Gene Roberts / The Desert Sun
Gene Roberts
Age: 89
Residence: Palm Desert
Military branch: U.S. Army Air Corps
Years served: 1942 - 1945
Rank: 1st lieutenant
Medals: Two Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, 381st Bomb Group Presidential Citation
Family: One child, one grandchild
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II daily through Nov. 22 and on a regular basis through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war.
Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Coming tomorrow
U.S. Army Veteran Jack Kirkwood of Indian Wells.
More
U.S. Army Air Corps pilot Gene Roberts flew 35 bombing missions during World War II.
Roberts, who piloted four-engine B-17 bombers, said his most harrowing flight was a 10-hour, 20-minute round-trip jaunt from England to Posen, Poland.
It was one of the longest flights attempted by the 8th Air Force during the war, he said.
“Our target was the Focke-Wulf factory that made parts for a German aircraft,” Roberts said.
He said about 800 bombers made a run on the target that day.
“We obliterated the factory,” Roberts said.
The first leg of the mission was successful, but the journey back to England presented a daunting challenge.
After rounding Berlin and heading back to the air base, the bombers flew into rough weather.
“Once we got over to the North Sea, my navigator said, ‘Hey boss, we've got trouble. Head winds up to 100 mph. I wasn't briefed on that,'” Roberts said recalling the conversation.
The strong winds slowed the progress of the Flying Fortress, putting a strain on the bomber's gas supply.
“We changed altitude to get out of the winds,” said Roberts. “But a lot of other pilots weren't paying attention to their fuel settings.”
Halfway across the North Sea, Roberts tuned into channel D, a radio frequency that was used for air-sea rescues.
“It was terrible to hear there were B-17's running out of fuel 20,000 feet in the air and many miles from England,” Roberts said.
Roberts managed to get the plane safely down on the ground in England — but it was a nail-biter.
“When I got to the coast, the needle was almost on empty,” he said.
Later, Roberts found out how close he had come to running out of fuel.
His crew chief said, “‘Just for the record boss, you had 20 minutes of flight time left,'” Roberts said.
