John -
Sometimes it seems as if everything is connected. Lil and I visited our new family doctor today, and he mentioned that his grandfather was a ball turret gunner on a B-17G of the 410th Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group, flying out of Bury St. Edmunds in 1944 and early 1945. No time to pursue this today, but in the future I will follow up for more info and try to pin down his name and the aircraft.
By coincidence, last night, I read an analysis of Jimmy Doolittle's leadership of the Eighth Air Force (Benjamin W. Bishop,
Jimmy Doolittle, AUP Drew Papers, Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 2015, available at
https://media.defense.gov/2017/Nov/2..._DOOLITTLE.PDF). Some interesting material on the decision to decouple the escort fighters from the bombers and to step up the operational pace to attrit the Luftwaffe and on issues with the P-38jJand B-24s. You can read it on line or download it, but if you don't already have it, I would be glad to send you this copy.
Keep 'em flying!
Don
More later, Don