On April 25th the crew was able to fly 42-51090 for a total of three hours and ten minutes. This was the extent of the pre-deployment flight check that the crew would do prior to departing. Then on the 28th of April they got the word: Proceed to a combat theater in Europe.
There was speculation about where they were going. Was it to the 8th Air Force in England? Or could it be the recently formed 15th Air Force in Italy? The crew gathered in front of 42-51090 for a crew photo prior to taking off

The flight to Florida started out rather routine. However, as the flight continued, the weather got worse. The radios were full of static. Finally, the weather let up as the crew found itself over the Atlantic. Their final destination for this leg of the flight was West Palm Beach, Florida. Due to the static, the crew could not communicate with the tower nor could they hear the radio beacon at the airport.  The crew decided to do a "visual approach" and drag the runway to get permission to land. On approach, Charlie Trumper saw the landing lights of another B-24 coming at them! He and Harvey wrestled the big bomber out of the way and completed a 180° turn and landed after the other B-24.

Out of 75 B-24s that departed Topeka that day, the Trumper crew was one of only five that completed the flight....crew training was paying off.

During the approach to Belem, Brazil the crew experienced a similar situation with the radios. The crew had no idea where exactly the airport was and they opted to descend to about 200 feet and follow a stream that wound its way toward the airport. The weather cleared within an hour after they landed.

The following day the crew departed and headed to their next stop on the long journey. On the way to Fortaleza, they encountered heavy thunderstorms and sever turbulence. The cockpit leaked severely, both Charlie and Harvey were soaked to the bone.

Around midnight the crew departed for the long trip over the Atlantic. They were bound for Africa. Once again bad weather was to play a factor in at least part of the trip. Charlie and Harvey were forced to fly on instruments from take off until about two hours into the flight. At about the five hour mark the Navigator, Niles Christensen, took some star shots, made a minor correction in the flight path. At the 12 hour mark, the crew split the Dakar airport in French West Africa. This was a superb display of navigation by the 19 year old navigator.

 

 Itinerary of the crew's journey

Date	Flight Time	From	To
28 April 1944	8 hours 10 min	Topeka, Kansas	Morrison Field, Florida
30 April 1944	10 hours 30 min	Morrision Field	Waller Field, Trinidad
2 May 1944	7 hours 35 min	Waller Field	Belem, Brazil
3 May 1944	4 hours 25 min	Belem	Fortalaza, Brazil
5 May 1944	12 hours 0 min	Fortalaza	Dakar, Africa
6 May 1944	8 hours 0 min	Dakar	Marrakech, Morocco
8 May 1944	1 hour 55 min	Marrakech	Returned due to weather
10 May 1944	6 hours 0 min	Marrakech	Tunis
11 May 1944	4 hours 0 min	Tunis	Gioia, Italy
11 May 1944	30 min	Gioia	451st BG, Castelluccia Italy

After 58 hours and 35 min of total flight time the crew arrived at their final destination. The 451st Bombardment Group (Heavy)

Or use this navigation table
 

Home	Training	Trip to Italy	725th Squadron
Missions	Bad Penny / Extra Joker	Final Mission	Demise of Hey Moe
The Return Home	451st Aircraft	Misc. B-24s	Mail

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