Aircraft Crash - Cleveland Bay, Australia - 1943
Talmadge Epps was supposed to take this fateful flight
– and his name was never removed from the Flight’s Manifest.
This incident occurred when the entire 345th Bomb Group (498th, 499th, 500th
& 501st Sqdns) had their planes lined up on the tarmac of Garbutt Air
Field, Townsville, Australia - awaiting conversion from medium bombers - to
Low Level Strafer Bombers – in August 1943. Our Commanding Officer was
able to arrange for one C-47 to fly a limited number of personnel to Sydney
for one week R&R (Rest & Recuperation). Our Group had been in active
combat since April 1943, no one had had time off or leave time, so a week
in Australia’s largest City (Sydney) ... was ‘ A DREAM COME TRUE
‘ And the fact that we had received several months back pay that afternoon
- added to the joy - and expectancy. I had a small fortune - for that time
- over seventeen hundred dollars in American money. I felt like a millionaire.
My buddy Mike Korczynski and I were among the first to register - the list
was filled very quickly. Anyway, Mike and I made plans to - shave -shower
- go into town for dinner - go to a movie - return to camp - go to bed early.
We would be awakened at 3:00 A.M. and ‘jump’ on the plane for
Sydney – a paradise compared to life in New Guinea. As we were leaving
our barracks to board the bus to town, we got involved in a big dice game
in the latrine (toilet), and by the time “lights out" (bed time)
sounded - we were both ‘flat broke’!!
When the CQ (the person who awakens the personnel at the appointed time) came
by - I was undecided, so I called over to Mike, to see if he was going to
Sydney - he was still perturbed at me for getting us involved in the dice
game -our losses were about the same - and suggested that "I perform
an impossible physical maneuver" – (a common expression among military
men) - I took his response as a “NO”. Charles Zahora from Coaldale
Pennsylvania, one of the winners in the dice game - asked me if I was going
- and could he buy my place. My reply – “that I wasn’t going
and he could have my place - no money”. That made him very happy. Several
days elapsed before we became aware, the plane had crashed.
The answer is YES - Charles Zahora took my place on the flight to Sydney and
his name would not be on the flight manifest -my name was registered on the
flight manifest. The conversation with Charles Zahora and myself occurred
at 3:00am, in a barracks with thirty or forty sleeping men. Only the men scheduled
to make the flight to Sydney were awakened by the C.Q. Charlie was awake and
dressed - maybe he never went to bed due to the dice game. I did not ask him
anyway. To the best of my knowledge no one took Mike’s place - his name
might have been crossed off the list when he did not board the plane.
About Robby Gerhardt - I can’t recall he ever mentioned it to me - we
flew a lot of missions together, and close- calls were a way of life at that
time. No, Bob (now he is called Robby) never gambled to my knowledge, and
I never saw the list after I signed it. Mike and I were among the first to
sign the list because we just happened to be standing by the bulletin board
when the notice was placed there.
Many air crewmembers - turret gunners, - radio - gunners, - flight engineers
- who were killed had to be re-placed. And trained replacements were almost
Nil - it was necessary to recruit replacements from within our Squadrons.
All must be volunteers - no one could be ordered to fly in combat. Then they
must be trained - from scratch to fill positions completely foreign to any
training they ever received. We had personnel from the motor pool, - the dispensary,
- the kitchen, - the armament section, - the ordnance section....all flying
combat missions!!
To survive a combat mission, a set of circumstances that combine - LUCK...SKILL...GOOD
FORTUNE...AND...PRAYER -had to exist. For the five or six crew members and
their plane to survive - any failure of the plane - or a crewmember –
could, and too often did, cause a disaster! To deal with this problem, and
meet the demands for planes and crews when missions were scheduled - was indeed
difficult - but we managed.
Talmadge O. Epps
Technical Sergeant - Flight Engineer
500th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bombardment Group (M).
Wayne PA USA
