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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by CMSgt Don Skinner - Deceased
Contact Info
Home Town Alexander
Last Address Madison, Iowa
Date of Passing Jan 21, 1987
Location of Interment Earlham Cemetery - Madison, Iowa
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Last Known Activity:
Robert Lewis Bobst was born in Alexander, Iowa on April 6, 1921. He was the son of Fred A. and Katherine Nelson Bobst. He attended St. Charles Elementary School and graduated from Patterson High School. NARA enlistment records could not be located, but given recorded details of his later service, it is likely he joined the military in 1942.
He was given navigator training, and approximately in October, 1943, he graduated and was commissioned. He married Sheryl Junkin on October 3, 1943. He was then sent to an operational training unit for combat crew training and assignment to a combat replacement crew. This crew arrived in England in late 1943, and began flying combat missions with the 715th Bomb Squadron of the 448th Bomb Group from Seething Air Station.
On April 29, 1944, the crew participated in a bombing raid on war facilities near Berlin, Germany. The aircraft was hit by several flak bursts, knocking out three engines. In addition, the nose turret, the top turret, and the tail assembly were damaged. Because of interior damage, the bomb bay doors had to be opened manually.
The pilot hoped to make the return to England, but losing altitude and air speed, he realized this was impossible. He waited until the aircraft approached the Danish island of Bornholm before he rang the bail out bell, giving the crew a chance to parachute on land rather than into the Baltic Sea. All crewmen bailed out, but one parachute did not open and the engineer fell to his death.
Lt Bobst landed on a farm where he was fed and hidden in a haystack. With the help of friendly Danes, he managed to reach the village of Bolshavn where he was furnished false ID and put on a ferry to Sweden. He later returned to England along with five other evadees. Three of the crew were captured.
After the war, Lt Bobst returned to Iowa where he served as an International Harvester dealer for 17 years. He also was employed as an engineer for Iowa Public Television for 20 years. He died from a heart attack while at the Veterans Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. He was buried in Earlham Cemetery in Madison, Iowa, survived by his wife Sheryl.
The aircraft involved in this incident was B-24H # 41-29479, nicknamed "Gypsy Queen," assigned to the 715th Bomb Squadron. Prior to April, 1944, this aircraft was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group, 838th Bomb Squadron, and bore nose art and the name "Big Bad Wolf." (See aircraft photo.)
In some accounts, mostly Danish, this aircraft is referred to as "Gypsy Moth."
Missing Air Crew Report 4488 was issued and identifies the crew as:
2 Lt Orland T. Howard p
F/O Thomas J. Verran c-p
2 Lt Robert L. Bobst nav
2 Lt Laurin M. Derossier
TSgt Harry J. Ambrosini eng/tt gun
TSgt Russell D. Leonard r/o
SSgt Stanley E. Jones nose gun
SSgt William L. Hutchins rwg
SSgt Garold W. Nininger lwg
Sgt Albert L. Heikkila tail gun
Lt Derossier's name is spelled DeRossier in some accounts.
Sgt Ambrosini was KIA; F/O Verran,SSgt Jones, and SSgt Nininger were captured. The others successfully evaded.
In the crew photo, Lt Bobst is in the back row, first on left.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Air Offensive, Europe Campaign (1942-44)
From Month/Year
July / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description Air Offensive, Europe Campaign 4 July 1942 to 5 June 1944) Pre-war doctrine had held that waves of bombers hitting enemy cities would cause mass panic and the rapid collapse of the enemy. As a result, the Royal Air Force had built up a large strategic bomber force. By way of contrast, Nazi German air force doctrine was almost totally dedicated to supporting the army. Therefore, German bombers were smaller than their British equivalents, and Germany never developed a fully successful four engined heavy bomber equivalent to the Lancaster or B-17, with only the similarly sized Heinkel He 177 placed into production and made operational for such duties with the Luftwaffe in the later war years.
The main concentration of German raids on British cities was from September 7, 1940 until May 10, 1941 in the most famous air battle of all time, known as the Battle of Britain. Facing odds of four against one the RAF held off the mighty Luftwaffe forcing Hermann Wilhelm Göring to withdraw his forces and more importantly indefinitely postpone invasion plans. This proved the first major turning point of the War. After that most of the strength of the Luftwaffe was diverted to the war against the Soviet Union leaving German cities vulnerable to British and later American air bombings. As a result of the victory, Great Britain was used by U.S and other Allied forces as a base from which to begin the D-Day landings in June 1944 and the liberation of Nazi-occupied Western Europe.
From 1942 onwards, the efforts of Bomber Command were supplemented by the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces, U.S. Army Air Forces units being deployed to England to join the assault on mainland Europe on July 4, 1942. Bomber Command raided by night and the US forces by day.
