“Gambay Group” Hits Enemy Rails

“Green with envy.” That was how 1Lt. Willard G. Ilefeldt described his reaction toward filling his B25’s tank with gasoline at one of the B-29 bases at Chengtu. Back at Liangshan, the 3rd Bomb Squadron’s home base, the process was laboriously completed by hand. Courtesy of Robert N. Solyn.

On February 14, 1945, Capt. Jack M. Hamilton led a detachment that departed Liangshan and proceeded to Hanchung (now Hanzhong), in Shansi (Shanxi) Province, to strike the Japanese drive advancing from the north. Nine B-25s left Liangshan and flew to Chengtu (Chengdu), where they were loaded with gas and bombs. 1Lt. Willard G. Ilefeldt, flight leader and historical officer, was favorably impressed by the convenience of the process and wrote: “The rapidity with which the bombs were spotted and the convenience of the gas pumps so close to the taxi strips certainly filled us with joy, and a little wonder. Those B-29 bases really have a beautiful set-up―stateside, in fact. To load a plane with gas, all one has to do is to taxi up to a pump, cut the engines, and say, ‘Fill 'er up.’” The process was far different from that to which those stationed at Liangshan were accustomed. “We have very primitive methods in comparison, for we have to pour our gas from a drum into little five-gallon buckets, then hand it up to a man on the wing, who pours it into a funnel, that is, after the gas has been strained. Eventually the tank is filled, but the work is done by Chinese coolies, making the task a slow one at best.” He added that the Chinese coolies also carried the bombs by hand, “while at Chengtu there is ample transportation to satisfy the most critical, and we are anything but critical, in fact, we were green with envy.”

After a layover caused by "lousy weather,” the Mitchells flew on to Hanchung. Ilefeldt praised the living conditions and mess as "the best to be found in China" and added: "The coffee the cooks brew actually tastes like coffee, and with it they even serve milk, an item that is quite rare at our base. They serve butter with every meal, and sometimes they even serve honey and jam for the delicious pancakes at breakfast.” Despite taking part in two missions out of Hanchung, "Everyone considered it the nearest thing to a rest camp he had seen.”

Sgt. Kenneth W. Daniels, whose 1st Bomb Squadron was stationed there, considered it to be "a big improvement over Liangshan and Peishiyi.” He later wrote: "Hanchung nestled in a bend of the lazy Han River. Five-thousand-foot mountain ranges ran east-to-west, one southeast and the other northwest of the city. The most prominent structure in the city was the bell tower of Bishop Mario Civelli's Wei-hwei Cathedral, topped by a pole where the jing bao [air raid] lanterns could be raised.” He added that enlisted men were billeted in a former mission dormitory behind “the Italian Cathedral," while the officers occupied a separate compound down the street.

This was a walled city with a normal population of about 50,000, but refugees flooding in from the east had increased its population to nearly double that number. The encircling wall was a typical earth-filled stone bulwark twenty-five feet high and thirty feet thick at the base. "Someone had built a crude wooden shack that looked like an old 'outhouse' on top of the southwest corner of the city wall which served as a control tower," wrote Daniels. The field's single grass-covered runway extended to the east and west, while revetments for the Mitchells spread to the south on its far side. The flight line, along with the tents and buildings that housed operations, supply, and the orderly room, lined the ‘s west wall.*

By February 16, thirty B-25s from all four squadrons of the 1st Bomb Group—called the “Gambay Group”—converged at Hanchung for a huge raid that Lt. Col. Austin J. Russell, Group executive officer, had planned on the North Railroad Yards at Shihkiachwang (Shijiazhuang), capital and largest city of Hopeh (Hebei) Province. This was an important railroad junction that served the strategic supply line running through northeast China to Peiping (Beijing). The raid was prompted in part by recent intelligence that reported damaged locomotives were being hauled to yards in North China for repairs.

The plan was, on the following day, for the planes to take off alternately every forty-five seconds from both ends of the runway until all of them were airborne. In this way, all thirty of the B-25s would be in the air within about twenty-three minutes. It was executed as briefed, except for one flight that took off in the wrong direction and almost caused a mid-air collision. Despite poor visibility caused by clouds of dust as the planes took off, all but one of the Mitchells were off safely by 0800 and headed for Hsian (Xi’an), where they were to rendezvous with their fighter escort of fourteen P-51s of the 311th Fighter Group Detachment. The bombers circled the field three times, but the fighters failed to come up because of a failure in communications.

