b24j

Left: B-24J 42-73438 ESCALATOR III, 14AF 308BG, flew missions with 373BS, 374BS & 375BS. Crew bailed out 21-Nov-1944 after takeoff from Luliang en route to Suichwan. Center: B-24J 42-73436 UBANGI BAG III, 14AF, 308BG 374BS Exploded in mid-air 8-May-1945 between Dergaon, India and Kwanghan, China with the loss of at least 6 men (4 crew, 2 passengers, plus possible unknown additional passengers).

Just Wonderful...

Ford-built B-24J (B-24J-5-FO), USAAF Ser. No. 42-50760 (c/n 2645), named "Maggie's Drawers." Half of the nose-art now covered by a later modification which added applique armor to the sides of B-24 cockpits. "Maggie's Drawers" (or "Drawers") and her crew would be shot down by flak over Germany on October 15, 1944. As per the Joe Baugher site: www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_3.html

42-50760 - Shot down Oct 15, 1944 by anti-aircraft fire. Crashed 2 km North of Bad Kreuznach, Germany while returning from a mission to Reisholz, Germany. Aircraft caught fire and exploded. Two (2) crew were killed, eight crew bailed out and were captured and became PoWs."

Waist gunner, Staff Sergeant Eugene Kalinowsky would successfully bail out from the aircraft, only to be summarily shot in the back of the neck by SS officer Kurt Tesch, after his capture by a two members of a Luftwaffe anti-aircraft unit. Kalinowsky reportedly took hours to die, according to children who had witnessed his shooting and suffering. Tesch would later be arrested by the German government in 1952, and ultimately received only a 12 month term of imprisonment for the murder of S/Sgt. Kalinowsky. See also: aircrewremembered.com/hanzlik-john.html www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/7633 www.findagrave.com/memorial/98200977/eugene-kalinowsky

LT Alex Stillman's assigned aircraft, PB4Y-1 BuNo 38965 "Lt Stillman's Fightin' Lady," of VPB-102 on Tinian.