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Crash Site B-24 Liberator 42-7613

It is December 22, 1943.
The B-24 Liberator 43-7613 of the 446th Bomb Group/704th bomb Squadron with on board:
Pilot 2/Lt. S.C. Jacobson,
Co-Pilot 2/Lt. R.D. Bangham
Navigator 2/Lt O.K. cranford
Bombardier 2/L.t. W.H. Krauss
Engineer S/Sgt. O.E. Kjelgren
Radio Operator S/Sgt. R.C.Mahan
Left Waist Gunner Sgt. S.H. Raiken
Right Waist Gunner S/Sgt. J.P. McDonald
Ball Turret Gunner S/Sgt. S. F. Swinburn
Tail Gunner Sgt. H.F. Evans
They are on their way back to Bungay Air Base in Suffolk (GB)
They came back from Osnabrück; Germany where they bombed a communications center.
The aircraft suffered flak damage and had difficulty keeping up with the other bombers.
the weather was very cloudy and people in the Westerkwartier (GN) heard the sound of hundreds of aircraft engines
and the sound of heavy machine guns.
B-24 42-7613 was hit by a German Messerschmitt BF110 fighter and exploded in mid-air.
Large parts of the bomber ended up in the meadows east of Noordwijk (GN) on the Verkavelingsweg.
This included Pilot 2/Lt. S.C. Jacobson, Engineer S/Sgt. O.E. Kjelgren, and,Bombardier 2/L.t. W.H. Krauss was killed.
The rest of the crew was captured by the Germans and survived the war
The 3 deceased crew members were buried in the cemetery in Noordwijk and reburied in 1945 in the center of the Netherlands.
Later, at the request of the family, they were reburied in Louisville Jefferson Country, Kentucky USA.

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Source

  • Text: Idse van der Donk
  • Photos: Idse van der Donk

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