The Last of the Original Grim Reapers

a p-47 of the 493rd in flight, likely taken in spring 1945. photo: Col. William H. Casterline & USAFHRA.

Two surviving P-47 fighter bomber pilots of the 493rd Fighter Squadron, COL Jacob Cooper and CPT Edwin Cottrell recall their experiences flying sorties over the Western Front in World War II.

By Seth Marshall

               Today in 2023, the generation which took part in the Second World War is slipping ever further out of living memory. Out of some 16 million Americans who served in uniform during the Second World War, about 167,000 are estimated to have been still alive by the US Department of Veterans Affairs in September 2022. To put this in perspective, an 18-year old Private serving in the US Army in 1945 would today be 96 years old.[1] With these figures in mind, the importance of telling the experiences of those veterans remaining has only grown.

            During the Second World War, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) developed its fighter bomber forces into a lethal component that carried out armed reconnaissance, armored column cover, interdiction and most notably, close air support. These fighter bomber forces began development in North Africa in late 1942 and by the late summer and fall of 1944 had fully bloomed into a devastating force. The aircraft which most units operated was the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the heaviest single-engine fighter of the war. One of the many units which flew the Thunderbolt was the 493rd Fighter Squadron, part of the 48th Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force, known as the “Grime Reapers.” Of the dozens of pilots who flew with the squadron during the war, I could find only two still living today- Edwin Cottrell and Jacob Cooper.

            Jacob Cooper was born on January 28, 1924 in the small town of Ilon, New York. He grew up in Ilon and completed high school there, graduating in 1941. On December 7th of that year, Cooper was with friends in town when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “Some of us young teenagers went to church on Sunday morning, and after church we would meet at the local eatery just to socialize and have a coke… and a friend of mine had a car, and we were just driving around, and that’s how I learned about Pearl Harbor. It seems like a remote occurrence, not fully understandable with its ramifications and how it would affect our lives later on.”[2] He had grown up with an unbridled interest in flying; he built model airplanes, he read accounts from the flying aces of the First World War, and collected scrapbooks of airplane photos. When the war broke out, Cooper decided he wanted to enter the relatively new USAAF, which had only supplanted the US Army Air Corps in June. In 1942, he too and passed the exam to enter the aviation cadet program and was sworn into the Army in August 1942. He remained in New York for several months until he was ordered to begin his training in January 1943.

Jacob cooper, pictured in a p-47. Source: https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/memories-of-an-ibsley-thunderbolt-pilot

            Edwin Cottrell was born in Oklahoma City in 1922, but moved with his family to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania when he was less than a year old. He grew up there, and after graduating high school in 1940 entered college. He was a sophomore when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Cottrell had gotten first taste of flying the summer before Pearl Harbor when he took part in the College Pilot Training Program, a government-funded program. He began learning to fly at Shearin, Pennsylvania while working as a lifeguard for the summer, and was able to cut his teeth on Piper Cubs. By the end of the summer, Cottrell had his pilot’s license and 30 hours of flying time. Deciding that he would much rather fly than spend the war as an infantryman, he applied to the pilot training program and was sworn into the Army in August 1942, reporting for training in February 1943.

Lt. Ed Cottrell in the cockpit of his p-47. source: Bastogne war museum

               Training for pilots in the USAAF was vigorous and demanding, with many cadets being washed out of the flying program and transferred to other skillsets. For all pilots, life in the USAAF began with Basic Training. For the future pilot cadets, Basic Training was more oriented towards learning the ins and outs of military life, such as customs and courtesies, drill and ceremony, and basic tasks of an officer. Basic training lasted about a month, and was divided into two two-week halves during which the cadets were underclassmen and upperclassmen- upperclassmen were recalled as having done quite a bit of hazing, as Cooper recalls: “It was nothing but a lot of hazing. There was a certain time at night that we set aside for studying, and I think at about 8 o’clock in the evening that period ended, and they came downstairs.”[3] After the month-long indoctrination course, cadets would typically be sent to Primary Training, where they would become acquainted with flying in the military. Jacob Cooper was sent straight to Primary Training, but Ed Cottrell was delayed for three months while waiting for a class to open up, and was instead sent to two different camps in Wisconsin and California where he did physical training, radio and Morse Code training, and drill.[4]

            In Primary Training, the cadets learned the basics of flying in PT-19s, a low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear designed to be flown by beginners. Cadets here typically flew with an instructor for the first dozen or so hours of their flying career before being sent on their solo flight. Many cadets were washed out during this phase, having been found to be incapable of adapting to flight. After completing Primary Training, cadets next moved to Basic Flight Training, where they would fly the Vultee BT-13, nicknamed the “Vultee Vibrator”- this aircraft was also a low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear, but it had an enclosed cockpit and could fly faster and do aerobatics. At Basic Flight Training, pilots were given their first taste of night flying, flying in formation, and eventually were selected for either single-engine fighters or multi-engine aircraft such as bombers and transports. Both Cooper and Cottrell were selected to become fighter pilots and were ordered to proceed to Advanced Training.

            At Advanced Training, cadets flew the North American T-6 Texan, an aircraft which still had two seats but also had retractable landing gear, a more powerful engine, and was armed with a machine gun for gunnery practice. Cadets also began learning how to dogfight one another, and still carried on with the same training they had already been given earlier, including formation flying. While many accidents occurred during the various stages of training for most cadets, neither Cooper or Cottrell could recall any specific incidents during their own training. “… I don’t recall too many accidents, but there were a lot of close calls,” recalled Cooper. “We did foolish things, taxiing too close to one another. In the air we used to fly formation, so close that we would slap one wing of our plane onto the wing of the plane we were flying formation with.” [5] While in Advanced Training, both Cooper and Cottrell had the opportunity to cut their teeth flying an actual fighter aircraft- the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. By 1943, the P-40 was no longer a leading fighter aircraft, but there were enough around to allow the top cadets in classes to fly a real fighter aircraft for several hours. According to Jacob Cooper, the P-40 was not the easiest plane to fly.

“They could not have selected a more difficult plane for inexperienced people. If you gave here the gun, the plane would turn. And you had to push the opposite rudder- you still were always fighting with the rudder- you could never quite get them trimmed up properly. It was not an easy plane when it was in the air- and when it was landing, it was worse. The landing gear was so damned narrow, we had a lot of ground loops at the end of the runway after we landed. Nothing dangerous, nothing that damaged anything- it was just very difficult to keep straight and level if you had to on the runway. Other than that, I kind of enjoyed it. It was an accomplishment. It was a powerful combat aircraft- it made me feel good that I could fly such a thing.”[6]

A trio of P-40s flying in the us. the curtiss p-40 was the most modern fighter in us service at the outbreak of war. though it was quickly surpassed by newer fighters, it remained in service until the end of the war. photo source: wikipedia.

Ed Cottrell was not a fan of the P-40 either- while flying the P-40 at Luke Field, Arizona, he thought to himself, “Man, if I have to fly this plane, I’m really not going to be too happy.”[7] After flying some 10 hours a piece on the P-40, both Cooper and Cottrell graduated the Cadet training program with their wings and were commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army Air Forces; Cooper graduated in November 1943, and Cottrell graduated in early 1944.

Newly-minted pilots- Lt. Jacob cooper (R) and LT Jim Watson (L) pose for a photo outside of their barracks at aloe field, 1943. photo source: https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/memories-of-an-ibsley-thunderbolt-pilot.

            Jacob Cooper proceeded to Harding Field in Louisiana, where he would be introduced to the Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt”. Cooper had hoped to fly the Bell P-39, which he had read was being used in Italy for ground support missions, and was at first somewhat disappointed to see the large P-47s on the tarmac. He soon came to appreciate the P-47s characteristics, comparing it favorably to the P-40.

