Mid air collision over Belgium

[Alain57]

Hello ,
On september 21 1944 two B-24 from the 93BG , 42-94969 and 42-99949 collided in mid air over Belgium. Who flew as bombardier on both planes ?

[FrankieS]

"Naughty Nan" B-24J-55-CO 42-99949 328th BS, 93rd BG, 8th AF
Lost on Sept. 21,1944 over Belgium in a mid-air collision with B-24H (s/n 42-94969) from the 93rd's 330th Bomb Squadron. Both planes crashed near Ingelmunster,Belgium.
2nd Lt. Everett E. Johnson - pilot
2nd Lt. Stanislaus L. Mikolajczyk - copilot
2nd Lt. Alvin M. Kibler - navigator (KIA)
2nd Lt. Edwin S. Stellhorn - bombardier (KIA)
S/Sgt. Cecil D. Johnson - engineer/top turret gunner
T/Sgt. Joseph F. Bradley - radio operator
S/Sgt. Lee J. Grafe - nose turret gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Oscar Bregman - waist gunner (KIA)
S/Sgt. Merrill J. Conoway - tail turret gunner (KIA)


As for the other ship, these are 3 KIA from 330 Bomb Squadron, maybe one of them:
PICARD JAMES R SSGT 33670945 PA
STRAIT DELMONT W SGT 33397482 WV
UNDERDAHL MILTON H SSGT 17079431 ND

[Alain57]

Hello ,

Thank you very much for the reply.

Alain57

[RSwank]

The second plane crashed and burned. There were no survivors. 8 of the crew were:


2nd Lt. Clair F Mullin
2nd Lt. Elmer R Morgan
2nd Lt. Mario R Giusti
Staff Sgt James R Picard
Sgt. Claude L Johns
Sgt Leroy Miller
Sgt Delmont Strait
S/Sgt Milton Underahl

With only 3 officers listed, I assume they are Pilot, Co-Pilot and Navigator. One of the Sgts was
probably a toggler. (Miller, as we will see below was probably not the toggler).

The MACR is 9661. It does not appear on the footnote.com website. However, I was able
to find pieces of it misfiled with 41-29773. There is an interesting description of the crash
site written by a R A Pelletier, a Captain in the Canadian Army. He was apparently one of the first
on the scene and investigated both crash sites. He reports that all the crew was killed in the 2nd
plane. The plane burned on the ground and several bombs went off in the fire. He could see the “nose gunner” still in the ship. Sgt Miller fell or jumped from the ship and crashed through a barn roof. Pellitier went to the funerals of the all crewmen (the 8 from the 2nd ship and those KIA from the first ship) and took some pictures which are included in the MACR.

There are also in the MACR, 2 pages of an obviously much longer letter written to one of the relatives
of a crew member from the 2nd ship. The letter appears to be written by a another member of the Squadron who may have witnessed the crash. In the letter, he tries to explain why no-one was able to get out of the ship and why the the Air Force might still have the relative listed as missing instead of dead. Too bad the whole letter is not included.

[Alain57]

Thanks

Alain57