Thread: Missing Airman
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Old 5th December 2019, 18:49
Icare9 Icare9 is offline
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Re: Missing Airman

Julian, Levene, Clarke, Shepherd and Bryan were initially buried at Schierloh, near Ibbeburen, in Graves 1 to 5 respectively. McLaughlin and Isaac were buried in Graves 15 and 16 respectively. At the time of initial burial Isaac was noted as "Unknown" possibly due to the Jewish nature of his surname, he had removed or otherwise altered his identity. They were exhumed in 1947 so presumably each was able to be identified, which wasn't always the case and could suggest the crew had already bombed and that the aircraft wasn't totally destroyed by explosion or impact (just speculation, not knowledge).
The pilot being the only survivor doesn't seem to indicate a crash landing, as then you'd hope that other crew would survive, and if any control available, other crew could have parachuted out.
It's possible that a night fighter might have riddled the aircraft from astern, killing or disabling the crew except the pilot if he had an armoured seat.... but I don't know, just theorising how the pilot alone survived.
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