93rd BG Aircraft Crash - April 1945

I'm doing a little digging.
I'm looking for info on a 93rd bomber that crashed in Belgium in early April of '45 (possibly the 3rd or 5th?).
I'm not sure of the accuracy because I understood the plane to be a B-17 which wouldn't be corect fot that BG.
 
Thanks,
AndyinMaine
 

Andy:
 
This is from this website's search engine:
Tail Number     Date        MACR        Group        Sqdrn      Acft Type
44-50697     4/5/1945   13846          93            328          B-24  

Could 93rd CBW , 3rd AD be a Possibilty in your opinion?
Looking at database of this site, I noticed 3x 490th BG B-17's were lost on April 5th

43-38103 MACR13855
43-38131 MACR13854
43-39297 MACR13741

Perhaps one of these??

Just a thought...

Grtz
Joost de Raaf

Joost:
 
The last known position of the B-24 from the 93rd BG that I mentioned was on the East side of the town of Zoutelande, The Netherlands.  Here's the Google Earth link.  The A pointer showd the location on the ground.
 
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=51+30N+03+30E&sll=35.603719,-87.451169&sspn=56.229183,114.169922&ie=UTF8&ll=51.504522,3.483438&spn=0.021504,0.072098&t=h&z=15

Mike.Simpson


Joost:
 
The last known position of the B-24 from the 93rd BG that I mentioned was on the East side of the town of Zoutelande, The Netherlands.  Here's the Google Earth link.  The A pointer showd the location on the ground.
 
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=51+30N+03+30E&sll=35.603719,-87.451169&sspn=56.229183,114.169922&ie=UTF8&ll=51.504522,3.483438&spn=0.021504,0.072098&t=h&z=15

Very close to Belgium indeed.

I Asume this B-24 could very well be the answer to his Question.

As he mentioned he understood it was a B-17, I found it was a coinidence some 93rd CBW B-17's were also lost that day.
So perhaps they refered 93rd Bomber to his Combat Wing rather than BombGroup...But to be honoust I realy do not know if that was common practice.

Grtz
Joost

The Navigator was John D. (JD) Colson.

I met Lt Colson's son, yesterday.  He was contacted, about 10 years ago, by someone who saw his father's plane lumbering over then crashing into the forest in April of 1945.  The witness could clearly see the gunner standing in the waist position and the A/C #. He has visited the site.  His information was that it was a B-17G.
Either is wasn't a B-17 or it wasn't the 93rd.  It was April 5th.

His information was that they were only on their second mission and had been assigned an aircraft that had been used hard, scrapped, cannibalized, "repaired" and put back into service.  The aircraft went down due to mechanical failure.  The pilot attempted to land it because he could not dump the bomb load over friendly territory.

Mike's reply concerning the 93rd BG plane is correct. 44-50697 was the last 93rd BG plane lost. Covered by MACR 13846. Pilot was 2Lt James R. Sample, all nine crewmen KIA.
 
Vic

Have you a crew list, Vic?
 
Thanks,
Andy

Vic,
I found a 3 year old post of yours about that A/C.
It lists a different navigator. 
It doesn't look (to me) like the plane was from the 93rd BG.

Andy,
 
Crew list from Project Bits and Pieces:
2Lt James R. Sample (P) KIA
2Lt Murray F. Houseman (CP) KIA
2Lt Stanley E. Renk (N) KIA
Sgt James W. Gibson (NT) KIA
S/Sgt James r. Hickey (TT) KIA
S/Sgt Robert L. Galbraith (RO) KIA
Sgt Paul W. Kleyman (LW) KIA
Sgt Richard M. Sandberg (RW) KIA
Sgt Joseph P. Piazza (TG) KIA
 
Ted's Travelling Circus lists some of these men as missing rather than KIA.
 
What post were you referring to from 3 years ago. I don't have record of it and would like to check it out.
 
Vic

Vic,
I went (here) to the 93rd forum and searched for "Sample".  You had made a post and listed the crew back in '07.
I spent the whole day searching yesterday and came up with nothing except a John D. Colson enlistment record in NARA.  I need to start with that because he's not on Sample's crew.  His son thinks he was on a B-17 so the 93rd window seems to be closing.
 
Andy

Andy,
 
I don't see any difference in the list I supplied in 2007 and the one I just posted. There is no Colson listed on the 93rd BG roster ( admitted that there are omissions) and Project Bits and Pieces doesn't list one on the Roll of Honor that lists individuals who were shot down. This only covers 8th Air Force groups. Is it possible he was with some other group? Maybe even not a heavy bomber group.
 
Vic

Vic,
 
I had the spelling wrong. It's "Coalson".
 
Andy