ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 220268
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| Date: | Thursday 28 December 1944 |
| Time: | 14:35 |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | 423rd BSqn /306th BGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-107055 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 9 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Garston, Hertfordshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 28 December 1944, at 1435 hrs, the B-17G 42-107055 of 423rd BS, 306th BG, crashed in woods at Garston while returning from a raid. All nine crew bailed out but one was killed. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the explosion and crash. No crew was aboard the aircraft at the time that the plane came to ground.
Crew:
Lt Paul Reioux (pilot) Major burns
Lt Bill Daniel (co-pilot) Minor burns
Lt Jim Talley (navigator) Minor burns
2nd Lt Milton Olshewitz (bombardier) KIFA
T/Sgt Herman Kaye (radio) Bruises
S/Sgt John Price (top turret gunner/engineer) Bruises
S/Sgt Jack Persac (ball turret gunner) Bruises
S/Sgt Colvin Sheorn (waist gunner) Bruises
S/Sgt John Perry (tail gunner) Bruises
Notice that Lt. Talley‘s injuries were noted in the accident report as minor, but he remained in the hospital about six weeks, the same for pilot Paul Reioux.
Paul Reioux and Crew Make History
Two folded wings this month prompts a look back at the Koblenz Mission on 28 December 1944
By Vernon L. Williams, Historian, 306th Bomb Group Project
Among our 306th Bomb Group obituaries this month are two pilots who sat side by side together on board the 423rd ship Choo-Z-Suzy—Paul Reioux and his co-pilot Bill Daniel. Bill Daniel died on July 10th this month, followed by Paul Reioux, just fifteen days later. Over sixty-five years ago, Reioux and Daniel taxied to the runway at Thurleigh for a mission to Koblenz. What began as a routine mission that morning and continued through the day with a successful bombing of the target, ended abruptly when the Choo-Z-Suzy caught fire and crashed into the English countryside, not far from their Thurleigh home base. Nine crew were aboard that afternoon and the story of the final chapter of the Choo-Z-Suzy is filled with drama and heroism that adds to the history of the 306th Bomb Group. For one crew member, December 28, 1944 would be his last. For the other eight men, the last moments of the mission would live on in their memories—always a reminder of how fate could turn at a moment‘s notice.
The mission began with an early morning wakeup call and breakfast with Reioux and his crew to briefing by 6:30 am. There would be two targets that day, Koblenz and Siegburg, as the 306th flew as part of the 40th Combat Wing bomber stream. This mission was in support of American troops under attack in the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans were moving supplies and equipment to their forces and the targets at the Siegburg airfield and the marshalling yards at Koblenz were designed to disrupt those communication lines.
The Reiouz crew drew the low echelon heading to Koblenz. Loaded with eighteen 250-lb. general purpose bombs and two M-17 500-lb cluster incendiary bombs, the Choo-Z-Suzy had enough firepower to do significant damage to the marshalling yards at Koblenz. By 9:00 am the 306th crews were in their planes and engine startup began promptly at 9:12 am with the first aircraft lifting off at Thurleigh 25 minutes later. Soon the twenty-six 306th planes were taking off every 30 seconds. By the time Reiouz pulled back on the yoke and the Choo-ZSuzy lifted heavily into the air, it was 9:49 am. The mission had begun.
The bomber stream formed up without incident and proceeded to target according to plan. Shortly after reaching St. Albans, one aircraft turned back, reporting that their oxygen system was out. Later the spare aircraft in the low element turned back according to plan, leaving the rest of the formation to bomb either Seigburg or Koblenz. The bomber stream encountered no enemy aircraft enroute to target and friendly fighter support "appeared as briefed near Brussels, and was good until target, then scanty."
