My father, Colonel Rudolph Emil Flack, served
as the Commander (rank of Captain at the time) of the
24th Reconnaissance Squadron (H) from 6-Feb-1942 thru 20-Apr-1942 located in
MacDill and Sarasota, Florida Army Airfields.
On 20-Apr-1942 the 24th was
converted to the 414th Bomb Squadron (H) where Major Rudy Flack served as the
Commander thru 5-Mar-1943. On 5-Mar-43, Rudy Flack was promoted to A-3, 12th Bombardment Command, North Africa Strategic AF as
Staff Bombardment Officer under Command of Major Gen. James H. Doolittle thru
10-Aug-43. During Gen. Doolittle's
absence, Rudy Flack served as the acting Commander of the 12th Bombardment
Command, North Africa Strategic AF.
Colonel Flack’s last assignment (1944-1946), was Assistant to the Air
Force Chief of Staff, and Supervisor of the B-29 training program (including
the historic 1945 Japan missions).
The following is the Loading List (Flight Report) for the B-17E Yankee Doodle (41-9023) on
the historic first All American bombing mission over Sotteville
Marshaling Yards in German occupied Rouen, France (scanned copy of the
original):
To set the record straight, Captain Rudy
Flack and Lt John Dowswell split duties serving as
Pilot and Co-Pilot. Note: General Eaker did not fly
the Yankee Doodle as has been incorrectly stated in several
publications/websites but flew as an Observer (refer to my notes in the
following paragraph). Lt Dowswell served as Pilot for the taxi phase prior to take-off
while Captain Flack attended to General Ira C. Eaker
to ensure that he was secured in his Observation position for the mission. At this point, Captain Flack assumed Pilot
responsibility for the majority of the mission (take-off, bombing and landing). After the bombing run was completed and on
the return flight to home base, Captain Flack went back and assisted General Eaker “tidy-up” in preparation for their landing and
debarking the aircraft (a story best told at a different time). The following two documents are Captain
Flack’s “Individual Flight Record” for the month of August 1942 (front and
back). Due to the historic nature of the
flight, Rudy’s original “Individual Flight Record” forms (War Department Air
Corps Form No. 5, Revised Feb. 14, 1938) were given to General Carl Spaatz’s
(American Air Commander for the European Theater) administrative staff who
typed a replacement copy as required for Captain Flack’s personal records. Note the “Duty” assignment as “P” (Pilot) for
Captain R. E. Flack on 17-Aug-42, as well as all of Rudy’s missions for the
month of August 1942:
First, at the time of the 17-Aug-1942
mission, General Eaker was not holding an
"Active Flight Status" (he was "Temporary Suspended from Flying
Duty"). A very common occurrence
for high ranking officials who were assigned to command office duties (their
personal flying time was either severally limited or restricted). The last thing the top-brass wanted was to
lose a key General in a time of war to a personal flying incident. Second, it took an "act of congress"
so to speak for the top-brass to even clear General Eaker
to fly as an Observer on the mission.
Any time a General flew period, it was under the tightest security and
privacy as the enemy was always on alert for such a valuable target.
The following document (identifying the
“Pilot” of each aircraft) is a scanned copy of the original 1-page Monday, 17 August 1942 mission summary:
Colonel Frank L. Armstrong was the Pilot of
the Lead aircraft (the only aircraft from the 340th Bomb Squadron) in the 1st
flight of 6 B-17E’s and the Commander of the 97th Bomb Group. Lt Bill Musslewhite
was Commander of the 342nd Bomb Squadron that made up the remaining 5 aircraft
in the 1st flight of B-17E’s.
Captain Rudolph E. Flack was the Pilot of the
Lead aircraft in the 2nd flight of B-17E’s (6), Commander of the 414th Bomb
Squadron and Mission Commander. General
Ira C. Eaker flew with Captain Flack because US
Command concluded that Captain Flack was the best Pilot/Commander for this
historic mission (the same reason Major Rudy Flack, Pilot and Flight Leader,
flew Margaret Bourke-White, the first female photographer/writer to fly on the
“El Aouina Air Dome Tunis, Tunisia Combat Mission” on
22-Jan-43, aboard the B-17F “LITTLE BILL” (41-24400). The following is a photo of the B-17E “Yankee
Doodle” (41-9023) and crew for the 17-Aug-42 mission:
The following are Rudy Flack’s hand-written
notes identifying the crew members of the B-17E “Yankee Doodle” (41-9023) on
the back of the photo shown above:
View the following 5 minute and 20 second
film clip (Pathe Gazette Special - Flying Fortresses Bomb
France) and you will see where Captain Flack is introduced by Colonel Armstrong
as the Commanding Officer (at the 1 minute and 14 second mark), Captain Flack
then stands in front of the entire group to present his pre-mission briefing
statement (completed at the 1 minute and 34 second mark):
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=23107
The following 1 minute and 51 second film clip
titled “US 8th Air Forces B-17’s return to England after bombing Rouen, France
during World War II” from Critical Past shows Captain Flack debarking from the
Yankee Doodle starting at the 1 minute and 10 second mark for 3 seconds, and
later shows Captain Flack talking to the Crew while walking around the Yankee
Doodle and then heading to the briefing starting at the 1 minute and 29 second
mark for 12 seconds:
The following 3 minute and 18 second film
clip originally from Paramount News –