“Well, it was much easier. The landing gear was very wide, it had a great big radial engine. You couldn’t see taxiing straight ahead, you had to tax and “S” back and forth so you could see where you were going, and in combat we always had an enlisted man on the wing telling us when we got close to the end of the taxiway. But I didn’t have any trouble with the P-47; I enjoyed it- it was big and sturdy and safe. Later on we learned it could take a lot of punishment and still get you back home. But it was an easy plane to fly.”[8]

Ed Cottrell was trained on the P-47 at Wendover Field in Utah. He was much more favorable towards the Thunderbolt than the Warhawk. “When I got into that P-47, I was happy. It had a 2,000-hp engine, a very big cockpit… It was very easy to fly- it took off by itself, it pretty much landed itself, it was just a really powerful airplane and was comfortable to fly.”[9] The P-47 had evolved from several earlier designs by Republic Aviation and first flew in 1941. Officially named the “Thunderbolt” but more popularly known as “The Jug”, the immense P-47 had a 2,000-horsepower Pratt & Whittney engine and weighed 12,000lbs.[10]  Early versions could achieve 430mph at over 30,000ft and had a combat range of 475 miles. Later versions had a higher rate-of-climb, increased speed and range, and could temporarily increase power to 2800-horsepower using water injection. [11] When production ended in 1945, over 15,000 of these large fighters had been produced.[12]

Now fully-fledged pilots, both Cooper and Cottrell spent the next two months training on the P-47, as well as spending a significant time in a instrument flying simulator known as a Link Trainer. As qualified fighter pilots, the young Second Lieutenants were prone to flying aerobatics and dogfighting their classmates, which occasionally had unintended consequences. Ed Cottrell and several fellow pilots got into trouble for flying their big Thunderbolts in formation under the Salt Lake City Bridge, and later had a close call while performing aerobatics.

“Two of us were told to go out and do aerobatics and do some things with the ’47 that we wanted to do. So we did some barrel rolls, some loops, some snap rolls, and then the two of us decided that we’d see how far up we could take the ’47. So we got up to 35,000 feet, and then we decided maybe we’d “Split S”- and we did. And that was the stupidest thing I’d ever done in my life. We were going down, and then I noticed that all of a sudden that the stick was flapping back and forth. I tried to grab it, but it had no effect.”

a republic p-47 with the raf prepares for a mission over burma in 1945. the p-47 was the largest single-engine fighter of the war, and saw heavy use in the european theater as a fighter bomber. photo source: wikipedia.

Cottrell had encountered a phenomena known as “compressability” which occurs when an aircraft approaches the speed of sound. During the Second World War, piston-engine fighter aircraft were nearing the limits of the propeller design, and during steep power dives it was found that controls could become unresponsive. This was caused by pressure waves forming across the control surfaces of the aircraft and preventing their movement; many pilots reported regaining control at lower altitudes, but the phenomena was fatal to some.

“We got down to where the altimeter was just spinning. When I finally got ahold of the stick to get control of the plane, I pulled out at maybe around 8,000 feet, and I pulled up and blacked out. I can remember blacking out and coming to. So we took the plane back, and when I landed the instructor looked at the plane, and he just chewed me out. He said, “You know the canopy is cracked? That thing could have come off, and you’d have been sucked out and gone.” So that was the first indication I had that you gotta be smart if you’re gonna survive.”[13]

In addition to learning how to fly the P-47, the new pilots were instructed on aerial gunnery, strafing trucks, and dropping practice bombs.[14] After two months of training, the new P-47 pilots were prepared to be sent overseas. Unlike their Axis counterparts, by this stage of the war American pilots were very well trained and much better prepared for combat. Jacob Cooper, who still has his logbook, remarked that by the time he completed his training at Harding Field, he had about 250 flying hours. Before he was assigned to the 493rd, he would receive even more training in England.[15]

            In April 1944, Jacob Cooper was sent overseas. After arriving in England, he was sent to a theater indoctrination unit, where he flew P-47s for about a month to become oriented to flying in Europe. After a month in England, Cooper was assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group. The 48th had originally been formed on January 11, 1941 as the 48th Bombardment Group at Hunter Field in Savannah, Georgia. What would become the 493rd Fighter Squadron was originally the 56th Bombardment Squadron- it was redesignated on May 18, 1942. The Squadron participated in the Tennessee Maneuvers in 1943, and was sent overseas in March 1944, arriving in England on March 29th.[16] Cooper’s first mission with the squadron was on May 23rd, just a week after arriving. When Cooper arrived to the unit, he actually had more time in P-47s than the rest of the Squadron, which had only just recently converted from other fighter types. Cooper’s first few missions with the Squadron took place before D-Day and were a mixture of dive-bombing, bomber escort, and bombing bridges.[17]

A p-47 of the 493rd fighter squadron, pictured in march 1945 at st. trond. the 493rd’s p-47s were distincitvely marekd with a red checkerboard on the nose cowling. Photo Source: American air museum.

            Cooper didn’t fly on D-Day- the Squadron had 45 pilots but only 24 aircraft to go around. Being one of the newer pilots in the unit, Cooper was not scheduled to fly that day. He flew the next day though to bomb a railroad bridge on the Contentin Peninsula. While the Allies had achieved air superiority in the spring of 1944, the Luftwaffe remained a threat to the Allied beachhead. On June 10th, On June 10th, Cooper was flying with his squadron over Normandy when they were attacked by Focke-Wulf FW-190s. The 493rd had its first combat loss in this action- Lieutenant (LT) Richard Reid’s P-47 was shot down. He managed to bail out and spent the next two months evading capture before returning to the unit in August.[18] On that occasion, the Germans had not stayed around to duel it out with the Americans- they flew away after attacking. Just two days later on the 12th, Cooper was flying a patrol near the Channel coast when his flight was engaged again FW 190s. This time, a dogfight erupted between both sides. Cooper was flying as a wingman to flight leader Tony Porter. “It was spinning around, turning around, trying to get on the German’s ass. I was kind of brand new… I was assigned to Tony Porter, who was leading the flight at that time, leading the flight I was on, and I was his wingman. We were always taught that the wingman protects the flight leader or the element leader. So I didn’t look for any Germans to shoot down- I was flying not quite in formation, but close to Tony as he maneuvered to try to find a German that he could shoot at.”[19] The 493rd had encountered a formation of 15 German fighters on this day- 14 FW-190s and curiously a single Messerschmidtt Me-109. The squadron claimed six German aircraft destroyed and one as a probable kill.[20] Tony Porter claimed two FW-190s shot down, with Cooper flying as his wingman. Recalling this dogfight, Cooper remembered, “There was no feeling- it was something to be expected. It was a big jumbled-up mess. And when it was all over, the Germans went back to Germany, or back to the eastern parts of France.”[21]

Lt Jacob Cooper (R) and his best friend, lt. jim watson (L) at their base in england, 1944. photo source: https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/memories-of-an-ibsley-thunderbolt-pilot.

               For the first couple of weeks after D-Day, Cooper and the 493rd flew missions from their base in England across the Channel. Shortly after the Allies landed, engineers began clearing airstrips in Normandy, cutting down trees and shrubs and laying down Pierced-Steel Planking mats to create runways. When the first of these airfields were finished, fighter-bomber units like the 493rd would take off in England, complete a mission, land on one of the Normandy airfields to refuel and rearm, fly a second mission, then fly back to England.[22] In mid-June, the 493rd was ordered to cross the Channel and occupy a newly-created airfield in Normandy. Ground support elements of the 493rd went across to France on June 18th.[23] On June 25th, the squadron’s pilots followed suit. Cooper was still considered a new pilot, so he had to ride in a C-47 with the other newer arrivals while the more experienced pilots flew the P-47s across. The 493rd’s new home in Normandy was an apple orchard. Because the airfield was hastily built for the purpose of combat and not comfort, the pilots stayed in canvas tents. After arriving, Cooper and the other pilots dug foxholes to dive into in the event of artillery or a German air raid, as well as latrines. Shower facilities were non-existent- many pilots filled their steel GI helmets with water to wash off. Issued K Rations to eat, the “officer’s club” was an old picnic table in the orchard. Cooper recalled,

“And that’s the kind of air force we were; it was the same when the 9th was in Africa. Dusty, dirty- whereas your friends who went to the 8th Air Force were enjoying the evening if they came home safely. They’d eat in their officer’s club, have steaks, there was a PX, and live it up… we were living in tents.” [24]

Even the airfield itself was somewhat crude. The PSP runway was just 5,000 feet long, which could prove challenging when taking off in a fully-laden P-47.[25] The fighting in Normandy progressed relatively slowly- the pilots could hear artillery in the distance. During landing approaches, Cooper recalled that if a pilot flew a wide approach the Germans would shoot at the P-47s. “… if we were too far south, we would get shot at. It was very close.” Some pilots took Jeep rides up to the vicinity of the front lines to have a closer look at ground combat- the fighting was less than half an hour’s drive from the small airstrip.[26]

This p-47 of the 395th fighter squadron is parked at a typical norman airfield, with fighters dispersed as best they could be among orchards and farms. photo source: american air museum.

