1st Lt George A. Mauch was the Bombardier in the Bullock flight crew. The crew began combat missions with the 819th Bombardment Squadron (30th Bomb Group) in Oct 1944. In Feb 1945 they transferred to the 431st Bomb Squadron (11th Bomb Group) and began to fly combat missions from Guam. Finally they moved to Okinawa in Jul 1945 from which they bombed targets in Japan and China until the end of the war.

The members of the Bullock crew were:

Richard M Bullock (Pilot)

Donald A Elliott (Co-Pilot)

John J Toolan (Navigator)

George A Mauch (Bombardier)

Lee R Skinner (Engineer)

Vartan P Dzerigian (Radio Operator)

Wallace L Briggs (Radio Operator)

Frederick W Hess (Gunner)

George A Cummins (Gunner)

William C Cullen (Gunner)

Lyle C Davis (Gunner)

Wallace Briggs seems to have replaced Vartan P Dzerigian about when the Bullock crew transferred to the 431st Bombardment Squadron.

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The_Fresno_Bee_May_05_1945, page 3:

Staff Sergeant Vartan P Dzerigian, 24, of Fresno, CA participated in 40 Liberator missions against Japanese bases in the Pacific including 25 pre-invasion attacks on Iwo Jima, but the incident he would most hate to go through again occurred over Chichi Jima, in the Bonin Islands. The Liberator on which Dzerigian served as a radio operator and waist gunner was detailed to make a lone night raid on the Chichi JIma airfield to prevent mainland Japanese planes from using it as a base for operations against the American landings on Iwo Jima. "Over the field we were caught in the beams of seven searchlights", Dzerigian said. "Our pilot tried to get out of the light. He could not escape, but we bombed the field anyway. He dived the Liberator with a full bomb load from 8,000 feet to the level of the mountain tops, right through the flak. I was afraid we would not pull out of the dive, but we did. We unloaded our bombs and got back to base, though the pilot's windshield was knocked out, and he was stunned momentarily". He said the plane was partially disabled and flak hit the wings.

The raid over Iwo Jima on D-Day was one of Dzerigian's most exciting experiences. "We went in low just one hour before the invasion. We bombed and strafed the beachhead. Just offshore we could see the great armada of landing oats maneuvering into position to go into the beach. The boats were nearing shore when we had to start back to base. I wish we could have stayed, but our fuel was too low."

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Vidette OH_Messenger_of_Porter_County_1945_June_16_page_2

Bombing raids on by-passed Pacific islands are referred to as "milk runs" by pilots, but the crew of a 7th AAF Liberator found a recent attack on Marcus Island far from routine. With a crew of 10, the Liberator took off from the Mariannas and flew for six hours to the target, a remote but awkward enemy holding that measures about a mile and a quarter on each side. Marcus' extremely accurate enemy anti-aircraft fire had opened up when the Liberator's bomb bay doors stuck. The flight engineer, Cpl Thomas C Troxel, Gallatin, MO, went to look for trouble but caught his flak suit in the bays and was suspended in midair. He wiggled loose and, looking down on water, Marcus and anti-aircraft flashes, manages to free a 50-caliber link from the bomb bay tracks, opening the doors.

Because of the delay, most of the other planes in the formation had headed for home. As the Liberator soared over the island again ground gunners were able to concentrate upon it. One flak shell burst close and fragments entered the plane at several places. Two oxygen bottles in the waist blew up, starting a fire. To prevent the flames from spreading, T/Sgt Wallace L Briggs, Brattleboro, VT, the waist gunner and radio operator, slammed shut the doors leading to the bomb bays and, with the aid of the other gunners fought the fire with rags, flak suits, and an extinguisher. The ball gunner, Cpl Donald P Watters, Henryetta, OK, was standing almost over the oxygen when it exploded. "My feet were numbed by the blast. I didn't dare look down at them. I was sure they were mangled.", he said. A waist gunner, Cpl Robert L Ashenbrenner, Missoula, MT was burned slightly around the legs. One flak fragment passed under the nose of the pilot, Lt. James Shaw, Rochester, NY. It smashed his canteen and splashed water on the windshield. The heating system caught a piece and rebounding fragments cut the leg of the navigator, Lt Donald H Cronquist, Santa Rosa, CA, who was attended by Flight Officer Stuart J Ruch, Springfield, IL. A piece of steel had torn through Ruch's compartment, but he was not hit.

More mechanical difficulties followed and the plane's speed could not be reduced. She promptly out distanced the two planes which had stayed behind with her. Over its base, the plane now flying on three engines, lost control of a second engine. The plane made a crazy 180-degree turn and headed out to sea. The pilot said they "were at 500 feet and going down fast. Another five seconds would have seen us in the water". But Cpl Troxel was back in the bomb bay again. He switched the engines on to cross-feed fuel, and with a loud backfire the third engine came back. Troxel credited Shaw with a "beautiful landing". Ground crew members counted 75 flak holes in the plane.

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Missions flown by the Bullock crew from Saipan:

Date/Target: 21 Oct 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Liberty Bell, #44-40708

Date/Target: 23 Oct 1944 - Pagan Island -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 25 Oct 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 2 Nov 1944 - Chichi Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Liberty Bell, #44-40708

Date/Target: 3 Nov 1944 - Marcus Island -----------------Airplane: B-24: Liberty Bell, #44-40708

Date/Target: 10 Nov 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 14 Nov 1944 - Woleai Atoll -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 18 Nov 1944 - Chichi Jima Shipping -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 24 Nov 1944 - Chichi Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 27 Nov 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 8 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 12 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 17 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 20 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 24 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 27 Dec 1944 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 1 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 3 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 4 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Out of this World, #44-40681

Date/Target: 9 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: [No name known], #44-41498

Date/Target: 13 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: [No name known], #44-41498

Date/Target: 17 Jan 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

Date/Target: 20 Jan 1945 - Haha Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

Date/Target: 13 Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

Date/Target: 15 Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

Date/Target: 17 Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

Date/Target: 19 Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima -----------------Airplane: B-24: Bat Out of Hell, #44-40526

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More information about the 30th Bombardment Group:

30th Bombardment Group (Heavy)

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