Cyril G. Levine
Cyril G. Levine "George" was a photographer in the 726th Squadron of the 451st Bombardment Group (H). He was assigned to take bomb strike photos on bombing missions. On 1 November 1944, he was assigned to fly with pilot Rosser I. Bodycomb in aircraft #42-52321, "Bad Penny". He felt so strongly about the result of this mission that he decided to write about it. The following is his account of the mission to bomb the ordnance depot at Vienna, Austria.
George wrote a detailed account, signed May 20, 1986, of the mission, including the landing in partisan territory after the B-24 (“Bad Penny”) was hit over Vienna, and the subsequent safe return of the entire crew. With an injured navigator he had to come up to the flight deck over an open bomb bay to help the bombardier identify a safe place populated by partisans to land the damaged aircraft. George’s previous experience keeping the situation map updated in the S-2 office enabled him to assist in this matter.
(Courtesy of Charles Henkin, nephew of Cyril G. Levine).