The bombers, nine of them 3rd Squadron planes, then flew to a point north of Hanchung, where they separated into two elements. Lacking fighter escort, they diverted to alternate targets located in the big Yellow River bend. The 1st and 4th Bomb Squadron planes turned south to attack Yunchen, where the situation went from bad to worse. Maj. Raymond L. Hodges Jr., former 3rd Squadron pilot, flew in the lead of eight 1st Squadron B-25s that made up "Benton" flight. Three 3rd Squadron planes were to join three from the 4th Squadron to form "Charlotte" flight, but 2Lt. Robert L. Logan, flying A/C #713 with Cpl. Robert E. Schlicher Jr. and Sgts. Jack A. Trout and James H. Mills (my father) as his gunners, was unable to take off because of mechanical failure of the right magneto. Another 1st Squadron B-25 with an all-Chinese crew took its place in the formation, which also included A/C #722 (Capt. Hamilton, 1Lts. Ilefeldt and Robert E. Banger, TSgt. Frank T. Jakubasz, SSgt. Isabel G. Mier, and Cpl. Schlicher) and #719 (Chang K. L., Yang C. H., Chiu S. P., Fang C. K., and Liu S. C.). Schlicher is listed with the crew of both A/C #713, that did not take off, and #722, that did. He may have been moved from one plane to the other.

Loaded with 500-lb. demolition bombs, planes were over the target at 0955. They made bombing passes over railroad yards from south to north at 7,000 feet and at 5,700 feet, dropping on the lead bombardier. Nearly all bombs missed their targets and landed in rice paddies or small villages outside the target area. Aircrews reported heavy ground fire. "A discouraged and bitter group of airmen returned from this fiasco and there was plenty of blame to go around," wrote Sgt. Daniels, who took part in the raid with his 1st Squadron.  

The 2nd Bomb Squadron and remainder of the 3rd Squadron that formed "Akron" and "Detroit" flights, respectively, were more successful. This formation turned north and attacked railroad yards at Linfen, about 220 miles northeast of Hsian. The formation approached from the southwest and picked up the Tungpu Railroad below Linfen, making two bombing runs up the tracks from south to north. The 2nd Squadron’s lead bombardier was not ready to drop on the first pass over the target, although two Chinese-crewed B-25s dropped sixteen 500-lb. demos. Some fell in the southern barracks area east of the railroad yards while the others fell in a line north toward the northern barracks. On the second run, both flights dropped a total of seventy-eight 500-lb. demos that fell across the southeast end of the yards and into the vicinity of the turning wye (a triangular rail junction), ripping up trackage southeast of the yards.

Capt. Reuben Ragland Jr., flying #720 (with 2Lt. Frank P. Pulaski, 1Lt. Thomas H. Edgerton, TSgt. Maynard W. Rieks, MSgt. John P. Hanrahan, and TSgt. Charlie H. Hoyle Jr.), led the 3rd Squadron element, which also included #721 (Cheng Y. H., Liu P. C., Liu C. T., Wu C. S., and Ho W. C.), #723 (Capt. Robert C. MacNeil, Tsai T. C., MSgt. Grady B. Fuller, TSgt. Joseph N. Shock, and Sgt. Norman L. Long), #714 (1Lt. Frederick H. Greene Jr., Maj. V. B. Miller, 1Lt. Robert J. Koss, TSgt. John P. Barge, and Cpl. Andrew R. Allegretto), hastily-repaired #713 (FO Barton L. Wherritt, 1Lt. Jerome G. Cantor, Sgt. Loren E. Gaffney, and Cpls. John J. DeFabritis and Robert G. Hugel), and #716 (1Lts. Wayne H. Senecal and John F. Faherty, Cpl. James A. Wadlow, Cpl. Alfred J. Magyar, and Sgt. Loyal L. Fox). The 3rd Squadron crews sighted two small enemy airplanes in a pattern landing at Linfen. They reported only minimal anti-aircraft fire: one black and two white bursts. Crews of the 4th Squadron observed four small airplanes and two medium planes "believed to be Lillies.”** All planes of the formation were down at 1200.

