Target: Misberg - 4 November 1944 - Mission #194

Once again the strategic targeting was on the Third Reich’s oil production and the 392nd was to go after a refinery near this city. A force of (32) crews was briefed at 0530 and 0630 hours with Lieutenant Connery the Lead Bombardier from the 578th Squadron. The Group began take-offs a 0830 and all ships went over the primary. The release of (368) 500# GPs was made through clouds on PFF flares with later photos showing that most had hit approximately 3400 yards southwest of the briefed MPI. Once more no fighters were engaged or seen but AA fire over target was intense an accurate. A total of (21) bombers picked up flak battle damage. One ship was lost and one other had to make an emergency landing on the Continent. From the 578th in ship #293, Lieutenant H. Clifford’s crew was last seen over the target with #2 engine on fire, under control but diving, with (1) chute being observed. In aircraft #697 of the 579th, Lieutenant N. J. Wick’s crew was thought lost when the bomber was badly hit with #3 and #4 engines out at bombs away but the crew was able to make an emergency landing by some superior airmanship at A-62D — an emergency strip two mile north of Rheims, France. All other planes returned to base around 1530 with many battle damaged.

MISSING AIR CREW REPORT SECTION

4 NOVEMBER 1944 - TARGET: MISBERG

MISSING AIRCREW REPORT: #10350 AIRCRAFT: #42-95293 "AMERICAN BEAUTY" "H-Bar" 35th mission

AIRCREW: CLIFFORD    *    SQUADRON: 578th

CREW POSITIONS AND STATUS:

P   l/LT  Clifford, Hayden H.    POW
CP  2/LT  Benz, Robert F.        KIA
N   2/LT  Baldwin, William L. Jr KIA
B   F/O   Melton, James A.       KIA
R/O T/SGT Patterson, Maurice J.  POW
EnG S/SGT Nilsen, Arnold V.      POW
WG  S/SGT Plude, Robert W.       POW
WG  S/SGT Kuykendall, Lewis W.   KIA
TG  S/SGT Rogers, Charles J. Jr  KIA

MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES: Lt. Walker, Pilot 577th, and Lt. Frederick, CoPilot 577th, both confirmed a short account on the loss of this aircrew: "Aircraft was seen going down under control at the target with #2 engine on fire, and one chute seen". A German Report #KU3293 detailed the location of all crew members found in the Misberg target area at 1205 hours with (4) members being taken prisoner, and (5) found dead - all positively identified from dog tags. The exact site of the ship’s crash location was given as (2) kilometers north of Misberg and (8) kilometers east of Hannover near the German super highway - plane entirely destroyed in the crash with no discernible markings. These German reportings were made by the Air Base Command A (o) 23/Il at Vahrenwald-Hannover and cited the (4) crew members taken prisoner had bailed out of the stricken bomber over the German Highway near Lehrte. One crew man, Nilsen, the Flight Engineer, was noted to have evaded capture until the next day, 5 November, having concealed himself in the Warmbuschener Moor almost twenty-four hours according to these reports. On 5 November, the Germans examined the crashed aircraft and reported finding the other (5) crewmen dead in the wreckage, all of whom were positively identified from their dog tags. The captured men were sent on to the POW interrogation center at Dulag-Luft West (Oberursel) just north of Frankfurt.

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF CREWMEN FATES: Very sketchy information exists in this MACR. Later Casualty Questionnaires completed by surviving crew members (names of those reporting not known from these accounts) confirmed that all (5) members who were killed did not for some unexplained reasons bail out of the plane. One such account reported being taken by their German captors to the actual crash location where their dead comrades were seen lying on the ground beside. the wreckage. It was also noted that the Co-Pilot Lt. Benz, one of these casualties, was making every concerted action possible to insure all of the crew were alerted to bail out before the crash. Another survivor’s account brings to light that the Navigator, and possibly the Bombardier, Lts. Baldwin and Melton, may have been killed-in-action while in flight, and before the plane’s crashing. This latter information of the report quoted the source as having come later from the Pilot, Lt. Clifford. From individual accounts, most all members were on their 20th to 22nd combat mission.

BURIAL RECORDS: German reports noted that the (5) dead crew members were interred initially in the Military Cemetery at Limmer-Hannover. U.S. National Military Cemetery records reflect the WALL OF THE MISSING listing on just (2) deceased crew members, both in different U.S. Overseas locations: Baldwin at MARGRATEN, near Maastsncht in The Netherlands, and Melton at HENRI-CHAPELLE, near Liege, Belgium. No record exists on any re-interments of the remaining three members. Awards cited were: Baldwin, an Air Medal with (2) Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart; Melton, the same Air Medal citation, but no Purple Heart award.

NEXT OF KIN DATA IN WWII: Clifford (Father Carl C., RFD #2, Spencer, Ohio); Benz (Father, Fred P., 2417 Kenway Drive, Des Moines, Iowa); Baldwin (Mother, Irene C.F., 2900 Wyman Parkway, Baltimore, Maryland); Melton (Mother, Annie L., PO Box 294, Stephens, Arkansas); Patterson (Wife, Helen N., Box 53, Lake City, Michigan); Nilsen (Mother, Sophia P, Forty Seven Keystone Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts); Plude (Wife, Julia P., 506 Baruield Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut); Kuykendall (Mother, Nancy J. Satterfield, 1514 West 16th Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma); Rogers (Father, Charles J., 21 8 West Main Street, Russellville, Arkansas).

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #194

According to the 392nd BG's mission files at the National Archives, A/C 697 landed at a 9th Air Force emergency strip about two miles north of Rheims, Belgium. The #3 and #4 engines were out and the #2 engine had been hit by flak. There were also several flak holes in the plane. It would be repaired at that field and then flown to Brussels. On Saturday night, the crew stayed at the Lion D'Or Hotel in Rheims-"Bomb Boy" Headquarters. On Sunday night they went to Lyon at a transient chateau for flyers who are forced down. They brought their flak suits and the "G" box (navigation equipment) back to base.