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The American B-24J, Liberator with registration 44-40210 of the 491st Bombardment Group, 854th Squadron was on its way back from a supply flight over the landing areas of Operation Market-Garden near Son, Eindhoven.
When the aircraft flew over Oisterwijk as leader of a formation B-24's on September 18 at 16:34 during the return flight the aircraft was fired upon by German anti-aircraft fire.
The formation aircraft which slowly came in formation at an altitude of approximately 100 meters over Oisterwijk were an easy target for the German guns.
The aircraft of pilot Captain James 'Jim' K. Hunter was hit in the wing and immediately a fire broke out.
Captain Hunter slowly turned away from the formation leaving a thick smoke trail.
The aircraft quickly lost altitude and landed hard on its belly in a field in the hamlet 't Winkel, situated between the villages Udenhout and Biezenmortel.
During the belly landing the wing of the bomber hit the ground and after it also hit a haystack and some farm buildings the plane exploded completely.
Nine out of ten crew members died in the explosion and only tail/left fuselage gunner Staff Sergeant Frank Di Palma survived the crash.
He was thrown out by the explosion and was found severely burned shortly afterwards.
Heavily injured Di Palma was taken to the nearby Huize Assisië asylum where he was hidden and helped to recover from his injuries.
The nine crew members who died were buried at the Catholic cemetery in Biezenmortel until after the war they were reburied at the American Cemetery in Magraten.
Three crew members were brought back to America by their families to be reburied there.
Frank Di Palma was liberated by the British and survived the war.
The names of the deceased crew members are engraved on a commemorative plaque in the Mariakapel in Udenhout.​
Source [Dutch]: De crash van de Amerikaanse Liberator, 44-40210
This story has a special sequel. After the leading B-24 Liberator of Capt. Hunter was shot down, the rest of his formation descended to a low altitude to further avoid the Flak. That formation also included the Liberator of Lt. Haynes M. Baumgardner, who flew his 25th mission that day.
Baumgardner kept a personal diary and wrote about this retreat: "I sometimes flew below dike height, climbed just enough to hit nothing and then immediately went down again. I will never forget the cyclist who crossed the dike in front of us, saw us at the last moment, and had to throw himself on the ground". He also wondered for a long time who that cyclist had been. "He must have felt the wind from the propellers."
His cousin, Robert Baumgardner from Austin, Texas, has decisively taken up the search for this Brabant cyclist, and with results. Thanks to an article in BN/De Stem of 13 May 2019 Baumgardner ended up with the cyclist's daughter (Adriana van Leent, now 97), who immediately recognized her father's story. It concerned the then 52-year-old Gerardus (Geert) Krijnen, who returned that afternoon from a hospital visit to his son in Breda.
He cycled home on the Hazeldonkse Zandweg between Breda and Zevenbergen, near the bridge over the Mark near Zwartenberg. There he heard the unexpected drone of aircraft engines and suddenly saw a four-engined B-24 coming from the right with a speed of more than 300 kilometres per hour. He jumped off his bike and dropped flat into the verge, while the plane raced right over him. Once back home at the Koekoeksedijk in Zevenbergen, he was tremendously shocked and upset, according to Adriana. He kept shouting that he had almost been there! Geert Krijnen only died on March 26, 1977, 84 years old.​
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Source [Dutch]: Een Liberator crasht bij 't Winkel - BHIC


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