DROGOSCH; Shot-Down on the 447th very first Mission; 20 March, 1943 (at Sea)

MISSING IN ACTION on 20 March 1943 on Sea Sweep Mission Between Tunisia and
Sicily. Attacked By Enemy Fighters~SHOT DOWN at SEA.

One Crew Member Killed Before the Crash, The 5 Surviving Crew
Members Made it to the Life Raft, Rowed to Shore~EVADED ENEMY CAPTURE~Made
it to Friendly Lines, Were Treated for Minor
Injuries, and RETURNED to the 447th Squadron on 27 March
1943, ALL 5 Were Wearing British Uniforms.

A/C No. 41-13171 "Trigger" (shot down)
Ackley, James H., 2Lt, pilot
Duke, Albert (NMI) "Al", 2Lt, pilot
Orr, Douglas C. "Doug", 2Lt, bombardier
Drogosch, Robert C., T/Sgt, radio-gunner
Govoni, Harold F., S/Sgt, engineer-gunner--(KIA)
Noble, Francis L., S/Sgt, armament-gunner

FROM: 321BG1943-03
FANTASTIC Account by LT. McDuff:

447th BS: War Diary of: McDuff, Daniel R., 2Lt, pilot: (although Lt Duke &
Crew didn't return to the 447th until 27 Mar 43, this entry is placed here
for continuity)

Wednesday, 19 May 1943

447th BS War Diary: Nine of our planes participated in a raid on Villacidro landing ground in Sardinia today. Bombing results excellent. All our planes returned safely. There was a group meeting in the granary. The Group Commander commended the men for the manner in which they had done their job and presented medals to those who had earned them. Seven of our men received the Purple Heart. They were: Lts. Ackley, Orr and T/Sgt. Drogosch, S/Sgts. Ludtke, Osowiecki, Noble and Perpich.

They were flying No. 4 position of a flight of four ships and were
flying it close. Oil was leaking out of the right engine and going back over
the wing. They had had a little trouble with it during the attack, but it was
working O.K. on the trip home.
But the oil on their wing was their ruin. Enemy fighters
(ME-109's-yellow nose jobs, indicating Goering's prize squadron) picked Duke's ship as a
possible cripple, and concentrated their attack on them. They were doing
O.K. in holding off their attackers, Sgt. Noble, the turret gunner shot down
one ME-109 and Sgt. Drogosch the radio operator on the waist guns, shot down
another. One Nazi, however, paid no attention whatever to the fire power
concentrated on him and came boring in in spite of it. He did a good job.
His fire raked the ship from one end to the other---a 20 mm shell exploded in
the navigator's compartment, tearing things up generally. But other than a
few cuts on their hands and faces, did no damage to Duke and Ackley. A string of 20mm
shells hit the right engine, going back across the wing towards the fuselage
and the tail section. That was the burst that did the dirty work. The
engine caught fire and quit. The wheel assembly came down out of the nacelle
and hung there. The right wing flaps came down and fell off. The right wing
itself was badly shot up and weakened. The tail section was riddled, and
Sgt. Govoni, the engineer on the tail gun, was killed. He never knew what
hit him.
Ackley, James H., 2Lt, pilot
Duke, Albert (NMI) "Al", 2Lt, pilot
Drogosch, Robert C., T/Sgt, radio-gunner
Govoni, Harold F., S/Sgt, engineer-gunner
Noble, Francis L., S/Sgt, armament-gunner

Barbi Ennis Connolly, 321st Bomb Group Historian PRINCESSBARBI_B25@msn.com

Robert C Drogosch