The pilots had trimmed the bomber to fly with just two engines operating before abandoning their airplane. When two of the four engines stopped, the nine men bailed out into the darkness. Eventually, the bomber began to run out of fuel. They continued south into the darkness of the desert night. The flight crew became lost on the return flight and overflew their home base. By this time, Lieutenant Hatton and his men were alone. Bad weather made bombing difficult, so the B-24s dropped their bombs into the Mediterranean Sea and started home. High winds and poor visibility broke up the 25-plane formation, and eventually only two made it all the way to Naples, arriving over the city at about 7:50 p.m.
Ibomber defense pacific philippines serial number#
Army Air Corps, and his crew of eight men were flying Lady Be Good, a Consolidated B-24D-25-CO Liberator long-range heavy bomber, serial number 41-24301. Air Force)Ĥ April 1943: A brand-new crew with a brand-new airplane, assigned to the 514th Bombardment Squadron, 376th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force, departed Soluch Field (now, Benina International Airport) on their first combat mission, a night attack on Naples, Italy. Moore, gunner and Staff Sergeant Samuel E. LaMotte, radio operator Staff Sergeant Guy E. Ripslinger, engineer Technical Sergeant Robert E. Woravka, bombardier Technical Sergeant Harold J. Toner, copilot 2nd Lieutenant Dp Hays, navigator 2nd Lieutenant John S.
Air Force)įlight crew of “Lady Be Good,” from the left: 1st Lieutenant William Joseph Hatton, pilot 2nd Lieutenant Robert F. A pilot boards his Lockheed P-38 Lightning at sunset. “Saint-Ex” wrote Night Flight, Flight to Arras, Wind, Sand and Stars and The Little Prince, as well as many other works. Parts of the aircraft were recovered in 2003. In 1998 a fisherman found his silver identity bracelet on the sea floor south of Marseilles. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flying his Lockheed F-5B-1-LO Lightning near Alghero on the coast of Sardinia, 1944. His aircraft was a Lockheed F-5B-1-LO Lightning, serial number 42-68223, an unarmed photo reconnaissance variant of the P-38J Lighting twin-engine fighter. He was on a reconnaissance mission of the Rhône Valley.
Ibomber defense pacific philippines free#
(John Phillips)ģ1 July 1944, famed French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger comte de Saint Exupéry), flying for the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (the Free French Air Force), departed Borgo Airfield on the island of Corsica. Commandant Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres.
0 kommentar(er)
