Down In Flames

[Wayne Little]

Ain't that the truth...

 

[Capt. Vick]

Not to drag this out any more, but it was the right wing that gave me pause. Regardless, it doesn't matter. War sucks.

 

[syscom3]

Not to drag this out any more, but it was the right wing that gave me pause. Regardless, it doesn't matter. War sucks.

Not at all. We need people to take a close look at these pictures and questioning their authenticity. Makes us look at them too.

 

[GrauGeist]

On the first post, 8th photo down, the shattered B-24 looked familiar to me. I remember why now, it was shot down by a Me262 that deployed R4M rockets.

I had to dig around a little, since it's been a while since I had seen the information, but here it is (MACR 13730):
The B-24, serial number 44-50838 (no nickname) belonging to 734Sq/448Gr/8AF (based out of Seething) was destroyed on 4 April 1945 near Hamburg with a loss of all but one crewman. The original MACR reports T/Sgt. Cupp (Radio Oper.) as being KIA but was later found to have been the sole survivor, being captured and kept POW.

The crewmen were: Lt. Mains - Pilot, Lt. La Riviere - Co-pilot, Lt. Lake - Navigator, (2nd )Lt. Alexander - Observer/top-turret, T/Sgt. Merkovich - Ball turret, S/Sgt. Allen - Left waist, Sgt. Daman - Nose, Sgt. Villari - Right waist, Sgt. Van Deventer - Tail

There is a a little confusion as to which Luftwaffe pilot scored this hit, but the two candidates are either Lt. Rademacher or Lt. Mueller, both of III./Jg7 although Mueller was credited with shooting down "Trouble N Mind" so Rademacher is certain to have shot down Lt. Mains' B-24 since only two bombers were downed in that action that day. There is also a detailed account of Mueller's intercept that confirms 6 crewmen parachuting to safety from "Trouble N Mind". Both Bombers were downed by R4M rocket fire.

The photo was taken by a "ghost rider" aboard a nearby B-24, a Lt. Dorfman, who was an amateur photographer and usually had a camera with him and was able to capture this moment. By "Ghost Rider" I mean that he was officially "not aboard".

They have scanned the original in high-resolution and it's interesting to see the damage that the R4M rockets did...I'll post some here. In the Hi-Res, you can clearly see the ball-turret just to the right of the tail section and it's just a horrible sight to look at, really, knowing that all but one crewmember are still aboard the devestated bomber

By the way, this incident was discussed in two book that I know of:
Battles with the Luftwaffe: The Bomber Campaign Against Germany, 1942-45 (Boiten/Bowman - 2001)
The Me262 Combat Diary (Foreman/Harvey - 1990)

 

[Njaco]

Thanks GG! I've got both those books. The one by Boiten/Bowman is very good.

 

[Njaco]

 

[syscom3]

Its not WW2. Its Vietnam. same concept though.

 

[tyrodtom]

The 3rd photo of the Vietnam era aircraft was a friendly fire incident. The Caribou was hit by a outgoing 155 howitzer shell while it was on it's landing approach.

 

[Matt308]

The 3rd photo of the Vietnam era aircraft was a friendly fire incident. The Caribou was hit by a outgoing 155 howitzer shell while it was on it's landing approach.

Lord you have to be kidding me. I was suspecting a VERY extreme out of C-of-G situation. That is just heart breaking.

 

[Gnomey]

That sucks

 

[vikingBerserker]

Dam..............

 

[tyrodtom]

I think that Carobou incident happened just after the transfer of the C-7s from the Army to the USAF in 1967. The USAF was flying into areas they hadn't before and were not getting info on arty fire missions. This tragedy woke everybody up.

 

[michaelmaltby]

Google B-17 "Old All American" - an amazing survival over Tunis after a ramming attack.

MM

 

[Njaco]

.

 

[vikingBerserker]

The tail looks funny on the 88.

 

[Matt308]

starboard horizontal stab is ripping off

 

[Matt308]

.

 

[Wayne Little]

damn....

 

[Njaco]

that hits ya in the bottom of yer gut................

 

[Gnomey]

Yeah it really does...