The Burman crew completed 24 missions between December 1944 and April 1945.  Their last mission as a crew was to Lechfeld, Germany on April 9, 1945.  It was after this mission that the crew was removed from combat operations.  They were given the task of ferrying personel from Horsham St. Faith (which also was the home of the 96th Combat Bomb Wing and the HQ of 2nd Air Division) all over England and the Continent.

                                                                                          Mission list compiled from 458th records

My name is Alfred J. Ebbing, and I was the flight engineer and top turret gunner on the B-24.  A G.I. stationed on the airbase at Florennes, Belgium took this picture on December 31, 1944.  The person standing by the nose turret is myself, T/Sgt Alfred J. Ebbing of the 458th BG Heavy and member of Lt. Bob Burman’s crew.  Our crew consisted of Lt. Bob Burman, pilot; Lt. Elmer Etschied, co-pilot; Lt. Harvey Putman, navigator; T/Sgt Alfred J. Ebbing, flight engineer and top turret gunner; S/Sgt Junior Clark, radio operator; S/Sgt Enrico Ciotti, waist gunner; S/Sgt Eugene Gabay, waist gunner; S/Sgt Stanley Sargut, nose gunner, and S/Sgt Robert Groh, tail gunner.

On December 30, 1944 on our third mission, we bombed a RR bridge in Koblenz, Germany without any problems or incursions with the enemy.  On New Year’s Eve, the next day, we were sent on mission number four – back to Koblenz, Germany to wipe out another RR bridge.  Before we left our airbase in Horsham St. Faith in England, the ground crew told me that one bomb might hang up in the bomb rack.  With that information, we went through the emergency procedures to release the bombs.  The bomb thought to have a problem released without any malfunctions.  Unfortunately, another one of our four bombs ended up stuck in the bomb rack and I was unable to release it.  I put the safety pin back in the bomb.  On this particular mission we were carrying four 2000 lb. bombs, 2300 gallons of fuel and flying at 22,000 feet trying to get above the flak.  Air temperature was -40 degrees F.  On this mission we encountered heavy flak and a lot of enemy fighters.  The pilot had to feather #2 and #4 engines as we were losing oil and fuel out of both engines.  We had also taken flak in the hydraulics to the nose gear as well as the back up emergency hand procedures.  I was unable to lower the nose gear.  While in flight returning to our base, I proceeded to inspect the nose gear and found it totally inoperable.  I started up to remind the pilot of the bomb, and tell him we had no nose gear.  While doing so, I looked down and saw the ground coming up very quick through the open bomb bay door and assumed a crash position.

When we hit the runway with no nose gear and two engines feathered the pilot had little control [of the] plane causing us to leave the runway, hitting bumpy terrain [shaking] the bomb loose, dropping it to the ground, causing the plane to drop on the nose turret nearly breaking it off.  Fortunately everyone walked away from the plane unhurt.

After this ordeal of crash landing on a base in Belgium, it took us four days to reach our [home] base back in England, as we had to wait our turn to fly back in a cargo plane.  Our next mission wasn’t until January 13, 1945.

While stationed in England, our crew made 28 missions over Germany.  On our 28th mission on April 9, 1945, we went back to Lechfeld, Germany.  Our two waist gunners were killed and the tail gunner seriously hurt when we took a direct hit [of flak] in the camera hatch.  I was able to move S/Sgt Robert Groh to a better place in the rear of the plane to administer first aid.  I told the pilot we needed to find an airbase, as they needed medical attention.  Our pilot found a fighter base to take us down.  After landing and learning the severity of the situation, the pilot asked me why I hadn’t told him our waist gunners had been killed.  I told him, “There was nothing you could do for them, and I wanted the rest of the crew to land safely.”  After 28 missions over German territory, that was the end of our combat missions.  We were then assigned to fly supply missions in England.

The following is from a phone conversation with Alfred J. Ebbing: While over the target, their aircraft, B-24H 42-95316 PRINCESS PAT, took a direct flak hit in the camera hatch.  This burst killed both waist gunners, S/Sgt Enrico R. Ciotti and Sgt Eugene T. Gabay.  Shrapnel from this flak burst also wounded S/Sgt Robert W. Groh in the back, fragments lodging in his right lung.  Controls for the rudders and ailerons were also damaged.  The engineer T/Sgt Alfred J. Ebbing, receiving no answer to his calls over the interphone went back and saw the destruction in the waist area.  Seeing Sgt Groh was badly wounded, Ebbing made his way back to the cockpit and informed 1Lt Burman that they needed to land immediately.  The crew let down from altitude and found an airfield on which to land.  They fired red flares on the approach denoting wounded on board.  As they touched down, they rolled to a stop off of the main landing strip onto a grassy area between the runways.  An ambulance stopped some distance away.  Ebbing exited the aircraft and waved the ambulance over, but they were beckoning to him.  He ran the few hundred feet across the grass to where they waited and told them they had wounded on board.  The ambulance crew said, "You lead the way."  Ebbing took them back to the plane where they proceeded to give first aid to Sgt Groh.  The ambulance crew later told Ebbing that the airfield had only been taken over from the Germans two days earlier and that they suspected the grassy area where the B-24 had come to rest contained land mines, but the area had not yet been cleared!

