340th Bomb Group History

340th Bombardment Group History

340th BG Patch

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
	Click on the squadron insignia above for links to digitized squadron histories

August 15, 1944 Mission to Avignon Railroad Bridges (Mission #289)

Squadron War Diary

486th Not assigned to this mission.

487th Second mission of the day took off at 14:27 hours in which twelve of our planes participated. The flight was over the designated area, a road bridge at Avignon, France at 16:27 and dropped their 48,000 lb. bomb load from 12000'. First box on the S.W. bridge crossed the tracks 1000' north of the bridge. 2nd box on South bridge crossed the bridge just to the north of center. Ack-ack this time was heavy, intense and accurate, holing five or our ships. However, all planes and crews returned safely to the base.

488th From mission report:

FLAK: Heavy, intense and accurate coming from the aerodrome south of town - Red hanging puffs. New guns at vS-9380, to 9980. Northern approach of both bridges in target area. 486th plane 3,000 ft. down.

OBSERVATIONS: At Y-7875 8D was seen to crash at 1700 hrs. 3 chutes at Y7075. 5 chutes seen coming from plane, 1 failed to open properly. Left engine was on fire and right engine was out.

489th Not assigned to this mission.

Author Personal Account

Joseph Heller Note that on the flight manifest below for the 488th Bomb Squadron the bombardier in plane 8U was 2nd Lt. J. Heller. This is Joseph Heller, the author of the novel Catch-22.

The events of this day would become the climax of one of the great books of world literature. In a 1975 interview Heller said:

"At first, I was sorry when nobody shot at us. I wanted to see a sky full of flak and dogfights and billowing parachutes. It was like a movie to me until, on my 37th mission, we bombed Avignon and a guy in my plane was wounded. I suddenly realized, “Good God! They're trying to kill me, too!” War wasn't much fun after that."

In the novel the bombardier craws over the bomb bay into the rear of the plane and administers first aid to the severe wound on the radio-gunner's leg. The gunner's name in the novel is Snowden. After patching the wound on Snowden's leg, the bombardier sits back rather satisfied with himself for the job he has done. When he opens Snowden's flack jacket, it exposes a massive abdominal injury that proves mortal to Snowden.

See also: Joseph Heller and the 340th Bomb Group

On bomber 8U on August 15, 1944 Lt. Joseph Heller poured sulfa into the open wound on S/Sgt. Carl Frankel's leg, bandaged it, and stayed with him until the plane landed at Alesan Air Base where Sgt. Frankel would have been transported to the field hospital at Cervione not far from Alesan. Frankel survived the injury.

Target in 1944

Target Today

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Squadron	War Diary
486th	Not assigned to this mission.
487th	Second mission of the day took off at 14:27 hours in which twelve of our planes participated. The flight was over the designated area, a road bridge at Avignon, France at 16:27 and dropped their 48,000 lb. bomb load from 12000'. First box on the S.W. bridge crossed the tracks 1000' north of the bridge. 2nd box on South bridge crossed the bridge just to the north of center. Ack-ack this time was heavy, intense and accurate, holing five or our ships. However, all planes and crews returned safely to the base.
488th	From mission report: FLAK: Heavy, intense and accurate coming from the aerodrome south of town - Red hanging puffs. New guns at vS-9380, to 9980. Northern approach of both bridges in target area. 486th plane 3,000 ft. down. OBSERVATIONS: At Y-7875 8D was seen to crash at 1700 hrs. 3 chutes at Y7075. 5 chutes seen coming from plane, 1 failed to open properly. Left engine was on fire and right engine was out.
489th	Not assigned to this mission.

Author	Personal Account
Joseph Heller	Note that on the flight manifest below for the 488th Bomb Squadron the bombardier in plane 8U was 2nd Lt. J. Heller. This is Joseph Heller, the author of the novel Catch-22. The events of this day would become the climax of one of the great books of world literature. In a 1975 interview Heller said: "At first, I was sorry when nobody shot at us. I wanted to see a sky full of flak and dogfights and billowing parachutes. It was like a movie to me until, on my 37th mission, we bombed Avignon and a guy in my plane was wounded. I suddenly realized, “Good God! They're trying to kill me, too!” War wasn't much fun after that." In the novel the bombardier craws over the bomb bay into the rear of the plane and administers first aid to the severe wound on the radio-gunner's leg. The gunner's name in the novel is Snowden. After patching the wound on Snowden's leg, the bombardier sits back rather satisfied with himself for the job he has done. When he opens Snowden's flack jacket, it exposes a massive abdominal injury that proves mortal to Snowden. See also: Joseph Heller and the 340th Bomb Group On bomber 8U on August 15, 1944 Lt. Joseph Heller poured sulfa into the open wound on S/Sgt. Carl Frankel's leg, bandaged it, and stayed with him until the plane landed at Alesan Air Base where Sgt. Frankel would have been transported to the field hospital at Cervione not far from Alesan. Frankel survived the injury.

Crew Lists and Mission Reports

Operation Orders


487th Squadron

488th Squadron

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
	Click on the squadron insignia above for links to digitized squadron histories