Two days [March 8, 1944] later Shorty [Albert Spadafora] flew to Berlin with Lt. Binks, whose gunners were in our hut and whom we knew quite well. When the time came for the planes to return late that afternoon, I went to the hardstand assigned to Binks's plane and waited to greet Shorty, as I had done the other time he had filled in on another crew. He had also met me when I substituted. I saw the 448th formation approach and circle the field and then watched as one plane after another landed and parked, but none pulled into Binks's hardstand. I waited for an hour in hopes that the plane would show up, then began the walk back to our hut. I was very concerned but maintained hope that the plane, for some reason, had parked at another hardstand or perhaps had made an emergency landing at another base, as sometimes happened.
When I returned to the hut, no news was available. The word came a little later: Shorty's plane had ditched in the North Sea and only two of the crew had been picked up by the Air-Sea Rescue. Shorty was not one of them. I was shocked. Not wanting to cry in front of the other men, even though I knew they would understand, I went outside, where it was now dark, went for a walk, and let the tears come. I might as well have remained inside, for when I returned and glanced at the shelf above his cot where the photo of Mary, his fiancee, stood, the tears came again. Several of the men came and sat around me, not saying much, but letting me know that they sympathized.
The two men who were picked up, Sgt. Hood and Sgt. Nugent (I no longer remember their first names) came by our hut after being released from the hospital a few days later and told me what happened. With fuel tanks punctured by flak, they had insufficient gas to make England. As Lt. Binks attempted to ditch, a large wave caught the nose of the plane, which broke in half at the bomb bays. The back half, where Shorty was, sank immediately. Binks, Hood, and Nugent escaped from the front half. The latter two saw Binks struggling in the water not far away, but he went under before they could reach him. Hood and Nugent were picked up by Air-Sea Rescue. Neither flew again, and they were returned to the U.S.
-�Three Years in the Army Air Forces� by Dale R. VanBlair |
