Battle of the Bulge Support Mission: Castle

Sunday, 24 December, 1944 - Eighth Air Force Mission 760

2,034 bombers and 853 fighters were launched in the largest strike of World War II. Of this massive total, 10 fighters and 12 bombers were lost. Among those lost was Brigadier General Frederick W. Castle.

General Castle was the commander of the 4th Combat Wing of the 3rd Air Division. On the 24th of December, the 4th CW had been assigned the role of leading the entire 3rd AD into Germany. True to his reputation, Castle chose to lead the 4th CW in a 487th BG(H) B-17.

The 3rd AD formed up and flew across the channel. The plan was for the Division to break into smaller groups near Leige, Belgium and to proceed individually to their targets. The 487th BG(H) was among the 96 B-17s assigned to bomb the airfield at Babenhausen, Germany.

Accounts of the mission indicate that the 4th CW was at 22,000 feet, on a heading of 120 degrees at about 35 miles from Liege when it was attacked by 25 Luftwaffe fighters. General Castle, "Purple Leader", was hit during the initial attack and lost his #4 engine. He transferred mission lead to "Purple 2" and dropped to 20,000 feet. Still having difficulty controlling the plane, Castle dropped to 17,000 feet. At that point, the ball-turret gunner reported six Me-109's approaching from 6 o'clock. Two crewmen, the radar navigator and the tail gunner, were wounded during this pass.

The Me-109's then split up with three attacking from the side and the other three circling for another rear attack. During this pass, two of the three remaining engines caught fire. Realizing that he could loose control of the aircraft at any moment and refusing to salvo his bombs on the Allied troops below, General Castle ordered the crew to bail out. Six men jumped to safety.

At 12,000 feet, the Me-109's renewed their attack. The oxygen system and a fuel tank were set ablaze. General Castle was attempting to set the plane down in an open field when the Fortress spun in and exploded.

From Castle's Medal of Honor Citation:

"He was air commander and leader of more than 2000 heavy bombers in a strike against German airfileds on 24 December, 1944. Enroute to the target, the failure of one engine forced him to relinquish his place at the head of the formation. In order not to endanger friendly troops on the ground below, he refused to jettison his bombs to gain speed and maneuverability. His lagging unescorted aircraft became the target of numerous enemy fighters which ripped the left wing with cannon shells, set the oxygen system on fire, and wounded two members of the crew. Repeated attacks started fires in two engines, leaving the Flying Fortress in imminent danger of exploding. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the bailout order was given. Without regard for his personal safety he gallantly remained alone at the controls to afford the crew members an opportunity to escape. Still another attack exploded gasoline tanks in the right wing, and the bomber plunged earthward, carrying General Castle to his death. His intrepidity and willing sacrifice of his life to save members of the crew were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service."

About The CFS Mission

Summary - The Clouds, Visibility and Wind values are all set to One. The skies were clear over England on the morning of this mission, but there was some cloud cover over the continent. Unfortunately, Cfs defines these values globally for the entire mission, so I've compromised by setting each of these values "light".

The player aircraft is set up as the CFS default P-51D Mustang. The Airbase defined is Leiston, which is accurate for the CFS Mustang - a 357th FG ship.

Formations - I am only including 13 B-17's in this formation for performance reasons. Typically, a Bomb Group would launch three 13 plane squadrons at this time of the war, for a total of 36 aircraft. The 487th was part of the 4th Combat Wing, which included:

• 94th BG(H)
• 385th BG(H)
• 447th BG(H)
• 486th BG(H)
• 487th BG(H)

I have given General Castle's B-17 a damage value of "2", which indicates "Smoke and fire from an arbitrary aircraft system". The CFS Mission Editor documentation notes that, with this value, the object will quickly explode. In flying this mission, however, I have found that this is not true.

Again, for performance reasons, I'm only including a small number of Me-109's. Mission accounts indicate that the Wing was attacked by at least 25 Luftwaffe fighters in the vicinity of Liege, Belgium.

Although I've shown that the Luftwaffe fighters originated from the Bonn-Hangelar, Babenhausen and Moenchengladbach airbases, I really have no idea where they actually came from.

The attack orchestrated at the Babenhausen airfield is not, to my knowledge, documented. I've included it in order for the player to have something to "do" in the target area besides watching the bombers drop their loads.

Ground Units - An "RAF Sparse Grass Field", Type 8005, is included in the Liege, Belgium area in order to simulate the presence of ground troops. For follow-on versions of this mission, a new ground layout type will be defined that is more appropriate.

The target for the 487th was the airfield at Babenhausen. This is the standard three-runway layout for a Luftwaffe field and these are the coordinates of the Babenhausen field that appears in the Cfs scenery, although that field is not documented to exist. Setting this up correctly is a story in and of itself...

Waypoints - Microsoft's (online) Expedia indicates that Liege, Belgium is at N50 20.17 E5 41.38. The mission accounts indicate that the first attack occurred at about 35 miles from Liege on a 120 degree heading. My calculations show this to be N50 45.83 E4 53.75.

I have no idea where the bombers actually crossed the Dutch Coast. The position used seemed reasonable to me.

The intention is to show Castle's Fortress in the Liege area only. For that reason, it's waypoints all surround that location.

References

The following references provided information to compile this mission:

Lingering Contrails of the Big Square A - 94th Bomb Group 1942-1945 by Harry E. Slater.

USAAF Handbook, 1939 - 1945 by Martin W. Bowman

The Mighty Eighth by Gerald Astor.