            After the invasion began, most missions the 493rd flew entailed some form of ground support or ground attack. During the first weeks of the invasion, large numbers of artillery were in relative short supply; the fighter bombers came to be used a sort of aerial artillery. Groups of fighters, usually a squadron of twelve, would take off and head towards their designated area. Once they were within a few minutes of their target zone, the flight leader would contact an air-ground liaison officer with the army unit’s corps or divisional headquarters via radio for updated information. Army units would mark targets on the ground for the fighter-bombers with red smoke for best visualization. Once an attack run had been completed, pilots would report the results of their attack to the officer on the ground, which would usually be followed with further attack runs in the area or searching for targets of opportunity in the area.[27] Later, the commander of the IX Tactical Air Command, Major General Elwood “Pete” Quesada, ordered that pilots be rotated to the front to act as forward observers in Sherman tanks equipped with VHF radios, since they better understood what kinds of terrain features and landmarks were visible to pilots in the air. [28] For close air support, the P-47s of the 493rd could carry a variety of ordnance. In addition to the eight .50-caliber machine guns, they could carry 250lbs or 500lbs bombs, or clusters of small anti-personnel or incendiary bomblets. Cooper recalled that about the half the time the pilots knew what the target was in advance, while during the other half the pilots would take off and either search for targets of opportunity or be directed onto targets by radio.[29]

            Many of the planned missions which Jacob Cooper and his fellow P-47 pilots flew were interdiction missions, targeting bridges, rail marshalling yards, or roads. For missions targeting marshalling yards, the P-47 could carry up to three 1,000lbs bombs to blow the rail lines apart. The P-47 pilots would target anything behind the German lines which moved, to include horse-driven carts. Studies by ground teams would later find that tanks were very seldom destroyed by air attack except by direct hits from bombs, but they could be damaged or their younger and inexperienced crews might be frightened into abandoning them by the bombs and rockets from the fighter-bombers. While the armor was rarely outright destroyed by the P-47s, soft-skinned trucks and other motor transport was positively devastated by the concentrated firepower of eight .50-caliber machine guns.

               As the tempo of missions for the 493rd increased during the summer of 1944, so did the risk accidents. While LT Reid might have been the first casualty for the pilots of the 493rd, he was not the first casualty for the squadron. Back on May 27th, when the unit was still based in England, a heavily-loaded P-47 from the 493rd’s sister squadron, the 492nd, crashed on take off. The Jug, loaded with two fuel tanks and a 1,000lbs bomb, skidded off the runway and caught fire. Several ground crewmen ran to the scene of the accident to rescue the pilot- as they were carrying him away, the bomb still on the Jug detonated, wounding several of the ground personnel. Jacob Cooper had his own accident later in Normandy.

“We had a short strip at 5,000 feet, which is barely enough for a P-47, and it was made out of metal stripping. And when you touched down, you had to be at the end of the runway, or you had trouble braking enough to stop at the other end. And if you had a crosswind, we would come in with our nose into the wind slightly, and before we touched down we would give it appropriate rudder to straighten out the plane while it was parallel to the runway. Well, I didn’t kick it out and reposition quick enough and I kind of hit the runway sideways… and blew the left tire… the left landing gear collapsed, and I skidded to a stop off the left side of the runway. The investigation clearly stated that it was pilot error. You know sometimes your mind wanders, and you are happy to be back at base. Although it was not very nice- we were living in tents at that time- you would kind of relax and you’re not 100% involved in what the hell you are doing. And that’s a pretty dangerous situation…”

These kinds of accidents were not uncommon. Fortunately, the ground crews were highly capable, and often had the damaged aircraft ready again in no time. In the case of Cooper’s accident, his ground crew replaced the engine and landing gear of the damaged P-47 very quickly- he was back in the air in the same plane the next day.[30]

            For much of the summer, the Allies made slow progress in Normandy; the bocage country, filled with thick hedgerows and sunk lanes, proved to be ideal terrain for defensive ambushes. However, Allied planners began planning for a massive breakout operation to take place near the end of July. On July 25th, Operation Cobra began with a massive aerial bombardment of German positions. The 493rd took part in this bombing effort, which targeted just a few square miles with hundreds of aircraft. A second bombardment followed the next day, and American Army units began pushing through the breach created in the German lines. Within days, it became clear they had achieved a major breakthrough. To try and halt the Americans, the Germans launched a large counterattack near Mortain to try and drive the Allies back. Jacob Cooper flew two missions with the 493rd in the area on August 11th and 12th. On the 11th, the 493rd dive-bombed a German position north of Mortain. The next day, Cooper and the rest of his flight caught a column of tanks and other vehicles east of Mortain. Cooper’s bombs were very precise- one landed between two tanks and flipped them over, an event witnessed by one of the other pilots in his flight.[31] Cooper and his squadron kept flying ground attack missions in the days that followed, as the Allied armies began encircling German forces in the vicinity of Falaise. The Germans tried to escape through a gap in the lines, but this created a concentration of vehicles and troops that drew swarms of Allied fighter bombers.  This was one of the most lethal periods for the Jug pilots; Allied troops were soon slowed by roads clogged with flipped tanks, wrecked vehicles, and countless dead horses. During the 15-17th of August, the 493rd flew sorties into the Falaise area, targeting the Germans who were attempting to escape.[32]

               While the P-47s along with their RAF Hawker Typhoon counterparts proved to be extremely deadly, the pilots took heavy ground fire every time they flew. Ground fire was the deadliest risk to the Jugs- in the two weeks after the start of Operation Cobra, IX Tactical Air Command lost 80 aircraft, half to ground fire.[33] German units were usually equipped with a mixture of towed and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Normal German flak units were equipped with 12 x 20mm FlaK 38s or 9 x 37mm FlaK 36s. Panzer divisions from both the Wehrmacht and SS were equipped with far more guns; a Wehrmacht Panzer Division had 74 x 20mm guns, 8 x 37mm guns, and 8 x 88mm guns.[34] As a result, P-47 formations always were met with flak. When asked how common it was for aircraft to be damaged by flak, Cooper replied:

“Oh it would be unusual for us NOT to be hit. Course if we were flying high, we would be worried about the German 88 anti-aircraft artillery, but we were so low most of our hits were from 37mm fire, much smaller fragments. You would come back and you would have a lot of little holes in your fuselage, maybe your ailerons or whatever. There would be a lot of missions where you wouldn’t get hit, but you wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”[35]

Fortunately, the P-47 was a tough aircraft; on one occasion, Cooper’s P-47 lost a piston. The damaged engine threw oil all over the windshield, which made for a difficult landing.

The flakvierling 38 was one of the more common and formidable anti-aircraft defenses which p-47 pilots faced. firing 20mm cannon shells, it had a practical firing rate of 800 rounds/minute and a range of over 2km. photo source: bundesarchiv.

            The Falaise Gap was finally closed on August 21st. 50,000 Germans were taken prisoner, and another 10,000 had been killed. The German 15th Army had managed to extract most of its men, but had lost nearly all of its armor and most of its motor transport in the process.[36] In the remainder of August and into September, the fighter bombers continued to support Allied drive across France. Before the end of August, the 493rd relocated to a small airfield in a suburb of Paris for a short while, then moved to another airfield at Cambrai in northern France. This would be where Edwin Cottrell would join the Grim Reapers.

