455th BG B-24 "#494"?

Good afternoon all!

I'v been doing an extensive family history on my Great Uncle who flew 50+ missions on B-25's, B-24's and -17's out of Italy and Alaska. Most of those were with the 455th BG, 742nd BS from May-August 1944 on a B-24H named "EIGHT BALL". For the moment I have identified all of the aircraft that flew in his BG during his time in Italy except one. The ship is identified as #494. I checked Joe Baugher, B-24 Best Web, and others and the only aircraft with #494 I can find is a Micky equipped B-24H (42-64494) that Joe has listed as being MIA in Jan. of '44, which would have been way before my GU's time in the BG.
I have one photo that is claimed to be of her:



My GU flew on her for a mission on June 22, 1944. Can anyone help me identify elusive #494?

garandshooter said:

Good afternoon all!

I'v been doing an extensive family history on my Great Uncle who flew 50+ missions on B-25's, B-24's and -17's out of Italy and Alaska. Most of those were with the 455th BG, 742nd BS from May-August 1944 on a B-24H named "EIGHT BALL". For the moment I have identified all of the aircraft that flew in his BG during his time in Italy except one. The ship is identified as #494. I checked Joe Baugher, B-24 Best Web, and others and the only aircraft with #494 I can find is a Micky equipped B-24H (42-64494) that Joe has listed as being MIA in Jan. of '44, which would have been way before my GU's time in the BG.
I have one photo that is claimed to be of her:

View attachment 567989

My GU flew on her for a mission on June 22, 1944. Can anyone help me identify elusive #494?

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Hi Garandshooter,
Joe Baugher mentions that s/n 42-64494 has been "salvaged" on 18. January 1944 - that's pretty different from MIA. The a/c must have had a hard landing (as seen on the photo above) or something similar. But (playing devil's advocate) it is still possible they have repaired the same a/c later. There is no accident report for this particular B-24H (check here), which means it didn't crash, there is no MACR, no other reports. It could be a typo as well (the correct year of salvaging could be 1945 not 1944). I remember that the 455-th BG. moved to Italy in January-February 1944. Is it possible at all for an a/c from the 742-nd BS to be salvaged on Jan 18. 1944? You probably have the exact time of the group moving from your research.
Checking the above photo from B24bestweb I noticed that the photo credits go to AFHRA. This indicates (for me) that there is a report with the same photo somewhere in the documents of the squadron or the group. I would suggest you contact AFHRA and start searching for the Group- resp. Squadron diaries. This could be a mission report or just a daily report in the diary - who knows. I personally believe that this is the same a/c you are looking for.

CATCH 22 said:

Hi Garandshooter,
Joe Baugher mentions that s/n 42-64494 has been "salvaged" on 18. January 1944 - that's pretty different from MIA. The a/c must have had a hard landing (as seen on the photo above) or something similar. But (playing devil's advocate) it is still possible they have repaired the same a/c later. There is no accident report for this particular B-24H (check here), which means it didn't crash, there is no MACR, no other reports. It could be a typo as well (the correct year of salvaging could be 1945 not 1944). I remember that the 455-th BG. moved to Italy in January-February 1944. Is it possible at all for an a/c from the 742-nd BS to be salvaged on Jan 18. 1944? You probably have the exact time of the group moving from your research.
Checking the above photo from B24bestweb I noticed that the photo credits go to AFHRA. This indicates (for me) that there is a report with the same photo somewhere in the documents of the squadron or the group. I would suggest you contact AFHRA and start searching for the Group- resp. Squadron diaries. This could be a mission report or just a daily report in the diary - who knows. I personally believe that this is the same a/c you are looking for.

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Catch 22,

First off- love the username. i just recently watched the remake and enjoyed it!

Second, you brought up some sleuthing points I didn't think of, so here's a few interesting points:

1. The 455th didn't reach Italy until February of '44, and didn't fly their first combat mission until February 16th. Right off the bat that eliminates the possibility of s/n 42-64494 being salvaged on January 18, 44 from any COMBAT related incidents.

2. After combing through the 455th's mission reports, I show #494 listed on the groups second combat mission (listed as February 17 to bomb troop concentrations).

3. There is a 455th newsletter article from the son of SSGT Theodore J. Olszewski (742nd squadron) who states his father in is in the photo in the original post of crashed #494. Mission report for July 17th shows #494 with Olszewski among her crew. Strangely enough, this is also the last time I've been able to find #494 listed on any mission rosters.

