Target: Schwabisch Hall - 13 September 1944 - Mission #168

The jet propelled air base on the high bluff ground just east of the city was assigned for attack on this date with briefings for (33) aircrews being conducted at 0300 and 0415 hours. The 579th Squadron with Lieutenant McGarry as Bombardier was designated to lead the Group. Enroute and just north of Paris, heavy frontal weather was encountered during which the Group formation was split up somewhat. The first squadron managed to penetrate intact behind the 44th and 491st Groups of the 14th Combat Wing. The next two squadrons following lost contact with the lead about ten miles east of the Rhine, aborted and returned toward England but made an unfortunate error in navigation by coming over the heavily flak defended area of Calais, picking up aircraft damage. The 579th Squadron with (12) ships continued on to bomb and, after two runs over the primary because of a malfunction in equipment, released (153) 500# GPs five seconds late with impacts over the MPI by approximately 3000 feet. This Squadron also ran into heavy flak on return as the bombers crossed over the Siegfried Line. From the 579th (1) ship and crew were lost. Lieutenant A. E. Joynt in #279 was seen at 1215 hours, position 4958N-0754E in a steep dive with #3 engine on fire under partial control with (6) chutes being observed. Returning bombers had wounded aboard from Lieutenant F. Koza’s and Lieutenant R. H. Tuchel’s crews, both from the 579th. In all, (21) B-24s were damaged of those which returned around 1440 hours.

MISSING AIR CREW REPORT SECTION

13 SEPTEMBER 1944 - TARGET: SCHWABISCH-HALL (AIRFIELD)

MISSING AIRCREW REPORT: #08848 AIRCRAFT: #42-50279 "ENVY OF ‘EM ALL" "Bar-J" 61st Mission

AIRCREW: JOYNT    *    SQUADRON: 579th

CREW POSITIONS AND STATUS:

P   2/LT  Joynt, Albert E     KIA
CP  2/LT  Taylor, Edward J.   POW
N   2/LT  Phipps, Homer H. Jr POW
B   2/LT  Forsberg, Bruce F.  KIA
R/O S/SGT Apple, Odis L. Jr.  KIA
EnG T/SGT Smith, Roy A. Jr    POW
WG  S/SGT Floyd, L. G.        KIA
WG  S/SGT Hester, C. L.       POW
RCM S/SGT Propst, Earl J.     KIA
TG  S/SGT Vavra, Charles E.   KIA

MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES: A returning crew Pilot (Lt. Clark, 579th) gave an eye-witness account: "... last seen at 1215 hours at 19,000 feet at position 49-5ON; 07-54E in a steep dive with #3 engine on fire; hit by AA fire; (6) chutes seen; aircraft apparently under control". German Report # KU2982, Hqs Weisbaden, 13 September at 1300 hours reported the crash of this plane near Mainz at Rudesheim/Rhein at 1215 hours and finding (4) dead crew men: Floyd, Forsberg, Joynt, and Apple at the crash site, and a supplementary added (2) other casualties: Propst and Vavra. Four (4) members survived the bail out and were captured at location on the Rhine River later on the 13th and 14th. Lt. Taylor, the Co-Pilot, was reported in German supplemental #KU987-A as being captured finally at Bingen-on-the-Rhine on 14 September and was noted to have refused giving any information. Sgt. Smith was found with the Co-Pilot at the same location and time. It was further noted these (4) captives were being transferred to Dulag Luft-West (Oberursel, near Frankfurt).

