William Hall Smith: Lead Bombardier of the 390th BG

One of the joys of collecting WWII Army Air Force uniforms is the opportunity it gives you to get to know the airman who once wore the jacket. A few months ago, I acquired an Ike jacket that once belonged to First Lieutenant William Hall Smith of the 570th Bomb Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group of the 8th Air Force. Smith served as the group lead bombardier while overseas flying B-17Gs. Along with the jacket came a pile of papers including about ten wartime letters from Lieutenant Smith (written to his parents), some post-war letters primarily centered on his re-entry to Penn State (and involvement with his fraternity Delta Chi), and a few wartime pictures. It was a tremendous grouping and with a bit more research, it told quite a story.

Lieutenant William Hall Smith

William Hall Smith was born March 27, 1923 at Meadville, Crawford Co., Pennsylvania to Clifford A. and Harriet L. Smith. William's father was a WWI veteran and worked as a bookkeeper; by the time WWII began, Clifford was working as the bookkeeper for the Pennsylvania State Soldiers' Home in Erie, Pennsylvania. William grew up in Erie and graduated from Strong Vincent High School with the class of 1940 (Strong Vincent was killed in action atop Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg).

After graduation, William attended Penn State where he became deeply involved with Delta Chi and Army R.O.T.C. He registered for Selective Service June 30, 1942 where he gave his height as 5' 6", weight as 130 lbs, with brown hair and a light complexion. Shortly after beginning his junior year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force Enlisted Reserve with a deferment of service through January 1944, enough time (it was hoped) to allow him to complete his studies at Penn State. But it was not to be- it is unclear if he was called into service early or elected to go on his own, but he dropped out of Penn State in May 1943.

He was sworn into service May 17, 1943 and promptly shipped off to basic training at the Army Air Force Technical Training Command Basic Training Center at Atlantic City, New Jersey. William remained at Atlantic City for about a month before being shipped off to Massachusetts State College at Amherst, Massachusetts where he was assigned to the 58th Cadet Training Detachment for pre-flight training. Cadets were given an intensified course of both academics and military coursework. William remained in Massachusetts for about six months then went on to Primary Flight Training and Basic Flight; it is unclear where he went but he washed out of flight training at some point and was assigned to bombardier's school at Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico where he was a member of class 44-10. He started coursework in February 1944 and received 18 weeks of training which included 425 hours of ground school and 120 hours of in-flight training in AT-11 Kansan trainers. He graduated from Deming July 22, 1944, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and went home to Erie, Pennsylvania on furlough for about a month.

Deming A.A.F. Class 44-10 Yearbook

At the end of his furlough, Lieutenant Smith traveled by train to Lincoln Army Air Field in Lincoln, Nebraska but remained there only about a week before shipping off to Sioux City Army Air Field (Sioux City, Iowa) where he was assigned to the 224th Combat Crew Training School flying B-17s. At Sioux City, Lieutenant Smith was assigned to a new crew headed by pilot Donald R. Allen, and Smith would fly with this crew for nearly all of his missions in the E.T.O. The crew consisted of: Allen, pilot, Harvey Ainsworth, co-pilot, Russell B. Donahue, navigator (Smith and Donahue became close as would be expected as they flew in the same part of the plane), Smith as bombardier, William Edward Stovall, top turret gunner and engineer, Clovis B. "Toby" Ferguson, ball turret gunner, James O. Hillsman, radio operator, Keith L. Guthrie, waist gunner, and Robert W. Lambrecht, tail gunner.

The crew started training on September 6, 1944 and by late November and fulfilled all of the requisite requirements to be a fully trained combat crew. The crew graduated November 21, 1944 and departed the U.S. for service overseas on December 12, 1944. The crew flew a new B-17 along the normal route to England- first to Maine, then to Gander in Newfoundland, and then the long flight over the Atlantic Ocean to land in Scotland. Upon arrival in Scotland, the crew entered a brief course provided by the 8th Air Force as orientation for newly arrived combat crews and by Christmas they were assigned to the 570th Squadron of the 390th Bomb Group at RAF Framlingham.

