B-24J 42-100320 93rd Bomb Group (?)

[Ivo de Jong]

Hello,
I am wondering if anybody has some information on B-24J 42-100320 of (most likely) the 93rd Bomb Group. It crashed 'somewhere in England' and was totally wrecked. Date is either April 1, 1944 (most likely) or January 4, 1944. All information is most welcome.
Thanks in advance
Ivo de Jong

[BigWeeker]

Ivo;

For what it's worth, 42-100320 flew most of the Big Week missions with the 93rd BG, including up to the 25th Feb '44

Regards,


Andy BigWeeker

[Ivo de Jong]

Thanks Andy,
That means that my two question marks can be removed.
93rd Bomb Group and April 1, 1944 now see to be correct
Cheers
Ivo

[shooshoobaby]

Ivo-
# 42 - 100320 GO A
93d BG 328th Sq.
Returned From Operations
Crashed 3/29/44
Salvaged 4/1/44
Source: Bits and Pieces - Heavy Bombers of the Mighty 8th
Cheers,
Mike

[Aknevelman]

On one website the plane with serial number 42-100320 is associated with MACR 3890. Comment: ‘A/C 42-100320, MACR 3890. A/C returned to base but some crew bailed out’. Another site referencing this MACR gives an accident date of 440203 -3rd of Februari 1944-, ‘AC not lost’, no serial number mentioned.
This does not tally with the plane still operational on the 25th of Februari 1944 and crashing late March unless the aircraft was repaired. Or someone made the wrong association with S/N and MACR. Does anybody have access to the MACR mentioned ?

[Horst Weber]

Good evening !

By MACR # 3890 it seems, that 2 crews bailed out over Luxembourg and were captured by German forces. The a/c landed in England.

Best regards !

Horst Weber

[Ivo de Jong]

Thanks for your reactions.
The crash is still somewhat mysterious to me.
There does not seem to be either a MACR or an Aircraft Accident Report for the loss of this aircraft.
Jan Hey/Stan Bishop's new 'bible' on 8th/9th Air Force losses does not contain an entry for this ship, neither on March 2 (the apparent bail out of two crewmembers), or on March 29 or April 1 (possible crash dates).
The93rd BG History "Ted's Travelling Circus", which is quite accurate on losses, does not mention the loss either.
However, the ship was definitely lost in England and totally destroyed. I am still hoping that someone can clear up this little mystery!
Regards
Ivo de Jong

[BC]

Hi Ivo:

I'm afraid even BC is not going to be much help with this one. According to Adams/Andrews' "Bits & Pieces", 328BS/93BG B-24 42-100320 GO-A crashed on 29 March 1944 and was Salvaged on 1 April 1944.

From Field Engineering Maintenance Division (3 SAD) list of aircraft repaired/salvaged:

"B-24J 42-100320 Old Buckingham E2 30-3-44 31-3-44 M/Sgt Berkshire Crashed. Completely demolished."

From the top:

Aircraft model

SN

Location. Obviously = Old BUCKENHAM. They usually cite the nearest AAF Station if not on the airfield

E2 = Crashed and burned or crashed and destroyed

Date of incident, some of these are usually a day or two out

Date of commencement of repair or salvage - as above

Name of crew chief who oversaw/supervised repair or salvage work

"Completely demolished" is US jargon for a "write-off" !

Hope it helps.

Nice work on the 487BG book, by the way !

Your Suffolk chum,

BC

[Ivo de Jong]

Thanks Bob!
Sorry to read that you don't have a solution either! It seems strange that we have a big B-24 crashing in England in late March 1944 and not a clue where it happened and who were on board. Fortunately, from the lack of paperwork, we can assume that the crew bailed out in time and no lives were lost. I assume it must have been a training flight or 'admin flight'. Hopefully someday someone with 93rd Bomb Group records will come up with (part of) an answer!
Thanks for your kind words about the 487th Bomb Group History. It was great fun to research and write it. We are down to the last 21 copies now of the 1,200 that were printed. Turner advised that they will not do any reprints any longer, so these really are the last ones available.
Cheers
Ivo

[shooshoobaby]

Ivo -
B - 24 is listed as Returned from Operations.
You should post this on AAF Forum.
Mike