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Re: MACR 16346
By process of elimination:
42-3060
3060 MSN 7996) Douglas Aircraft Company, Modification Center, Air Force Plant #3, Tulsa Municipal Airport, OK 14Jan43. 548th Bomb Squadron, 385th Bomb Group, Dow Field, Bangor, ME 15Jun43. Ferried on the North Atlantic route from RCAF Gander, Newfoundland to Prestwick (Station 500), Scotland 21Jun43. 548th Bomb Squadron [GX*V], 385th Bomb Group, Great Ashfield, UK 26Jun43, Named "Hell's Belle"– artwork of a female with wings riding a large bomb., then to 401st Bomb Squadron [LL*G], 91st Bomb Group, Bassingbourn (Station 121), Cambridgeshire 3Sep43. Named "Hell Belle") Accident on a mission to the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft (Deschimag) shipyard at Bremen, Germany 8Oct43 (1WIA). The ball turret door came open causing the gunner to fall out head first. The gunner managed to pull himself back in but became caught in the mechanism. Assisted by the bombardier, the gunner was pulled out of the ball turret. Blood running from the gunner’s forehead had frozen and he was choking on the ice. The bombardier removed the ice and dragged the gunner to the radio room. The gunner survived and eventually returned to duty. Failed to return from a mission to the I.G. Farben chemical works at Leverkusen, Germany 1Dec43 (10POW). Clouds obscured the target so the formation diverted to the secondary target, a non-ferrous metals works at Solingen, Germany. An attack by enemy aircraft damaged engines No.1 and No.4 and both propellers were feathered. The aircraft crash landed in a farm field, uphill on a small hill beside a valley at Boich, five miles south of Düren, Germany. The landing gear was sheared off when it struck a large pile of sugar beets. {6 missions}. Despite crew’s attempts to destroy their aircraft, the Luftwaffe salvaged it for spares within four days Claimed by Lt Karl-Heinz Kempf in Bf 109G-6 of JG 26/II. MACR 1319.
40-3060
3060 (MSN 2088) Accepted by USAAC at Boeing Field, Seattle, WA 7Feb41. Sacramento Air Depot, McClellan Field, CA Apr41. 19th Bomb Group, March Field, Riverside, CA May41. Hamilton Field, San Rafael, CA for preparation for overseas duty. 26th Bomb Squadron [40], 11th Bomb Group, Hickam Field, Honolulu, TH 14May41. 42nd Bomb Squadron. Damaged during Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor at Hickam Field, Honolulu, TH 7Dec41. After the third attack, the plane was loaded with 500lb bombs and set off to find the Japanese fleet. During takeoff, the staff pilot pulled the wrong lever and locked the elevators. The tail came up, the nose went down, scraped the runway as the plane swung off to the side, bending four propellers. Repaired and in commission 8Dec41. 42nd Bomb Squadron. Hawaiian Air Depot, Hickam Field, Honolulu, TH. Condemned 16Oct43
Source: joebaugher.com
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