42-51283 4R M

Greetings all.  I'm looking for any information I can find on my grandfather's plane, crew, and anyone that may have known him personally.  His name was 2nd LT. Sidney D. Lewis.  I did get some information from someone named Vic that told me his crew member's names and that they were shot down over Harburg, Germany on Oct 6th, 1944.  Does anybody out there have any information on this crew or my grandfather?

AJ - 2D Lt. Sidney D. Lewis - Chenango Falls, NY. -  POW
Pilot - 489th BG , 844th Sq.
shot down 10/6/44 - Crashed near Harburg , GE.
B - 24 # 42-51283 4R M
1 KIA  9 POW
MACR # 9751
Co Pilot - 2d Lt. Francis J. Fitzgibbon - Syracuse , NY
Nav.  - 2d Lt. John M. Short - Milford, CT.
BB - 2D Lt. Francis J. Daino Jr. - Bronx, NY
NT - Sgt. Jack T. Snead -  KIA    - Owensboro , KY.
TT - Sgt. Paul A. Mc Nickle - Cleveland, OH.
RO - Sgt. Harold F. Defenbaugh - Fergus Falls , Minn.
BT  - Sgt. Raymond D. Carlson - Webster , SD
WG - Sgt. James P. Curry - Jamaica Plains , Ma.
TG - Sgt. David H. Godair - Glencoe, MO.
For a Free Copy of MACR Email Request to   Lynn.Gamma@Maxwell.AF.MIL
Lt. lewis was POW in Stalag Luft I , Barth  
Mike

My friend asked me to research his father for him.  He was the BT on this aircraft.  Did anyone else reply to you maybe in PM?

If your question is directed to AJ, look at his profile. You will see that he has not been on this site since early 2007, indicating that he is no longer interested in finding out information about his father or is prevented from doing so. You can try to PM him and see if he has found out anything that he might be willing to share with you. It was probably me that gave him the information he cites, but could have been anothe Vic. I would suggest getting the MACR that Mike has mentioned. It is free and may give you some good information.
 
You might also try doing a www.whitepages.com to see if you can find some of the survivors. There are a number if search engines that can help in this search. If the names are common, it is probably a lost cause, but for the unusual ones you can get lucky, even to the point of putting your friend's dad in touch with an old crewmate. You can check the historian or membership secretary for the 489th BG to see if any of them are members of their association and maybe the historian can give some information from their records or from a book about the group. There are a number of options, but it takes patience and perserverance to research effectively. Don't give up!!!! Good luck with the search. Follow the recommendations for searching on the homepage.
 
Vic

My great uncle was the nose gunner. The whole crew parachuted to safety, but they were attacked by a mob on the ground, and my uncle was killed. The rest survived the war in a POW camp.

http://www.b24bestweb.com/283-v1.htm

Sgt. Jack T. Snead was first buried, 10/6/44 on the church cemetery of Moisburg a little village near Buxtehude, west of Hamburg. Do you have a proof that your uncle was killed by a german mob?
 
Padu

I am the daughter of John Short, the navigator on this plane. I have quite a lot of information as my dad kept a fairly detailed scrapbook.   He died in 1997.
Anyone still on this forum interested in sharing info?
 

lshortski

I am the daughter of John Short, the navigator on this plane. I have quite a lot of information as my dad kept a fairly detailed scrapbook.   He died in 1997.
Anyone still on this forum interested in sharing info?

 
Yes, I'd love as much info as you can give me.

Padu

Sgt. Jack T. Snead was first buried, 10/6/44 on the church cemetery of Moisburg a little village near Buxtehude, west of Hamburg. Do you have a proof that your uncle was killed by a german mob?

Padu

 
Padu, I've no proof, just what my family was told. My grandmother hated the Germans to the day she died because of it.

My dad rarely spoke to us about his whole ordeal; only in his later years did he share some.   He was interviewed in a local paper in the 80s I believe where we heard more than I had known.   He related that they were "greeted" by angry civilians with pitchforks and were actually glad to have the German police arrive at that point.   I don't think they he would have been together with Jack Snead at the time as the enlisted folks had been ordered to bail out of the plane first- the officers went a short time later.        We have interesting pictures of the entire crew , separately, in Dad's scrapbook-they were of course black and white- but Jack Snead's pic, and only his, turned a sepia color.  Jack was the only one killed.