Mon May 08, 2006 10:39 pm
Dear Paul:
What a fascinating record of Warbirds. I was able to check out an accident our crew had near Havana Cuba in May 5, 1944, on a similar site. It was B-24 #42-95113. We crashed during a thunderstorm. Simultaneously crashing into B-24 #42-95115 and a Jeep -- that was positioned at the end of the runway at Batista Field, surveying the damaged 115 that had crashed over the embankment. Total wreckage: two B-24s and one Jeep. I have a dossier on that mishap.
On your site I came across the B-24 #42-78361 that we delivered to Gioa del Colle, Italy from Mitchel Field in June of 1944. We left it at the pool and went by truck to Manduria and the 450th BG. Your record shows it was lost on 7/20/44 in Italy. There are no other details available.
I wonder if you could help me out of a dilemma. I've been tracking the disposition of two other "incidents" our crew encountered during our time in Italy. Needless to say, I've come up empty-handed. This is the note I've sent to a number of sites with archivists and researchers, hoping for some news:
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I flew as the copilot on the Captain John Paul Jones, Jr. crew. After he was wounded, the crew was taken over by First Lieutenant Roger A. Kent. We were stationed in Manduria, Italy with the 450th BG, 723rd SQ. The Group was known as the "Cottontails." When we were in Italy, we suffered two crashes. One happened at Capodichino, Italy (8-44) and the other on the Island of Vis, off the Dalmatian Coast (10-44). There is NO official record of the two mishaps. I would dearly love to find out the disposition of the two incidents. I am hoping that some member of the maintenance or a ground crew chief of the 723rd kept a log of the B-24s in his charge. Perhaps he noticed that his roster was missing a couple of planes after mission return. I know it's a long shot, but there is always that possibility. I don't know the S/Ns of either plane, but the name of the Vis B-24 was "No, No Nanette." I have pictures of her sitting on her belly. Any personal information of the plane and/or crew would be genuinely welcomed. Respectfully, Andy J. Benedict. ajbdad1@wmconnect.com