. Jim disliked flying spare. During one mission, their B-17 was hit by flak and he lost his Oxygen and had to come up out of the turret. The guy above him was supposed to hand it to him – but Jim found him buried under a pile of flak vests and Jim had to get it himself.

Another time after they hit the English Channel coming back from a mission, while he was flying spare, he fell asleep and woke to hear someone saying to look ahead and see the water nearly splashing on the ball turret on the plane ahead of them. Jim looked down and saw how close they were to the water and climbed out of the turret in a hurry.

Jim flew wherever they assigned him until he had completed his required number of missions. He did not remain close with anyone until after the war when he saw about half his crew for a brief period of time. Then as life surrounded them, they married and had children, and each drifted into their own worlds.

Post Script:

Phil Leavitt became an OBGYN doctor in Idaho and has six children. His story of his ending is that they handed him a new B17 and told him to fly it back to Kingman Field in Arizona. He took off with a POW and flew to California; the man wanted to see the Grand Canyon so Phil flew through the Grand Canyon and then buzzed his home in Arizona where his folks were. Phil then flew the plane to Kingman and turned over the papers and discharged.

Ray Cook went off to exotic places and flew until after 1946 in Africa flying with Houston (Pete) Dossett the flight Engineer. They stayed together for a time. He was from Pennsylvania and ultimately returned there. Pete went back to Tennessee, married, raised a family and has remained there in his hometown.

Forrest (Barrell) Green ended up back in Michigan marrying and raising a family. Barrell was very active in keeping in touch with his crew members and in the history of the 8th Air Force, making a few trips back to England. Howard Krupsky ended up back in Michigan and owned a business raising a family there.

You were expected to pull your weight, do your part and when it was over you Came home and picked up your life and moved on.