Parachute jump on 22.02.1944 in Niederkassel, near Cologne / Crew wanted

[manniw]

Good day to the forum,

I found a reference in a German archive that on 22 February 1944 an American soldier parachuted out of a four-engine bomber plane. He came to earth in Niederkassel, was treated by civilians and then handed over to the air force in Cologne-Ostheim.
The soldier's name was John Hampton Pugh, O-730166 T 42 ,

born on 09.09.1915 in Hamburg / Arkansas. He died there on 13 January 1998.
I have searched all MACR for 22.2.1944, I just can't find any connection to which aircrew he belonged. Also fold3 gives little clues about his person............
My questions: who can give information about his unit, his crew, his mission on 22.2.1944. Where was he in German captivity? What happened to the rest of the crew? Where did the plane crash?

I thank everyone who can help me here. Best regards from Cologne
Manni

[RSwank]

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/7239

B-17 42-39857, 351st BG, 511th BS,

MACR 2656: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/90926811

MACR also here: https://www.fold3.com/image/28615359

Fort log has this on the plane:

"Delivered Long Beach 23/9/43; Walla Walla 9/11/43; Assigned 401BG Deenethorpe 26/10/43; transferred 511BS/351BG [DS-H] Polebrook 18/11/43; 16m Missing in Action Ashersleben 22/2/44 with John Pugh, Co-pilot: Bob Hart, Navigator: Bill Schmitz, Bombardier: Rich Gilbert, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Ralph Broide, Radio Operator: John Seuer, Ball turret gunner: Isaac Guest, Waist gunner: Nick Mustacchia, Waist gunner: Adam Quinn,Tail gunner: Carter Gibson (10 Prisoner of War); shot down by enemy aircraft, crash landed Bernburg area, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 2656. BELLE OF THE BALL."

Note the MACR has a last seen location near Bernburg but really does not state where it crash-landed. The MACR is incomplete. All the crew were POWs and all survived the war. Because all survived, probably no post-war questionnaires were mailed to the survivors. (I.E., nobody was missing.) The MACR has no statements from the crew.

Mission Report from the 351st BG site: http://www.351st.org/351stMissions/M...Mission83.html

This link says the plane crash-landed near Höxter (search for 42-39857): http://www.fredtrendle.de/images/pdf...r-1944-Tag.pdf

[manniw]

Hello Rolland,

thanks for your help and the information, I had read MACR 2656 but overlooked the name " Pugh ".....sorry.

Good to read that the whole crew survived ...

According to the post-war report I have of 4 Mar. 1949, the B-17 had received heavy flak hits and continued flying in a westerly direction in gyro flight and is said to have crashed in Knapsack (approx. 20 km south west of Cologne).
crashed. However, I have no reliable information on this so far.

Greetings
Manni

[RSwank]

It appears at some point that the plane was put on autopilot and the entire crew bailed out. The bailout may have started with the pilot still flying the plane "straight and level" so the men bailing out then were often in a straight line. When the pilot put the plane on autopilot the plane (so the flight crew could bail) the plane would continue to fly in its then current "orientation", i.e. if the plane was making a slow turn when the autopilot engaged the plane would continue to turn unless the pilot made the final "tweaks" on the autopilot. Once the bailout began it would be a rare pilot who would sit at his seat to do that. So many times we find the autopilots would fly the plane in very large circles until they crashed. There is probably more information about the crew and plane in the German KU-630-A report (two translated pages appear in the MACR). Unfortunately while the US Archives do have some KU reports:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/643795


they don't appear to have that one on-line.

[RSwank]

Turns out Nick Mustacchia (waist gunner) has written a book about his experiences.

https://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-War-.../dp/1571971432


I think this link would allow you do download a newspaper write-up about his experience.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8324...tampa-tribune/

I'll see if there is any more.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8324...ry-park-press/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8324...ry-park-press/

On page 12 of this link there are two photos of Nick at liberation (see photos 6 and 9).
https://www.axpow.org/bulletins/may09.pdf


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...las-mustacchia


UPDATE on Aug 12: I am getting a copy of Mustacchia's book. I'll see what it says about the bailout.

[RSwank]

The following comes from Nick Mustacchia’s book. The crew had done their combat crew training at Alexandria, LA. They then flew the Northern Route to Europe. They flew to Nutts Corner on December 8/9 1943 and then flew on to Warton where they dropped off their plane. The crew then went to the Replacement Center at Stone from which they were assigned to the 351st BG on January 7, 1944. It took a while to get in some missions. The mission to Bernburg was the crew’s fifth mission, (Mustacchia’s fourth).

On the Bernburg mission their normal right waist gunner was ill so Adam W Quinn was a substitute. Mustacchia never mentions Quinn’s name. The plane they were flying, Belle of the Ball, belonged to a different crew .

They were hit by flak just after they released their bombs at Bernburg. The two inboard engines were hit and the engines could not be restarted but the pilot managed to get them feathered. They quickly dropped out of the formation (which was flying at 26,000 feet) and went down to 9,000 feet. The pilot decided to try and fly to France before bailing out. They thought they might have a chance contacting the French Underground. They flew for a while through a layer of clouds but continued to lose altitude until they were down to 5,000 feet. At that point they came out of the clouds and were spotted by about ten German aircraft. Mustacchia relates that “ME-109s, FW-190s, JU-88 and ME 110 hit us with raking machine gun and 20mm shells. We fired in all directions, while the fire we received rattled throughout the entire bomber. The ME-110s stayed out of range and fired rockets.” The plane was being shot to pieces. Soon the top turret gunner reported his guns had been knocked out. Pugh ordered the ball turret gunner to get out of the turret. The tail gunner’s left arm was shredded from wrist to elbow, and he crawled forward out of the tail. Mustacchia reported to the pilot (Pugh) that his gun was the only one still being manned and that he had been hit in the foot and Guest (the ball turret gunner), and Gibson (tail gunner) had also been hit (Guest in the leg and Gibson in the arm ). Pugh shouted over the interphone “Bail Out, Bail out”. Mustacchia was the only one in the rear of the plane to hear the order as he was the only one still connected to the interphone. He shouted to “Bail Out”. Gibson somehow managed to release the rear door and all the men in the rear of the plane bailed out.

They were in mountainous area. They came down in a forest. Mustacchia and Guest were hung up in the trees but they managed to get out of the parachute harness and dropped down into about two feet of snow. They were quickly captured by a group of men that Mustacchia thought might be lumberjacks. They were taken to an un-named mountain town and held in a building. Already in the building were Gibson (tail gunner), Sauer (radio operator) and Priode (top turret gunner). Sauer had broken his ankle on landing. Sauer had come back out of the radio room. He had trouble opening the door to the rear of the plane as the empty shell casings on the floor jammed it shut. (I suspect the right waist gunner Quinn may have been captured at the same place, but Mustacchia never mentions him.)

Mustacchia notes that “None of the officers landed in the vicinity of us gunners”. It appears that
the enlisted men had no idea where the officers came down. From the mountain town the group of enlisted men were eventually taken to Kassel. The badly injured were sent to a hospital, the others on to Stalag Luft 6. They all were eventually transferred to Stalag Luft 4.
Most of the book is about Mustacchia’s time in Stalag Luft 4, his experiences during the Black March out the camp in 1945, his time recovering in hospitals and his post war difficulties.