[DCFoster]

My late uncle Paul B. Davis served in the Mighty 8th, 448th BG, 715th Squadron as the crew chief, engineer, and top turret gunner on Lt. Whetsell’s crew; the B-24 Wazzle Dazzle.

His photo album is posted at the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21734563@N04/

Lt. Mains photo and close-up set is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21734563@N04/sets/72157603453115241/detail/


When Paul Davis returned to the states in 1945 he had in his possession two photo’s of Lt. Mains B-24 going down with a severed tail. One photo was small and the other was an 8”x10”. The large photo is scanned in with several high resolution close ups on the above link. Under high resolution it appears the B-24 took multiple hits; in a right engine, right rear wing, and between the wing and tail sections. Of particular interest is a 19,000 dpi close up of the top turret.

It seems several men from the 448th came out of Seething, UK with prints of the same photo from the original negative. Max Hastings identifies Navigator Harold Dorfman as the photographer. An internet search found a “Harold Dorfman”, retired from the USAF. He served in the 448th BG and is still living in Flushing, NY. I called him a few weeks ago and left a message (no return call). As for any question of the validity of the photo I can personally vouch that the two prints are un-retouched since the summer of 1945. And if any touching up took place before that time, it would show up in the high resolution scans.

With the new scans; how many hits did the B-24 take other than the apparent one?
Who was the Pilot of the ME 262?
Did Lt. Dorfman take the photo?
How did so many men get copies of it in Seething?

Thank You

David Foster