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF CREWMEN FATES: Somewhat lengthy survivor reports were rendered on this crew episode after prisoner liberation from POW status. Lt. Phipps, the Navigator, gave a very comprehensive statement on his Casualty Questionnaire report, and quoted in part here: …I am attaching this supplement in hopes that it will be of further assistance...our last mission was flown as briefed until just after we crossed the Rhine River on the way back...we were flying at approximately 20,500 feet when we crossed the river...and began to get flak from a few scattered flak guns ...that caused no undue worry, as no barrage was encountered. Suddenly, however, there was a loud explosion and the ship jarred quite a bit...(but) it continued in normal flight after that....I had already looked out both side windows and could see no apparent damage to the wing engines...(and) no one of the crew could see (any) apparent damage from their position...(and) we assumed everything was okay....Shortly..supposedly Sgt. Hester exclaimed - "Fire in the bomb bay"...(and) he repeated this...I looked...and could see a mass of flames filling up the entire bomb bay. Lt. Joynt, the Pilot, attempted to determine the exact location by questioning all...who could see the fire (it) became obvious then, it was burning fiercely...and could not easily be extinguished.... Parachutes were ordered to be put on...and the order to bail out came immediately thereafter....l left first through the nose wheel door (and) I presumed Lt. Forsberg (the Bombardier), who was uninjured and standing beside me..was ready and would follow me....I delayed my chute opening until I was approximately 3,000 feet...and saw that I would land very near a house....with three people watching me come down. I noticed they would look at me for a short time...and then turn and look west. I looked in that direction and saw two men in open chutes about three quarters of a mile west of me...(and) a few hundred feet higher. I landed and was picked up immediately by a farmer who was standing in the farm yard. .and in about five minutes two soldiers drove up and I was taken (by car) to the town of Mainz....about ten to fifteen miles from where I landed the above is all I personally witnessed (and) the following is what I gathered from the three other men who survived According to Lt. Taylor, Co-Pilot, the flames had burned away part of the (bulkhead) partition between the flight deck and the bomb bay...and smoke and flames were working forward....although the "bail out" order had already been given, they (Pilot and Co-Pilot...others?) decided to make one last attempt to extinguish the flames by putting the ship in a dive....hoping to put the fire out...dived the ship down between 5 and 10,000 feet, but only succeeded in making the fire worse. The Pilot (Joynt) told Lt Taylor to go ahead, but he (the Co-Pilot) motioned for him (Joynt) to go while (Taylor) removed his flak vest (escape) through the bomb bays was impossible...and when he (Co-Pilot) got his vest off and walked back to the (top) hatch..(he said) Sgt. Propst was standing facing the rear of the plane with his head out the top hatch...making no effort to get out..even being urged to go (by Taylor)...but he could see that the Sgt. was badly burned about the face...and (was) apparently out of his mind....just standing in the flames...then) Lt. Taylor put his head out the top hatch and saw the plane burning so badly that he could never make it out...and (due to inhaled smoke and bits of flames) he collapsed on the flight deck..trying to crawl up between the pilots’ seats to escape flames...(and) shortly, the plane exploded. He (Taylor) was unconscious, but was (obviously) blown clear of the ship...and when he came to he was floating down, the explosion having opened his parachute (later), he was taken to the town of Rudesheim, a short distance away..where a German doctor told him that (his "comrade Propst" was dead and threw a blood-stained Mae West on the floor..(on other members and their accounts)....Sgt. Hester (said) smoke was filtering through the rear when he left....and Sgt. Floyd left the plane through the same (aft) hatch...but, when he looked for Sgt. Vavra (Tail Gunner)...he could see no one in the turret or in the aft section of the ship....assuming (Vavra) had gone out ....Sgt. Hester said he landed in the middle of the Rhine River...near Mainz, and was picked up immediately..believe Sgt. Hester said he was told by the Germans that evening that a tall officer had landed (in/near the river also)...and he was burned to death....Lt. Joynt was about 6’3" tall - Lt. Forsberg about 6’l "...it could have been either, if they (the Germans) were telling the truth...also told him that another man had landed very near (Sgt. Hester)...but that his chute had failed to open...(this lengthy but detailed survivor’s report continued..)...Sgt. Smith, the Engineer, said he left through the top hatch...and made it over the top of the plane without serious injury...was picked up shortly... and saw nothing of the other men...None of the four men that came back have any information regarding Sgt. Apple, the Radio Operator, sincerely hope that the above information will be of assistance...". (End of extracted ‘quotes’ from Lt. Phipps later statements). The Co-Pilot’s later report coincided with the above and added the following on the emergency situation taking place in those scant few moments on the flight deck: that he had motioned Pilot Joynt to bail out while he (Taylor) was trying to get out of his flak vest; and, that he was positive Lt. Joynt had escaped through the top hatch at that time; that just prior, he as Co-Pilot was (at the controls) diving the plane, but not steeply as he reported, to drive flames back into the bomb bay until all could clear the flight deck...(as) the top hatch is hazardous place to leave a B-24 under best of conditions (his comments)...that he could not imagine the Pilot, the Bombardier, and Tail Gunner not being able to get out of this plane at the time...(although parachute problems, maybe ?)..and that Sgt. Propst was either killed or mortally wounded when the ship exploded...and went in with it most likely. A final statement in the latter’s report related that the surviving Waist Gunner, Sgt. Hester, had remarked that the Germans had indicated that one of the tall officers found dead in the same location did not have his parachute opened. By accounts, this crew had flown a total of (12) missions including this raid.

BURIAL RECORDS: There are no German reports of initial burials in this MACR. The following crewmen are interred in the Lorraine American Cemetery near St. Avold, France: 2/Lt Forsberg (Grave B-18-40), S/Sgt Floyd (Grave D-42-23), and S/Sgt Vavra (Grave G-11-12), all of whom had been awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Ciuster; and S/Sgt Propst (Grave J-22-7), who had been awarded the Purple Heart. 2/Lt Joynt is buried in Freeland, MI. S/Sgt Apple is interred in Sweetwater, TX.

NEXT OF KIN DATA IN WWII: Only ‘homes of record’ are given in this crew’s files: Joynt (605 N. Erie Street, Bay City, Michigan); Taylor (3943 N. Janssen Avenue, Chicago, Illinois); Phipps (22 W. Illinois Street, Evansville, Indiana); Forsberg (1484 Clay Street, San Francisco, California); Smith (219 50th Street, N. Birmingham, Alabama); Apple (Box 184, Redwood City, California); Floyd (101 Montgomery, Walnut Ridge, Arkansas); Hester (5227 Hampshire Blvd, Fort Worth, Texas); Vavra :Route #4, Marshalltown, Iowa); Propst (no address given).

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #168