From Des Moines to Corsica

Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the end of Dad's war. He was on B-24 42-78127 on a bombing run over Toulon harbor when the pilot was killed and the plane damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The co-pilot  attempted to return to base in Venosa, Italy, but it was unable to make it. He ditched the plane in the bay at Argentella, Corsica. The plane broke up and six crew members died. Three of the survivors, including Dad, were rescued by the fourth before the back of the plane went underwater.

There are still remains of the wreck in the harbor and on the adjoining remote beach. A French retiree found one this spring, found this blog somehow, and sent me pictures. From his message:

I take the initiative to contact you hereby about your Dad's aircraft, to provide you with a very small piece of information.

I live in Galeria a good part of the year since 3 years and often go to Argentella beach.

Last sunday (2 days ago, April 21, 2024), I found quite fortuitously a 0.50cal bullet (12.7mm per french standards) on Argentella beach but on the side leaning towards Crovani pond... 

The bullet is complete, that is to say cartridge+bullet  and it is an unfired cartridge. 

Right now, it is still a non-neutral cartridge (powder still in and not unprimed). It's an M2 ammunition that was used by Browning guns, I believe (I'm not a specialist at all), and B24 were equipped with many such guns. 

So that I guess it could be an ammunition coming from your Dad's B24, of course unfired, which crashed on the beach with the aircraft and re-appeared 80 years later, probably under wild cow hoofs!!! (there are many over there) 

May be it was an ammunition of your Dad himself since it seems to me he was one of the top gunners into this B24 42-78127!

This is all I can say for the time being.I will send you 2 photos of the bullet if you wish. Of course, I can perfectly keep the bullet available for you and I will try to know in which conditions I shall store it (in compliance with regulations).

Kind regards 

(I omit his name, as I don't know if he cares to have it out there).

He kindly sent pictures:

This is almost certainly from Dad's plane, and possibly from his .50 top turret gun. The cartridge is marked "DM," which stands for Des Moines. This means it was from the old ammunition plant in Ankeny, Iowa, very close to where I live now. The road to the long-closed plant is still named "Magazine Road."

So - 80 years. I'm very grateful that Dad got his "bonus years" after he survived the crash. We had the privilege to visit the wreck site in 2010, and I hope to go again. Corsica is wonderful, and all the Corsicans we met were great.

Unshackled

Two friends of ours made a motorcycle tour of Corsica this summer. They stopped by the beach at Galeria where Dad's plane went down. They brought back some debris they found, and it is wonderful.

The big bent piece has a part number, 33D5233:

Google comes up with a hit labeled "Waco Aircraft Company Records, 1930-1950," that says it's a "Link Assembly - Bomb Shackle"

Apparently you can buy a whole B-24 bomb shackle on e-bay (and what home doesn't need one?), but I have so far been unable to find a photo of this particular piece. It's about a foot long, and bent at about an 85-degree angle -- I suspect during the crash.

An article at b24.net tells what the shackles were for:

The Army Air Corps and the Navy used the same bombs but attached them to their planes differently. As a result, each bomb had three lugs: one near the front and tail for use in AAC planes and one in the center on the other side for use in Navy planes. (576th armorer Tom Perry said the Navy's lug "always got in the way" when loading bombs.) A metal clip called a shackle was clamped onto the two lugs; the shackle was then hooked onto the bomb rack.

When the bomb was released, the shackle disengaged simultaneously from both ends of the bomb. A bomb was "hung up" when one end did not completely separate from the shackle. An airman then had to step out on the narrow catwalk in the bomb bay (without a parachute, as he wouldn't fit if he wore one), often at bombing altitude, and kick the bomb loose.

Sounds fun.

I would welcome any information about the piece, and how it would have worked. 

One more "link" to Dad's last flight.

75 years.

World War II ended 75 years ago today. For my Dad, anyway. 

John Kristan was the top turret gunner on a B-24 in the 15th Air Force, 485th Bomb Group, 829th Bomb Squad. His plane was serial number 42-78127, known as #127 officially, and unofficially as Tyer's Flyers.

On July 5, 1944, Tyer wasn't flying. The plane's namesake was lost a week earlier flying another B-24. William Vaessen and William Sipes were the Pilot and Co-pilot. The crew:

They were based in Venosa, Italy, in a base built across Italian farmland. The day's mission was to fly across the Mediterranean to Toulon to bomb submarine yards. The route crossed Corsica, an island that was part of France but that had been occupied by the Allies.

In the history of the European war, it was an obscure mission. It doesn't merit mention in a Wikipedia timeline of the war. The big news then would have been the land war in Normandy and in Italy, and the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific.  But for Tyer's Flyers, it was the biggest day of the war.

Here is the summary of the mission, courtesy Missions By The Numbers: Combat Missions Flown by The 485th Bomb Group:

"...return made without incident." Not entirely.

Here is a picture taken over Toulon during the mission by the unit photographer. It was provided by the photographer's son:

You can see two planes below below the photographer- one in the upper right corner and one near the bottom. I probably will never know whether one of these was 127.

