On This Day…March 9th

‘Silver Dollar’ was lost in action on 9th March, 1944 on a raid on the Heinkel Aircraft Factory. She was hit by the bombs from a B-17 above, went into a violent tailspin, and hit the ground. The Missing Air Crew Report is below...

SORTIE REPORT

MISSION DATA:

DATE 384th BG Mission # 8th AF Mission # 384th PRIMARY TARGET:
1944‑03‑09 74 253 HEINKEL AIRCRAFT PLANT
TYPE: AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY
LOCATION: ORANIENBURG, GERMANY

SECONDARY TARGET ATTACKED WITH PFF: THE 384TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H) FLEW AS THE LOW GROUP OF THE 41ST COMBAT BOMBARDMENT WING ON TODAY'S MISSION. THE PRIMARY TARGET WAS HIDDEN BY DENSE CLOUDS, SO THE SECONDARY WAS ATTACKED USING PFF (RADAR) AIMING.

SORTIE DATA:
COMBAT CREDIT STATUS TARGET ATTACKED (MODE)
YES FAILED TO RETURN
COMMENTS: LOST AFTER BOMBS AWAY WHEN BOMBS FROM HIGH GROUP (379BG) HIT THIS AIRCRAFT, KNOCKING TAIL COMPLETELY OFF IN FRONT OF STABILIZER; AIRCRAFT DIVED STRAIGHT DOWN INTO A SPIN WITH ALL FOUR ENGINES GOING; NO CHUTES OBSERVED. MACR 3005 SECONDARY (PFF)
TARGET: CITY CENTER
TYPE: NON-MILITARY
LOCATION: BERLIN, GERMANY

• SORTIE AIRCRAFT DATA:
  TYPE SERIAL NUMBER SQ CODE NAME GROUND CREW CHIEF
  B-17G 42-37781 BK*U SILVER DOLLAR MCKINNEY, LAUREN L

• SORTIE CREW DATA:
  POSITION CREWMEMBER UNIT STATUS
  PILOT REED, MERLIN H 546 MIA
  CO-PILOT RININSLAND, BRUCE MARTIN 546 KIA
  NAVIGATOR GUDYKA, PETER (NMI). 546 MIA
  BOMBARDIER HEISS, JOHN L 546 KIA
  RADIO OPERATOR WELLMAN, ROBERT F 546 KIA
  ENGINEER/TOP TUR. JOHNSON, ROBERT O 546 MIA
  BALL TURRET. OSEPCHOOK, ARTHUR JOHN 546 POW
  TAIL GUNNER HARDY, EMMET F 546 KIA
  WAIST (FLEXIBLE) GUNNER PLOTZ, JOHN JAMES 546 POW
  WAIST (FLEXIBLE) GUNNER. JACOBSON, JOSEPH (NMI) 546 KIA

• SORTIE-RELATED DOCUMENTS:
  TYPE IDENTIFICATION
  MACR MISSING AIR CREW REPORT NUMBER 3005

Finnish 76-mm field gun camouflaged in snowy terrain toward the end of the ‘Winter War’ - Viipuri, Finland, 9th March, 1940.

P-43 ‘Lancer’ fighter over Esler Field, Louisiana, United States, 9th March, 1942. You can see the DNA of the Thunderbolt, especially looking at the wing specs and dihedral in the drawings below. The Lancer was essentially obsolete by the time she was delivered, with the leaps in innovation and technology inspired by the war.

Anyone fancy a diorama with a difference?

U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reservists servicing a PBJ-1 (U.S. Navy designation of the B-25 Mitchell bomber). March 9th, 1945.

British Sherman in Burma - March 9th, 1945.

1945, March 9th. In the single deadliest air raid of World War II, American strategy shifted, influenced by tactics used in the ETO. 330 B-29s dropped innumerable incendiary bombs on Tokyo, starting a huge firestorm that razed a quarter of the city to the ground.

Sherman tanks of the 4th Armoured Division ready to advance near Sonsbeck, Germany, March 9th,1945. The division participated in the later stages of the Battle of Normandy at the Falaise Pocket, the advance from Normandy and spent almost two months engaged at the Breskens Pocket. It wintered in the Netherlands before taking part in the final advance across northern Germany.

What a souvenir. Sergeant George A. Kaufman of the 9th US Army replaces the street sign ‘Adolf-Hitler-Straße’ with a hand-made ‘Roosevelt Boulevard’ sign in Krefeld, Germany, March 9th 1945.

Aeembly ship, sometimes referred to as a ‘Judas Goat’ - crashed on 9th March 1945 when she landed heavy and the right landing gear collapsed at RAF station Horsham St Faith, England.

Other ‘Judas Goats’, in case the urge takes you to get those unused primary colour pots out from under a sea of greys and browns...

Two days late, but couldn’t not include this...

Lt. Richard Ira Bong, 9th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group in a his P-38G 'Lightning' in Papua New Guinnea on 6th March, 1943.

More ‘diorama bait’...an E14Y ‘Glen’ Floatplane on it’s submarine in Palisser Bay, New Zealand. This plane was spotted flying over Wellington, NZ, on March 9th, 1942.

2 additional images. Click to enlarge.