Oct 13,1944 B-24 464th BG lost at Vis island

[kaki3152]

This one should be easy but is becoming murky, On October 13,1944, a B-24 from the 464th BG, 777th BS, crashed into a hill near Vis A/F killing all on board. According to the Documentation in the 464th BG Website.
(https://the464th.org/History/PDFs/00...2044%20web.pdf)
The Aircraft was reported as 42-78418 but perhaps should be 42-78415?

[RSwank]

There is a MACR (partial) for 42-78418:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91165932?objectPage=2

19 December, 1944 456th BG, 744th BS. There is a photo of the plane here: http://www.b24bestweb.com/418-v2.htm

There is no MACR for 42-78415, but if it crashed on VIS (allied territory) they may not have filled one out. (No crewmen were "missing")

There is an earlier accident report dated August 15, 1944 for 42-78415 here, which puts that plane in the 464th BG, 777 BS:
https://aviationarchaeology.com/rptAF55.asp?RecID=51949

[Alex Smart]

See the report for the 13th October. Page 5 paragraph number 9
There it is - 42-78415.

"42-78415 Missing, last seen at (49°43'N - 17°25'E) with 1 engine feathered 1104A hours"

But to confuse things in paragraph 1 on page 1 of the 13th October report it gives details of the reason why 42 - 78415 failed to take off on the mission ?

If there is a second mention that gives 42-78418 it may well be a typo error made at the time .
Alex

[kaki3152]

Joe Baugher has the B-24 as 42-78416; "78416 (*The Blonde Bomber*) shot down by AAA Oct 13, 1944 on mission to Blechhammer. Crashlanded at Vis Island trying to land, all crew lost"

[Alex Smart]

Joe Baugher also has 42-78418, but gives the unit as 456 BG, so was not with the 464 BG. See RSwank's post and attached files above.

[kaki3152]

It's a murky trail.
(1) The report on October 13,1944 lists the airplane that crashed at Vis Island as 42-78418. However, this is incorrect as this plane was lost with the 456BG on December 19,1944. There is a picture of this airplane with 456BG markings.
(2) The listing for the 777th BS does not have a 42-78418, nor a 42-78416 but does have a 42-78415 which was sent back to the US on May 1945.
https://the464th.org/Aircraft/777th/777th.html
(3) The October report for the October 13,1944 mission clearly shows 42-78415 as "missing" and 42-78418 as the B-24 that crashed at Vis. The implication is that 42-78415 and 42-78418 were really 42-78416?
(4) Joe Baugher has 42-78416 as "The Blonde Bomber" which does not show up on B24Best Web. Instead there is a B-24 with another serial number but assigned to the 777th BS with the name "The Blonde Bomber"

[Leendert]

Go to the 13 Oct 1944 text on this link: https://www.451st.org/Stories/Pdfs/A...%201943-45.pdf

It also gives 42-78416 for the crash on Vis...

Regards,
Leendert