67th Bomb Squadron Christmas Card

[Thor996]

A Christmas card and cover from the 67th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group sent by Major William R Cameron. Major Cameron had a very distinguished World War 2 service record. The squadron logo is a Disney design There is a LOT of information out there on the 67th Bomb Squadron and Major Cameron! I found this out there its from the Air Force Magazine issue dated 1997.

 

 

 

Lieutenant Cameron, assigned to the 67th Bomb Squadron, launched his combat career as a copilot during the terrible winter months of 1943. The 44th BG soon came to be known as hard-luck outfit, the Flying Eight-balls. By March, the 67th Bomb Squadron had lost five of its original nine crews and two weeks later had been further reduced to three aircraft and crews. Promised replacements had not arrived. Along with other experienced copilots, Bill Cameron was made an aircraft commander, a new crew was scraped together, and he was assigned a B-24 that he named Buzzin Bear.

 

 

 

While Cameron was on a three-day pass to celebrate his new job and the forming of a new crew, the group was sent against the heavily defended Krupp Submarine Works at Kiel, Germany. The decimated 67th Bomb Squadron could muster only three aircraft for that May 14 mission. All were lost, leaving Bill Cameron the only remaining pilot originally assigned to the squadron. Fate had spared him during five months of vicious combat, but how long could its blessing last?In June, the 44th Bomb Group was deployed to North Africa for an important but undisclosed mission, which turned out to be the low-level attack on oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. As a warm-up for the still-mysterious mission, the group flew strikes against targets in Italy to support the invasion of Sicily. On one of these missions, Camerons crew shot down five enemy fighters but took hits that forced their pilot to shut down an engine for the very first time and make refueling landings at Sicily and Malta.On return to the groups base at Benina Main in Libya, Cameron, now a captain, was assigned to lead the group against a target at Rome, Italy..

 

 

 

It was his twenty-sixth mission and the completion of a combat tour during which he had witnessed the loss of so many squadron mates. He was eligible to return to the States but instead volunteered to fly what soon was revealed as the Ploesti mission. The group would be led by its commander, Col. Leon W. Johnson, with Bill Cameron as deputy leader.Many readers know the story of the August 1, 1943, attack on Ploesti. The intricate mission plan was disrupted by unanticipated weather en route and faulty navigation by one of the leading groups. When Colonel Johnson made a correct turn for his target, the Columbia Aquila Refinery, it already had been hit in error by another group. Nevertheless, Johnson led his B-24s at an altitude of 250 feet into a maelstrom of smoke, flame, exploding bombs, and ground fire to complete destruction of the target. Only two of Colonel Johnsons aircrafthis and Camerons Buzzin Bearmade it back to Benina Main that day. Leon Johnson, later a four-star general, was awarded the Medal of Honor and Bill Cameron the Distinguished Service Cross. General Johnson later called Cameron the finest combat pilot I have ever known.

 

 

 

After Ploesti, newly promoted Major Cameron was named commander of the 67th Bomb Squadron. On August 16, the group was ordered to hit an airfield at Foggia, Italy. Opposition was expected to be light, so Cameron used the mission to give combat experience to some of his new crews, one of which would fly Buzzin Bear,while he continued preparation for the squadrons return to the UK. Unknown to the Americans, the Luftwaffe had moved a large number of fighters into the area. Five of the squadrons seven aircraft, including Buzzin Bear and its crew, were lost. Up to that time, no crewman of an aircraft that Bill Cameron had flown as copilot or aircraft commander had been a casualty. Again, fate had been kind to Cameron, if not to his crews. With his luck stretched gossamer-thin, Major Cameron volunteered for a second tour and continued to fly missions until his war ended.

 

 

 

After the war, Colonel Cameron flew B-47s, commanded 7th Air Force Advanced at Guam, and served in several staff assignments. He was always an unassuming gentleman with a keen sense of humor and determination to do what was right. Now living in Carmel, Calif., he retired in November 1969, ending an Air Force career seldom matched in dedication and sustained valor by other bomber pilots of World War II.

 

 

 

Bill Cameron flew all his 38 combat missions with the 44th Bomb Group. He first saw combat in Nov 1942. He was the only pilot who came over to Europe with 44th BG and returned with them at the end of the war. Described by General Leon Johnson as "one of the best combat leaders we had", Bill was the pilot of "Buzzin' Bear" on the Ploesti Raid. Before the mission he asked British anti-aircraft gunners which plane, in a low flying formation, they would fire at. They told him they would shoot the highest: Bill Cameron took "Buzzin' Bear" through the Ploesti inferno lower than most other pilots and got her home with only minor damage, earning the DSC for his part in the historic raid.

 

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http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/1997/March%201997/0397valor.pdf

 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/23026

 

 

 

 

 

[Thor996]

Picture 1 - America's Flying Youth - William Cameron crew - Courtesy of William Cameron.

Front: William Cameron (P), William Dabney (CP), Jim DeVinney (

Back: Jerry Sparks (RO), Jerry Grett (WG), Gola Gibbey (E), LeRoy Winter (AE), Ernie McCabe (WG), Frank Maruszewski (TG).

 

Picture 1 - America's Flying Youth - William Cameron crew - Courtesy of William Cameron.

Front: William Cameron (P), William Dabney (CP), Jim DeVinney (

Back: Jerry Sparks (RO), Jerry Grett (WG), Gola Gibbey (E), LeRoy Winter (AE), Ernie McCabe (WG), Frank Maruszewski (TG).

 

 

[Thor996]

and another great link for this hero's service

 

http://www.8thairforce.com/44thbg/8balltails/Vol.%2010%20Issue%201%20Winter%202010.pdf

[Beachmaster]

That's a stunning piece of 44th BG history, many thanks for sharing this with us Thor, if you ever wanted to move this on then let me know.

 

Cheers Dave