My understanding is that Lt. Vaesssen was killed by anti-aircraft fire over Toulon, and Co-Pilot Sipes took the controls of a damaged airplane. This would have been when it "was seen to lose altitude at the target and lagged."  A straight line back to Venosa would carry 42-78127 over Northwest Corsica on the way back to base.

It was a losing struggle. I understand that Dad said the crew threw a lot of stuff overboard to shed weight and tried to bubble-wrap themselves in what soft stuff they could find in case of a crash landing. They almost made it to Corsica before ditching in Baie de Crovani at Argentella, Corsica.

This is a picture of the bay where they went down, taken when we visited in 2010:

As was apparently typical, the B-24 broke up when it ditched. The front of the plane ended up on the beach, and all in it died. The back end was sinking in the bay. Tail gunner David Korkuc, though injured, pulled three of his unconscious crewmates out before the back end sank. He then went and found help. My Dad was one of the three of those pulled out who survived.

These are Dad's crewmates who didn't make it:

• Vaessen H William 1st Lt 0-536855 829th BS 485th BG Pilot KIA
• Sipes R William 2nd Lt 0-705827 829th 485th BG Copilot KIA NC
• Wittenbrink E George S/Sgt 36446168 829th BS 485th BG Radio Opr KIA NC
• Duer N Richard 2nd Lt 0-703456 829th BS 485th BG Bombardier KIA
• Witham L Harris Sgt 35753847 829th BS 485th BG Nose Gunner KIA NC
• McGregor W Jack Sgt 35613832 829th BS 485th BG Ball gunner KIA NC 

Dad was hospitalized for a year.

I don't know what the total losses on the mission were. In addition to the four bomb groups that met up with Dad's group, the 376th Bomb Group participated, and probably others.

The mission apparently destroyed two Kreigsmarine submarines, U-586 and U-642. Toulon was captured by Allied troops by August 28, 1944. Update, 7/5/2021: Uboat.net, my source for the U-boat losses, also says that U-952 was "badly damaged" in the July 5 raid and decommissioned a few days later.

Now 75 years have passed. Dad died in 2001. He didn't much talk about the war, but he said that every day was a bonus after July 5, 1944.

Over Toulon, July 5, 1944

Dad's B-24, 42-78127, flew its last mission over Toulon 67 years ago today. These pictures, taken on that mission, may well show the plane over the target, the submarine pens in Toulon harbor, after it had taken flak.



It is dangerously below other planes that are still dropping bombs, which would be consistent with the after action report, which reported "Aircraft 127 was seen to lose altitude over target and lagged."

The pictures were taken by the unit photographer and is courtesy of his son, Gerry Weinstein, who I met at the bomber group reunion in South Carolina last fall.

The second picture shows two B-24s, one in the upper-right corner. By this time the pilot of 42-78127 is dead, killed by anti-aircraft fire, and the plane itself is doomed.

Thanks to the heroism of David Korkuc, one of Dad's crewmates, Dad survived the crash at Argentella Beach in Corsica and lived many more years. I still miss him. I'm grateful I never have had to face anything remotely like that. We remember the six crew members who died on July 5, 1944.

Sgt John James Kristan

Dad was the top turret gunner on B-24 42-78127. Thanks to David Korkuc, he lived for 55 years after the plane went down July 5, 1944. He considered each day after the crash to be a bonus day.

He would have been 89 today. We miss you, Dad.

A picture we dug up this summer in Mom's photo closet. We only have a few pictures of Dad as a young man. This one, with only two stripes, was new to all of us kids.

I wouldn't have been sure that picture was Dad if this clipping weren't taped to the photo holder.

This postwar picture of Dad and Mom (Dad doing his best Marlon Brando impression in the camera booth) is my favorite picture of them together.

2nd Lt. Richard "Dick" Duer

Dick Duer was the bombardier on B-24 42-78127 with my Dad on thier final mission, and he died in the wreck at Argentella beach in Corsica on June 5, 1944. His Nephew, Rich Tebo, has been kind enough to share some information he has collected, including this picture.

Lt. Duer was a Wisconsin native. He was honored by having a gym named after him in Marinette, Wisconsin.



Rich links to a touching online memorial for Lt. Duer that shows he was remembered long after that horrible day. Rich also sent some additional great information on the flight and crew that I will post soon.

I received an nice e-mail today from Jane Cook, a granddaughter of Lt. Duer, that reminds us of the cost of a wreck that probably was almost unnoticed in the carnage of the time:

My uncle died many years before I was born, it was a terrible blow to my grandparents. Rich has sent me video clips of the B-24 crew reunion and what the interior of the plane. I always thought Dick never had a chance to escape, it was interesting to read the newspaper clipping about the guy thrown from the plane who was able to rescue four crew members before the plane sank. I am so happy for you that your dad was one of those crew members.

Jane, thank you for writing. I'm delighted that you found your visit here worthwhile.

More Argentella photos

Some more photos of our visit to the beach at Argentella on Flickr. Here Frank shows us a fragment of B-24 42-78127.