ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 154134
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| Date: | Tuesday 15 December 1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Martin Marauder B-26 B |
| Owner/operator: | United States Army Air Force (USAAF) |
| Registration: | 41-17759 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Lake Tunis, near the capital city of Tunis -
 Tunisia
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 15 December 1942 the 319th BG flew its first mission from its new base of Telergma, located in the Rhumel River valley in the Algerian mountains. Seven B-26s took off to bomb El Aouina airport at Tunis. 6 P-38s escorted them. The bombs (65 of 300lb and 20 of 100lb) were dropped from 600 to 1,000 ft on northern part of airport, except for two near misses on a destroyer east of Tunis harbor. The US crews calimed to have destroyed 6 to 10 enemy aircraft and to have damaged an undetermined number. One hit was made on the hangar. One B-26 piloted by Lt Woolridge machine gunned a radio station, 3 miles east of the airport, and claimed to have put it out of commission. This crew also machined gunned and probably destroyed enemy light Flak positions. Three miles south of Tunis harbor, Flak, evidenced both by traces and bursts of black smoke about 5 feet in diameter, was fairly intense. Flak was moderately intense from warships just outside the harbor. Six of the B-26s returned safely at 1445 hrs. One was hit several times by Flak after completing its bombing run and was seen to crash in Tunis Harbor.
It was the B-26B 41-17759 ’Horsefeathers" of 437th BS flown by Capt Ellis E Arnold. The CO of XII Bomber Command (which controlled all USAAF bomber assets in-theatre), Col Charles T Phillips, was part of Arnold’s crew - no one survived the crash.
Crew (all killed):
Capt Ellis E Arnold (pilot)
Col Charles T Phillips (co-pilot)
1st Lt Robert B Jenkins (navigator/air bomber)
Sgt John R Brdeja (engineer)
Sgt Joseph Johnson, Jr. (radio operator)
Sgt Maurice L Cohen (air gunner)
Some 48 years later the wreckage of this B-26 was accidentally discovered in November 2000 during a dredging operation in the Lake of Tunis, near the capital city of Tunis. After the plane’s discovery 16 months ago, U.S. military authorities were contacted and the Army’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii conducted a two-month underwater excavation in Tunisia. Based on the plane’s serial number, officials made a preliminary identification of the six-member crew. U.S. Navy divers were able to recover the remains, which were then flown to the military’s identification laboratory in Honolulu. All six crew were identified and finally laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery on 23 April 2003.
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150405083656/http://usgovinfo.about.com/blagencyrelease12.htm
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/aircrew-12151942.htm
http://57thbombwing.com/319th_History/319-BG-1942-06-1943-02.pdf
“Osprey Combat Aircraft 73: B-26 Marauder Units of the MTO” by Mark Styling, ISBN 1-84603-307-0
http://www.b26.com/page/robert_jenkins.htm
MACR 16380 (http://www.fold3.com/image/38636253/)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_Tunis
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.816667&lon=10.250000&z=12&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 16-Mar-2013 09:26 | gerard57 | Added |
| 27-Nov-2014 09:57 | gerard57 | Updated [Date, Source] |
| 15-Dec-2015 13:14 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Source, Narrative] |
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