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ORIGINAL: sprior

Read this in the news today, " A mother of seven, Ursula von der Leyen is Germany's labour minister..."

ORIGINAL: sprior

Another aircrew laid to rest

The first part of the memorial - The B17 Flying Fortress crash
The two B-17s, one from the 368th Bombardment Squadron and one from the 423rd Bombardment Squadron of the 306th Bombing Group, were returning from a mission in the German industrial heartland of Kassel when the accident occurred.

The aircrews of the 306th BG, known as the Reich Wreckers, were some of the most experienced in the U.S. Air Force, but fog enveloped northern Europe - the targets in Kassel were so obscured the bombs had to be dropped by radar. The weather worsened on their return to England and the two bombers, leading the formation back to their U.S. Eighth Air Force base at RAF Thurleigh, were diverted to RAF Greenham Common. At about 2,100 feet, the 368th BS B-17G, piloted by 2nd Lt. Charles Crooks, collided with the 423rd BS B-17G, piloted by 2nd Lt. Lorn Wilke.

Both planes crashed near Greenham Common, killing all but two of the 18 crewmen. Wilke remembered hearing a loud noise, followed by an explosion. His plane blew apart at the cockpit and he and his co-pilot, 1st Lt. John Murphy, were able to bail out, deploy their parachutes and escape. Crooks and the entire crew of the 368th BS plane were killed. Because of the bad weather, the collision was unobserved by other flyers in the formation.

Both Flying Fortresses ended up roughly two miles apart from each other - B-17 tail number 43-37633 (368th BS plane) near Bishops Green and B-17 tail number 43-38019 (423rd BS plane) near the Swan Roundabout, Newtown, to the west.

According to the USAAF accident report, dated January 1945: "The accident was unavoidable. The formation ran into conditions of extreme poor visibility and it is apparent that neither pilot saw the other aircraft."

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

I know they have the same service rating but I swear the PB4Y is harder to maintain than the B-24-D/D1.

I suspect you know who is behind it.

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

I know they have the same service rating but I swear the PB4Y is harder to maintain than the B-24-D/D1.

I suspect you know who is behind it.

You mean that same union rep who fixed the Army/Navy game?

ORIGINAL: sprior

Meanwhile back in Calcutta

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

We are completely out of SBD-3's. In 7 d, the SBD-5 and SB2C-1C arrive. Assuming the war isn't over by then, which should we use (we will probably need both to fill out depleted squadrons to tell you the truth)?

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

We are completely out of SBD-3's. In 7 d, the SBD-5 and SB2C-1C arrive. Assuming the war isn't over by then, which should we use (we will probably need both to fill out depleted squadrons to tell you the truth)?