The lead and low squadrons executed their bombing run on Koblenz with the high squadron bombing Siegburg. After receiving word from the weather plane, Buckeye Red, indicating that the weather over the target was overcast, the bombing run proceeded on instruments. The mickey operators (radar) took over at the IP. The lead aircraft for the high squadron aborted between the IP and the target due to the failure of his Gee H equipment. The ―VHF of the deputy lead was not functioning properly, and the high squadron dropped the bomb loads on the smoke bombs of the 40th "A" formation at 1310 1/2 hours, believing them to be from the lead group. The lead and low elements made their PFF runs on the marshalling yards at Koblenz, dropping at 1340 1/2 hours. All pictures show the target 10/10 with no ground detail. With their work done, the three elements turned toward home and retraced their route back to the channel and across on a course that led them north of London, over St. Albans, and on into Thurleigh. It was over the St. Albans area that tragedy struck.
Paul Reioux‘s crew in the waist area heard Jim Talley over the intercom say, "We have a fire in the nose." At the time the crew in the rear were gathered together with Colvin Sheom, the waist gunner, and the radio operator, Herman Kaye. Jack Persac had just come up from the ball turret, and John Perry joined them, crawling through the tunnel from the tail gun position. Persac said that "we usually remained at our stations until the aircraft crossed the channel and reached England, then we gathered in the waist area to wait for landing at Thurleigh." They heard nothing more for a few minutes until the bulkhead door leading to the bomb bay suddenly burst open as John Price, the engineer, kicked it open from the other side. With him came lots of black smoke so the men moved quickly to get their chutes on and get ready to bail out.
"When I climb aboard the plane at the beginning of each mission", Persac explained, "I always put my parachute there in the waist area and depend on Sheom to make sure it stayed there. There was no room in the ball turret for my chute, so I had to leave it up above when I moved into my battle station in the turret below." So as soon as Price came through the bomb bay door, Persac made ready to jump. Co-pilot Bill Daniel soon followed Price into the waist area.
Daniel later told authorities that "the Navigator riding in the bombardiers seat reported a small fire, the next instant it was flaming in the astro dome, another second it was back in the cockpit. I started out of the right seat and decided the best way out was through the waist. I went through the bomb bay and yelled at the crew to bail out, they bailed out and I followed."
Meanwhile in the nose, Jim Talley watched the fire spread rapidly. "I always kept my parachute up next to the drift meter. I grabbed it and it was smoldering and on fire." Using his hands, he patted the fire out and attached the chute to his parachute harness. He exited the plane below the flight deck and hoped the chute would work. The plane was at about 8,000 feet when the crew jumped, and Talley remembered that he fell about 5,000 feet and had to dig into his chute and pull out the silk and cords. Eventually the chute opened and he floated down to the ground, landing "in the front yard of the Ovaltine plant. The British civilians who rushed up to me thought that I was a German paratrooper. I had to use some good old American four letter words to convince them that I was an American."
Still in the Choo-Z-Suzy, bombardier Milton Olshewitz always changed out of his flight clothes as soon as the plane cleared the channel and at the time of the fire, was dressed in his uniform without his parachute harness. By the time he reacted to the fire, it was spreading rapidly and his gear and parachute were on fire. Standing near him, Talley saw Olshewitz just as the fire was spreading and never knew that the bombardier did not have a parachute. Olshewitz, the only married man on the crew, jumped without a parachute and fell "like a bullet." He was the only man on the crew to die that day.
Paul Reioux, at the controls through all of this, knew that he had to maintain level flight or his crew would be trapped as the plane fell out of control. The fire spread to the flight deck within a few minutes and Reioux suffered terrible burns on his hands and face. Still, he remained in the left seat until everyone was out. He eventually stumbled down to the exit and bailed out. At this point all nine men have left the aircraft and some of the crew have already reached the ground.
2nd Lieutenant Leslie H. Harshell, the officer-of-the-day at nearby #1402 Army Air Force Base Unit, received a call about the crash. This is his account of what happened next:
"At 1610 hours I received a call to report to flying control regarding a plane crash. At flying control I was advised by a flying control officer that a plane had crashed in the Abbotts Langley vicinity and that crew members were scattered thru the Kings Langley section around the Ovaltine plant.