During the summer of 1944, Edwin Cottrell had still been back in the US, completing training. IN mid-August, he shipped out for Europe; he arrived in late August after steaming across the Atlantic in the converted cruise ship “Ille de France.” Cottrell only spent a week in England before he was sent across the English Channel.[37] It took some time for Cottrell to move to the 493rd’s location at Cambrai, but he finally arrived on September 28th.[38] Cottrell only flew his first mission or two from Cambrai before the Squadron relocated again, this time to St. Trond, Belgium. Unlike the fields which the Grim Reapers had been operating from in Normandy, St. Trond had been constructed before the war, then improved by the Luftwaffe after Germany occupied Belgium. Prior to the Luftwaffe’s eviction from the base, St. Trond had been a base for German night fighters intercepting RAF Bomber Command aircraft flying nighttime raids. The base had a 10,000-foot concrete runway and several permanent hangars. The pilots were quartered in a nearby multi-story school and were assigned six to a classroom to live in. As Cottrell related, conditions at St. Trond were pretty good for the fliers:

“I had a nice warm room and a cot, and there were six other guys. Every night we’d play poker, we had good food, and every day we’d go down [to the airfield]. If George Pullis was flying, I knew I wasn’t going to fly because I was sharing the aircraft with him. When I was due to fly … he didn’t fly.”[39]

This flying rhythm was common for all of the pilots; there was not enough aircraft to go around, and generally the squadron had twice the number of pilots as aircraft. However, The exceptions to this rule was the flight leaders, who were assigned a personal aircraft and frequently flew multiple sorties a day. By the time the 493rd arrived in St. Trond, Jacob Cooper had been promoted to First Lieutenant (1LT) and made a flight leader and now had his own aircraft, which he was able to name. Cooper got the idea for the name during one late bout of drinking with fellow pilots; unable to recall the actual lyrics to a popular Bing Crosby song, he made up his own line, “Oh, would you rather be an owl.” Thereafter, Cooper’s nickname was “Owl”, and he shared the name with his own Thunderbolt- “The Owl” was adorned with an owl perched on a branch, painted on the cowling.[40]

As a flight leader, Cooper had more responsibility than the newer pilots. On a given mission, there might be between 1-4 flights of aircraft, though it was usually 2. The flight leader had seven pilots assigned to his flight, and of these, only four could fly on a mission at a time. The flight leader had to select which pilots would fly on a mission, was given more detailed maps to navigate to the target area, and may be tasked with leading a larger formation on some missions. For his part, Cooper enjoyed being flight leader. “… the first time you are leading the squadron on a mission, maybe you’re leading eight aircraft- that’s quite a responsibility, which I enjoyed. It was good for your ego that you could do that, that you got all eight planes back safely.”

a squadron photo of the pilots of the 493rd, taken winter 1944/45. photo source: https://theveteransmuseum.org/when-i-got-out-of-that-plane-i-kissed-the-ground/

The squadron continued flying missions supporting US forces throughout the fall. During these missions, the 493rd, now a well-experienced squadron, received praise on several occasions for its performance. One memo was received from the Commanding General of the 30th Infantry Division, Major General Leland Hobbs in late October for the wing’s performance during the month. Closing his letter of praise, Hobbs wrote:

“The close cooperation demonstrated, and the superior way in which these mission were carried out, contributed largely to the success of this division in driving through the Siegfried Line and in closing the gap around Aachen, Germany. It is requested that this group be assigned to work with the 30th Infantry Division whenever the situation permits.” [41]

However, these successes were not achieved without cost. In late October, Captain Gerald A. Jackson was shot down and listed as Missing in Action. Jackson had had a pet dog which had been left behind by the Germans in St. Trond, which briefly ran away after his master was shot down. He returned to the squadron on November 4th and was adopted by Ed Cottrell and christened “Herman the German.”[42] On December 1st, 1LT Jasper Whitlock was shot down while attacking German troops near Glembach. Whitlock was wounded in the arm, but was able to bail out west of Aachen was later picked up by Allied forces. On the same mission, LT G.E. Jones’s Thunderbolt was also damaged; he limped back over friendly lines before crash-landing his damaged aircraft.

 In early December, the Grim Reapers were assigned a mission to provide support to US infantry near the town of Jülich, just inside the border of Germany. On December 6th, Cottrell took off with the squadron and attacked German positions near the town.

“The 9th Army and the Germans were separated by a soccer field, and the 9th Army was bogged down- they were under heavy fire, they couldn’t move and everything. I flew wing to the Squadron Commander, and we took off- we were at about 200 or 300 feet and came in over Jülich, made a pass just to see what it looked like, sung around, came back in and dropped our bombs from 200 feet- skip-bombed them into the German side of the field and made another pass after the bombs exploded, then pulled up. Our commander flew us by instrument home. I got home and the crew chief showed me where there were over 30 bullet holes from small arms fire on the plane. I had no idea I’d been hit.”[43]

The 493rd’s performance on December 6th was lauded by the Commanding General of the US Ninth Army, Lieutenant General William Simpson. A memo was sent to the commander of the 48th Fighter Bomber Wing, Brigadier General R. Nugent, which read, “Ground Observers from XIX Corps report your execution of missions V-89-8, -9, and 10, one of the finest feats of flying they have ever seen, several direct hits seen and early observations indicate complete destruction of these enemy strong points.”[44] Another event which had occurred in October was a change in the Squadron’s command. Major Stanley Latiolas had taken command from Lieutenant Colonel William Bryson on October 15th. Bryson had been the squadron commander since prior to D-Day, but Latiolas was an experienced pilot well-respected by the other flyers.[45]

               By December 1944, the Grim Reapers had been flying from St. Trond for two months. The base had become a home of sorts- a few days earlier, on November 25th, a new officer’s club had been opened. The inaugural event at the new club was a dance with several Red Cross nurses and a local dance group called the “Belgian Belles.” Outside, the temperatures steadily plummeted and snow blanketed the countryside in one of the harshest European winters in recent memory. Over 75 years on, Ed Cottrell still remembers the cold, and how he dressed to stay warm.

“We had our actual flight suit, and then I had a leather jacket- we all had leather jackets, but I don’t ever remember wearing gloves that much. I guess we did when it got cold. I know cause it was cold in Belgium when we were there. That cold in December while we were there was I think the coldest I’ve ever been in my life.”[46]

The squadron history notes that coal was being consumed quite heavily by the pilots in their classrooms-turned barracks rooms, and that some of them had resorted to burning pieces of wood to keep warm in the cold.

Despite the weather, the pilots kept flying missions when they could. Even though the Luftwaffe had by this time mostly ceased to be a significant threat over the battlefield, missions were still incredibly dangerous. The weather in northern Europe was unpredictable at times, especially during these winter months, and the Germans still had an abundance of anti-aircraft guns. The latter was the most dangerous threat to the Thunderbolt pilots. Flying missions called for extreme concentration and focus in the middle of a situation in which the Germans were doing their best to shoot down the Thunderbolt pilots. Ed Cottrell described the average experience on returning from an average mission:

“When we came back from a mission, it if was a quick mission and nobody got damaged or anything, most of the time, we would open the cockpits and fly at lower altitudes with fresh air. I can remember every time I landed, we would land on the runway, and at the end of the runway we would turn, and at the end of the runway would be our crew chief, and he would climb up on the wing, and then he would guide you back, because you couldn’t see to taxi, because with that big engine you can’t see at all. But he would point and turn like this, and when we got into where the plane was going to be serviced and everything, there was areas where the dirt was piled maybe three feet up to protect the planes in case the enemy came in and strafed- they had these piles of dirt to protect the planes. The first thing they always did was come up on the wing and offer you a cigarette, if you wanted a cigarette. And the second thing they did, you went to the debriefing, and you met with the intelligence officer and gave your version of the mission. And we had two intelligence officers, so we would sit and talk, and then they would move another pilot in, but you never knew what the first pilot told him. And then after you gave your intelligence, then you had a choice- if you wanted it, you could get a shot of whisky.”[47]

While most pilots would probably consume their whiskey shot, Cottrell did not. “I promised my wife… I was smart enough to know you can’t drink and fly, you know if you’re going to fly, you better be ready to fly.”[48] Instead, Cottrell saved up his whisky rations until he had a complete fifth; he then gave half of that to his ground crew, and the other half to the cooks. Cottrell remembered, “So I ate well, and my plane was always taken care of.”[49] Jacob Cooper also saved his whiskey rations, albeit for different reasons. The pilots were allowed to take passes and go into Brussels, one of the closer large cities, and as Cooper recalled, “You’d be very popular to have some American booze with you in the city.”[50]

            Besides post-mission shots of whiskey, fighter pilots in the European Theater received a ration of one quart of scotch and one quart of gin every month. In addition, the Squadron had an L-20 liaison plane which the pilots would periodically fly down to Reims in France and come back with several crates of champagne.[51] As a result, most pilots were able to freely indulge in alcohol during evenings after missions. For those who didn’t drink, like Ed Cottrell, they engaged in other activities.

