I remember George telling me that he had a radio strapped around his body, and when he jumped the bomber was going so fast that the force of the airstream instantly ripped the radio out off his uniform. To me, this detail confirms what George told me on two different occassions: the pilots wanted to ditch George and his two comrades quickly and fly home because the bomber was running into heavy anti-aircraft flak and the Polish crew was on its final mission. Not only did the pilots drop the OSS men in the wrong place, they were flying far too fast for a safe drop . George said the loss of the radio compromised the mission - he could not communicate after he hit the ground. (A Halifax bomber could fly at 265 MPH; the maximum safe airspeed for a parachute jump is 120 MPH, according to Wikipedia.)
That's so interesting, Andrew! I love the detail (and am so impressed that you remember all of it). I do think that the pilots were trying to ditch him, and then they went back and entered falsified accounts of the mission. When I can get to DC, I'm going to try to find the official reports on the mission. Also, thanks for looking up the details on the Halifax bomber - fascinating, and definitely supports Opapa's version of things.
Late comment: I remember the similar story to you, the only difference is that it was a Polish RAF crew that told them to jump early because it was their last mission and they were running into flack..
Also I thought that the the Austrian member of the team was never heard of again.
Interesting! And you're right, the Austrian member of the team disappeared, but it turns out he survived. I think Opapa knew that, but maybe not. Patrick O'Donnell's book makes it seem like he found out years later but maybe that was wrong.
A short coda: Opapa had many versions of his autobiography on his computer, and I’ve just found another narrative about the ill-fated jump into enemy territory on February 7, 1945:
"[W]e took off in a British Halifax bomber piloted by a Polish crew on their fortieth (last) mission. The cockpit was closed and we s[a]t in the body of the plane on benches along the side, never seeing or talking to the crew. A red light was overhead; when that turned green that was the signal to jump.
It turned out that our plane ran into anti-aircraft fire and the crew was not about to risk their lives on the last mission for two guys they have never even seen. They turned on the green light, we jumped behind the German lines in Nazi-occupied Slovenia, and they were off."
Most of the details here remain the same, but there is one key difference: Opapa notes that the crew that was flying the Halifax bomber was Polish. An interesting detail, and one I can hopefully check once I get access to the OSS files.
I remember George telling me that he had a radio strapped around his body, and when he jumped the bomber was going so fast that the force of the airstream instantly ripped the radio out off his uniform. To me, this detail confirms what George told me on two different occassions: the pilots wanted to ditch George and his two comrades quickly and fly home because the bomber was running into heavy anti-aircraft flak and the Polish crew was on its final mission. Not only did the pilots drop the OSS men in the wrong place, they were flying far too fast for a safe drop . George said the loss of the radio compromised the mission - he could not communicate after he hit the ground. (A Halifax bomber could fly at 265 MPH; the maximum safe airspeed for a parachute jump is 120 MPH, according to Wikipedia.)
That's so interesting, Andrew! I love the detail (and am so impressed that you remember all of it). I do think that the pilots were trying to ditch him, and then they went back and entered falsified accounts of the mission. When I can get to DC, I'm going to try to find the official reports on the mission. Also, thanks for looking up the details on the Halifax bomber - fascinating, and definitely supports Opapa's version of things.
Late comment: I remember the similar story to you, the only difference is that it was a Polish RAF crew that told them to jump early because it was their last mission and they were running into flack..
Also I thought that the the Austrian member of the team was never heard of again.
Interesting! And you're right, the Austrian member of the team disappeared, but it turns out he survived. I think Opapa knew that, but maybe not. Patrick O'Donnell's book makes it seem like he found out years later but maybe that was wrong.
I am so impressed with your digging into this -- from maps to second and third hand accounts. Really interesting.
thanks!
A short coda: Opapa had many versions of his autobiography on his computer, and I’ve just found another narrative about the ill-fated jump into enemy territory on February 7, 1945:
"[W]e took off in a British Halifax bomber piloted by a Polish crew on their fortieth (last) mission. The cockpit was closed and we s[a]t in the body of the plane on benches along the side, never seeing or talking to the crew. A red light was overhead; when that turned green that was the signal to jump.
It turned out that our plane ran into anti-aircraft fire and the crew was not about to risk their lives on the last mission for two guys they have never even seen. They turned on the green light, we jumped behind the German lines in Nazi-occupied Slovenia, and they were off."
Most of the details here remain the same, but there is one key difference: Opapa notes that the crew that was flying the Halifax bomber was Polish. An interesting detail, and one I can hopefully check once I get access to the OSS files.