Accompanied by the Corporal-of-the-Guard and two MP‘s, I proceeded to the Ovaltine plant where I found five crew members. Lt. Talley, the navigator, was burned about the face and hands and had been given first aid. One of the EM (enlisted men) of the crew had a sprained ankle, others were all right. A British ambulance was standing by and at my request, removed the injured navigator and EM to Bovingdon Airdrome SSQ for treatment. Then we proceeded to #157 Tom Lane, Abbotts Langley to investigate the report of a body. Upon our arrival we found that a crew member had fallen, without parachute, into the garden behind this home at about 1540 hours and died within 20 minutes. The body had been removed by the Watford Borough Ambulance to the Peace Memorial Hospital in Watford. We then returned to the Ovaltine Plant in Kings Langley where we found another British ambulance which had brought in two more men, the co-pilot, Lt. Daniel with neck burns and another EM. This ambulance removed Lt. Daniel and the remaining four EM to Bovingdon Airdrome SSQ. The crew members sent to Bovingdon SSQ were: Lt. Talley, navigator; Lt. Daniel, co-pilot; S/Sgt. Persac, S/Sgt. Sheorn, S/Sgt. Perry, T/Sgt. Kaye, and S/Sgt. Price.
Some of these crew members told me that they were returning home to AAF Station #111 from a completed mission in B-17 2107055 when, at about seven to eight thousand feet, fire suddenly broke out in the nose of the ship and rapidly spread thru out the ship. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out. Nine men were aboard and all bailed out. Eight chutes opened and these men floated down. One man was reported to have dropped like a bullet sans chute.
After taking care of the needs of the crew, the MP‘s and I departed for the scene of the crash. We found the wreckage strewn thru a wood in Bucknalls Lane in Bucknalls Garston. Captain Robbins, the Air Inspector accompanied by photographers, MP officer, ordnance men, and others were already present. We posted a guard over the wreckage and returned to the Ovaltine Plant in Kings Langley to see if any other reports had come in. Then we drove to the Peace Memorial Hospital in Watford where we were advised that the pilot, Lt. Reioux, had been brought in there with face and hand burns and after first aid was given, he was removed to the 7th General U.S. Hospital. The body of the bombardier, 2nd Lt. Milton J. Olshwitz, 0-718066, was in the morgue and Captain Robbins and I established identification thru AGO card on the body. We left the casualty ward and morgue about 1930 hours and returned to base.
The crashed plane was from AAF Station #111, 423rd Squadron, 306th Bomb Group. Operations officer at that station was advised in detail by Capt. Robbins by 2100 hours."
Most of the crew stayed in the hospital one night and a truck from Thurleigh picked them up the next day for the return to base. Reioux and Talley remained in the hospital for about six weeks, recovering from serious burns. Neither flew again with the 306th. Talley recently said of Reioux, "He was the real hero in all that happened and never really was recognized for what he did for his crew." Many years later Talley and others in the crew successfully petitioned for the the DFC on Reioux‘s behalf. "He got it, but what he did was worth much more than that."
What caused the fire? What really happened that day in the nose of the Choo-ZSuzy? Initial reports concluded that the cause of the fire was undetermined. When questioned by investigators in early January 1945, Bill Daniel stated that "the fire started in the nose at an altitude of approximately 8,000 ft, cause either a short in a heated muff (glove) or electrical fire of some sort and an oxygen leak."
On 14 January 1945 Group Engineering Officer, J. W. Venable, Jr. submitted an unsatisfactory report on the accident: "The only plausible deduction as to cause of fire is, that either the bombardier or navigator placed or dropped a muff hand, electrically heated (supplied from British sources) on the oxygen line which runs around the base of the shin turret. The heat from Hand Muff evidently ignited the oxygen in line running to shin turret, causing the fire in subject aircraft." With the aircraft completely destroyed, no compelling evidence survived to support Venable‘s conclusion, and he sent forward no recommendations to higher authorities.
Sources:
http://www.306bg.org/PDFs/jul2010web.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garston,_Hertfordshire
http://www.maplandia.com/united-kingdom/england/south-east/hertfordshire/garston/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Dec-2018 18:05 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 24-Feb-2020 17:17 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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