Horsham St. Faith, England, May – December 1944
We arrived at Horsham St. Faith 5/18/44 where we obtained four new gunners for each of the ten crews and an allowance to purchase new clothing since our footlockers were sent to Karachi, India.
Of course, we were disappointed about not seeing our gunners or personal gear, but the 8th Air Force was more challenging with the war raging in Europe.
The AZON Project’s strategy was to bomb small narrow targets such as bridges and viaducts from altitudes of 10,000 to 15,000 feet. Originally, we were slated to destroy the passes in India. However, with the planning of D-day, we were redirected to Europe to bomb bridges and prevent Axis supplies from reaching the coast.
There were only 10 AZON planes, all in the 753rd, and we flew a total of only 10 AZON missions: five in the 1st 100 Missions (8/1/44), five in the second 100 missions of the 458th (3/9/45). We sometimes went alone on these missions unaccompanied by the protection of a large formation. The project had limited success and was abandoned during our tour of duty.
Here we are, AZON and regular officers, celebrating the 100th Mission of the 458th Bomb Group. You can barely see me peaking out from the middle of the table and Joe Feldman is two seats from my right.