m  a  r  k    e  r  i  c  k  s  o  n    p  a  i  n  t  i  n  g  s


Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Air Corps 1942 - 1945

Click to view Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson's complete thirty five 
mission list and twelve B-17 Flying Fortresses flown between
March 27th thru August 26th, 1944 out of Horham Airfield, England.



A photo of my father, Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson standing before an abandoned Luftwaffe Junkers
Ju 88- Bomber at the Tortorella Airfield - Foggia Satellite No. 2 in Foggia, Italy - August 1944

Attached is a list of the twelve B-17s Ernest Anders piloted between
March 27th through August 26th, 1944 out of Horham Airfield in England

My father spent time in early August of 1944 in Italy after completing four
missions as part of shuttle bombing run. It was his longest assignment that
began on August 5th, 1944, when the Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085) took off
from Horham Airfield in England on the first in a series of five consecutive
shuttle bombing missions which spanned the width of the European continent.

During that ten-day run Ernest and his crew encountered barrages of deadly flak fire and some
Luftwaffe fighter resistance. After flying missions over Rahmel and Trzebien in Poland, and Bazau
in Romania, the squadron landed at Poltava Airfield in the Ukraine, where they refueled and rearmed.
They carried out one final mission in Eastern Europe and then headed towards the Mediterranean.

They landed at the 15th Air Force base in Italy, formerly controlled by the Germans at Tortorella
Airfield, referred to as Foggia Satellite No. 2. He spent the time in and around Foggia unwinding from
the long week of flying. Soon enough he and some of the crew commandeered a jeep.

They visited the Mediterranean cities of Salerno & Naples and my father had a chance to photograph
the allied ships which were moored in the harbor and scattered throughout the waterways. In Foggia,
a crew member captured what I have always thought were classic photos of my father standing in front
of various abandoned Luftwaffe bombers.

The photos were taken not long after the Allies had taken over the airfield. Abandoned equipment and airplanes
were strewn across the countryside. The images in these photographs seem surreal. I look at them and imagine the
chaotic retreat of the once highly disciplined and invincible German military. By mid August the ship and crew left
Foggia and completed one more mission, their 34th, over Toulouse, France before heading home to Horham.

By late August my father and crew awaited the day they would complete their last and final 35th mission.
The cards laid out for that mission on August 26th, 1944 took a very uncertain last minute diversion.


© Mark Erickson 2017 All rights reserved.

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Contact via Email @ Mark Erickson or visit his website @
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