E & E report for Hogan is here:
http://media.nara.gov/nw/305270/EE-1745.pdf Sgt Brothers is here:
http://media.nara.gov/nw/305270/EE-1553.pdf Peter B Hogan was the CP on the plane. MACR is 6626 for B-26 41-31814. It runs some 43 pages on fold3.com. Three of the crew were captured together (two were apparently wounded, not sure which two) at 3:01 am at Quesnoy near Airaines (SSE of Abbeville) by members of a German searchlight unit.
The pilot, Richard J Waters was wounded in the stomach and had collapsed in the seat. He was possibly unconscious. Hogan took control of the plane as it was about to stall and go into a spin. The pilot stayed with the plane after the crew bailed and was thrown clear in the crash, still strapped in the seat, according to Hogan. The German documents say the body was burned and found near the plane. The body was buried on the 9th in a French Soldiers cemetery at L'Arbre a Mouches which is just a little north of Warlus.
Pilot: KIA Richard J Waters
CP; Paul B Hogan, evaded.
Togg: Woodrow P Clark. POW, RTD
EG: Donald R Lovell, POW, RTD
RC: John W Ryan, POW , RTD
TG: Dale W Brothers, evaded
The plane was on a night mission to bomb "secret headquarters" for V-1 sites which was located, according to a map included in the MACR, to the north east of Abbeville. The pilot was wounded before the crash, the rest of the crew bailed out. The planes were flying at 20 second intervals on this mission and at different altitudes, not really in formation. According to the German documents the plane was attacked by a night fighter and it crashed at Warlus, 22 km SSE of Abbeville at 3:00 am. Hogan's statement says the plane had large holes in the wing and elevators. In Brothers' E & E report he states the left engine was on fire. Bail out was at 2,500 feet. Hogan says the bombardier was afraid to jump and ending up bailing out after Hogan jumped.
Sgt Ryan has a statement in the MACR. He relates that when the order to bail was given, Sgt Brothers was the first to bail from the rear of the plane, out of the left waist hatch. Ryan followed Brothers out and then Lovell. Ryan saw Clark in Stalag Luft 4 and also met up with Lovell after the war. When Ryan was floating down, he says he saw the ship explode before it hit the ground. Lovell had just managed to jump before this occurred. Ryan relates that this was his 7th mission, but his first with this crew. He then states they were made up of three different crews for this mission. Clark also filled in the MACR form after the war.
Most of the MACR is made up of the German Capture and Transmittal documents. They list the contents of the pockets for each of the captured men, where and when captured, when they were sent on to Dalag Luft, etc. They also list the radio equipment in the crashed bomber.
post edited by RSwank -