GREAT ADVENTURE: World War II pilot Wildrick Hart of Bradford
has written a fascinating story of his bombing runs over Germany
and France, and we were lucky enough to get our hands on a
copy.

“Most war stories have a big hero, performing great deeds of
daring-do on an almost daily basis. Such stories command large
markets. But this war story has no such big hero. Hence, It is
being produced for a much smaller market,” he writes.

Be that as it may, Mr. Hart’s 35 missions surely attest to the
kind of guy worthy of recognition today, Veterans Day.

Hart, who served in the 392nd Bomb Group, Army Air Corps, tells
a fascinating story of how he and his crew manage to survive “hale
and hearty” with what he says was a combination of training and
luck. Most of his flight hours were logged in the B-24.

He quotes Winston Churchill: “There is nothing more exhilarating
than begin shot at and missed,” and adds his own quip, “I can say
that the experience is also quite interesting. Since I was shot at
and missed on a number of occasions, it is on this basis that I
have assumed that there was an interest in this period in my life.
… ”

After intensive training in this country, Mr. Hart was ready for
his very first mission over St. Lo, France, with takeoff at 1 p.m.
July 24, 1944 — seven weeks since D-Day. It was the beginning of
what he termed, “the Great Adventure.”

He details various missions over Germany including such places
as Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Mainz and Cologne; and over France —
Lens,  Lyon, and Nancy-Essey, among others. Targets included an
aircraft factory, submarine shop, railroad bridges, oil refineries,
a synthetic rubber plant, munitions plant, a truck factory

For Mission 15, over Karlsruhe, Mr. Hart writes: “This one was
Combat!”

“At this point, we took the closest thing to a direct hit that
we would encounter in the entire tour — no thumps or bumps this
time — it sounded like a stick of dynamite going off. Looking out
of the left window I could see white smoke billowing out of the
outboard engine with a little black smoke coming from the inboard
engine.”

He pulled the plane through, of course, and his last mission was
on Nov. 25, 1944.