The visitors' book at the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) Memorial at RAF Molesworth

The visitors' book (to see Click on DOWNLOAD HI RES below) at the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) Memorial at RAF Molesworth, England shows the signature of former Corporal Earl F. "Frank" Ingalls on June 2, 2001 when he came back to his old base with his comrades for the dedication of the memorial. The lower page shows the entry of his great niece Ms. Tami Rager who recently visited this base. Corporal Earl F. "Frank" Ingalls flew his first thirty-three missions as a ball-turret gunner with the crew of First Lt. Arthur Lorentz but was wounded on his thirty-fourth mission with another pilot. (Photos by Staff Sgt. Chad E. Chisholm and Staff Sgt Rachel A. Goff. Montage by Staff Sgt Goff)

The crew of Army Air Corps First Lt. Arthur Lorentz

The crew of Army Air Corps First Lt. Arthur Lorentz including ball turret gunner Corporal Earl F. "Frank: Ingalls whose great niece Ms. Tami Rager visited RAF Molesworth recently. (Back L-R) 1Lt Arthur Lorentz (P), 2Lt Robert H. Scott (CP), 2Lt Leroy A. Hewitt (B), 2Lt William A. Smith (N) (Front L-R) S/Sgt Gerald W. Clark (RWG), T/Sgt Jon B. Kreager (E), T/Sgt Walter E. Ringen, Jr. (R), S/Sgt Earl F. Ingalls (BT), S/Sgt Dwight W. Gonser (LWG), S/Sgt Paul L. Greenwald (TG)

Ball turret gunner Earl F. "Frank" Ingalls reunites with his former pilot Arthur Lorentz

Former U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 "Flying Fortress" ball turret gunner Earl F. "Frank" Ingalls reunites with his former pilot Arthur Lorentz on the left and his former radioman Walt Ringen in 1999. Former First Lieutenant Lorentz presented Cpl. Ingalls with a piece of flak extracted from the ball turret in which he was wounded during his thirty-fourth mission in 1944. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Tami Rager)

B-17 Ball Turret Gunner: 33 Missions Without a Scratch; The 34th Was Different

Published Feb. 11, 2009
By Peter G. Park, Commander's Action Group
JIOCEUR Analytic Center

ROYAL AIR FORCE MOLESWORTH, England -- A bomber aircrew was more than a team; it was a nine or ten person family - a family routinely engaged in aerial combat operations in the dangerous skies over Nazi occupied Europe in World War Two.

Flying with another crew was regarded as risky and dangerous. B-17G Flying Fortress ball turret gunner Corporal Earl F. "Frank" Ingalls flew his first thirty-three missions with the crew led by First Lt. Arthur Lorentz without injury.

That changed on his thirty-fourth and last mission with another crew on the 275th mission of the 359th Bomb Squadron of 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) on November 21, 1944. As a result of this mission Corporal Ingalls would wear a steel plate in his head for fifty-nine years. The attack that day was against the heavily defended Leuna Synthetic Oil Refinery at Merseburg, Germany. Reducing the availability of fuel to the Nazi war machine was a high priority in the months following the allied invasion in Normandy in June of that year, and Leuna was the largest synthetic oil producer and is still a large chemical production complex today.

Thirty-one aircraft from the 303rd were damaged and six crewman were wounded - including Corporal Ingalls who was sent back to the U.S. Few Luftwaffe fighters were seen, but flak was described in the mission report as "intense and accurate."

Visiting RAF Molesworth recently, Ms. Tami Rager, niece of Corporal Ingalls described her uncle and his crew: "Apparently, after Uncle Frank was wounded, his regular pilot Lt. Art Lorentz was still on base awaiting transportation home after completing his own thirty-five missions. Lt. Lorenz went to the plane that my uncle had been in when he was wounded and pried a piece of the flak out of the turret. He saved that flak for all those years and when they met again in 1999, he gave it to Uncle Frank. "

It was Ms. Rager who linked up her uncle with the 303rd Bomb Group Association and urged him to attend the reunion and dedication of the memorial at Molesworth in June 2000. Mr. Ingalls passed away in 2003. It was an emotional moment when Ms. Rager signed the same guest book at the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) Memorial that her uncle had signed in 2000.