Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944
Hi guys, I am looking for further information about 2 US heavy bombers, lost on 30 March 1944 over Bulgaria.
The story is this: on that day, US bomber formations were going to attack the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. Near the town, the formations were intercepted by Bulgarian fighters. One fighter shot a bomber from very close distance and the heavy machine exploded. Not only that, but the explosion caused another bomber, flying to close, to explode, too! The two big machines became fireballs in the sky and their parts fell on the hills below. As far as I know, all men were lost, but one who managed to open a parachute, the locals hid him and with the help of illegal partisan groups later made it to the allied side. The fighter, flying right behind the exploding bombers, was heavily damaged by the blast and the flying parts and hardly managed to make a very difficult force-landing.
My question: is it possible to identify the two US bombers? On that day, 350 B-17 and B-24 from the 15th AF attacked targets in Sofia, Bulgaria and in Ymotski, Yugoslavia. So, is it possible to find out the type /B-17 or 24?/, unit, crews and etc. of these two bombers? Can such information be found? Thank you very much in advance!
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