The Target
"My combat missions were not particularly memorable save for two. One, I led the division to Herora, Norway, to bomb a German heavy water plant. This was part of the German effort to make a nuclear bomb."
That is how Bob remembered it—but his memory fused two different Norsk Hydro targets. The heavy-water plant (deuterium oxide, central to the German atomic effort) was at Vemork, attacked by Norwegian commandos and, later, by the 8th Air Force in November 1943. The target Bob actually bombed at Herøya, on July 24, 1943, was the Norsk Hydro nitrate and light-metals works—magnesium and aluminum for German aircraft. Both were Norsk Hydro plants, which is almost certainly why, sixty years on, the two ran together in his telling.
Either way, the raid was a landmark: the strike on Herøya was the longest-range mission the 8th Air Force had flown to that point in the war.
The Approach
The mission profile was unusual: fly at about 2,500 feet to escape radar coverage, then climb to 12,000 feet to bomb.
"We flew up at about 2500 feet to escape radar coverage and then climbed to 12,000 feet to bomb."
Low-level penetration over the North Sea, then a climb to bombing altitude once in range of the target. The opposition was light—little flak, maybe a few fighters, but neither did significant harm to the formation.
"We had little flak, and maybe a few fighters, but neither did us any harm."
The Moment
After bombing, Bob turned the formation away from the target. And that's when he saw it.
"Turning away from the target I could see neutral Sweden over my left shoulder and thought how nice it would have been to land there with no more war to worry about."
Sweden interned both Allied and Axis airmen who landed there, treating them well but holding them for the war's duration.
From the Flight Records
From the records
July 1943 — Individual Flight Record (Form 5). Mission #20 on July 24th runs 8 hours and 10 minutes — the longest single entry in Bob's entire Polebrook record.
At 490 minutes, this is the longest single mission in Bob's entire Polebrook record — by a wide margin. No other combat flight approaches it. July 24, 1943 was the date of the 8th Air Force's raid on Herøya, Norway (the nitrate works at Porsgrunn/Herøya), the only major Norway raid during Bob's tenure that accounts for the 8+ hour duration. The round trip from Polebrook to the Norwegian coast and back approaches the practical range limit of a loaded B-17.
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