Oliver - #15-1
Standing L-R: Gotham, John E. (TTG); Reiser, John C. (NG); Genoff, James E. (RO/LWG); Beppler, William A. Jr. (BTG); Obadowski, Stanley R. (TG); Keller, Charles V. (E/RWG)
Kneeling L-R: Konapaka, Peter (N); Oliver, John G. L. (P); Diehl, Nolan (CP); Klein, Paul F. (B)
The following is an account of the Odertal mission of December 17, 1944 as kept by Charles Keller:
Odertal, Germany
Rough mission. As long as Brux, but not as deep inside of Germany. New target. Briefed for heavy flak and not too much on fighters. Hit flak twice on the way to and back from the target. Fighters hit us about thirty minutes before the target. Fight lasted about fifteen (15) minutes. They made several passes at our flight, but didn't knock any of our ships down. Knocked down all six ships from D Flight. Gotham and Beppler got a claim on one each. Shot at a lot of them, but only had a couple of shots at ships not on breakaway. Flak at the target was pretty light and inaccurate. P-38 escort. They all disappeared when fighters hit us. They probably were pulled away by other fighters. Seen three B-24s go down. One was going down smoking and then blew up. Tail section was blown clear, rest of ship burned. Didn't see any chutes, but was too busy to watch for them. 6-500lb. RDX. Date: December 17, 1944. Pilot - Oliver. Mission value - 2, total 31. Sorties - 25. Final count - Group lost 12 B-24s, credited with 21 fighters. 21 out of 30.