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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.


My father Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson of the 95th Bomb Group wrote this letter on August 24th, 1944 while he was stationed at Horham Airfield (Station 119) in England. He flew B-17s on thirty five missions over German occupied Europe.


Dear Folks & Dinny        August 24, 1944 England

Did you get that letter that I sent from Italy yet? Still haven’t got that last mission. Sure would like to get it in so I could be through.

It’s raining here again. However it was pretty nice this morning and early part of the afternoon. Your letters are coming in real good. Seems like I get one every other day. Sometimes I think I get two at a time.

We’re the oldest crew on the field now. So many new faces, it seems like I’m at a new field. Sure will be glad to leave.

I’ve been reading about the Super Fortress (B-29). I may get into one of those when I am done here. Will write again in a couple days.

Love, Ernie


Their main ship was the "Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) and my father and crew had returned in mid August of 1944 from a shuttle mission run that covered a large span of Europe with missions over Poland, Romania and France. Included were three lay-overs at Poltava Airfield in the Ukraine and the Fifteenth Air Force's Foggia Airfield in Foggia, Italy

When he wrote this letter my father had just returned from a seven day "flak" leave in London. He and the crew awaited to complete their 35th and final mission. which they would complete on August 26th. Unfortunately their ship the "Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) with another crew aboard went down over Poland on August 25th. The crew instead flew Stand By” / “Goin’ My Way (21072014) over Brest, France.

The details of their 34th mission: On August 12, 1944 flying the "Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) received “extensive” battle damage and participated on a combat sortie over Toulouse, France.

The shuttle-bombing mission United Kingdom - USSR - Italy - UK is completed; of the 72 B-17s taking off from Fifteenth Air Force bases in Italy, 3 have various problems; the others bomb Toulouse/Francazal Airfield, France and then proceed to the UK; 62 P-51s (part of the shuttle-mission force) and 43 from the UK provide escort; no aircraft are lost; 70 B-17s and 58 P-51s land in the UK; 5 B-17s and 6 P-51s, either left in Italy or returning there during this mission, subsequently return to England.

The details of their 35th and final mission: On August 26, 1944 flying "Stand By” / “Goin’ My Way" (21072014) received minor - degrees of damage and participated on a combat sortie over Brest, France. 359 B-17s are dispatched to attack gun batteries in the Brest, France area; targets are Brest/Pte de St Mathieu, and coastal batteries at Kerandieu, Cornovailles Brest/Ile Longue, Brest/Kerviniov and Brest/Ponscorf; targets of opportunity are Brest/Pte des Espagnoles II and Brest/Pte des Espagnoles III; 3 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 4 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA. Escort is provided by 48 of 49 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost.

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.

Ernest Anders Erickson's Air Corps Biography


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© Mark Erickson 2017 All rights reserved.

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