B-24 Gunner

I'm doing research on a Great-Uncle that was killed in France 11/7/44, and had an opportunity to speak with his childhood friend this evening. Among other things, the friend shared some of his service, which was that of a B-24 waist gunner. He was 8th AF, 453rd Bomb Group. He's got an interesting story about bailing out after loosing 2 engines. The mission was his 18th, and targeted a Luftwaffe Base south of Berlin. A couple of P-51's escorted them over Poland, where they parachuted down near Lodz; 4 crewman didn't make it. The rest were 'guests' of the Russians for some time before being repatriated at an air base in Poltava, Russia (Ukraine).

Anyone know how I might validate this story?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Steve what was the date of the bail out and from that we can possibly find German air units involved and also the exact target for the date -- south of Berlin as you mentioned.

also a check here might help you with your research .......... http://www.453rd.com/

E ~

 

There should be a Missing Aircrew Report for the incident since it involved bailout and casualties. If you supply the incident date and the person's name, the MACR could be located.

 

Sorry I can't help, but when you get this all put together, I'd love to read the whole story!
Both of them!

 

have you tried here? 453rd Bomb Group (H)

 

He did tell me 'April', but I don't know the year. It was his 18 mission, so it may well be the '4/29/44 - Berlin' listed here: 453rd Bomb Group Missions

I've got some photo's and info to send him, and he is going to respond with a photo of his crew in front of their aircraft. In the meantime, I'll call him today or tomorrow to ask some follow up questions. His name is George D Tatar.

 

if so the 29th was a hellish day in the air. the Luftwaffe claimed some 38 B-17 and some 23 B-17's shot out of formation
21 B-24's were also claimed as shot down

this by a mirage of single and twin engine fighters day and at leat one twin engine night fighter unit that of III./NJG 3.

E ~

 

I spoke to George Tater again today; the date of his bailout was 3/15/44 (I think). The Aircraft Commander/Pilot was Wess Bartell (George said he opened a scuba shop in Marathon Key). The name of the plane was 'Cute Queen', a B-24H. I can't seem to find a mission location that would coincide with this date, but the airfield may have been a secondary target if the primary was covered in clouds.

He was aware of Jimmy Stewart being part of the 453rd, and said that Jimmy lead the formation on their first mission.

He also mentioned a tail gunner by the name of 'Kimble', who had some sort of fame after the war; perhaps he was a Native American.

Sorry for the fractured nature of my information, but its not easy for an 87 year old to recall events of 65+ years.

Steve

 

Have you got 3/15/45 too?

Steve

 

I found this, but it doesn't have George's name on it...

WANDERING WANDA (V1) (PIC 2)

Steve

 

Talked to George for the 3rd time today. Mentioned finding the photo here: http://www.b24bestweb.com/wanderingwanda-v1-2.htm when I named the men in the photo, he could respond with their crew position. He didn't know 3 of the 7 listed, so I can only assume that some of the crew positions had changed by the time of the bailout (the photo was probably not taken in Apr 45). I've sent an email to the person that contributed the info, and I'm looking into the MARC related to the incident.

George also verified that he was in the 732 BS.

Steve

 

OK, I found what I was looking for. The pilot of their flight was Wes Bartelt, he wrote this: http://www.453rd.com/stories/our_last_mission.pdf

George Tatar (waist gunner from Michigan) is mentioned in the story, which confirms his presence and the tale.

Thanks for the assistance,
Steve

 

I had struck out searching for the various names you had mentioned in the MACR database. However, based on the story you posted by the pilot, I was able to find that the incident was 3/15/45 as you suspected, and the a/c was 44-50477 which was indeed WANDERING WANDA. The MACR is 13092. The reason the name searches had failed is that page 2 is only partially scanned and has cut off the section listing the crew. It does state that the a/c had engine trouble and was headed to Russia and fired upon by Russian fighters.