4. I can't quite count the # of bombs painted on the side, but if I was a betting man, I'd bet it's pretty close to the amount flown by July 17, 1944.


So my thoughts are: Bougher might have typo'd '44 instead of '45, HOWEVER if this is the case, where did #494 go from July 17, 1944 to January 18, 1945?

garandshooter said:

So my thoughts are: Bougher might have typo'd '44 instead of '45, HOWEVER if this is the case, where did #494 go from July 17, 1944 to January 18, 1945?

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Or the typo could be Jan.18 instead of July 18. 1944? If the info was taken from a hand written document it's pretty near, isn't it?
But again, since the a/c is not mentioned on the crash reports site, it wasn't a crash. Probably something went wrong (e.g. front wheel/main wheels collapsed) and they salvaged the "old bird" for parts instead of repairing it.

CATCH 22 said:

Or the typo could be Jan.18 instead of July 18. 1944? If the info was taken from a hand written document it's pretty near, isn't it?
But again, since the a/c is not mentioned on the crash reports site, it wasn't a crash. Probably something went wrong (e.g. front wheel/main wheels collapsed) and they salvaged the "old bird" for parts instead of repairing it.

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My only comment against that is the 455th didn't fly another mission after the July 17th mission until July 20th.

CATCH 22 said:

Or the typo could be Jan.18 instead of July 18. 1944? If the info was taken from a hand written document it's pretty near, isn't it?
But again, since the a/c is not mentioned on the crash reports site, it wasn't a crash. Probably something went wrong (e.g. front wheel/main wheels collapsed) and they salvaged the "old bird" for parts instead of repairing it.

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I looked through the entire July 17th mission report and history: there was one prior return for a blown cylinder (#166) and one MIA (#259). No mentions of a landing accident.

CATCH 22 said:

Or the typo could be Jan.18 instead of July 18. 1944? If the info was taken from a hand written document it's pretty near, isn't it?
But again, since the a/c is not mentioned on the crash reports site, it wasn't a crash. Probably something went wrong (e.g. front wheel/main wheels collapsed) and they salvaged the "old bird" for parts instead of repairing it.

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Mission complete. #494 is in fact 42-64494. I reached out to Dave Ungermach and he stated that per the groups gains/losses sheet, 42-64494 was written off and salvaged July 18, 1944.

garandshooter said:

My only comment against that is the 455th didn't fly another mission after the July 17th mission until July 20th.

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I was thinking, if whatever happened was on the 17-th (of July) the official salvaging date could be any date after it. This doesn't mean they started cannibalizing the a/c on the very same day - they just have written it off officially. This is the way I imagine it, but it's just guessing.
P.S. I wrote this before your last post and kept it open on my screen- now I see my guess was correct.
Good that all could be finished in one day. There are some "open cases" in the forum for years.
Cheers!

CATCH 22 said:

I was thinking, if whatever happened was on the 17-th (of July) the official salvaging date could be any date after it. This doesn't mean they started cannibalizing the a/c on the very same day - they just have written it off officially. This is the way I imagine it, but it's just guessing.
P.S. I wrote this before your last post and kept it open on my screen- now I see my guess was correct.
Good that all could be finished in one day. There are some "open cases" in the forum for years.
Cheers!

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It was definitely a nice reward as I had been trying to identify this aircraft for almost a month or so. I thought I had aircraft researching down but you brought up some great points to keep in mind when identifying a/c, I appreciate your time! Have a good one!

garandshooter said:

It was definitely a nice reward as I had been trying to identify this aircraft for almost a month or so. I thought I had aircraft researching down but you brought up some great points to keep in mind when identifying a/c, I appreciate your time! Have a good one!

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To be honest I'm happy too. It's always good to exchange information with somebody who has many of the puzzle pieces but somehow didn't find the last one(s). I've researched the 12-th and 15-th AAFs (starting in 2007-2008) and have very nice memories of contacts with veterans, their relatives, historians, authors etc.
Would you by any chance check this thread: Aircraft info
It's another mystery, but maybe you've seen that "dancing donkey" before?
Cheers!
Yves

CATCH 22 said:

To be honest I'm happy too. It's always good to exchange information with somebody who has many of the puzzle pieces but somehow didn't find the last one(s). I've researched the 12-th and 15-th AAFs (starting in 2007-2008) and have very nice memories of contacts with veterans, their relatives, historians, authors etc.
Would you by any chance check this thread: Aircraft info
It's another mystery, but maybe you've seen that "dancing donkey" before?
Cheers!
Yves

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Will do Yves, looking at it now!