Posted by Don Murphy on September 3, 2013, 13:22:15
A young James Grossman enlisted in the USAAC (United States Army Air Corps) as an airplane mechanic and found himself in Bermuda doing ASW duty with a B-24 group. The British Sunderland flying boat was the scourge of the Atlantic, killing U-boats left and right and the USAAC wanted a similar bird. The B-24 Liberator fit the bill in spades. The B-24 had long range, excellent loiter, could carry a ton of depth charges and had enough fifty caliber machine guns to handle the miniscule Axis naval air threat.
Consolodated liked the way the bird handled and soon started on a navalised version: the Privateer. In the meantime, B-24's in the Southern Atlantic ate U-boats for dinner. As Allied air power, radar and industrial might proved too much for the U-boat threat, the B-24's were needed for the Pacific and plans were made to transfer them in mid-1944. Knowing the Japanese would be slightly more aggressive than the Germans and Italians, the pilot took the crew out for a day at the local fair as a "farewell" celebration.
The pilot paid for everyone to do attractions, rides, etc and young mechanic Grossman found himself at the rifle shooting booth. He was hitting everything that stood and soon attracted the attention of the pilot. "Hey son, are you drunk?" The Private convinced the Captain that he was sobre and the pilot paid for three more rounds at the game, all of which were handled easily by the young Private. "Shit - looks like you're gonna be our new tail gunner!," laughed the Captain and he slapped the young Private on the back.
Next thing you know, "Sergeant" Grossman is strapping himself in to the rear turret of "Sweet Routine" and heading West to Saipan. Upon hitting Saipan, Sweet Routine falls into a patrol pattern, carrying a mix of depth charges and plain old high explosive bombs. The Privateer is accepted for naval service and the B-24 evaluation crews are made sailors and transferred over. Sweet Routine's bomb group are then converted to regular bombers and the depth charge shackles are removed from the bomb bay.
Sweet Routine's first mission as a pure bomber would be over Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. It would also be the first aerial test of James' marksmanship. As the rear formation bomber, they received the attention of four Zeroes who were greeted by both of James' 50's. The tracers drove the marauders away and they peeled off to try their luck elsewhere. One of the planes appeared to be smoking so the side gunners ignored it.
After dropping their bomb load, the unit turned for home and were attacked again, this time by a whole squadron. The squadron broke off in to pairs to attack the bombers. Eventually two fighters made their way to Sweet Routine where they were sprayed liberally from the front and top turrets. The planes banked to come in for another run but this time, Sgt. Grossman was waiting. He depressed the trigger and both fifties poured lead in to the leading plane's engine. The side gunners saw the bird explode.
One straggler followed the unit as it headed home to Saipan and as dusk approached, the straggler decided to try his luck. The belly turret gunner sent tracers his way forcing him to pull up. He did so, then stupidly realized he was level with the tail turret. James didn't need prompting and soon sent lead into his silouette. The Zero flamed and then started to bank away. Following him in the turret, Sgt. Grossman dropped more lead in to him until finally, he exploded.
Sgt. Grossman ended the war un-eventfully and upon the separation of the USAAC from the US Army, he chose to stay Army instead of going to the new US Air Force. He was given a commission and went on to jump school and special forces (Green Beret). He retired from the US Army in 1965 as a Major.
This is the oft-built 1/48th scale Monogram B-24 model. It takes up a lot of real-estate when done. It is a joy to build with as much detail as you care to put in to it. Four AA batteries provide nose weight. For my markings, my lovely daughter Chelsea replicated the nose art right down to the obstruction of the "fire extinguisher" placard. She was having trouble getting the letters "SWEET ROUTINE" on decal paper, but decided to just hand-paint it. Not quite exact, but the Major was over the moon with it anyway!
I'm over at my next door neighbor Mike's house every now and then for computer work/repair and I happened to notice a black and white photo on his wall one day of a bomber crew in front of their bird and I asked who that was. He relayed that it was his father and that his dad lived two streets over. Well...needless to say, it has been great meeting him and getting familiar with his stories.
Cheers,
Don
Re: B-24 Sweet Routine
Posted by Tim Clark on March 5, 2019, 12:00:57, in reply to "B-24 Sweet Routine"
Don, I enjoyed reading your post; it may interest you that I just wrote a story about one of the crewmembers of Sweet Routine for a local newspaper. Jack Graham, from Marion, Ohio, was the plane's navigator. If you'd like I can email the story to you. Contact me at oldcop135@gmail.com
Hi guys! My grandpa was the pilot of the Sweet Routine - 11th bombardment, 26th squadron. I am looking to have the noseart made into a high resolution print and came across your convo. I have a 39 page memoir he and my dad were working on. It's not exactly finished but I'm sure he'd love sharing it, especially with Jack. Grandpa passed away this summer. My dad's been wanting to get in touch with Jack so I'll remind him. Happy to share it with you if you're interested.
