http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/02/100-year-old-coast-guard-veteran-recalls-wwii-adventure/
100-year-old Coast Guard veteran recalls WWII adventure
Posted by LT Stephanie Young, Friday, February 14, 2014
Capt. Winslow Buxton is 100 years young today! Living in
Bellevue, Wash., he remains affable, pert and active. He was born in New
London, Conn., and attended the Coast Guard Academy
from 1934 to 1938. Before the war he served as deck officer aboard
Coast Guard Cutter Mojave and executive officer of Coast Guard Cutter
Tallapoosa, working on search and rescue cases out of Key West, Fl. In
honor of his birthday, Coast Guard historian Dr. Dave Rosen sat down
with Buxton as the veteran recounted his WWII adventures.
Coast Guard veteran Capt. Winslow Buxton at his home in Bellevue, Wash. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Interview as recorded by Dr. Dave Rosen.
1942: Lt Buxton as executive officer of Coast Guard Cutter Comanche
The 1942 Greenland mission of the 165-foot cutter consisted of
guarding the cryolite mine at Ivigtut, setting up the Beach Head
Station, icebreaking, looking for any enemy personnel and helping chart
the coast.
May: Comanche crossed the Arctic Circle just as the
winter ice melted, escorting the cargo ship SS Bridgeport. It transited
the 90-miles long Sondre Strom Fjord en route to the Bluie West Eight
airbase at its inland end, about 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
The delivery of aviation gasoline to the airbase enabled the
trans-Atlantic flights to begin. Buxton was accepted into the Sons of
the Polar Seas.
June: Comanche served as the visual aide and radio
beacon at the fjord entrance to the main airbase, Narsarsuak, for the
first U.S. Air Force trans-Atlantic flight of B-17s while the air
control system was still being installed. The ship logged the arrival of
26 B-17s on that first day, from 2:40 am to 10:30 pm.
July: Comanche served as plane guard at BW-1 at
Tungliarfik Fjord, performing rescue duty for arriving and departing
craft in case of ditching or crashing. On July 15 the famous Lost
Squadron landed on the Ice Cap after attempting to fly from Greenland to
Iceland.
The Lost Squadron
Two B-17E Flying Fortress bombers and six P-38F Lightning fighters
bellied in on top of the Greenland ice cap July 15, 1942. The airplanes
were being ferried across the Atlantic in 1942 bound for Reykjavik,
Iceland. The planes encountered bad weather. Bogus radio transmissions,
traced to an illegal German radio station in northeast Greenland sending
false weather information only added to the squadron’s woes. Running
low on gas, they decided to crash land on the ice cap.
To assist rescue, the entire squadron stayed together. The first
plane failed in an attempt to land with the wheels down, and the
remaining flight went in with wheels up, sliding a considerable distance
before coming to a stop. On the fourth day after the crash landing the
crews managed to make their SOS heard.
Search and rescue planes located the crash site and dropped special
clothing and food necessary for survival on the ice cap. The pilots and
crew had to hike seventeen miles to the coast, where they were picked up
by the Cutter Northland on July 14, which had been on patrol looking
for German radio and weather stations.
The Importance of the Norden Bombsight
Left behind in one of the B-17s was the top secret Norden bombsight.
The Norden was a tachometric bombsight used by the U.S. Army Air Forces
and the U.S. Navy during World War II. It aided the crew of bomber
aircraft in dropping bombs accurately. Key to the operation of the
Norden were two features: a mechanical computer that calculated the
bomb’s trajectory based on current flight conditions, and a linkage to
the bomber’s autopilot that let it react quickly and accurately to
changes in the wind or other effects. Together, these features allowed
for unprecedented accuracy in day bombing from high altitudes. In test
runs the Norden demonstrated a circular error probability of 75 feet, an
astonishing performance for the era.