“Most of the guys in my room… none of those were drinkers, none of us. We were card players- we played poker all the time. We played for nickels and dimes- and if you ran out of money, then you didn’t borrow, you were out of the game. When we got down to four card players, then we’d quit. When the next start of the month came, we’d start up again when we got paid. But that’s what we did, we played cards more than anything else.”[52]

Later, as the 48th Fighter-Bomber Group settled in at St. Trond, some recreational facilities were erected. Cottrell, who had played basketball in college, was drawn to an old barn near the airfield whose floor had been turned into a basketball court, and he would frequently go there to shoot baskets and play games.[53]

As December progressed, the weather worsened. Bad weather could cause flights to be delayed or cancelled entirely. For the Germans, the bad weather was a blessing and an opportunity. Bad weather kept the Thunderbolts, known to the Germans along with other fighter-bombers as “Jabos”, grounded and therefore allowed the Germans to move reinforcements and supplies to where they were needed unhindered. With the Luftwaffe having been reduced to a shadow of its former self, it also allowed the Germans to launch a massive counterattack in the Ardennes Forest on December 16th. The counterattack, which would eventually be known as the Battle of the Bulge, saw the Germans break through American lines in the Ardennes. Even with the weather as bad as it was, the need for fighter-bombers to provide support of any kind to the struggling American ground forces was quite serious. As a result, on December 17th the Grim Reapers were tasked with bombing a bridge in  Germany, across which tanks were believed to be being prepared to move to the front. For Ed Cottrell, this would become his most memorable mission.

“I was flying wing to our Squadron Commander [Major Stanley Latiolas]. We took off, and we got down over by Koblenz, which is on the German side. We spotted Tiger tanks in the woods, so we made a pass down. I dropped my bombs, my Squadron commander dropped his bombs. He went first, I went second, and then as we pulled up- we got up to maybe 2,000 or 3,000 feet- I noticed a German aircraft flying directly toward him. I called my commander and told him there was a 109- then the 109 turned and the next thing I knew, I head a big “Pop!” and there was oil all over my windshield. His 30mm had hit my plane. I told him [Latiolas] I was hit, and I didn’t know what was going to happen.”[54]

Cottrell and his fellow pilots had been jumped by between 20-40 German fighters. In addition to the damage Cottrell’s Thunderbolt had sustained, Major Latiolas had been wounded when bullets passing through his P-47’s canopy threw shards of glass into his face. Cottrell continues:

“I couldn’t climb- the engine sort of chugged along, it looked like it was going to quit, and I was getting ready to bail out. My commander, who had also been hit, said to just head west. So I started west, and I was just above stalling speed- I had no idea where I was, and I looked out to one side, and there was a German 109. And I looked on the other side, and there was another 109. They crisscrossed behind me- I thought they were going to shoot me down. But they didn’t- they pulled into formation, throttled back and flew for maybe 10 or 15 minutes at a slow speed. All of a sudden, they made a circle with their thumb and first finger and peeled off. I kept going- I found out later… I was over the bomb line, and they had escorted to there. I had no idea where I was- my radio still worked, so I asked if anybody could pick up and identify where I was. A voice came over and said, “You’re not far from your base- you’re south of your base. Just turn 90 degrees and you’ll run into it.” We never landed from the south, we always came in from the north to land. Every mission we ever flew, we came in from Aachen, Germany and came into the north part of the base, so I never knew what was south of the base. And finally, just as I saw the airfield and was going to land… the engine quite, so I had to deadstick the plane in, which I was able to do. I came to a stop, and they towed me back to the [hangar] and I found out that I had lost 8 cylinders out of the 18 that the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 had, and it still flew.”[55]

German aircraft escorting badly damaged US aircraft began to friendly airspace was not unheard of during the war; famously, German pilot Franz Stigler escorted the badly damaged B-17 “Ye Olde Pub”, flown by Second Lieutenant Charles Brown back to the North Sea rather than shoot him down. That incident was documented in Adam Makos’ book, A Higher Call. Cottrell doesn’t recall any distinctive markings on the 109s, making identification of the German pilots and their unit more difficult. It may be that the German pilots realized that the war had effectively been lost by Germany, or they simply had taken pity on the American’s visibly battered airplane. In any case, Cottrell’s experience is remarkable. Asked what he was thinking when he saw the German planes, he recalled:

“I just kept saying, “Well this is it.” I just flew along, waiting. And I knew if they started firing, I was going to find a place to take the plane and hope it didn’t explode… they were young, just like I was. I have no idea who they were.”[56]

December 17th was a hard day not just for Ed Cottrell- it was the toughest day for the Grim Reapers during the war. In the same dogfight in which Cottrell’s P-47 had been mangled and Latiolas had been wounded, two other P-47s were hit and shot down, with both pilots killed. One of the pilots was 1LT Jim Watson, who was Jake Cooper’s best friend.[57] The loss hit Cooper and the Squadron hard. The Germans had not gotten away unscathed though- the Squadron claimed three planes shot down. Later in the afternoon during another mission, the Grim Reapers again encountered German fighters. This time, they claimed two destroyed for no loss to themselves. Cottrell recalled that despite the damage to his P-47, which was named “Our Mary”, it was not written off. A new engine was installed, and the plane was back in the air within a week, although 1LT George Pullis, who shared the aircraft with Cottrell, was not happy about the damage to his airplane.[58]

               Despite the losses, the pace of flying didn’t let up as the Battle of the Bulge continued on the ground. Later in December, on the 27th, Major Latiolas was shot down by flak while attacking a supply dump in Luxembourg. He was able to bail out near Syren, but fractured one leg and sprained and ankle when he landed- he was unable to fly for a month afterwards. On the same mission, Lt. Dilley was hit badly by flak- he was able to nurse his Thunderbolt back across Allied lines before bailing out.[59] The New Year did nothing to change the pace of operations; on the contrary, January 1st saw the Luftwaffe throw its last roll of the dice, which was felt by the men of the 493rd Fighter Squadron.

            On January 1st, 1945 the Luftwaffe launched Operation Bodenplatte. This operation had originally been intended to support the German Army’s counterattack into the Ardennes, but the same bad weather which had grounded the American flyers had also prevented the Luftwaffe from carrying out their mission. Hundreds of Luftwaffe fighters would take off with the objective of attacking American and British forward airfields which held the fighter-bombers that would undoubtedly attack German ground forces when the Battle of the Bulge opened. Poor planning meant that German anti-aircraft units had not been made aware of the operation, with the result that dozens of Luftwaffe planes were shot down by their own anti-aircraft guns. Still, so many Luftwaffe planes had been sent on the mission that plenty remained to attack Allied airfields.

            At St. Trond, most pilots were not awake, having indulged in some New Year’s celebrations. A few had to be awake though, like Ed Cottrell. Cottrell had broken his standing rule about not drinking the night before and had had a shot of scotch. Finding the drink not to his liking, he had gone to bed, only to be woken up at 4 AM and told that he was on runway alert- a standing alert mission where four P-47s sat at the end of the runway with their engines idling in case an order to intercept a radar contact came through. Some of the pilots were in a worse state than Cottrell- “One of the pilots that was on runway alert with me, he’d had a pretty heavy night, and they sort of had to help him into the plane. But as we sat there, you know he’s going to eventually sober up…”[60] At around 7:00 AM, Luftwaffe planes arrived at St. Trond. Ed Cottrell remembered:       

“I’m sitting in the lead plane on the edge of the runway, and all of a sudden, eight FW-190s came in over the airfield at ground level. We had two airplanes, one a B-17 and the other a B-24 that had landed at St. Trond on their way back to England because they were shot up, and they were absolutely unable to repair them, and they were parked on the side of the field, by the side of the runway, and the FW-190s went right towards those two planes firing at them. And when they came in, they didn’t drop their belly tanks, and the anti-aircraft shot down a couple of them. They made another pass, and again they made another pass and went after the B-17 and the B-24, and again the anti-aircraft got a couple of them… The four of us that were in the planes were out of them and in a ditch because we could not take off, or they would have got us before we ever got off the ground. One FW-190 came down, and was coming right down to the end of the runway, and he kept going down and coming, and he crashed right at the end of the runway, and the plane exploded and his body was thrown out. He had a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. And he was real young, maybe 16 or 17-year old kid. I guess they had just trained them enough to get them airborne, because they still hadn’t dropped their belly tanks.”[61]

One of several american airfields which was attacked on january 1st, 1945. photo source: wikipedia.

p-47s prepare for a mission at st. trond on 16 january 1945. photo: american air museum.

