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This is a photograph of the Lt. Robbin's crew prior
to being shot down. The actual date of this photo is unknown but is believed to
be taken the day of or the day before the April 1st, 1944 mission. My father is
the last man standing on the right with his arm on the shoulder of S/Sgt.
Daniel Butler. The navigator, is missing from this photo as he was in a
briefing.
At 1152 hours on the 1st of April 1944 the Robbins
B 24 J Liberator was shot down near Rollfeld Air Filed Reims, France. The
aircraft had received structural damage from "Flak" which disabled their number
three engine. This caused their Liberator to fall out of formation. My father
remembers seeing German fighters take off from an airstrip below them as they
flew over head. He descirbes the attacking aircraft as FW 190's with yellow
nose cones and white Bf109's. The German fighters attacked them in a box
formation of eight rows of five aircraft.
The German fighters used their 12.7-mm machine guns
and 20-mm cannons to inflict heavy damage on the B 24, in the process hitting
several oxygen tanks and setting the escaping oxygen on fire. The Liberator
began to disintegrate in the air from the onslaught. It is guessed that an
oxygen bottle or bottles exploded and my father was ejected from the Liberator
in the resulting break up of the air frame. He was the only crew member to
survive.
After he was captured he was taken to a hospital
where he was treated for his injuries that included shrapnel wounds and burns
to his legs and wounds on his head and face. He does not remember being burned
while he was on board the plane, and this is what makes us believe that
something exploded causing them. He doesn't remember the explosion or deploying
his parachute. He stayed at this hospital until mid May 1944 and then was
transfered to Dulag Luft prison camp.
An eyewitness from another Liberator, S/Sgt Richard
Galvin gave this account of the loss of the Robbin's crew and aircraft on April
3rd 1944.
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"I was right waist gunner in ship #
42-99945-R, and ship # 42-100248-P was flying off our right wing, at the time
we were attacked by fighters. During the attack I saw a plane on our right
disintegrete but it didn't explode. I didn't positively identify it as 248 but
believe it was as I didn't see them afterwards. I saw no chutes from the
plane. |
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