451st Bombardment Group (H) 15th Air Force

Jack I. Bennett

Radio Operator/Waist Gunner

727th Bomb Squadron, 451st Bomb Group

Sept. 11, 1923 to July 14, 2012

Jack Bennett

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Jack I. Bennett

Jack Bennett was born on September 11, 1923, in a farm house located in central, Oklahoma. He was the fifth of nine children and was raised on a 160 acre farmstead that was claimed by his father in the 1905 land run. Jack attended a small school in Wayne where he played the tuba in high school. Like many of this time his family was affected by the dust bowl and depression so he would hunt, fish and trap in addition to farming and ranching to help his dad provide for their family. Jack also found time to assist his uncle and cousin with their duties as pastors of small Baptist churches. After graduating from high school, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) to learn construction and to provide money for his parents. He diligently sent an allotment to his parents from each pay check. His favorite project was construction of Lake Vallecito in southwest Colorado, near Durango. Later in life, he would take his family on trips through Colorado to see the areas he had enjoyed so much.

Jack Bennett answered his country’s call to serve and entered active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps on November 23, 1942 and served until he was honorably discharged on September 18, 1945. He was assigned to the 727th Bomb Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group (H), in the 49th Bombardment Wing of the Fifteenth Air Force. He trained as a radio operator and waist gunner in B-24 H model Liberators. He flew with a crew of 10 in a heavy bomber called the “Patsy Jack.” The typical aircrew consisted of 4 officers and 6 enlisted men. The officers were a pilot, co-pilot, navigator and bombardier. The airmen consisted of a flight engineer, who usually manned the top gun turret, radio operator who also served as waist gunner, another waist gunner, ball turret gunner, nose gunner, and tail gunner. The crew was stationed at bases in Northern Africa and the Foggia airfield complex in southeast Italy from which missions were flown over occupied Europe. From the first mission in January 1944 to September 1944, Jack Bennett completed 51 precision daylight bombing missions. Missions which attacked such targets as oil refineries, marshalling yards, aircraft factories, bridges, and airfields in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania.

The U.S. Army Air Corps flew in daytime to enhance the opportunity for better precision at the bomb drop target and to decrease collateral civilian damage. Because it was daylight bombing their formation of planes encountered large numbers of enemy fighters in repeated waves and severe anti-aircraft fire resulting in heavy losses of aircraft and their 10-man crews. Jack said the co-pilot, Paul Malone, could fly the B-24 almost like a fighter plane which really helped them escape several close calls from German fighters. On at least one mission, his aircraft was damaged and fell behind the main group where his plane was repeatedly attacked by enemy fighters. The entire crew expected the worse; however, through the skill of their co-pilot, they somehow dodged and out-maneuvered their pursuers. Paul enjoyed it so much that after completing his missions with the 451st, he went to P-51 fighters and completed another 50 missions in Europe.

Some missions were so extraordinary due to a combination of extremely heavy resistance, unusually high loss of aircraft, great effectiveness of bombing, and avoidance of collateral damage that they qualified for a Distinguished Unit Citation. The unit received Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations for each of three missions in which Jack Bennett served as radio operator, waist gunner, and NCOIC of his enlisted crew while flying on the Group Commander’s B-24. The Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations were for: 1) bombing missions to an aircraft factory at Regensburg, Germany on February 25, 1944, 2) to oil refineries and marshalling yards at Ploesti, Romania on April 5, 1944 and 3) to an airdrome at Vienna on 23 August 1944. In each case the group fought its way through especially intense opposition and inflicted serious damage on the assigned targets while inflicting minimal damage on civilian buildings in spite of substantial B-24 aircraft and crew losses.

Jack’s most recounted mission was to Ploesti. “The morning of April 5, 1944, I went to the briefing and when the map for combat came up, there was a loud roar. It was the first high level raid on the Ploesti Oil Fields. It was very early morning when we started taxiing for takeoff. We were down at the end of the runway when the first of two B-24s ran together on takeoff. They immediately started to burn and the bombs blew up. Eighteen out of twenty died. Two were helped out and survived. James White is buried in the Hillside Cemetery in Purcell, Oklahoma. We stood by on the runway until it was clear enough to take off, and then we took off and joined the remainder of the group. We had German fighter planes fight us all the way to the Initial Point (IP) for Ploesti. They came at us out of the sun and got our low flight of four planes (40 people).

“We were flying a standby plane named ‘Sod Buster’ since our plane was out being repaired. Apparently the previous crew had not cleaned my .50 caliber machine gun. I would get a few shots and then it would freeze. I only realized our low flight was gone when some parachutes came by. We got into flak with some bad hits, but we made it back to Brindisi, Italy. One lieutenant wanted a debriefing. But for me I went to bed.”
His squadron started with eight aircraft and only three returned. Upon landing from this mission, their ball turret gunner was overcome with emotion by what he had experienced, so Jack provided comfort and also got the flight surgeon to observe his crewman. The next day, the ball turret gunner was ready to participate in their next mission and accounted well for himself.

Jack Bennett completed the required 50 missions and was particularly proud when his Group Commander, Colonel Eaton, requested him to fly as his radio operator on an additional mission to bomb a bridge in northern Italy; making 51 missions. After completing their 50 missions, the first crew of his aircraft turned over their B-24 to a new crew, which flew several missions and then was shot down near Lyon, France while flying in support of Operation Dragoon, a landing in Southern France similar to Normandy. The crew was honored by the French later.

Jack's crew

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Back Row L-R: Gabriel Bowdzinski, Ronald Cook, John J. Kavanaugh, Paul C. Malone & Fred Reitz

Front Row L-R: Jack Bennett, Dello H. Newkirk, Wethy Farless, Clarence Drons & Ebbert P. Fare

Patsy Jack

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Patsy Jack, #42-64445

Patsy Jack

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Patsy Jack, #42-64445

Church

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Church where the French Memorial to Patsy Jack that went down on August 2, 1944 is located near Saint-Etienne, France.

Memorial to Patsy Jack

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

French Memorials, near Saint-Etienne, France to Patsy Jack that went down August 2, 1944.

Ploesti

Courtesy of Matt Bennett

Raid on Ploesti 1944