This accuracy allowed direct attacks on ships, factories, and other
point targets. Both the Navy and the Air Force saw this as a means to
achieve war aims through high-altitude bombing, without resorting to
area bombing, as proposed by European forces. To achieve these aims, the
Norden was granted the utmost secrecy well into the war, and was part
of a then-unprecedented production effort on the same scale as the
Manhattan Project which launched the development of the atomic bomb. It
was critically important that the Norden not fall into the hands of the
enemy.
The Recovery of the Norden Bombsight
Operations in Greenland were kept secret. Ship crew members were
neither permitted to take cameras on operations, nor keep a diary during
their ship’s travels. During these early operations two Army Air Corps
officers joined then-lieutenant Buxton aboard the Comanche, Capt. Alan
Innis-Taylor and Maj. Norman Vaughn. (Both of these two officers were
also with the Byrd Antarctic expeditions in 1928-30 and 1933-35.)
After receiving an encrypted message, the ship returned to the base
at Narssarssuak, Greenland. Several dog teams, motor sleds and extra
lumber were immediately loaded onto the ship. Capt. Von Paulsen, the
Base Operations Officer, also sailed as the ship set course for the east
coast of Greenland. Instead of taking the usual sea route around Cape
Farewell, a shortcut was made via the Inside Passage with sheer cliffs
rising several thousand feet and cross currents making steering
difficult.
After passing Angmagsslik on the east coast the ship’s navigator
noticed the coast line began to differ from the navigation charts. Where
the charts indicated glacier ice flowing down to the sea, the ship was
on an open body of water, which appeared to be a bay. With the ship’s
lifeboat preceding the ship, the depth was sounded and the unknown bay
was shown to provide an excellent anchorage. The bay was charted and
later named after the Comanche.
Lt. Buxton’s Wild Ride
The Comanche anchored in the bay and the dog teams and motor sleds
were unloaded. Taylor, Vaughn and Buxton began their trek up the ice cap
to the crash site of the B-17 on motor sleds.
On reaching the site at 2,500-feet elevation, the Norden bombsight
was found and removed from the wrecked B-17. Buxton returned on skis
lashed to the dogsled with the bombsight. The trip was a wild 17 mile
downhill run from the glacier on the hill to the coast. The Lieutenant
jumped over crevasses and rode the moguls. This was his first time on
skis.
Buxton vividly remembers this ride 70 years later as one of the highlights of his Coast Guard career.
1943: Lt. Buxton as executive officer on the Joseph T. Dickman
The Coast Guard-manned attack transport Joseph T. Dickman
participated in the Italian campaign. In July it assisted the amphibious
landings in Sicily and in September at Salerno. In Sicily the ship was
bombed by enemy planes as it disembarked troops and picked up wounded.
Buxton recalls the holes in the bridge and the explosion of a nearby
merchant ship.
At Salerno, the enemy artillery was dug in on the shore. Troops were
landed at night to minimize casualties amidst the shell fire. The
Dickman faced mines and enemy E-Boats. (These were a very fast patrol
craft with a wooden hull designed to avoid magnetic mines.) After a
destroyer sank nearby, the Dickman helped rescue the crew.
1944-45: Lt. Cmdr. Buxton as the commanding officer of the Pride
The Coast Guard-manned destroyer-escort USS Pride escorted convoys
across the Atlantic. Early in 1945 the Pride joined a hunter-killer
group and was one of three Coast Guard destroyer escorts that sank the
U-866 in the North Atlantic on March 18. Buxton received a letter of
commendation as well as a bronze star on his combat ribbon. He finished
the war handling anti-submarine training in Panama.
1945-66
After V-J Day, Buxton served as executive officer of Coast Guard
Cutter Mocoma – at a time there was no commanding officer. Later he
commanded the Yakutat in Portland, Me; the Klamath in Puget Sound; and
the Ingham in Norfolk. In 1964 Buxton became captain of the port of
Seattle. He retired from the Coast Guard in 1966 and worked as marine
superintendant at the port until 1978.
