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Old 7th July 2008, 14:54
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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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Old 7th July 2008, 19:31
Leendert Leendert is offline
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

MACR database on www.armyairforces.com gives 4 B-24s lost on 30 March 1944: 2 in Pacific, 1 Caribbean and 1 most likely Bulgaria: 42-52519 of 450th BG/723rd BS.

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Leendert
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Old 7th July 2008, 19:37
shooshoobaby shooshoobaby is offline
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Theodore -
2 B - 17s Collided 3/30/44
2d BG , 20th Sq.
# 42 - 31683
MACR # 3364
Pilot - Lt. Rigney
# 42 - 31851
MACR # 3370
Pilot - Lt. Wickham
get MACRs Online at www.footnote.com
Mike
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Old 7th July 2008, 20:19
Leendert Leendert is offline
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Theodor,

Are you looking for B-24 losses on 2 March 1944 (as in your heading) or 30 March 1944 (in your text)?

Regards,

Leendert
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Old 7th July 2008, 23:23
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Stupid mistake, it is 30 March! Thank you!

Thanks a lot for the link, will look for more things there!
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Old 7th July 2008, 23:51
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Thanks again Mike - I think these are the other 2 aircraft.

I mean, according to some USAAF sources that I found, 4 bombers were lost during the various missions on 30 March 1944. Seems 2 collided and 2 were shot - the 2nd pair are the ones I am looking for.

The two that collided were from the 2nd BG, 20th Squadron, as stated in the MACR report.

But the assault on Sofia, Bulgaria, was done by 456th BG aircraft - just found this in the footnote.com site, from picture and document from the NASM archives.

P.S. Just found that the 456th BG has a site, even a very small forum. I hope they would have some further information
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Old 8th July 2008, 09:34
Leendert Leendert is offline
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Theodor,

Mission list on 456th BG website says only 5 of its B-24s took part in raid on Sofia and none were lost...

301st BG also bombed Sofia on 30 March 1944.

The MACRs of the B-17s Mike has mentioned have 42.45 N and 22.35 E as location of loss (collision).

Regards,

Leendert
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Old 8th July 2008, 09:58
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Re: Looking for 2 US bombers lost 2 March 1944

Thank you for clarifying that! I saw the number 5, but could not understand this means the number of aircraft participating!

I checked the coordinates on the Google Earth and it matches the location!
So, it seems exactly these two aircraft are the ones I am looking for!

However, then the records must be wrong? Because this is a well known case, witnessed by many, air and ground, even I found ground witnesses from the villages nearby /schoolboys at the time/ who watched it happen - the fighter attack, the explosions, the gathering of the bodies, several of them badly burned still in the air...
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