MACR 6402
 

I am always digging for family history information. Sometimes I find gems in the most unlilkely places. I found this tonight. Uncle Jim and his crew were shot down over Austria on June 26, 1944. Well, I found this. The wreckage of his B-24, Miss Lincoln Heights, 42-52238 is listed in the following. The airplane exploded after the entire crew bailed out. .See bottom of this page for crew photo and MACR.
The following is from a post written by another contributor...…….
Alright, let’s check some Hungarian police crash reports (telegrams) for June 26, 1944:
„Tét (Hu, near the city of Győr,-SW): a four engined bomber has been shot down in a dogfight. The plane crashed 4-5 km away from Újmalomsok (now between Malomsok and Tét) and burned out. 8 crewmembers bailed out and got captured. ” or:
„Somorja (now: Samorin, Slo.) A four engined bomber crashed in an aerial battle. 8 crewmen bailed out. 3 of them were captured by the Hungarian Police, 5 by the Slovaks.” or:
„Mosonszolnok (Hu): A bomber crashed. 2 crewmen got captured, the rest is still hiding.” or:
„Nagymegyer (now: Calovo, Slo): 7 enemy flyers bailed out and got captured.” - doesn’t mention plane crash, only bail outs!!!! or:
„Four engined (enemy) bombers crashed at the (Hungarian) villages of Sótóny, Fertőszentmiklós, Tormáspuszta and Káptalanfa. 8 crewmen where captured. One parachute failed to open. He died.” – This telegram doesn’t mention the name of the village where these people got captured or died. or:
„Szentimrefalva (Hu, North of Lake Balaton): A four engined enemy bomber crashed in the morning. 10 crewmen bailed out and ALL got captured.” – this is the one mentioned at Káptalanfa in the other telegram, because it was the next village to it. Probably 2 different police stations reported the same event.
There are also reports for Nagyacsád (Hu) and for Balozsameggyes (Hu), etc., but those are all identified.
See, there were so many crashes in Hungary this day, which were all wrongly reported to Austria, and other countries. (This was a common mistake through 1944-45.)
Lost 15th AAF bombers on June 26, 1944 with identified crash sites, or crashes which most likely are NOT linked to the mentioned reports:
S/N: Group:
41-28777 98
42-31482 301
42-31701 301
44-40091 376
41-29221 450
41-29253 451
42-64450 451
42-50312 454
42-52265 454
41-29261 455
41-29570 455
42-52230 455
42-52238 455
42-52241 455
42-52249 455
42-78167 455
42-78292 455
42-95462 455
42-99771 455
41-28638 456
42-52233 456
42-52275 456
41-28674 459
41-28679 461
42-50401 464
42-95451 464
42-52702 485
42-94740 484
Potential cases where the planes COULD BE the ones, mentioned in the crash reports at Tét-Újmalomsok and Szentimrefalva-Káptalanfa. I basically would like to identify these two. So:
42-52297 454
42-51174 459
42-95300 459
41-28839 460
42-52538 460
42-78245 460
41-29491 485

Re: MACR 6402
 

You seem to be asking for the same or similar information that was discussed in this thread:

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=11003

The final post in that thread by HGabor seems to identify the crew of 'Tony Gayle', 450. BG, 41-29221 as those captured at "Kaptalanfa-Szentimrefalva". Was that incorrect?

Re: MACR 6402
 

Good evening !

According the Luftgaukommando-Reports for this day, 42-52238 came down at 9:50 hrs 3 km NE of Schuetzen and 6 km E of Eisenstadt. The German reference report is ME 1479. The units of the Liberator in the German report are: 747 HB Sqd., 455 Gr., 304 Wing.

Hope this helps.

Horst Weber

Re: MACR 6402
 

Horst Weber and RSwank,
Thank you for your replies. Yes, this is precisely what I am seeking and hoped to find. Here is the MACR and photo of my uncle and seven of his aircrew. There were ten onboard the day they were shot down. The MACR reports, "last seen." As noted in other posts, airplanes often crashed a distance from where they were last seen.
My uncle told me that his airplane lost its turbocharges after the run. They jettisoned guns and any excess weight to stay aloft. An FW-190 pilot found them and apparently knew the plane was disabled. He flew along side the B-24, saluted, dropped back and shot out the #2 engine. Although the plane was on fire the entire crew of ten bailed out. The airplane exploded. The crew was captured and survived the war.

Re: MACR 6402
 

As Horst has posted, according to the German reports, the plane went down 3 km NE of Schuetzen and 6 km E of Eisenstadt. If you have fold3 access, a summary list of German reports is on this page, including a mention of "238" toward the middle of the page:
https://www.fold3.com/image/251/38656680

I would give a "very rough" estimate of the location as 47.872302N, 16.659155E

https://www.google.com/maps/place/47...02!4d16.659155

This location is SE of Vienna. As you know, the MACR has a "last seen" location NW of Vienna. If the "last seen" location is correct (sometimes they are not correct), the crew bailed out somewhere along the flight path, with the plane finally crashing at the location given.

Re: MACR 6402
 

At Káptalanfa-Szentimrefalva B-24G #42-78334 of 450 BG went down with 10 POWs.
Gabor

Re: MACR 6402
 

You mention "Uncle Jim". Which man in the crew is "Uncle Jim", James Brown or James Kimsey?

There is an interview with the pilot James B Brown here:

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib...c2001001.76658

Unfortunately, not one of the better interviews I have seen.

There is also a chapter about Shollenberger in a book called In Harm's Way, by Paul Cashdollar. There is a Google excerpt here (with a few pages missing). Scroll up to get to the start of the chapter. You can probably find a copy book on Amazon if you wanted.

https://books.google.com/books?id=O6...20m%22&f=false