- See more at:
http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/02/100-year-old-coast-guard-veteran-recalls-wwii-adventure/#sthash.bF4JH1Hd.dpuf
100-year-old Coast Guard veteran recalls WWII adventure
Posted by LT Stephanie Young, Friday, February 14, 2014
Capt. Winslow Buxton is 100 years young today! Living in
Bellevue, Wash., he remains affable, pert and active. He was born in New
London, Conn., and attended the Coast Guard Academy
from 1934 to 1938. Before the war he served as deck officer aboard
Coast Guard Cutter Mojave and executive officer of Coast Guard Cutter
Tallapoosa, working on search and rescue cases out of Key West, Fl. In
honor of his birthday, Coast Guard historian Dr. Dave Rosen sat down
with Buxton as the veteran recounted his WWII adventures.
Coast Guard veteran Capt. Winslow Buxton at his home in Bellevue, Wash. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Interview as recorded by Dr. Dave Rosen.
1942: Lt Buxton as executive officer of Coast Guard Cutter Comanche
The 1942 Greenland mission of the 165-foot cutter consisted of
guarding the cryolite mine at Ivigtut, setting up the Beach Head
Station, icebreaking, looking for any enemy personnel and helping chart
the coast.
May: Comanche crossed the Arctic Circle just as the
winter ice melted, escorting the cargo ship SS Bridgeport. It transited
the 90-miles long Sondre Strom Fjord en route to the Bluie West Eight
airbase at its inland end, about 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
The delivery of aviation gasoline to the airbase enabled the
trans-Atlantic flights to begin. Buxton was accepted into the Sons of
the Polar Seas.
June: Comanche served as the visual aide and radio
beacon at the fjord entrance to the main airbase, Narsarsuak, for the
first U.S. Air Force trans-Atlantic flight of B-17s while the air
control system was still being installed. The ship logged the arrival of
26 B-17s on that first day, from 2:40 am to 10:30 pm.
July: Comanche served as plane guard at BW-1 at
Tungliarfik Fjord, performing rescue duty for arriving and departing
craft in case of ditching or crashing. On July 15 the famous Lost
Squadron landed on the Ice Cap after attempting to fly from Greenland to
Iceland.
The Lost Squadron
Two B-17E Flying Fortress bombers and six P-38F Lightning fighters
bellied in on top of the Greenland ice cap July 15, 1942. The airplanes
were being ferried across the Atlantic in 1942 bound for Reykjavik,
Iceland. The planes encountered bad weather. Bogus radio transmissions,
traced to an illegal German radio station in northeast Greenland sending
false weather information only added to the squadron’s woes. Running
low on gas, they decided to crash land on the ice cap.
To assist rescue, the entire squadron stayed together. The first
plane failed in an attempt to land with the wheels down, and the
remaining flight went in with wheels up, sliding a considerable distance
before coming to a stop. On the fourth day after the crash landing the
crews managed to make their SOS heard.
Search and rescue planes located the crash site and dropped special
clothing and food necessary for survival on the ice cap. The pilots and
crew had to hike seventeen miles to the coast, where they were picked up
by the Cutter Northland on July 14, which had been on patrol looking
for German radio and weather stations.
The Importance of the Norden Bombsight
Left behind in one of the B-17s was the top secret Norden bombsight.
The Norden was a tachometric bombsight used by the U.S. Army Air Forces
and the U.S. Navy during World War II. It aided the crew of bomber
aircraft in dropping bombs accurately. Key to the operation of the
Norden were two features: a mechanical computer that calculated the
bomb’s trajectory based on current flight conditions, and a linkage to
the bomber’s autopilot that let it react quickly and accurately to
changes in the wind or other effects. Together, these features allowed
for unprecedented accuracy in day bombing from high altitudes. In test
runs the Norden demonstrated a circular error probability of 75 feet, an
astonishing performance for the era.
This accuracy allowed direct attacks on ships, factories, and other
point targets. Both the Navy and the Air Force saw this as a means to
achieve war aims through high-altitude bombing, without resorting to
area bombing, as proposed by European forces. To achieve these aims, the
Norden was granted the utmost secrecy well into the war, and was part
of a then-unprecedented production effort on the same scale as the
Manhattan Project which launched the development of the atomic bomb. It
was critically important that the Norden not fall into the hands of the
enemy.
