ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 192909
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  North American P-51D Mustang |
| Owner/operator: | 2nd Scouting Force USAAF |
| Registration: | 44-14581 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Wadden Sea S of Wangerooge, Niedersachsen -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 17 January 1945, during Eighth Air Force Mission 798, 700 bombers and 362 fighters were dispatched to make visual attacks on oil refineries at Hamburg and Harburg and Gee-H and H2X attacks on rail targets; 9 bombers and 7 fighters were lost:
1. 158 B-17s were dispatched to hit the Rhenania (40) and Albrecht (34) oil refineries at Hamburg and the U-boat base at Hamburg (73); 1 other hit a target of opportunity; 4 B-17s were lost and 88 damaged; 1 airman was KIA and 39 MIA. Escorting were 61 P-47s and P-51s; 3 P-51s were lost (pilots MIA) and 1 P-47 was damaged beyond repair.
2. 78 of 84 B-24s hit the Rhenania oil refinery at Harburg; 1 other hit Borkum Airfield as a target of opportunity; 4 B-24s were lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 57 damaged; 7 airmen were WIA and 44 MIA. Escort was provided by 46 of 55 P-51s; 2 P-51s were lost (pilots MIA).
3. 458 B-17s were sent to hit the Paderborn marshalling yard (397) and the Schildesche rail viaduct at Bielefeld (37); 4 others hit a target of opportunity; 1 B-17 was lost and 6 damaged; 9 airmen were MIA. The escort was 108 of 118 P-51s; 1 P-51 was lost (pilot MIA).
4. 80 of 87 P-51s flew a fighter sweep against a rail target without loss.
5. 25 of 28 P-51s flew a scouting mission; 1 P-51 was lost (pilot MIA).
__________________________________________
The pilot lost during the scouting mission was 1st Lt William E Hornickel of 2nd Scouting Force, ex 4th Fighter Group. This day he was flying P-51D 44-14581 YF-W "Honeychild 3rd" of Lt. Robert E Williams. Hornickel and 2nd Lt Walter R Hughes covered a destressed B-24 in and around the target area. The bomber apparently headed for Sweden after about 20 minutes of indecision and they started home. Hornickel then had engine trouble and said that he could only pull 17 inches. Hughes found it necessary to S continually at 200 mph in order to stay with him. They lost altitude to ab out 8,000 feet and were then fired on by heavy Flak off the Frisian Islands. Hornickel’s aircraft was hit and caught fire. Hughes saw the pilot bale out and his chute open, but had to climb and take evasive action to avoid the Flak and could not observe his complete descent. He saw the P-51 crash in the water and reported that he believed that Hornickel landed on the southern shore of Langeoog Island or in the channel between that island and the mainland.
The German crash report J2849 shows that a Mustang crashed at 1335 hrs into shallows south of Wangerooge Island. The pilot did not survive and was found dead.
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/page=pv&GRid=50591920
http://www.4thfightergroupassociation.org/uploads/8/2/0/3/8203817/336_hornickelweweb_a.pdf
MACR 11914 (http://www.fold3.com/image/46710994/)
List of German crash reports, January-March 1945 (http://www.fold3.com/image/251/38614588/)
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Jan.45.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadden_Sea
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=53.749117&lon=7.908783&z=12&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Jan-2017 18:36 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 13-Feb-2020 19:22 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 21-Jun-2022 01:00 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
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