Three B-26 destroyed on the ground at Earls Colne, 22 March 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

On 22 March 1944, I have the following entry in my database:

During the night of 21-22 March 1944 the British defences reported that about 95 enemy bombers flew a two pronged attack on London. Some 70 machines came in over the East Anglian coast and another 25 flew in over Sussex and Kent, with most of them reaching London. 41 boroughs were hit and the first reports listed 247 fires in London, with major incidents in Poplar, Islington, Millwall, Tottenham and Dagenham, and 62 killed and 256 seriously injured, mostly at London.

Ten German aircraft were lost. One of them was the Ju 88 A-14 WNr 301185 3E+GS of 8./KG 6 that was shot down at 0050 hrs on the 22nd by a Mosquito XIII of 488 Sqn RNZAF flown by Flt Lt John A S Hall and Flg Off John Paul Wargrave Cairns, who had claimed together the first two claims of their squadron on 21-22 January 1944. It was their 3rd victory. The Ju 88 crashed amongst USAAF aircraft parked on Earls Colne airfield, Essex, causing a huge explosion. Three B-26 of 386th BG were destroyed, including the B-26B-15-MA 41-31627 "Perkatory" YA-Q of 555th BS. The 386th was especially unlucky, as it had only temporarily replaced the resident 323rd BG at the Essex base as part of a mobility exercise.

Crew:
Oblt Hans Diblik KIA
Uffz Egon Staufenberg KIA
Uffz Hermann Kamradt KIA
Fw J Zimmermann POW

Source:
"The Blitz Then and Now, volume 3. May 1941 – March 1945", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-58-4
"Osprey Combat Aircraft 2: B-26 Marauder units of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces", by Jerry Scutts. ISBN 1-85532-637-X
http://www.markstyling.com/b26_research.10.htm
http://home.fuse.net/vaughan/Serial%20Numbers/b-26-aircraft--information-plane--name-fix-with-photos.htm
http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche.html
http://www.fold3.com/image/#161305726
http://www.fold3.com/image/#161306032
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earls_Colne_Airfield
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.914444,0.6825&spn=0.03,0.03&t=m&q=51.91 4444,0.6825

I have searched the ID of the two other destroyed B-26s, but without success. I am now wondering if they were destroyed or damaged, or if they belonged to another unit.

If anyone knows more about these B-26s, I am interested.

Thanks in advance

Laurent

[Nokose]

Laurent, maybe someone can check Stan B. Bishop and John A. Hey's volume 2 "Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces ETO Area -Jan 44 -Mar 1944". I only have the 1st volume for June 1942-December 1943.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Laurent,

The Bishop/Hey book only records the loss of one B-26 as you have noted, but with less detail. It gives the code as 'YA-O' but that might be an error. Damaged aircraft are not normally recorded.

Regards,

Martin.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hi Martin, thanks for your answer.

I was suspecting something like that. The pictures available on fold.com (http://www.fold3.com/image/#161305726 and http://www.fold3.com/image/#161306032) show only one wrecked B-26 (with the serial clearly visible) and the remains of the Ju 88.

The war diary of 386th BG may have the defenitive answer.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Not the war diary, but I have received a picture of the book "The Story of the crusaders: the 386th Bomb Group (M) in World War II", where this crash is described:

"A practice move had been made by all groups in IX Bomber Command. Each was called on to swap bases with one of the other groups of the command. Due to the shortage of transportation it was decided to keep the moves to the minimum distance possible. The 386th had swapped bases with the 323rd at Earls Colne. Whether it proved that either group was mobile will never be known but it is a matter of historic record that the move took place. It was a costly move for the 386th in that one night during the operation, the German Air Force decided to make an attack on Earls Colne. Two Ju-88s were shot down by the defending anti-aircraft battery. One fell, with full bomb load, within 100 feet of Perktory, (Bob Perskins' airplane), blowing it to small bits. All that remained of the Ju-88 and the Marauder was the Marauder's vertical tail and a large pile of rubble. The following day the Group moved back to the relative peace and quiet of Great Dunmow where nothing ever happened."

I guess that if more B-26 would have been destroyed, there will be a mention in this book.