General Orders Number 176 - Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Robert W. Burman:

For extraordinary achievement, while serving as Pilot of a B-24 airplane on a bombing mission to Germany, 9 April 1945.  Lieutenant Burman's aircraft was hit by flak while over the target and suffered considerable structural damage.  Lieutenant Burman skilfully [sic] maintained control of his aircraft and successfully bombed the target.  The prompt action, presence of mind, and superior flying ability displayed by Lieutenant Burman on this occasion reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.

Photo: Al Ebbing & AFHRA

AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE LIBERATOR STATION, ENGLAND – TECHNICAL SGT. ALFRED J. EBBING OF QUINCY, ILL. WAS THE FLIGHT ENGINEER OF THE B-24 LIBERATOR BOMBER THAT RECENTLY TOOK GROUND PERSONNEL OF THE 458TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP WHO HAD BEEN AWARDED THE BRONZE STAR FOR MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT, ON A FLYING TOUR OF GERMANY.  THE PURPOSE OF THE TRIP WAS TO SHOW THE MEN THE DAMAGE THAT WAS INFLICTED BY THE EIGHTH AIR FORCE.  A HIGHLIGHT OF THE FLIGHT WAS A THREE-HOUR STOP IN KOBLENZ, WHERE THEY TOURED THE CITY AND GOT A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE DESTRUCTION.

SGT. EBBING (LEFT) IS SEEN IN THE ABOVE PHOTO WITH HIS PILOT LT. ROBERT W. BURMAN (CENTER) OF TACOMA, WASH. AND HIS NAVIGATOR LT. HARVEY I. PUTMAN (RIGHT) OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, HOLDING THE REMNANTS OF A NAZI BATTLE FLAG.

SGT. EBBING, WHO IS THE SON OF MRS. ANNA EBBING, 1529 LIND ST., QUINCY, ILL. HAS FLOWN AS FLIGHT ENGINEER ON 28 BOMBING MISSIONS WITH THE 458TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP OVER GERMANY AND ENEMY OCCUPIED EUROPE.  HE HOLDS THE AIR MEDAL WITH THREE OAK LEAF CLUSTERS.  KOBLENZ WAS ONE OF THE MANY TARGETS THAT HE HELPED BOMB AND, WHILE TOURING THE CITY HE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE MANY OF THE MILITARY INSTALLATIONS THAT HE HAD HELPED TO DESTROY.

DURING HIS MISSION TO KOBLENZ DEC. 31 HIS AIRCRAFT WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED BY FLAK OVER THE TARGET.  TWO ENGINES WERE HIT, REQUIRING OVERHAULING, THE HYDRAULIC LINES SEVERED AND THE RADIO EQUIPMENT RENDERED INOPERATIVE.  LT. BURMAN, THE PILOT, SKILLFULLY MAINTAINED CONTROL OF HIS AIRCRAFT AND SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED HIS BOMBS IN THE TARGET AREA.  HE LANDED ON TWO ENGINES IN BELGIUM WITH THE NOSE WHEEL JAMMED IN THE UP POSITION AND A 2,000-POUND BOMB IN THE BOMB BAY WITHOUT FURTHER DAMAGE OR INJURY TO THE CREW.  AFTER FOUR DAYS IN BELGIUM THEY WERE BROUGHT BACK TO THEIR BASE IN ENGLAND VIA ANOTHER AIRPLANE.

PRIOR TO HIS ENTRANCE INTO THE ARMED FORCES ON OCT. 10, 1942, SGT. EBBING WAS EMPLOYED BY THE GARDNER DENVER PUMP CO. OF QUINCY, ILL.  HE HAS BEEN OVERSEAS SINCE NOV. 13, 1944.

THE 458TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP, WHICH IS A PART OF MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM E. KEPNER’S SECOND AIR DIVISION, HAS COMPLETED 240 COMBAT BOMBING MISSIONS OVER EUROPEAN TARGETS.