James Collison mission April 12, 1943

APRIL

Monday 12

Naples

I was awakened this morning by Bob. I went with Capt. Hoover as co-pilot on a raid to Naples. We didn't get there due to bad weather. We went up to 28,000 ft.-was 400 below zero and there was no planes in sight. We returned to Soluch with the bombs. Our radio operator was a flop-he couldn't get into the ground let alone receive and send a code. If our compass or navigator had been off we'd have be cooked chickens. The total time out was eight hours. I felt very uneasy about going with a strange crew. Was very glad to set my feet on terra-firma. Bob had five letters waiting for me-that he picked up at headquarters-they were certainly a welcome sight. ......