Back in the 493rd’s billets, Jake Cooper  had been flying nearly every day for the previous week and had the day off. When he heard that German planes attacking along with the American anti-aircraft guns firing, he jumped out of his bed. “I ran down towards the end of the [hall]… and looked out the window where I could see the airfield, about a mile away, not quite maybe- and I saw these strange airplanes strafing the field. It wasn’t that funny, but it was amazing that such a thing could happen.”[62]

            As it happened, most German units involved in Operation Bodenplatte met with disaster, with scores of aircraft being shot down by air defenses and fast-scrambling Allied fighters. The day was not without loss for the 493rd though. As no P-47s had been lost in the Luftwaffe’s morning attack, scheduled ground attack missions were carried out. While on a dive-bombing mission near Hiembach, Ed Cottrell’s friend and roommate, 2LT Theodore Smith, was shot down by flak and killed.[63]

            From the perspective of Jake Cooper and Ed Cottrell, Bodenplatte had been the Luftwaffe’s last gasp. Thereafter, the Grim Reapers would continue encountering flak or small arms fire nearly every mission they flew, but German fighters were a rarity after January 1st. With the clearing of the weather, American fighter bombers again became extremely active, wreaking havoc on German forces fighting in the Bulge. Large German columns of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks were the most prioritized targets, although interdiction missions well behind the lines continued. Jacob Cooper described how attacks on targets would typically take place:

“You’re diving at the target, and everyone and his brother is shooting up, even the infantry with their rifles, shooting at these P-47s coming down. At about 3,000 feet we would start pulling out. We would start our dive-bombing runs at about 12,000 feet- we’d be in Squadron formation, maybe three flights of four each, taking turns to hit the target. So the last guy down was a sitting duck. Anyways, you went straight down- we didn’t have a bomb sight. There was a sight on the fuselage in front of you, but it was normally used for aerial combat. We figured out that if you put the sight on the target and pulled the nose up a little bit, and released your bombs, you’d be pretty accurate. And that would be at about 3,000 feet or 2500. Then you’d pull out of the dive-bombing run and get the hell out of there as quick as you could. And then you would join up with the rest of your flight away from the target and at altitude.”[64]

As Cooper relates, the flak remained a constant threat to the fighter-bomber pilots, and the Grim Reapers would continue to have losses. On January 22nd, Captain Willard Cross was shot down behind German lines south of Zülpich, Germany. German anti-aircraft weapons were also becoming deadlier; the 30mm Flak 103/38  was a newer design intended to supplant older designs like earlier 20mm Flak guns. The Flak 103/38 had a higher sustained rate of fire than previous guns which was enabled by a newly designed feed system that allowed the gun to fire from belted ammunition at high angles of elevation. The new gun, called the “Jaboschreck”, could fire up to 480 rounds a minute and posed a much more dangerous threat to P-47s than older cannons. Fortunately, few of these newer guns were produced before the war ended.[65] 

Despite the risk of being shot down behind enemy lines, pilots frequently did not carry sidearms with them on missions, as recalled by Ed Cottrell.

“Sometimes we were told to carry firearms, most of the time we did not because they said if you were shot down and captured, if you had a firearm, it wasn’t good. If you were unarmed, there was no reason to shoot you, so must of us didn’t carry. I couldn’t hit anything with the pistol anyways.”[66]

While pilots often did not carry a pistol, they always carried maps and frequently had emergency rations for use on the ground in case of being shot down. Apart from this, the pilots carried little with them apart from personal affects. When it came to what they wore, there was a degree of variation among the pilots. Cottrell related that, “I wore my flightsuit over my boots.. We had our actual flight suit, and then I had a leather jacket- we all had leather jackets.”[67] During the winter, most pilots also wore gloves along with their usual flying helmets and goggles.

            As the war continued, it remained important for Allied pilots to maintain a close connection with the troops on the ground. It had been a policy in the 9th Air Force for some time for fighter pilots to rotate forwards to the line and act as tactical air control parties, since they were familiar with the kinds of terrain features aviators would look for. Ed Cottrell recalled an exchange policy with the 9th Army.

“Tank commanders would come back to our field, and we would show them how we briefed and everything, and we were each taking turns to up and visit a tank on the frontlines. And how we identified whether they were American- the Americans every day had a different color piece of cloth they would put on their tanks, so we knew when we took off, if it was green, it was American, if it was yellow, it was American, depending on what the color was for the day.”[68]

Cottrell doesn’t recall any incidents of friendly fire, but the concern was justified as accidents happened. It was too easy for pilots in fast-moving fighter bombers to misidentify a column of tanks and accidentally attack their own ground forces, and this happened on many occasions across the Western Front; notably, during the massive bombardment at the opening of Operation Cobra, hundreds of US infantrymen including a Lieutenant General were killed when dozens of bombs dropped by heavy bombers fell short and landed in a staging area.            

            On January 25th, Jacob Cooper was flying a close air support mission when he broke the normal rule of making only a single pass and chose to reengage his target several times with machine guns. Cooper’s actions resulted in him later being awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation for his action read:

“On January 25, 1945, while leading a squadron in close support of ground forces, Lt Cooper attacked an enemy truck and tank column with telling effect. Heedless of intense anti-aircraft fire, and demonstrating superior airmanship and aggressiveness, Lt Cooper returned alone to make numerous strafing passes until his ammunition was exhausted, inflicting additional damage on vital enemy equipment.”[69]

Today, nearly 80 years later, Cooper has difficulty recalling that specific mission, but remains proud of his accomplishment. By the end of January, the Battle of the Bulge was effectively over. Hitler had gambled on a victory against the Western Allies using his last major strategic reserves and had paid a heavy price in both men and equipment, neither of which Germany could replace by this point. The battle ended with the Allies having regained all of the lost ground and continuing with General Dwight Eisenhower’s broad front strategy, which kept the pressure up on the Germans all along the Western Front.

            February would prove see no decrease in activity for the Grim Reapers; the squadron would fly 67 missions during the month, losing two aircraft shootdown and ten more damaged- both pilots of the downed Thunderbolts bailed out and made their way back to the base.

February would also be the last full month that they would be located at St. Trond, which had been their home for four months and had become their home away from home. Ed Cottrell recalled a typical day at St. Trond:

“If you were going to fly, we’d head down to the field and have breakfast, and we would sit, and then on the board for any mission that was going to be flown that day were the names of the pilots who were going to fly, so they sat there with their flight suits, and they knew what time the mission was going to be. If you weren’t going to fly, you just hung around all day, or if you knew you were going to fly the second mission, you waited there until they came back and then you got ready to fly the second mission…”[70]

Including in this daily ritual was the mission briefing, which typically occurred during the early morning. While some readers may be familiar with newsreel footage of large briefing halls filled with bomber crewmen, fighter-bomber briefings were much more intimate affairs since they were usually just 12 pilots to a mission. Cottrell recalled the routine on days when he would have to fly.

“If you were going to fly a mission, they had a room set aside with a map of Europe, and it had chairs, and the Operations/Intelligence guy was there, and the commander, the guy who was leading the flight was there. And the Intelligence guy would tell you what the mission was, where it was, and everything they knew about it, and then the flight leader would tell you how the flight was going to go. And then when the briefing was over, they put you in a jeep and took you to your plane. As you taxied out, the crew chief was always on the wing, because you couldn’t taxi a -47 cause the nose was always higher than you were- you couldn’t see what was out front…”[71]

After returning from missions, the cycle repeated itself in reverse; ground crew would guide pilots back to the parking areas, pilots would be debriefed by intelligence officers, and ground crewmen would rearm and refuel the Thunderbolts. In their down time, the usual rituals of card-playing and drinking continued among the pilots. In February, Cottrell joined a basketball team put together by the 48th Fighter-Bomber Group which took part in a 9th Air Force tournament. Cottrell and four enlisted men in the 493rd had played basketball in college; among them was Cottrell’s armorer. Cottrell’s team took first in the tournament and brought the trophy home to St. Trond.[72]

