451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Hello,
Confirmation of a/c serial number please.

"999" is the only indication of the serial number in MACR 13217.
Event took place on 21st March,45.
I found in "Mike Hill's , "The 451st Bomb Group in WW II a Pictorial History" that there was 42-51999 that was with the 725th so expect it to have been the one.
But were there any other a/c "999" that served in the 451st Group that it may have been ?
Twice in December 44, 42-51999 was damaged on missions but was eventually returned to the USA..
Thanks
Alex

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

44-50999 from the March 1945 history. There are pages which give the status of every aircraft by full serial number.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Hello Frank,
Where can I access the history you refer too please ?
Reason being that the number you give (44-50999) is not in Hill's book as far as I can find.
Also from a web page I now see that 42-51999 was not assigned until after the event I mentioned.
Alex

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Maxwell's microfilm B0596, containing GP-451-HI (BOMB). IRIS 00093624. It's a series of forms titled "For the month of March 1945 Daily Status --- Takeoff and Early Returns"; one for each squadron. It lists each aircrafts status for each mission flown that month. I do not have the microfilm, I have a PDF copy of the rescanned versions they prepared a few years ago. If you purchase the microfilm version, be sure to ask for it on CD, rather than actual microfilm.

I haven't investigated these records very much, since the MAW team is still back in tactical 1943-44, and won't be getting to strategic 1943-45 for a year or two.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Thank you Frank,
Think the price could be out of my reach.
Alex

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Price for a microfilm, whether as an actual microfilm, or as the newer PDF version (which is just a digital copy of the actual microfilm) is $30US. Within the US at least they do not charge postage. I do not know what they charge, if at all, to ship a CD to England. They put the CDs in paper sleeves, not a plastic CD case, so it weighs little more than a single CD. They ship the CDs in a small size Jiffy bag. I know when I send CDs out to the MAW team, using Post Office small package bags (Jiffy or cardboard) the postage is about $13-14US, and needs a customs form.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Alex,
fortunately for you that roll contains some Escape statements, and therefore it found it's way into my collection :)
Will check it tomorrow for data you are searching for.

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Frank,
there is a problem for ordering of CDs from AFHRA, since they don't accept credit cards of PayPal, only check which is out of reach for most non-US researchers.
So I had to hire intermediate to make order for me, which costed some money.

Other thing, more important:
there is one plane from 460bg that made crash landing in January 1945, and no MACR was made. Do you know where I could find data on this plane serial?

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Vathra,
The MAW team is working on the tactical operations of 1943-44 at the present time. I have not therefore put much effort into finding the records of the 15th AF Bomb Groups that arrived in 1944. A quick check of the Group history I have for the 460th shows that the Jan 20, 1945 mission lost one aircraft missing, and that a second ran out of gas and crashed ten miles from base. No crew casualties, but no other information. No pilot, no serial, no squadron number. When I get to the strategic volumes for MAW I will copy the records available at NARA II and hope to find more details. I will probably not get to the 1945 records during 2018.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Hello Vathra,
Have you checked this site ?

http://www.15thaf.org/55th_BW/460th_BG/

From the list I found four -

01/16-17/45 - 42-78506 - 762 BS - pilot: Malesheetz.
01/20/45 - 44-49719.
01/31/45 - 41-28805 - 762 BS.
01/31/45 - 44-49712.

Alex

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Hello Frank,
Thanks for CD cost details
Thanks
Alex

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Good find, Alex.

On Jan. 31st two 460bg planes were lost, and MACR was not made.
One was from 762bs, and it was radar ship.
Other plane was 41-28805.

Plane 44-49712 has following data listed:
Block L-10-FO
Project 90947-R
Finish NM
Date assigned 11/29/1944
Disp CR

Is it possible to see from this data if this was radar ship?

Re: 451st BG/725thBS a/c "999" - March 21st, 45.
 

Frank,
one more question, since I see you are doing nice research.
I am planning on doing research on allied bombing of Yugoslavia.
I have done most of the research on Escape and Evasion of 15AAF, and I am aware that some data are in 15AAF archive, and other in bomb group archives. Situation is similar for mission reports.
For test, I have ordered several rolls with mission reports from 15 AAF, and I have got mission reports from one bomb group. In bomb group archive there is lot of data, but not much of it is useful (ie formation of bombers, load lists etc).

Therefore I plan to obtain reels with 15 AAF reports only. There is also less of them, and it would be easier to obtain.
What do you think about this plan, and do you have some advice?