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Unfortunatelly he didn't survive. The a/c in the photos above (from the 488-th BS, 340-th BG.) was damaged during a mid-air collision on 21. January 1945. After a bombing run over San Michele bridge, during the turn away strong blast of wind unbalanced another Mitchell (8U s/n 43-4064) that sliced through the empennage of 8P s/n 43-27657. (If you check Joe Baugher's serials he gives this a/c wrongly as 9P from the 489-th BS.) Pilot of the latter was Lt. Pelton, co-pilot Lt. Shackelford, the tail gunner who perished was Sgt. Porter. 8U went down - MACR 11712Doesn't look too good for the tail gunner, hope he wasn't back there when that hit.
I remember reading somewhere that this mid-air collision was likely what inspired Nately and Dobbs' deaths in Catch-22, though I don't remember where I saw it. It's been a while since I read Patricia Chapman's book on the 340th BG and how they inspired Heller's characters. Not sure if he was with the group at that point. Speaking of which, I do recommend the book.Unfortunatelly he didn't survive. The a/c in the photos above (from the 488-th BS, 340-th BG.) was damaged during a mid-air collision on 21. January 1945. After a bombing run over San Michele bridge, during the turn away strong blast of wind unbalanced another Mitchell (8U s/n 43-4064) that sliced through the empennage of 8P s/n 43-27657. (If you check Joe Baugher's serials he gives this a/c wrongly as 9P from the 489-th BS.) Pilot of the latter was Lt. Pelton, co-pilot Lt. Shackelford, the tail gunner who perished was Sgt. Porter. 8U went down - MACR 11712
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Below is the description from the War Diary of 488-th BS.:
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Cheers!