            On February 9th, Cottrell was promoted to 1st Lieutenant.[73] While German fighters were in far less abundance after the failed Operation Bodenplatte, they would occasionally make appearances, and sometimes the enemy fighters were jets. On February 22nd, Cottrell was flying as a wingman to Lt. Graham, the leader of a flight of P-47s. There were 8 Thunderbolts airborne that afternoon, all armed with a mixture of 500lbs General Purpose (GP) bombs and 250lbs Fragmentation bombs, and their target was several factory buildings behind German lines. After dropping their bombs on the buildings despite enemy flak, the flight of Grim Reapers were headed for home when the encounter occurred, as related by the Squadron After-Action Report:

“Flying at 3,000 feet returning to base from target, observed three Me-262s headed east and slightly above the Squadron formation. Blue flight called to break turning into the e/a [enemy aircraft], at which point the e/a dove for the deck and back Northeast into Germany. Capt M.F. Mason and Lt. Harper fired good bursts into two of the e/a and both claim damage. The plane attacked by Capt. Mason was seen to jettison bombs. Encounter at 1710 hours.”[74]

Three days later, Cooper and Cottrell flew together on the same mission. Eight Thunderbolts of the Grim Reapers took off armed with a pair of 500lbs GP bombs and a 500lbs Incendiary bomblet cluster attacking two different trains, damaging both and severing rail lines during the attacks. Cottrell remembered that trains could be difficult targets; they almost always had anti-aircraft guns mounted someplace, and the pilots would usually target the engine to bring the whole train to a stop.[75] Again, on this mission a Me-262 was seen, though this time there was no engagement.[76]

Lt. broe, another pilot with the 493rd, pictured with his p-47 at st. trond in march 1945. photo: american air museum.

pilots of the 493rd head to their planes at st. trond in march 1945. photo source: American air museum.

            As March 1945 began, the Grim Reapers kept up the pace of operations as the Allied armies began pressing into Germany, attacking railway stations, trains, and any German convoys that they happened upon. On March 19th, eight Thunderbolts of the Grim Reapers took off led by Major Latiolais. On this occasion, the P-47s were armed with a mix of ordnance. Six were armed with a pair of 500lbs bombs, the remaining two were armed with a pair of 500lbs incendiary bomblet clusters with 5-second fuse delays, and five of the flight also carried a 260lbs fragmentation bomb on their centerline mount. The Squadron after-action report takes up the mission account:

“Controller “Marmite” gave targets. One tank destroyed, one tank damaged, and one road cut at F-8645, 1 x halftrack damaged and two vans destroyed at F-840395 by Major Latiolais. Bombed town of Kurchausen (F-8839), three direct hits destroying four buildings also destroying one ammo dump with incendiary bombs. Two M/Ts [motor transports] destroyed and one damaged by Major Casterline.”[77]

The report also mentions that light flak was encountered; Ed Cottrell flew on this mission in Blue Flight. Later in the day during another mission, 1st Lieutenant John Alkire Jr. was hit by flak near the target. He bailed out and was captured by the Germans on landing, but managed to escape shortly afterwards and was back flying with the Grim Reapers by the end of March.[78]

            The mission on the 19th would be one of the final sorties the squadron would fly from St. Trond. On March 21st, the Squadron was moved up to a “Strip F-54” at Kelz, Germany. This “base” was an advanced field created in the same fashion that the unit’s bases in Normandy had been- Pierced-Steel Planking, also known as Marston Matting, was laid down and joined together to form a runway in a field flat enough to support air operations. The pilots and ground crews lived mostly out of tents in these circumstances, and both Cooper and Cottrell recall that these bases were relatively crude, and conditions were generally cold and muddy. Cottrell recalled:

“Nobody liked to fly off there- they were metal strips, and they were set on fields. Most of the time, if it rained, they were muddy- mud and dirt would up through the metal strips. And they were not very long, so you had to be very careful when you took off and when you landed. Taking off, you’d be at the end of the runway and you’d rev your engine as high as you could with the brakes still on, they you’d let go and you hoped that at the end of the runway you had enough airspeed to get the plane off. We didn’t have any accidents, but people worked hard to get them up and down.” [79]

On the same day that the Squadron began moving into their new home, Cottrell’s friend Lt. George Pullis was hit by flak over a target; he managed to make it back over US lines before bailing out, and returned to duty shortly thereafter.[80] Just two days after arriving at F-54, the Squadron suffered another loss. Captain David Wiedemann III was shot down and killed by flak east of the Remagen Bridgehead. Wiedemann was one of the last two remaining original pilots who had been with the squadron since it was formed; most others had completed their necessary number of missions and had rotated home. Wiedemann’s loss was deeply felt in the squadron ranks, and illustrated that even though the war was winding down in Europe, it was a bloody affair which continued to cost the lives of countless soldiers and airmen on both sides.

lt. george pullis poses in front of the parachute-packing section of the squadron days after successfully bailing out of his damaged p-47. photo source: American air museum.

            On March 24th, the 493rd was tasked with a different kind of mission. Operation Varsity was the largest airborne operation of the war; two Airborne Divisions, the American 17th and British 6th, landed on the east side of the Rhine to secure crossing points for the British 21st Army Group. The Grim Reapers were tasked with providing air cover, and escorted the C-47s carrying paratroopers or towing gliders. 17 Thunderbolts, representing a much larger-than-usual commitment of forces, took part in the mission.[81] No German fighters attacked, but over the drop zones very heavy German flak was encountered, and dozens of C-47s were shot down in the operation.[82] Cooper flew as a flight leader on this mission, and recalled that it was relatively uneventful from his perspective as a fighter pilot, but he could see lots of activity on the ground.[83] Despite the heavy flak, the Airborne forces for the most part landed where they were meant to and secured their objectives relatively quickly.

            During the first two weeks of April 1945, the Grim Reapers were tasked with attacking German airfields to help eliminate the last remnants of the Luftwaffe. One such mission occurred on April 11th. Four P-47s, each armed with a pair of 500lbs bombs, took off for the German airfield at Asherslaben, led by Jacob Cooper. The Squadron After-Action Review takes up an account of the mission:

“Bombed and strafed airfield at Asherslaben (D-5657), twenty-five Ju-188s in line and thirty-five FW-190s in lines. One Ju-188 damaged on ground by Lt. Cooper, confirmed by Lt. Whited. Three Ju-188s destroyed on ground by Lt. Yobb, confirmed by Lt. Preus. Three Ju-188s destroyed on ground by Lt. Preus, confirmed by Lt. Yobb. One Ju-188 damaged on ground by Lt. Yobb, confirmed by Lt. Preus. One Ju-188 damaged by Lt. Preus, confirmed by Lt. Yobb. On Ju-188 damaged on ground by Lt. Whited, confirmed by Lt. Cooper. One hangar destroyed by Lt. Yobb and Lt. Preus.”[84]

The report also states that the flight encountered light flak on the mission. All aircraft returned to base in the evening.[85] While this mission on important target such as an airfield ended without loss, another mission by the Grim Reapers on the 11th was not so fortunate. 1st Lieutenant George Jones was killed on the same day during an attack on a German column of vehicles. It isn’t known if his aircraft was hit by flak, but it was seen to dive into the ground after an attack run. Jones would be the last pilot from the Grim Reapers killed during the war.[86]

493rd p-47s taxi on a temporary airstrip in germany, 10 april 1945. photo: american air museum.

a p-47 of the 48th fighter group at kassel, where the 493rd spent part of april 1945. photo source: american air museum.

the officer’s mess at kassel, april 1945. photo: american air museum.

            During the rest of April, the Squadron continued supporting the rapidly advancing Allied armies. Because of the rapid pace of movement on the ground, the Grim Reapers had to relocate several more times, sometimes to rough strips carved into the countryside with metal strips, and other times they would occupy former Luftwaffe bases with concrete runways. Kassel, Germany was one such location. Cottrell recalled that at Kassel one of the crew chiefs found a German motor cycle in one of the hangars and was able to get it running. The pilots took turns riding it, though Cottrell only took it for a short spin before he decided the machine was a death trap.[87] The final base where the 493rd would fly from was designated R-10, at Illesheim, Germany. Illesheim is located in northern Bavaria, west of Nuremberg. Jacob Cooper flew his 98th and final mission on April 19th. His final mission was relatively long, but uneventful; while the rest of the squadron was flying further south, he flew closer to the base and served as a radio relay aircraft, his aircraft passing along radio traffic to and from the squadron and the home base. In 98 missions, Cooper had over 200 hours of flying time in a combat zone.[88] Ed Cottrell continued to fly until just days prior to the end of the war- he flew his 65th and final mission on May 6th.

