My father Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson (in center of photo marked with red dot) was with the 334th Squadron of the 95th Bomb Group. The photograph was taken on September 7th, 1944 at Horham Airfield in England.

You can see how creative the 95th's Air Corps airmen and ground crew were when they used bombs to write '200' on the airfield, celebrating the completion of their 200th mission. A program from the two day event is below, with Glen Miller and His Moonlight Serenade Orchestra the obvious highlight of the evening's party.

The photo below is from one of the evenings festivities and my father participated in both. He often talked of seeing Glen Miller and enjoying it so much. Sadly on December 15th, 1944, Miller's flight from England to Paris, that departed from the Royal Air Force airfield in Twinwood Farm in Clapham disappeared while flying over the English Channel. A tragedy of enormous magnitude, and when my father heard the news the memory of that evening dancing to Glen Miller's Orchestra just three months before was fixed into his consciousness forever.

By the time of this photo, Ernest had completed his 35 missions and was awaiting orders on a transfer he had requested to fly the B-29 Superfortress. He continued on at Horham flying repaired and newly arrived B-17s, checking them for combat duty. He was happy to stay in country and his days of combat flying were over for at least awhile he felt.

On the days of September 9th and 10th, the men and women of the 95th celebrated the completion of their 200th bombing mission. In October of 1944 my father moved on to his next assignment in the states.

Ernest piloted Twelve B-17s during his many months at Horham:
Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085) *Taint A Bird II (230342) * Fireball Red (231876) Able Mable (231920) * Mirandy (231992) * Gen'ril Oop & Lili Brat (231993) To Hell Or Glory (238123) * Ten Aces (238178) * Smilin' Sandy Sanchez (297290) Paisano (2102450) * Stand By / Goin' My Way (21072014) * The Doodle Bug / What’s Cookin? (2107047).

My father's final mission, his 35th was completed on August 26, 1944, a mission over Brest, France. Specifics of the mission:

359 B-17s are dispatched to attack gun batteries in the Brest, France area. The targets are the bridge at Brest/Pont de St Mathieu and the coastal batteries at Kerandieu, Cornovailles, Brest/Ile Longue, Brest/Kerviniov and Brest/Ponscorf. The targets of opportunity were the bridges at Brest/Point des Espagnoles II and Brest/Pont des Espagnoles III. 3 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 4 damaged. 18 airmen are Killed in Action. The escort is provided by 49 P-51s and 1 P-51 was lost.