C-47 losses on September 18th,1944

[DavidIsby]

One additional loss on 18 September is detailed below (excerpt from McCormick, 1 Lt. William J, Jr.: Market Mission Narratives (442nd TCG/53rd TCW), RG 18, Entry 7, Box 118, USNARA.:



1 Lt. William J. McCormick Jr. of the 442nd TCG was pilot of C-47A 43-15139 on 18 September, 1944, on the first glider mission to Eindhoven. Crew: FO Logan Atterbury (co-pilot), SSgt Nichalos J. Carone (engineer), SSgt James Powell (radio operator).



I took off on the 18th September 1944, 1240 hours on a glider tow mission towing [a CG-4A flown by] F/O Herbert H. Bollum in Glider Chalk No. 64B. Our objective was LZ W[illiam] as prescribed in Field Order No. 4, located north of Eindhoven in Holland.



About twenty-eight (28) miles away from target, at Breda, Holland at 1600 we ran into an intense concentration of light flak and my left engine was hit. I couldn’t see any signs of smoke or fire at this time because of the position [where the] aircraft was hit, but F/O Bollum, whom I was towing, told me afterwards that smoke was pouring out of my left engine, from the time we were hit at Breda.



I flew on to the LZ and released the glider over the objective at 1615. All this about the time the left engine was “running rough”. About twenty-two (22) miles from the Dutch coast on the way back from the LZ, over the Channel at 51 degrees 49’ N-03 degrees 12’ E, my left engine went out. I feathered the left prop, but it immediately unfeathered. By this time the aircraft was filling up with smoke and the radio operator caught sight of flames under the floor. I instructed the co-pilot to go the rear of the plane and get the crew ready to jump if the fire became more acute. At the same I cut the mixture on the right engine in order to lose altitude and ditch in the shortest possible time. I could not communicate with the rest of the formation, apparently the radio was hit too.



I decided to ditch and told the crew to stand by for ditching. The crew remained calm and behaved in a very creditable manner. I nosed the plane down into practically a vertical dive. I looked at the hydraulic pressure gauge and noticed it was indicating “zero.” I looked out the window and saw the gear was down. The fire must have burned out the hydraulic system. The red warning lights of the heating system were on and both spill valves were open.



I dived the plane at 220 mph indicated from 4000’ indicated altitude, at the same time turning into the wind and started breaking my dive at 1000’. I slowed the plane down to 120mph and came in and set the plane in a tail low altitude. The last time I looked at the air speed it indicated 80 mph. Shortly after that, with a slight impact the tail hit, immediately followed by a more violent impact when the nose hit the water. The time was 1652 hours.



From the time the plane filled with smoke, the rest of the crew were in the rear of the plane. The sudden impact of landing tore the dinghy loose from its lashings and threw it forward in a tangled heap. Rather than take valuable time in untangling the dinghy inside the aircraft and because of the possibility of explosion, I instructed the crew to jump and swim clear of the plane. I followed, dragging the dinghy with me. All of us had our life jackets on. In the water, the tide was pinning us down between the trailing edge of the wing and the fuselage. We finally got clear by pulling ourselves alongside the trailing edge of the wing until we were about to the wing tip. The wing was bobbing up and down and we managed to get to the leading edge of the wing by ducking under the bobbing wing.



Once in the clear and safely away from the plane, we inflated the dinghy and climbed into it. At this time I noticed a large hole on the outboard side of the left engine nacelle. The plane stayed afloat about eighteen (18) minutes. After approximately fifteen (15) minutes in the dinghy, a British air sea rescue launch picked us up and took us to a shore station at Ipswich. There we received a medical examination and were issued new clothes. On behalf of my entire crew, I went to express my thanks and gratitude for the excellent handling accorded us by the Air Sea Rescue Service.



Injuries to the crew were as follows, Pilot, bruises and lacerations on right leg; Co-Pilot, none; Engineer, None; Radio Operator, burns on left hand and forearm.