Com-Central.net

Found these while looking at Joe Baugher's great site regarding another matter. Sobering stuff.

home.att.net/~jbaugher/1942_3.html

42-50027/50070 St. Louis PT-19A-SL
42-50071/50276 Cancelled contract
42-50277/50354 Consolidated B-24H-20-CF Liberator
c/n 708/785
50277 (450th BG) lost Apr 28, 1944, Italy. MACR 4625
50278 (453rd BG, 734th BS) lost May 8, 1944. MACR 4591
50279 "Envy of 'Em All" originally with 458th BG, 754th BS. Transferred May 1944 to
492nd BG, 858th BS. Reassigned to 859th BS Jun 19, 1944.
Transferred Aug 10, 1944 to 392 BG, 579 BS. Shot down by AAA Sept 13, 1944 over
Bingen, Germany. 6 crew KIA, 4 POW. MACR 8848
50281 (376th BG, 514th BS) lost Feb 15, 1945, Austria. MACR 12488.
50282 (449th BG) lost Apr 16, 1944, Rumania. MACR 4042
50287 (392 BG, 577 BS) shot down Jun 23, 1944 over Dunkirk, France. MACR 6523
50290 was replacement ship in 389th BG, 565th BS Apr to Sep 1944, when it was declared war-weary and loaned to 458th BG. Eventually salvaged by 3 SAD May 26-31, 1945.

50291 ("Classy Chassis") was on a test flight after refurbishment at BAD2, Warton when it was caught in a storm which was unusually severe by British standards; eyewitnesses told of trees being uprooted and farm buildings flattened. The aircraft was caught in windshear while on approach to Warton Air Depot, Lancashire, UK Aug 23, 1944 and literally hurled to the ground and struck a cafe in the center of Freckleton village and then careered across the road into the Holy Trinity local primary school. 3 on aircraft and 58 on ground killed.
Among the dead were 35 children and three teachers. This was the worst aircraft accident in the UK during WW2
or:

50326 (448th BG, 715th BS, *Eager One*) damaged at Seething as a result of a taxiing accident Mar 15, 1945. Severely damaged by Me 262s of JG 7 during mission to Buchen Mar 25, 1945. Headed for Sweden but
abandoned over Swedish coast due to engine failure and spun
into sea. All crew except pilots bailed out and survived.
Both pilots were killed.


or one that crashed in '44, remains not recovered until '98

42-50452/50508 Consolidated B-24J-401-CF Liberator
c/n 883/939
Assembled from Ford-built B-24H knockdown kits.
50452 (389th BG, 566th BS, *Earthquake Magoon*) lost in midair collision with 44-10513 over Carleton Rode, UK during assembly Nov 21, 1944. Total of 17 killed, 3 survived 50453 (445th BG, 701st BS) crashed Dec 11, 1944 Zinswiller, Alsace after midair collision with 42-95291. 42-95291 landed
safely, all nine crew on 42-50453 killed. MACR 11337. Remains of crew not recovered
until 1998.

- JG300-Ascout

50453 (445th BG, 701st BS) crashed Dec 11, 1944 Zinswiller, Alsace after midair collision with 42-95291. 42-95291 landed
safely, all nine crew on 42-50453 killed. MACR 11337. Remains of crew not recovered
until 1998.

The pilot of that B24 was the father of my Sister in Law. She was born after he deployed overseas. The plane was listed as missing for years (It was thought to have gone into the North Sea) The crash site was 'discovered' in the late nineties (Locals knew all about the 'plane that had crashed in the woods' for years but the information finally got to the U.S. Authorities and a team went to crash site to recover the remains. Once the aircraft was identified (I believe off of numbers on some machine guns and engines, there weren't many big parts left after it dove into the ground and the bombs went off) the remains were sent to Hawaii for identification. Family members were contacted for DNA samples and all but one of the crew members were identified (There was a technical detail that didn't allow a positive id of the last crew member but there were remains that did not match the others but were cnsistent with the last crew member)

Most of the remains were buried in adjacent graves at Arlington in August of 2001. At the time it was the largest group burial in years and received heavy press coverage (second section front page of the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and other papers) I attended the ceremony and got some pretty good pictures (one of my first uses of a digital camera). I can pull up the pictures if anyone is interested.

I found it interesting that it was considered an Army (not Air Force) internment so all the 'escort officers' pall bearers, etc were green suited ground pounders. I would have thought it would have been Air Force people involved. The Army did a superb job, caisson, band, the whole works.

- bsmart

I found it interesting that it was considered an Army (not Air Force) internment so all the 'escort officers' pall bearers, etc were green suited ground pounders. I would have thought it would have been Air Force people involved. The Army did a superb job, caisson, band, the whole works.

Bob,

I'd guess it's because the decedants were all USAAF at the time they became casualties. Separate services and all that now. Probably a rule on the books about this somewhere with GR.

Just posted it to my favorites list, what an incrediblely useful site, The serial number lists alone are priceless. Many thanks for sharing Ascout

Piney