I have just seen your post from 2020. My Father was a B24 Pilot in the Pacific. I have recently come across his WWII photographs. I have an original photo of (Sweet Routine) with two gentlemen unknown gentlemen standing next to the plane. One of these gentlemen may be your Grandfather? This is an original, one of a kind photo taken by my Father? If you are still interested, I will be happy to send you a copy of the photo via email if you provide that to me. My email address is gautieb1@gmail.com.
My dad read these articles and has another perspective if anyone's interested:
The Sweet Routine was first commissioned in Feb 1944 and was fitted out with mine laying equipment in its bomb bays. When it reached Bermuda, the 1st pilot named it Home James. Towards the end of 1944 it was sent to the Pacific. I don't have the book that tells me where it's bomb bays were refitted for bombing and it's 1st pilot named it Sweet Routine. Not sure where the nose art was painted. The Sweet Routine flew 78 combat missions and grandpa (Robert Schrack Sr.) was the 3rd or 4th pilot. Grossman came into the Pacific in February 1945. This was Grossman's first combat mission, but not the sweet routine's. He was not part of grandpa's crew. Grandpa's entire crew trained 3 months together in California. Got a new plane when they left the States which they flew to Hawaii, then 3 months later to Iwo Jima. Grandpa got command of the Sweet Routine in March 1945 and flew 13 combat missions, only 10 in the Sweet Routine. In the article Jack Graham flew 11 combat missions. I do not know if all were with grandpa.
The receipient of the model has passed away, but his surviving sons enjoy reading about stuff.
Cheers,
Don
Oh that's just AWESOME!
Posted by Matty on September 3, 2013, 22:01:26, in reply to "B-24 Sweet Routine"
What a GREAT project - engaging an elder vet, your daughter - even the neighbor next door! And Chelsea's hand-lettering is perfect, buddy. Are you saying that she also printed custom-decals, as well?
And the history of Sweet Routine is fascinating - really was naval-related, all the way - including bombing Iwo Jima on 2/19/45: that would've been during the invasion (it took a whole month before the operation was really complete).
I've got the venerable Revell B-24D (and, IIRC, also the Academy -24C) in my stash, earmarked (one or maybe even both of them) for building in ASW livery.
What paint(s) and technique(s) did you use for puting your natural-aluminum finish on such a big model, Don?
Alcad. The liquid stuff. As the base plastic is silver I didn't follow Alcad's "priming" instructions. This saves you $900000 as Alcad Black, Grey or White primer is more expensive than crack cocaine. As I don't have an airbrush, I bought a ton of spray bottles from the Dollar Tree and just went from there.
The Alcad really settles in with little prompting as it's so thin. BUT - it is very destructive. It's very caustic so you can't spill it anywhere and don't mix too much as it's eating your spray bottle while you're using it!!!!
Get out the old t-shirt and you can buff it to a proverbial "show room finish." But then, you can't touch the model again without wearing gloves.
The standard "ASW" livery for B-24's and B-17's was the white over OD. And that's what "Routine" had in Bermuda. But James wasn't a member of the crew then, only a mechanic. Once they got orders to Saipan, ALL PAINT came off the plane. An officer from the bomb group flew to Bermuda to brief them and told them that "Saipan had a cross-wind that would sand the paint off anyway."
So they did it "properly" and removed it before the flight. Also interesting is that they had the belly turrets removed and an extendable radar in their place. But once sent to the PTO, the turret was replaced as it was felt (quite rightly) that Zero's would be a bigger threat than surfaced IJN pig boats. Interestingly, even the Privateer keep the belly turret as it was going to have a role similar to a P-3 and the extra guns would be needed.
I have a junk B-24 kit carcass that I'm going to do as a Privateer. Early Korean War, seventh fleet out of Yokoska. It'll be all-over gloss sea blue.
Veteran: Jack Graham, age 94 Branch: United States Army Air Force Service period: March, 1943 to January, 1946
Marion’s Jack Graham was seventeen when he graduated high school in 1942, a fact that kept him out of the Second World War until March of the following year.
“I was 17 and you couldn’t be drafted until you turned eighteen; I was drafted in March of ’42, not long after my birthday, into the Army.”
Raised in a working-class neighborhood in Marion, Jack had a brother and sister. His father provided for the family through his job at the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company. “I worked there after graduation until I had to go (into the military)”, he remarked. “I was only allowed to work eight hours a day; when I turned 18 I worked twelve hours. (When his draft notice came) Mom was hoping I would flunk the physical but no such luck.”
Graham said he left for basic training not long after receiving his notice.
“We got on a troop train at Fort Hayes in Columbus, where we had our physicals, and that took us to Camp Walters, Texas. When we got there, a group of guys (already in basic) started (taunting) ‘you’ll be sorry.’ It was a rough thirteen weeks, hotter than blazes. Our drill instructors were strict, we were mostly 18-year-olds, and they worked the daylights out of us. They did what they had to do.”