Lt. Smith on leave, 1945

Smith's combat career commenced with perhaps the most memorable mission of his tour- the January 14, 1945 mission against an oil refinery at Derben, Germany. On this particular mission they flew a B-17G nicknamed "She Dood It" and found themselves in a tremendous battle with over 100 German fighters- an unusual event this late in the war. As related in the February 14, 1945 issue of the Erie Dispatch-Herald,  “Lieutenant William H. Smith, 21 year old B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier of Erie in one of the greatest air battles of the war had his first taste of combat when 8^th Air Force heavy bombers, striking at Nazi underground oil stores southwest of Berlin recently, were attacked by nearly 300 Luftwaffe fighter planes. For a full 30 minutes above the target, a swarm of Nazi fighters kept Lt. Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Smith (1226 West 6^th St.) and his Fortress formation under constant attack. Dogfights between Focke-Wulf 190s and American Thunderbolts and Mustangs raged about them. But Lt. Smith's Fortress bombed the target and returned home safely."

Derben was the first of 21 combat missions Smith would fly over the next four months; he was given special training as lead bombardier and led the group on a number of missions including February 26th (Berlin), February 27th (Leipzig), March 8th (Langendreer), March 9th (Frankfurt), and his last combat mission against Aussig on April 17, 1945. As lead bombardier, Smith would fly in B-17s equipped with pathfinder equipment known as Mickey; Jess Anderson generally flew aboard Smith's ship as the Mickey operator and oftentimes a command pilot (squadron or group commander) would fly in place of the co-pilot.

The "Allen" crew with William H. Smith in the back row left. Photo courtesy of 390th BG website.

With the war in Europe rapidly coming to a close (and the 8th Air Force being plumb out of targets), the 390th Bomb Group stood down the last two weeks of April and life became rather tedious for the flight crews. In early May, Smith participated in two non-combat missions delivering food to civilians in both Amsterdam and Utrecht in Holland. As he relayed in a letter home to his parents on May 4, 1945, "we went in at 270 feet and really got a good look. The people were all in the streets and on the roof tops waving at us. They certainly seemed glad to see us, with the exception of a few SS men we could see standing around. It really was a good feeling to be doing something good for a change." Smith included a clipping from Stars & Stripes which added that the bombers dropped 800 tons of "10-in-1 rations from tree top height. Grateful Hollanders using rocks and wood spelled out 'thank you' signs around the drop zones."

Lt. Smith's Ike Jacket

With the war in Europe over, Smith and his comrades soon started training for possible deployment to the South Pacific, but events soon also brought the Pacific War to a close. Smith was back in the states by V-J Day and was discharged at Sioux Falls Army Air Field in South Dakota on October 5, 1945. Within a week he was back on the grounds of Penn State completing his final year of college and rebuilding the fraternity. During his service with the 8th Air Force, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (in May 1945), two Air Medals, a European-Middle Eastern-African Campaign ribbon with two stars, and American Campaign Ribbon, and the World War II Victory Ribbon. Details on Smith's post-war life were elusive; he graduated from Penn State in 1946, married Shirley Backes, had two children, and died August 9, 1988 at Bay Village, Ohio aged 65.

The Ike Jacket was in like-new condition when I acquired it but it was missing all of his insignia and ribbons; Smith's original Sterling silver bombardier wings were the only adornment on the jacket. Fortunately, the lot included two war time photos of Smith wearing the jacket and I was able to acquire replacement rank insignia, U.S.A.A.F. collar insignia, and period ribbons to restore the jacket to its wartime appearance. Interestingly, he was eligible to wear the Distinguished Unit Citation ribbon over his right pocket while assigned to the 390th Bomb Group- the unit had been recognized for its heroism during the famous missions against Regensburg and Schweinfurt in 1943). I added that ribbon as well as it showed in the wartime photos.

The lot included a few V-Mails; the idea behind the V-Mail was that it would be photographed in England, placed on microfilm, then sent to the U.S. where it would be printed and mailed. It represented an effort to cut down on the amount of freight necessary as the millions of U.S. servicemen stationed in Europe corresponded with their families. The letters in this collection were mostly traditional two or four page missives; V-mails were the exception rather than the rule. Another nugget I learned from Smith's correspondence was the APO system; with the 8th Air Force, APO 557 was for the 1st Air Division, APO 558 was for the 2nd Air Division, and APO 559 was for the 3rd Air Division. 

The lot also included a number of letters and telegrams that Lieutenant Smith sent while he was in England, including telegrams wishing his parents merry Christmas and a poignant Mother's Day telegram. The letters (due to wartime censorship) are rather vague as to what Smith was doing, other than to pass along the fact that he was alive and busy waging the war. He did take a great deal of pride in his bombing and stated that the bombing results of the 390th BG had been proclaimed the best in the 8th Air Force. Once combat operations ceased in late April 1945, his letters focused on the boredom of the men and the eagerness with which they all wanted to return home to the states.