World War 2 B24 Liberator Bomber Crew #264 at combat training in Walla Walla, Washington.
Top Row-left to right: Monroe Swanson, George Moore, Jeremiah Murphy, Anthony Pepe, Michael Voytek, Chay Yip.
Bottom Row-left to right: Robert Stamy, John McManus, Dorus Weir, Seymour Geller.
Dorus Weir, 2nd Lt - pilot - Quincy, IL
John C. McManus, 2nd Lt - co-pilot - La Grande, OR
Robert Stamy, 2nd Lt - navigator - Michigan
Seymour Geller, 2nd Lt - bombardier - New York City
Anthony Pepe, Sgt - engineer - Philadelphia
Chay Yip, Sgt - radio operator - California
Jeremiah Murphy, Sgt - belly turret gunner - New York City
Monroe Swanson, Sgt - nose gunner - Wisconsin
George Moore, Sgt - upper turret gunner - ?
Michael Voytek, Sgt - tail gunner - ?
This crew only lasted three bombing missions before disbanding and reassignment. On the third mission, a bomb run on a railroad marshaling yard in Moosbierbaum, Austria, the B24-J known as "Red J" lost an engine and fell out of formation shortly after dropping the bombs. With no escort planes to help protect them from enemy planes the crew was on their own in a crippled airplane. Luck was on their side and they managed to reach the Adriatic Sea without encountering enemy fighter planes. By this point they were running low on gas and the concern was they would not be able to make it back to Pantanella Airbase in Southern Italy where they were stationed. They discussed making an emergency landing on the Island of Vis off the Yugoslavian coast however, nature took care of that. The island was under thick cloud cover and with gasoline almost gone they had no intention of spending time looking for the small island. They came up with a plan to stretch their gas supply and timed a drop in altitude so they were always going downhill slightly, but not fast enough to cause them to have to use more gas to maintain altitude. Somehow they managed to make it back to the base and it looked like they were going to make it.
However on nearing the field, the propellers began to sputter and run away. Running away is an odd reaction which causes one or more propellers to rev up extremely fast, then slow, then fast. The engineer was frantically transferring gas - what was left of it - from one tank to another. The engines were running wild. The more the plane dropped in altitude, the more it twisted to the left as they gave the engines more power to maintain altitude. It was a lose-lose situation. There was no way they could line up with the runway now. The plane had drifted to the left and was already heading right for the parked airplanes alongside the runway. It looked like they were going to blow up the whole field. With one dead engine on the left and three others acting strangely, the only thing they could do was to go ahead and pour on the power to lift the plane over the parked aircraft. This worked, but also twisted further around to the left. No sooner had they cleared the aircraft on the ground, when the last gasp of gas gave out. They were now at right angles to the landing strip, and out over a farmer's potato field. There was no time to pull the wheels back up that had been set for landing and all that was left to do was to quickly prepare for the impending crash. The wheels grabbed by the mud in the field jerked the plane so severely that the right wing and the ball turret underneath the belly of the plane broke off. The empty gas tanks caught fire and the 50-caliber machine gun bullets started exploding.
Fortunately, the emergency rescue crew lost no time in speeding toward Red J. They jumped out of their truck, and ran to the plane. They were in their asbestos suits and waded right into the belly of the plane and chopped the ball turret enough to rescue the 4 crew members that had been trapped.
The other six crew members were able to safely escape without assistance.
The final tally: six went to the hospital with broken bones, dislocated hips, nasty gashes and broken teeth. Miraculously, all ten of the crew survived the crash.
So, after three combat missions the crew was dissolved. Three of the crew, Murphy, Voytek and Swanson, never flew again, but thankfully, none had permanent injuries. The rest would be reassigned and ultimately fly sixteen more missions. They had three more close calls including an almost exact repeat of this incident only they landed safely the second time around.
Photographer unknown