Jack said he became a heavy machine gunner in the infantry during training. “It was a thirty-caliber machine gun but I was also trained on mortars. I learned during training that the life expectancy of a heavy machine gunner was about three minutes in combat. I thought, ‘I don’t like that’, but then an announcement was posted on the (bulletin) board that anyone who could pass the physical and mental exams could go into the air cadets program, so I took it and passed it. The one test was loaded with mathematics questions and my Dad had made me take all the college-level math courses I could, so I did really well on it. One of the instructors asked me how much college I had and I told him I didn’t have any, I just got out of high school.”
The young soldier soon learned he would have to go through basic training again, this time with the U.S. Army Air Corps.
“That was a piece of cake compared to the infantry, though”, he joked.
Graham next went to a base in north Texas, though he was unable to recall where, and then was transferred to Ellensburg, Washington for three months of college courses at Central Washington College of Education. “It all seemed like basic high school stuff to me.”
Ground school with the Army Air Force followed in Santa Ana, California.
“We hadn’t really entered the air cadets (program) yet, so this was our ground school. We were taught Morse code, sending and receiving it; I remember the instructor’s name was Goff, he was really good. I don’t remember much else, other than we were there for a month or two.”
Jack said his next assignment was to the Army Air Corps’ field in Hondo, Texas, about fifteen miles west of San Antonio.
“First of all, we had to pass a coordination test, that was like a penny arcade and I really enjoyed that. There were all kinds of physical exercises to see how well we were coordinated. (They checked our) night vision, it was the toughest physical I ever had. There were about 60 of us that went down there and after all the testing only a few of us made it. The next day (after testing), when we went back to the barracks, nearly every bunk had a pink slip on it, the guys who didn’t make it; mine didn’t have a pink slip. I passed all three (phases) so I had the choice of being a pilot, bombardier or navigator, and I told them I wanted to be a pilot.”
Flying an airplane, however, wasn’t in Graham’s future.
“They started me in pilot’s school, I had some pilot training, but an order came down that anyone who qualified for navigation training had to be transferred, they really needed them because we were going to the south Pacific. That’s when I became a navigator.”
Navigation training was greatly condensed due to that urgent need.
“That was normally a two-year course; we did it in nine months”, he remarked. “They taught us celestial navigation with a sextant, you had to know which stars were navigation stars because, out in the Pacific over water, there weren’t any landmarks you could use.” Jack graduated from nav school in September of 1944.
Crew training occurred at Muroc Army Airfield in California, in the Mojave desert; that location is now known as Edwards Air Force Base. Muroc provided final crew training prior to deployment to a combat zone.
“That’s where I was introduced to the B-24; we had a crew of ten men in the plane. That training was probably three or 4 months long. After we finished they gave us a brand-new airplane and we flew to Hawaii, Hickam Field.”
Assigned to the 7th Air Force’s Eleventh Bomb Group, Jack said they became part of the 26th Bombardment Squadron.
“We moved from Hawaii to Saipan, I guess it was, and we flew bombing missions from there. We bombed the (islands of ) Truk, Bokissa; we weren’t there too long because the war was moving (westward). We then moved up to Okinawa, where we flew missions over Japan. As a matter of fact, we flew a mission the day after that first (atomic) bomb was dropped.”
Graham continued.
“We knew something had happened but we didn’t know what exactly, nobody knew because it had been a secret mission. They called us in for our flight briefing the next day; they wanted us to go in after a battleship that was in (a Japanese harbor). They told us then that the bomb had been dropped (over Hiroshima) and told us to stay at least seventy-five miles away from there. We did, but that told us how powerful that bomb was. My pilot, we’re the only two left from our crew, we talk on the phone once in awhile and he’s got some kind of cancer; he thinks its because we flew through some of that (radioactive) debris. Anyway, we went in (after the ship) in waves; there was so much anti-aircraft fire from their ships, the sky was just black, that I wondered ‘how will we ever get through that?’ but we did. Our aircraft didn’t have one hole in it.”
All told, Jack said his crew flew a total of eleven missions. “We only ever saw one (Japanese) fighter plane and he didn’t want anything to do with us.”
Jack was back on Okinawa when it was announced that the Empire of Japan had surrendered. “The Navy had all kinds of ships (ported) there, too, and they let loose with all kinds of guns in celebration up in the air. I was worried about our own (shells) falling on us”, he laughed. “It was quite a show.”
2nd Lieutenant Jack Graham made his last flight in the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, which he and his crew had nicknamed “Sweet Routine”, to San Francisco when he came home, mustering out of the Army Air Corps in Indiana in January of 1946. Returning to the Marion area, the young veteran began classes at Ohio Northern University, graduating in 1949 with a degree in education. Jack taught in the Marion school district for the next twenty-nine years, retiring in 1979.
A widower, Graham has two daughters and still lives in the Marion area, often spending his days socializing at the city’s Senior Center.
Of his service during World War II, Jack observed, “I was just glad I was able to do something and that God permitted me to pass the air force test. Back then, we were young and thought we were indestructible; I think about things that happened (during the war) almost every day.”