Posted By GEORGE D. KASPARIAN on January 03, 2007 at 10:53:36:
In Reply to: 561 Squadron 388th BG - March 6 1944 - Berlin posted by ELLIS on January 01, 2007 at 14:45:04:
: 561 Squadron of the 388th Bombardment Group flew a mission to Berlin March 6, 1944. I am interested in those in formation Group A. Shack Rabbits (42-38177), with Christiani piloting, was shot down on the trip home crashing close to the German-Dutch border near Twist Germany. Other aircraft in her formation were:
: Red X Darling / Miss Fortune (42-37849), pilot: Filler
: Winged Fury (42-31138), pilot: Lindahl
: Heaven Can Wait (42-31745), pilot: Oswald
: Screamin' Red Ass (42-30340, pilot: Amann
: Ramp Tramp (42-39861), pilot: Hilton
: The Princess Pat (42-30829), pilot: Moreland
: Miss Lace (42-39842), pilot: Tobias
: Snafu (42-31393), pilot: Sullivan L
: Miss Fortune (42-31039), pilot: Fisk
: Jimmy Lee (42-37819), pilot: Malmberg
: Millie K (42-37878), pilot: Kelly P
: Gremlin Gus II / Olin 69'ers (42-30595), pilot: Thompson R
: Virginia Lee (42-3548), pilot: Dopko
: Pride of the Yanks (42-32004), pilot: Barrett
: I have the MACR for Shack Rabbits crash. Not much is in it. I am hoping someone from this formation might have information on where Shack Rabbits was attacked and what happened during the attack.
: Thank you
Ellis, There may be two mission folders for each mission. I obtained a mission folder several years ago for the 389th BG for 19 Feb. 1945. I found out at that time that one of the folders contained CBW orders for the mission, work sheets for crew assignments for each squadron, a summary of planes by radio call letters available for the mission, the formation plan indicating the location in the formation for each crew by pilot name and plane assignment, a statistical summary of the type and number of bombs dropped by each squadron, and a listing of any losses by aircraft serial number. This is the folder that I obtained a copy of. The cost at the time was $0.25 per page. There were 76 pages. I believe that the current cost is $0.50 per page. (They send you a price quote). I did not obtain a copy of the other mission folder but was told that it contained the CBW orders, strike photos, and the post mission interrogation reports.
On two other occasions, I requested and obtained copies of post mission interrogation reports for two different 389th BG squadrons for their mission of 5 April 1945. The reports were questionaires for each crew which listed for the most part information about planes which were lost and the cause of the loss, locations of where the loss occured, the time of the loss, the cause (German Fighter, AAA, mechanical, etc. if there were any eyewitnesses to the loss. The answers were in just a few words. Obviously, events often happened in just a few seconds and the sight of a crippled plane would rapidly diminish as it fell out of formation. GEORGE KASPARIAN.