416th Bombardment Group (L) The Flight Home Ferrying A-26 Aircraft from the ETO to the USA August, 1945

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While most of the Soldiers who served in the 416th Bomb Group returned home via ships, some ferried A-26 aircraft back to the USA.
The following is an analysis of the return of 1st Lt. Gentry L. "Bud" Milhorn and other 416th Bomb Group personnel
from the ETO to the USA in August, 1945 researched and written by Bud's son Richard L. Milhorn.

Capt. James P. "Jim" Phillips' Flight Echelon

First, the recollections of pilot Capt. James P. "Jim" Phillips' military history have been memorialized in his personal book, "Pillars In The Sky" (PDF). Jim was a member of the 668th Bomb Squad. According to his book, his flight echelon was sent to Liege, Belgium prior to starting the long flight back to the States. (This is interesting because accounts of the 671st Bomb Squad state that they assembled at staging area A-74 in Cambrai, France, prior to leaving for the USA). So, it appears that different squadrons were sent to different staging areas. In fact, a review of "Special Orders No. 82, 17 July, 1945" (see below) shows that flight crews from each of the four squadrons, as well as Headquarters personnel were reassigned to "Air Assembly Area, Sta A-74 for the purpose of ferrying aircraft." This would indicate that the squadrons were actually broken-up and co-mingled during the ferrying home process. Regardless of where they started the flight home, the route was the same for every officer cited in this review.

So, what exactly was the common route back to the USA? Well, whether the echelon started out from Station A-74 in Cambrai, France, or Liege, Belgium, the first stop was at an air field in Marseille, France. Next, they had two stops in Africa: an overnight stop in Marrakech, Morocco, then on to Dakar, French West Africa. They then endured the longest single flight from Dakar, across the South Atlantic Ocean to Fortaleza, Brazil. From there they flew on to Georgetown, British Guyana. The next stop was Puerto Rico, followed by the final leg to Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia, USA.

The only point of possible disagreement in the accounts of all those discussed in this article is how long it took to make the trip. That is, Capt. Phillips describes an elapsed time of at least 10-11 days for his 668th Bomb Squad echelon; whereas, all accounts and records for Lt. Milhorn's echelon to be only 7 days in transit, to wit:

According to Capt. Phillips' book, his echelon arrived in the staging area at Liege, Belgium on July 16, 1945. Then, "On or about August 1st , we took off on our journey home". He goes on to describe each stop along the way as if only one night was spent at each location. However, he does provide a few critical dates and where his flight happened to be on those dates. The first date he recorded was that, "I think that we heard about the first atomic bomb being used against Hiroshima while we were at Fortaleza". That date would have been August 6, 1945. The next (and only other date described by Capt. Phillips) occurred as they were approaching the USA on the final leg of the journey, "When we were about three hours out of Savannah, we heard a radio broadcast that the Japanese were giving up. I don't think that day was actually V-J Day – that was celebrated a few days later".

Now, there were three important dates leading up to the surrender of the Japanese. On August 10, 1945 Japan sued for peace. On August 11, the Allies accepted the surrender and at 2400 hours on August 14, Japan surrendered. This final date is considered V-J Day, and hostilities ended. (Note: The official signing of the peace agreement did not occur until September 2, 1945)

So, based on Capt. Phillips reporting it appears to be possible that his echelon left Liege, Belgium on (or about) August 1, was in Fortaleza, Brazil on August 6, and arrived in Savannah, Georgia on perhaps August 10, or 11. Thus, according to his memoir, his trip home lasted up to 10, or 11 days.

"Sugar Baby", Serial# 41-39274, 5H-S, over the South Atlantic, returning to the USA
This photo is used on the cover page of Jim's "Pillars In The Sky" (PDF) Memoirs.
Per her Individual Aircraft Record Card (IARC), 41-39274 Returned to the USA
at Hunter AAF, Savannah, GA on 18-Aug-1945.
(James P. Phillips photo collection)

1st Lt. Gentry L. "Bud" Milhorn's Flight Echelon

Now, a look at what is known of 1st Lt. Milhorn's participation in ferrying an A-26 aircraft back to the United States.

After two months of training for redeployment to the Pacific Theatre where the war with Japan was still raging, and after Lt. Milhorn had qualified for redeployment, he and 14 other 671st Bomb Squad pilots, their Bombardier/Navigators and crew chiefs left Station A-59 in Cormeilles-en-Vexin, France, for staging Area A-74 in Cambrai, France. This occurred between July 19 and 21, 1945. As stated on page 256 of the "671st Bomb Squadron History" (PDF) by Gordon Russell via Jim Kerns, "The personnel who left on the flight echelon are scheduled to rejoin the Squadron at the new operational base, probably in the CBI" (China-Burma-India Theatre).

The remainder of this reconstruction of the flight home is pulled from several sources that will be identified as they unfold:

First, family members of Lt. Milhorn do have anecdotal evidence of his trip. His son, Richard, remembers him saying that he was over the Atlantic Ocean when Japan surrendered. His son-in-law, Bob, remembers him telling of landing in Africa, South America, and Puerto Rico while enroute. No further details are available from Lt. Milhorn's family members.

In an email conversation (July 2, 2019) between Richard Milhorn and Craig Buskirk, son of Capt. Jack Buskirk who was one of the pilots on the flight, Craig stated that, " I know their bomb group was on their way to the Pacific and they were in Brazil when V-J Day occurred."

Further anecdotal evidence is found in the Memories section on the www.ww2buddies.com website. Here, Capt. Claude Brown who piloted an A-26 home with his longtime Bombardier/Navigator Lt. Jim Kerns on board with him had this to say, "Jim & I flew our airplane home via the southern Atlantic route. A fuel tank was installed in the bomb bay, which made it possible to fly the Invader from Dakar, West Africa to Fortaleza, Brazil. This was a flight of one aircraft, 1,900 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean. At the halfway point we contacted a Navy picket ship and learned that V-J Day had been declared".

All of the above stories play nicely into the following official documentation from both Lt. Milhorn's records and those of Capt. Buskirk:

(Gentry L. Milhorn photo collection)

Lt. Milhorn's Individual Flight Record (IFR) for August, 1945 is above. Based on the dates, and hours flown, and knowing the itinerary for the return trip to the USA it can be interpreted that Lt. Milhorn flew from A-74 to Marseille on August 11, Marseille to Marrakech on August 12, Marrakech to Dakar on August 13, did not fly on August 14, then, flew from Dakar to Fortaleza on August 15, Fortaleza to Georgetown on August 16, Georgetown to Puerto Rico also on August 16, and finally to Savannah, Georgia on August 17, 1945.

Per Individual Aircraft Record Cards (IARC), the following four A-26 aircraft Returned to the USA at Hunter AAF, Savannah, GA on 17-Aug-1945: 41-39239, 41-39297, 41-39310 and 43-22499.