Operations 24 and 25 June 1943

[Marcel]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could provide me info or a link to where I can find info about operations of the 8th airforce on either 24th or the 25th of June 1943 and then particularily actions which involved the North of the Netherlands.
Furthermore I am looking for info (squadron and/or airplane) of an airman called "G Harles Rigsby" or "Charles Grigsby" killed on one of those days. Someone can point me to the right direction?

edit:
From Njaco and syscom's excellent thread
"This day in the War in Europe 65 years ago":

June 25th: GERMANY: US VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 67: 275 B-17s made scattered attacks on targets of opportunity in NW Germany when primary targets at Bremen and Hamburg were obscured by clouds. 167 aircraft bombed targets and claimed 62-11-40 Luftwaffe aircraft but lost 18 B-17s. Of 7 YB-40 escort bombers dispatched only 4 were able to accompany the formations to the target area.

This is at least on one of the dates and involves Northern Germany and quite possible a flight over Groningen, The Netherlands. Doesn't say anything about flights on 24 June. I also don't find anything on 24th of June on this site:
http://www.8thafhs.org/combat1943.htm
So that's probably right.

 

[Marcel]

Okay, did some more research. Maybe as a background: I'm looking for a bomber that might have crashed near Oude Pekela, Groningen The Netherlands. Two different sources say different things. One claims it crashed on 24th of June 1943. The aircraft was shot down by two fighters and the crew bailed out at great height. One deceased crewmember was found, identified as G Harles Rigsby, apparently having been hit by a bullet. The second source claims the date to be 25th of June and the crewmember being one Charles Grigsby. According to this source this person was burried first at Margraten and later transferred to Arlington Washington, to be reburied. There is no mention of the names of other crewmembers and what happened to them. I could not find either name on the website of Arlington, but that might be my ignorance.

I now found a candidate for the bomber. It could be Boeing B-17F JJ-Q "Ma Ma Chang" no. 42-29499 of 305 BG, 422 BS . One source claims this to have "ditched on North Sea Oude Rekela (Hol)". Quite obvious the name was misspelled and should be Oude Pekela. However, Oude Pekela is not at the Northsea, the closest sea is the Waddenzee, about 30 km to the North. Don't think they would have named Oude Pekela if the aircraft really would have ditched. But don't know for sure though. Can anyone help me find the crew's names?

Edit: Name should be Mama Chung.

 

[syscom3]

Can you narrow it down to what type of plane or squadron? Maybe there's a MACR listed for it.

 

[Marcel]

That's what I'm trying to find out. There is not much info, apart what I posted.

 

[mhuxt]

Hi,

The Dutch Military produced a year-by-year "Verliesregister". It's not completely comprehensive, but it's not far off.

The 1943 file is available at:

www.defensie.nl/media/verliesregister_1943_tcm46-154754.pdf

It lists five B-17s as having come down in the Netherlands (gives locations, times, unit, serial number, pilot names) on 25 June.

 

[Marcel]

Thanks, that confirms it. It's the Mama Chung allright and it confirms exactly the position where it crashed, even the street (Zuiderveen), which I expected. Pilot was a lt. L R Wilcox.

 

[mhuxt]

No worries, there's files for every year of the war, just change the number in the link title, should work.

 

[Marcel]

Can you narrow it down to what type of plane or squadron? Maybe there's a MACR listed for it.

there is no Macr, but I was able to get the names of the crew, thanks for the help, guys.