Sergeant Crowther's body was found and repatriated, but nothing was found of the two others except Lieutenant Montgomery's identity bracelet. Seven of the 10 crew on board managed to bail out of the stricken plane, but three - pilot Lieutenant William Montgomery, Sergeant John Crowther and engineer Sergeant John Holoka Jr - were killed as it crashed in a field near Arundel Castle. It is believed they were trying to fix the bomber. or call 30.The search for the remains of US soldiers who were killed after a Second World War bomber plane which was gunned down by enemy fire near Paris crashed in a farmer's field in Sussex has begun, as American veterans dig up the area to finally take their fallen compatriots home.Ī B-24 Liberator with the 489th Bombardment Group dubbed 'Johnny Reb' was shot up by anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid on a German airfield near Versailles on June 22, 1944, and managed to limp back across the English Channel before it started losing height off the Sussex coast. The information sign for the Murchison crash will be placed at the Shirley Basin Rest Area.įor more information about the Liberator and its crew visit the Wings of Freedom exhibit at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. Then they crashed into a rise and slid down a snowy hill for 1500 feet before stopping at Bates Creek. The Army Air Forces report of the crash suggests that the crew became disoriented in the weather and thought they were descending toward Casper, but were much south, and closer to the ground. Unfortunately, nothing could be done for the six-person crew. 3, 1945 but because of weather and snow, no one was able to reach the crash site until Jan. Six other aircraft landed at alternate safe locations however, one became lost with no communications.Ī civil air patrol pilot found the downed plane on Jan. Due to sustained winds and icy weather, only one plane returned to the base. Their sacrifice here will not be forgotten.”Įight United States Army Air Forces B-24J Liberators took off from Casper Army Air Base on a cold afternoon on Jan.
#B24 bomber crew full#
They gave us the last full measure of their devotion. “We owe a debt of gratitude to this crew of six that went down 76 years ago. Rob Peterson during his memorial address.
“The importance of a mission is not dependent on the proximity to where the greatest action is,” said Chaplain Lt. “It is important for these lost stories to be remembered,” said Joe MacGuire, president of the Friends of the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum.Ī team of six soldiers from the Wyoming Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors Program made a full honors presentation at a ceremony held for the crew of the Liberator. They plan to place roadside information boards at rest stations near the sites that provide crash details and honors the sacrifice of their crews. The two organizations are researching other historical crash sites in the area. The Murchison crash is one of three lost historical crash sites in Wyoming that the Friends of the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum, a nonprofit organization that works with the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum, identified along with the Colorado Aviation Historical Society. The crash site has been lost since the initial cleanup 76 years ago. Taps reverberates across the wild grass and sagebrush as family and friends honor the 1945 crew of a B-24J Liberator during a memorial ceremony held at the crash site south of Casper, Wyoming, July 24, 2021. ◆ The official report suggests that extreme weather caused the crew disorientation during an attempt to descend into Casper.ĬASPER, Wyo. Post Views: 1,304 Photo by Aviation History Online Museum
0 kommentar(er)