            On May 8th, the war in Europe officially ended. Hitler had committed suicide on April 30th, Berlin had fallen on May 2nd, and for one final week bitter fighting had continued as the shattered remains of Germany’s military collapsed. Asked about his recollections about the end of the war in Europe, Jacob Cooper simply laughed and said, “What a party.” However, there was still a war going on in the Pacific. While the pilots were able to relax with the end of combat operations in Europe, preparations were already underway to transfer the squadron to the Pacific Theater for the invasion of Japan. On July 2nd, the Squadron began moving from Illesheim to Camp Detroit at Laon, France, where it would board ships back to the US before going on to the Pacific.[89] By this time, Jacob Cooper was back in the States- as a more experienced member of the squadron, he was able to go home earlier. He was at home in New York on leave when word of the Japanese surrender came through, and spent the rest the day celebrating: “There was a friend of mine, he was near where I lived back in New York. And we were out, under a tree with a bottle of whisky. And everybody was partying. It was quite a happy day.”[90] With the end of the war against Japan, the need for the 493rd to move to the Pacific evaporated, and most of the squadron’s members began exiting the military. Between April 20th, 1944 and April 20th, 1945 the squadron had flown 565 missions with only 35 aircraft aborting from those missions, a remarkable operational record. The Grim Reapers claimed the destruction of 705 military transport vehicles, 78 tanks, 54 half-tracks, 36 locomotives, 821 railroad cards, 11 German planes shot down in the air, and 22 planes destroyed on the ground. The Squadron lost 5 pilots killed in action during the war.

48th fighter group p-47s at illesheim, germany on may 8, 1945- v-e day. photo: american air museum.

            After the war, Jacob Cooper briefly remained in the Army Air Force’s Reserve branch. Promoted to Major for his organization of nearby Reserve units immediately after war’s end, he decided to get out because he was dissatisfied with the kind of flying (or lack thereof) which was taking place in the Reserves. He worked in the civilian sector for several years before being recalled to active service during the Korean War. Deciding to make a career of what by then was the Air Force, Cooper was no longer serving as a pilot but as a personnel officer. His final assignment was with the 26th Air Division at Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York, where he was responsible for airmen’s assignments, and later for officer’s assignments in units as far away as Iceland. He retired in 1970 and began working for New York Life Insurance Company. After several years, he switched careers and became an executive director of the local housing authority, supervising several high-rise buildings for seven years before retiring for good. Today he lives in New York.[91]

jim cooper in retirement. photo source: https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/memories-of-an-ibsley-thunderbolt-pilot/

            Ed Cottrell returned to the US with most of his squadron in late summer 1945. When the war ended, he decided he would live the Army Air Forces. He was discharged from the Army Air Forces in October, by which time he had already started working as a teacher at Beaver High School in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He stayed there for a year before moving on to teach at a school on Neville Island. In 1950, he began attending Penn State University for an advanced degree, then taught at Milton Hershey School for three years, and finally moved on to Westchester University, where he taught physical education and was eventually the Associate Dean for 28 years before retiring in 1980. However, retirement was evidently  not to Cottrell’s liking- he continued to work as a golf coach, and travelled widely for the job before finally retiring in 2014 at the age of 92. Age has not hindered Cottrell; for his 90th Birthday, he jumped out of a plane with members of the 82nd Airborne Division for the first time. When he turned 100 in 2022, he made another jump. Today, as one of the relatively few living pilots of the Second World War remaining, he travels widely to speak at museums and visit old battlefields, including visiting the grave of his friend, Theodore “Ted” Smith, and meeting the commander of a German Tiger tank he may have bombed in early 1945. Today, he lives in North Carolina.[92]

Ed Cottrell, pictured in 2020. Photo source: https://theveteransmuseum.org/when-i-got-out-of-that-plane-i-kissed-the-ground/

Sources

1. Unit Historical Report March 1, 1944-March 31, 1944. 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Bomber Group USAAF APO 595, Station 347. Held by Air Force Historical Research Agency, 600 Chenault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL on Reel A0816.

2.Unit Historical Report May 31, 1944-June 30, 1944. 493rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Longueville, France. Held by Air Force Historical Research Agency, 600 Chenault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL on Reel A0816.

3. Spires, David N. Air Power for Patton's Army: the XIX Tactical Air Command in the Second World War. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2002. Print.

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22. Dwyer, Larry. “Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.” Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 20 Sept. 1997, www.aviation-history.com/republic/p47.html.

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[1] https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/wwii-veteran-statistics

[2] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[3] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[4] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[5] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[6] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[7] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[8] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[9] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[10] https://www.si.edu/object/republic-p-47d-30-ra-thunderbolt%3Anasm_A19600306000

[11] http://www.aviation-history.com/republic/p47.html

[12] https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/day-after-day-180954668

[13] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[14] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[15] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[16] P.1-2- 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Bomber Group USAAF APO 595, Station 347, Unit Historical Report March 1, 1944-March 31, 1944

[17] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[18] P.2- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Longueville, France,  May 31, 1944-June 30, 1944 (p.418)

[19] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[20] P.2- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Longueville, France,  May 31, 1944-June 30, 1944 (p.418)

[21] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[22] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[23] P.3- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Longueville, France,  May 31, 1944-June 30, 1944 (p.419)

[24] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[25] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[26] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[27] P. 38-39 Spires, David N. Air Power for Patton's Army: the XIX Tactical Air Command in the Second World War. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2002. Print.

[28] P. 184 Spires, David N. Air Power for Patton's Army: the XIX Tactical Air Command in the Second World War. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2002. Print.

[29] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[30] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[31] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[32] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[33] P.224- Strike from the Sky: The History of Battlefield Air Attack, 1911-1945

[34] P.40- P-47 Thunderbolt Vs German Flak Defenses: Western Europe 1943-45

[35] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[36] https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-falaise-gap-ike-vs-monty-and-a-failure-of-command/

[37] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[38] P.1- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Cambrai, France,  September 1-September 30, 1944 (p.538)

[39] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[40] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[41] P.3 - Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 31 October 1944- 30 November, 1944

[42] P.6- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 31 October 1944- 30 November, 1944

[43] 30AUG22 Interview with Ed Cottrell

[44] P.3- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 31 October 1944- 30 November, 1944

[45] P.1 - Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 30 September, 1944- 31 October, 1944

[46] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[47] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[48] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[49] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[50] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[51] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[52] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[53] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[54] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[55] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[56] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[57] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[58] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[59] P.2-3- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 30 November, 1944- 31 December, 1944

[60] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[61] Interview with Ed Cottrell, 30AUG22

[62] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[63] P.2 - Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 31 December, 1944- 31 January, 1945

[64] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[65] P.36- P-47 Thunderbolt Vs German Flak Defenses: Western Europe 1943-45

[66] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[67] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[68] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[69] General Order No. 117: Headquarters, Ninth Air Force, APO 696, US Army, 27 June 1945

[70] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[71] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[72] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[73] P.4- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 151, St. Trond, Belgium, 31 December, 1944- 31 January, 1945

[74] P. 1-2- OPFLASH No. Y-21-11. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[75] Interview with Ed Cottrell, 30AUG22

[76] P.1- OPFLASH No. Y-21-3. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[77] P.1- OPFLASH No. Y-21-4. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[78] P.3 - Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Kelz, Germany, 28 February, 1945- 31 March 1945

[79] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022

[80] P.3 - Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Kelz, Germany, 28 February, 1945- 31 March 1945

[81] P.1- OPFLASH No. Y-21-2. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[82] https://armyhistory.org/operation-varsity-the-last-airborne-deployment-of-world-war-ii/

[83] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[84] P.1- OPFLASH No. Y-21-2. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[85] P.1- OPFLASH No. Y-21-2. 493rd Fighter Squadron Missions February-May, 1945

[86] P.2- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 595, Kelz, Germany, 31 March, 1945- 30 April 1945

[87] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 6 November 2022

[88] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 20 February 2023

[89] P.2- Unit Historical Report, 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, APO 141, “Camp Detroit”, Assembly Area Command, 30 June 1945- 31 July 1945

[90] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[91] Cooper, Jacob. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 12 March 2023

[92] Cottrell, Ed. Interview. Conducted by Seth Marshall. 30 August 2022