Evening star., 1944-02-29
Maryland Flyer Sees
Badly Wounded PiIoi
Bring Home Fortress
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT.

UNITED S 7 A TES H E AVY
BOMBER BASE IN ENGLAND
(By MaiD Eight of the toughest
air battles of the war have fallen
to the lot of Staff Sergt. Theodore
E. Mangum, 20, son of Mr.. and Mrs.
Grafton F. Mangum, 1850 Piney
Branch road, Clifton Park, Silver
Spring, Md.
But his most thrilling experience,
the sergeant says, was coming home
from raid over Ludwigshafen the
other day with a badly wounded
pilot at the controls and. a dead CO.
pilot seated beside him.
The Flying Fortress had finished
its bomb run and was coming away
from the target when a German
fighter dove at it out of the sun and
a 20-mm. shell exploded in the
cockpit. 1t killed the co-pilot and
Pilot Dean M. Radtke of Morrice,
Mich, was spattered with shell frag-
ments and blood He got serious
wounds in the hands and neck, but,
despite intense pain, clung des-
perately to the controls of the rock
ing ship.
When the craft finally landed in
England 1t. Radtke's hands were
found frozen" to the controls and
his blood-filled flying gloves had to
be cut away in order to unbend his
fingers. A strap of his oxygen mask
had been cut away and throughout
the long trip home this had to be
held on the wounded pilots head by
the bombardier, 1t. w. G. Agnetti
of Seattle
The fort had been escorted over
the target by formation of Thun-
derbolt fighters. The white-nosed
FWs trailed behind them and imi-
tated their tactics. waiting for
chance to slip through some hole in
the bomber formation.
Mangum's Troubles Begin.
All this time Sergt. Mangum had
plenty of troubles of his own.
Il noticed there was plenty of
flax over the target as we came in
on our bomb rum" he says, but I
don't think the ship was hit. 1t
llldSp lldNC OSCll ~ lllllluUCS ldlCl
that these two fighters came in on
us, right out of the sun. I don't
think any plane in the formation
saw them. Their position was so
well chosen that I don't think any
of the gunners was in a position to
get shot at them. I know I was
not.
ncly f,.nu s,r,
I couldn't breathe and had to get
it off so I could transfer to the
oxygen tube. I almost passed out
trying to get 1t off. 1t should come
off very easily but when you have
been without oxygen for a few Sec
onds at such an altitude all you1
fingers become thumbs. When we
got in I found there were couple
of 20-mm. holes just behind where
had been standing"
There was actually plenty more
damage. The left outer wing panel
had been completely demolished
One engine was knocked out. The
cockpit was a mass of twisted,
broken controls
Sergt. Mangum just had another
bad trip over a German air base
near Paris when the craft ran into
specially heavy flax and the nose
was shot off. The bombardier was
hit but was saved from serious in
jury by his flax suit.
Sergt. Mangum, a graduate of
Montgomery Blair High School, has
made trips over Bremen, Frank
furt and Wilhelmshaven, as well as
over Ludwigshafen and the French
coast.
Sergt. Mangum enlisted in the
Air Forces November 2, 1912, and
was trained at Camp Lee, Rapid
City, Miami and Amarillo Tex,
where he completed mechanical
training and at Loredo, Tex, where
he won his gunner's wings. He
sailed last November for duty in
Britain.
Sergt. Mangum is one of six chill
dren. A brother, also a staff SER
geant, is first engineer-gunner on
Lberator now overseas He writes
his mother regularly. Il got three
letters last week and he has Just
spent Today furlough in London" !"
she said. In answer to inquiry
Mrs. Mangum said he was not mar
ried. He has never had a girl in
his life; he was just 20 on Christ