The Recovery of the Norden Bombsight
Operations in Greenland were kept secret. Ship crew members were
neither permitted to take cameras on operations, nor keep a diary during
their ship’s travels. During these early operations two Army Air Corps
officers joined then-lieutenant Buxton aboard the Comanche, Capt. Alan
Innis-Taylor and Maj. Norman Vaughn. (Both of these two officers were
also with the Byrd Antarctic expeditions in 1928-30 and 1933-35.)
After receiving an encrypted message, the ship returned to the base
at Narssarssuak, Greenland. Several dog teams, motor sleds and extra
lumber were immediately loaded onto the ship. Capt. Von Paulsen, the
Base Operations Officer, also sailed as the ship set course for the east
coast of Greenland. Instead of taking the usual sea route around Cape
Farewell, a shortcut was made via the Inside Passage with sheer cliffs
rising several thousand feet and cross currents making steering
difficult.
After passing Angmagsslik on the east coast the ship’s navigator
noticed the coast line began to differ from the navigation charts. Where
the charts indicated glacier ice flowing down to the sea, the ship was
on an open body of water, which appeared to be a bay. With the ship’s
lifeboat preceding the ship, the depth was sounded and the unknown bay
was shown to provide an excellent anchorage. The bay was charted and
later named after the Comanche.
Lt. Buxton’s Wild Ride
The Comanche anchored in the bay and the dog teams and motor sleds
were unloaded. Taylor, Vaughn and Buxton began their trek up the ice cap
to the crash site of the B-17 on motor sleds.
On reaching the site at 2,500-feet elevation, the Norden bombsight
was found and removed from the wrecked B-17. Buxton returned on skis
lashed to the dogsled with the bombsight. The trip was a wild 17 mile
downhill run from the glacier on the hill to the coast. The Lieutenant
jumped over crevasses and rode the moguls. This was his first time on
skis.
Buxton vividly remembers this ride 70 years later as one of the highlights of his Coast Guard career.
1943: Lt. Buxton as executive officer on the Joseph T. Dickman
The Coast Guard-manned attack transport Joseph T. Dickman
participated in the Italian campaign. In July it assisted the amphibious
landings in Sicily and in September at Salerno. In Sicily the ship was
bombed by enemy planes as it disembarked troops and picked up wounded.
Buxton recalls the holes in the bridge and the explosion of a nearby
merchant ship.
At Salerno, the enemy artillery was dug in on the shore. Troops were
landed at night to minimize casualties amidst the shell fire. The
Dickman faced mines and enemy E-Boats. (These were a very fast patrol
craft with a wooden hull designed to avoid magnetic mines.) After a
destroyer sank nearby, the Dickman helped rescue the crew.
1944-45: Lt. Cmdr. Buxton as the commanding officer of the Pride
The Coast Guard-manned destroyer-escort USS Pride escorted convoys
across the Atlantic. Early in 1945 the Pride joined a hunter-killer
group and was one of three Coast Guard destroyer escorts that sank the
U-866 in the North Atlantic on March 18. Buxton received a letter of
commendation as well as a bronze star on his combat ribbon. He finished
the war handling anti-submarine training in Panama.
1945-66
After V-J Day, Buxton served as executive officer of Coast Guard
Cutter Mocoma – at a time there was no commanding officer. Later he
commanded the Yakutat in Portland, Me; the Klamath in Puget Sound; and
the Ingham in Norfolk. In 1964 Buxton became captain of the port of
Seattle. He retired from the Coast Guard in 1966 and worked as marine
superintendant at the port until 1978.
- See more at:
http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/02/100-year-old-coast-guard-veteran-recalls-wwii-adventure/#sthash.bF4JH1Hd.dpufhttp://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/02/100-year-old-coast-guard-veteran-recalls-wwii-adventure/