The Final Flight of Raymond Donald Dallas and the Crew of the "I'll Get By"

Honoring the Memory and Sacrifice of

RAYMOND DONALD DALLAS

(OCTOBER 19, 1923 – AUGUST 2 1944)

And the Crew of the “I’ll Get By”

Lt. Raymond Donald Dallas

The Final Mission

Raymond Dallas, Navigator, 1^st LT., while on a combat mission aboard the B-17 “I’ll Get By”, perished along with 6 other crew members on August 2, 1944 near Airan, France.  The exact location is Airan, Calvados between Caen and Lisieux.

The crew of “I’ll Get By” on that mission were:

Capt Robert Oris Baber, Pilot, KIA

1^st Lt Jasper W. Kaylor, JR., Co-Pilot, KIA

1^st Lt Raymond Donald Dallas, Navigator, KIA

1^st Lt Frank T. Sohm, Bombardier, KIA

T/Sgt Oscar C. Walrod, Flight Engineer, KIA

T/Sgt Robert V. Hill, Radioman, KIA

S/Sgt Donald W. Phillips, Ball Gunner, POW

S/Sgt Walter J. Collyear, JR., Tail Gunner, POW

S/Sgt Barney Lipkin, Waist Gunner, POW

Capt Elmer E. Brockman, Observer, KIA

Anthony (Tony) Dallas is the lone surviving sibling of Raymond Dallas.  He is the brother to my wife’s mother, Bertha Dallas Wall.  Thanks to General John “Jack” Wormington and his daughter, Kate, I was able to do further research and establish some additional detail on the final mission of the “I’ll Get By”.

Lt. Raymond Dallas shortly before his departure to the European Theater in World War II.  He is

 with the son of his sister Virginia (Cricket) Dallas Roberts, Richard (Dickie) Roy Roberts.

Captain Baber, the pilot of the final flight, was the uncle to General Wormington, with whom I have had a number of communications on the Ancestry website and e-mail  General Wormington is a Brigadier General, USAF, Retired and a worthy expert on not only on the fatal flight of the “I’ll Get By” but on the tactical and technical insider knowledge that only a person of his rank and service could provide. 

General Wormington visited Airan, France last month to visit the site of the crash.  The town is planning to erect a monument to the crew on August 14, 2014.  This effort was primarily the result of the Mayor, and also the farmer that owns the field of the crash site; and I am sure, in no small part to the General.  It is, as described by General Wormington’s daughter Kate, “a gorgeous granite thing inscribed with the names of the crewmen.”  They cordially invite any relatives of the crew to attend the dedication.

Through research on line through various sources, I have verified that 1^st Lt Raymond Donald Dallas, 0-696069, 412^th Bomb Squadron, 95^th Bomb Group, 8^th Air Force is buried in Normandy, France in The American Cemetery, Plot 1/Row 25/Grave 4.

I also have the details of what happened that day, August 2, 1944 derived from military archives online and the Missing Aircraft Report that General Wormington was kind enough to forward to me.  The details are pretty specific, but exactly what happened that day deserves to be known.

June 6, 1944 we know today as D-Day.  Our valiant soldiers had stormed Normandy and their efforts were pushing the Germany Army inland and during a retreat to their homeland.  The Germans were not without substantial military means at the time of the final mission of the “I’ll Get By” to bomb and neutralize the German military machine.  It was still a very dark time in history, and the final surrender would not come until May 7, 1945.  There was still substantial work to be done to defeat the Nazi War Machine. 

Some minutes prior to 18:00 hours, August 2, 1944,  the Lead Aircraft flying in the high formation experienced engine trouble, and fell back in the formation. Captain Baber’s B-17 G-55-BO Flying Fortress and crew, being the co-lead of the mission because of their combined experience, assumed the point position.  The formation, it appears 18 planes in all, began almost immediately to receive anti-aircraft artillery fire.  From the incident report flight log the following excerpt, taken from the accounts of other crews witnessing the tragedy, is re-printed precisely as written:

“It was hit in the left wing by flak.  Wing tip broke off and the wing burst into flames.  A/C (aircraft) slid down to the left with the fire spreading.  It lost altitude and dropped back.  It then exploded violently and crews (from witnessing aircraft) reported bodies were thrown out.  Three chutes were seen opening (the survivors who were taken as P.O.W.).  The aircraft crashed into the ground.”  The exact time of the impact is on file as 2 August 1944, 17:52 hours (5:52 P.M).

The Crew of the "I'll Get By".  Photo recovered from United States National Archives via D. Sheley

                            The crew was "catching their ride" to their final flight August 2, 1944 at  the R.A.F. Base in Horham, England.

This photo is of the crew of the “I’ll Get By” shortly before their final mission.  1^st Lt. Raymond Dallas is 8th from left in front seat of the jeep.  The family was informed that Raymond had “maxed-out” on missions and that he volunteered for this flight due to lack of availability of a replacement navigator.  General Wormington informed me, when I asked about this, that for lead crews the max number of combat missions that constituted a “tour” was 28-33.  By referring to flight log, 1^st Lt. Raymond Donald Dallas had already flown 28 missions prior to the day of the final mission.  The only other member “maxed-out” that day was the co-pilot, 1^st Lt. J.W. Kaylor with 32.  This makes the story handed down by the family that this was a volunteer mission for 1^st Lt. Raymond Dallas is not only possible, but also very probable.

General Wormington informed me that there were 10 crew in a B-17; four officers and six enlisted men.  The officers wore visored hats, the enlisted men baseball hats.  In this final photo, they were catching their ride at the RAF Base in Horham, Suffolk, England.  This photo is from military archives online.

There are 11 men in the photo, and 5 officers.  One EM did not fly as scheduled on the mission, waist gunner S/Sgt William W. Adamson, a regular member of Captain Baber’s crew.  Captain Elmer E. Brockman, a command staff officer HQ 95^th Bomb Group (Asst S-3), flew in his place as an observer, believed to be 1^st on left in photo without a flight jacket. General Wormington believes the 11^th face in the photo is of S/Sgt Adamson, who survived the war and retired as CMSGT USAF.  He is as yet unidentified in the photo.  Second from the left is in the photo is S/Sgt Collyer, who also survived the war, and retired as M/Sgt USAF.  T/Sgt Walrod was I.D.’d by his son and grandson, KIA, 5^th from left. S/Sgt Lipkin, POW, was identified by his daughter as the 9^th from the left, in the middle of the front row of the jeep.  T/Sgt Hill, KIA, S/Sgt Phillips, POW and S/Sgt Adamson (did not fly} remain unidentified.  General Wormington informed me that ball turret gunners were small to fit inside the ball turret, and S/Sgt Phillips was 5’6” and is likely far right in the photo.

Only 3 officers are wearing the visored hats with the “50 mission crush” (removing or warping the grommet in the cap to look as if it had been permanently warped by head phones), an affectation of pilots in WWII.  Captain Baber, KIA, is believed to be the driver of the jeep.  1^st Lieutenant Kaylor, Co-Pilot, KIA, is 3^rd from left. Fourth from left is the bombadier, 1^st LT Sohm, KIA

American Cemetery, Normandy, France

I am reminded of the great descriptive line paying tribute to our valiant soldiers of all branches during World War II, “All gave some, some gave all.”

Keith Wayne Ragan, May 22, 2014

Copyright May 22, 2014 by Keith Wayne Ragan and may not be reproduced or published in all or part without the consent of the author.  The story is intended for family use and research and may be reproduced or copied for ancestry files.