Another big mission was planned on the nineteenth to support Chinese troops fighting in the vicinity of Ichang (Yichang). Mitchells of the 1st Bomb Group were to join in the action while all of them were assembled, but a front moved in that kept them grounded. Only the Wing's fighters were able to take part in the attack on enemy rail lines, river communications, and ammunition dumps. As aircrews waited for the return of flying weather, many occupied their time by playing baseball or poker, duck hunting, and drinking liquor and eating provisions that had been stashed away by their 1st Squadron hosts. "Crowded conditions and squadron rivalries were getting on everyone's nerves," wrote Daniels, whose quarters had been invaded by the unwelcome "southern guests.”

The weather cleared enough to fly on February 21. My dad recalled, "They got us up early, and for breakfast that morning they fed us pork chops, fried eggs, and pancakes made with the best homemade sorghum syrup, made by those Chinese. I always remember that breakfast—a real American breakfast.” It was customary to serve the men a substantial cooked breakfast before they headed out on a dangerous mission, although a superior mess was common at Hanchung.

Twenty-one B-25s, four of them 3rd Squadron planes, were off by 0800. Twenty-four were scheduled to take part in the raid, but one 2nd Squadron plane had an accident caused by poor visibility while attempting takeoff, and two 3rd Squadron aircraft could not take off because of mechanical problems (a faulty induction vibrator on one and difficulty with gas flow on the other). Eight from the 2nd Squadron ("Ashville" flight) took the lead, followed by four from the 3rd Squadron ("Butler"), and nine from the 1st Squadron ("Carter"). A fourth flight, "Delaware,” was made up of three each from the 1st and 2nd Squadrons. Hamilton led "Butler" with A/C #719 (Ragland, Banger, Jakubasz, Mier, and Hanrahan as his aircrew), followed by #718 (MacNeil, Senecal, Shock, Hoyle, and Faherty), #716 (Logan, Schlicher, Trout, and Mills), and #714 (Cheng Y. H., Liu P. C., Chen Y. T., Wu C. S., and Ho W. C.). Each plane carried eight 500-lb. GPs. Passing over Hsian, the Mitchells picked up fourteen P-51s of the 311th Fighter Group, which had received the telegram this time.

Visibility at takeoff was limited to 1.5 miles but improved to eight to ten miles over the target: the railroad and machine shops at Taiyuan, capital and largest city of Shansi Providence. A report of activity in the target area noted that Taiyuan appeared to be extremely active. Crewmen reported the railroad yards east of the city to be handling a capacity quantity of rolling stock. Incomplete photo coverage of the shop area showed them to be servicing “numerous cars and possible locomotives.” The shops themselves seemed busy, with smoke pouring forth from all the chimneys in sufficient quantity to partially obscure the target, “making the bombardiers' problem all the greater.”

The lead bombardier of each flight had a separate aiming point and bombed from a different altitude. Approaching from south to north, pilots followed the lead plane of each flight and bombardiers dropped on the leader. Each flight hit its briefed target. When 3rd Squadron bombs were released from 6,500 feet, results were "very accurate,” hitting almost all the large buildings within the shop area and producing secondary explosions accompanied by large orange bursts of flame. Crewmen reported anti-aircraft fire, the heaviest after the target had been hit and planes had turned away. White bursts were several thousand feet below the formation; black bursts were accurate for altitude but slightly inaccurate for deflection. Six or more airplanes were parked in the revetments on Taiyuan North Airdrome, but some crewmen reported that they may have been dummies.

My dad later related, "I remember one Japanese field that we flew over, and they had planes—not real planes but dummy planes to make you think they were—and I thought, how do they think those old things out there would make you think they were real planes?” The Japanese "used paper and sticks, made little frames—just a poor excuse for a plane. You could tell from a long way, that's not an airplane.”

The formation passed south along the Tungpu Railroad on the way back to Hanchung. At each town en route, barracks and railroad yards were extremely active. All planes were down at 1300. Eager to return to home base, 3rd Squadron bomber personnel took a heading back to Liangshan soon after their mission was completed.

* Ken Daniels, China Bombers: The Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II (North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 1998)

**Kawasaki KI-48, a twin-engine light bomber, reporting name “Lily” used by American airmen

Want to learn more of this compelling tale? Find it in The Spray and Pray Squadron: 3rd Bomb Squadron, 1st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II.