A disclaimer by Bill Fili 450th BG (Cottontails)

For the past ten years I traveled the air show circuit with a display and lectures about that air war in those fiery skies over Europe. It always upset me to hear men come up to me and start talking about things they had no experience in and offered no validity to this story. They would only say, "Boy, you guys really screwed things up! " They were referring to the claim that one crew had fallen out of formation - - were alone in the skies - - and were about to be attacked by several ME-109's. The planes pilot told the co-pilot to drop the landing gear in a sign of surrender.

Upon seeing this three of the ME-109's slowed their attack and started to escort the bomber to a German air field. To do this three 109's flew formation by one fighter on each wing and the third came up just under the tail turret. After surveying their plight the pilot ordered the waist gunners and the tail gunners - - on his signal - - to aim for the cockpits of the fighters and shoot them down. The saga then is supposed to report that the two fighter pilots on the wings flying formation were killed but the third fighter pilot on the tail escaped since the tail turret could not be maneuvered as quickly as the hand held waist guns. It is easy to understand how upset I could get simply because THIS NEVER HAPPENED!!

This story surfaced during Big Week that started on February 22, 1944 when we left southern Italy to destroy the Messerschmidt fighter assembly plant at Regensburg, Germany. After hitting the plants a severe blow it was another air battle with the Luftwaffe - - we were just trying to get back to our base alive. The 450th Bomb Group was hit the severest and lost the most bombers. Upon landing at our base in Manduria - - being debriefed by S-2 Intelligence Officers - - Red Cross donuts and of course our two ounces of whiskey we retired to shower , mess and just lazy around that evening waiting for tomorrow's crew list to be posted at headquarters. Sure enough my crew was listed to fly again - - we wouldn't know until tomorrow that we were once again going back to Germany, this time to the engine plant at Styer Austria.

Paul, our radio operator, had brought his short wave radio with him from home and set it up in our sleeping area. Paul was an avid ham radio operator and tuned into the German radio station just as Berlin Sally started to talk. Sally addressed her remarks to us in the 450th B.G. Since the tops of our rubber were painted white she nicknamed us the white tailed bombers. She admonished us in that we were naughty for dropping those bombs on Regensburg but added that she knew we were coming back up to Germany the next day. In her sexy voice she invited us as she said, "come on up to see us - - we have a nice surprise waiting for all of you boys who are based in Manduria." Nothing else was heard from sally that evening except some American music.

A short time after Sally signed off the air a member of another crew in our barracks came in with the rumor that one crew in the 723rd squadron had dropped their gear in a sign of surrender and then shot down the escorting Luftwaffe pilots. That evening we had all the pilots in the 450th try to determine if this was a true fact. All of the returning crews were questioned by other crews and we could find no evidence that it happened. Of course we could not find out about the crews that were shot down or killed that February 22, 1944. If this was a factual real life event we were in for more hell in the skies. If it were true I'm sure Berlin Sally would have had a field day and much mileage would be gained. The story died that night and it was put out of our minds - - but there were some serious problems that surfaced from this rumor.

The 100th Bomb Group flying B-17's in the Eight Air Force had the unholy distinction of being called the bloody 100th. The 450th Bomb Group flying B-24's in the Fifteenth Air Force had gained the same unholy distinction of having been targeted by the Luftwaffe for selected attacks. During pre-mission briefings gunners were told, when they asked about enemy fighters, don't worry about them because the 450th was on their flank - - most likely the gunners in the Eight AF were told the same thing about the 100th. Time is a great healer and over the years we have learned the reason for the 100th and the 450th being so savagely and consistently attacked was that the Luftwaffe had to have a fall group, so to speak, and we in the 450th were their selection as was the 100th.

Ironically, about twenty years later this same tale about dropping the landing gear was once again thrust at the men in those bombers. Hollywood played a big part in it. In the middle sixties television movies took most of our entertaining time. The Dick Powell theater was one of the producers of those movies. It was, to say the least, shocking to me to tune into this Air Force movie only to see the same scenario about dropping the landing gear in a sign of surrender being played out on television. This time the bloody 100th was being blamed for the dastardly deed. Maybe a visitor to this web site will be able to locate this film made by Dick Powell.

To add more validity to this disclaimer is these later investigations. During my many air show presentations I had the privilege of meeting former Luftwaffe ME 109 and FW 190 pilots who fought us in the same air battles. I had queried many of them about this gear incident and none had ever said they knew of it's occurrence.

A final disclaimer must be written to the credit and heroism of those opposing combatants of the skies. There existed, in that European air war of the early nineteen forties, overwhelming respect for men who flew and between the German Lu ftwaffe and the American and Allied Air crews. A humanistic trait unparalleled in the history of Mankind