Last image of Consolidated B-24G Liberator 42-78471 “Fertile Myrtle” banking away after being attacked by Luftwaffe fighters over Austria on August 23rd 1944 along with excerpts from the Missing Air Crew Report
by jacksmachiningreveng
Last image of Consolidated B-24G Liberator 42-78471 “Fertile Myrtle” banking away after being attacked by Luftwaffe fighters over Austria on August 23rd 1944 along with excerpts from the Missing Air Crew Report
by jacksmachiningreveng
2 comments
If I’m reading this correctly, it sounds like at least two crew members (turret gunner and navigator) were as to successfully bail out with parachutes?
On a mission to bomb Markersdorf airdrome in Austria, 451st Bomb Group 724th Bomb Squadron Consolidated B-24G Liberator serial 42-78471 “Fertile Myrtle” was attacked by enemy fighters just before commencing the bomb run and broke away from the formation fatally damaged. Pilot 2nd Lt Cornelius E. Donoghue, Upper Turret Gunner Raymond A. Ranville, Copilot 2nd Lt George L. Hogan and Bombardier Clarence O. Roettger were killed in action. Reports suggest that the latter two crewmen were alive when they reached the ground, only to be executed by the Gestapo after apparently killing civilians while attempting to evade capture.