| Built at the Glenn L Martin factory at Baltimore, Maryland as a B-26B-45-MA. Accepted by the Army Air Force on 9/11/43. Next listed at Pittsburgh, Ohio (ATC) from 2/12/43, and Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky (from 6/1/44), and assigned to the 391st BG. Then went to the 3rd AF staging area at Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia (from 11/1/44), and Jacksonville Army Air Field, Florida (ATC) from 25/1/44, then on to Homestead Army Air Field, Florida (from 26/1/44), from where the aircraft was flown overseas to the UK via the Southern Ferry Route (Listed as Carribean Wing), departing the USA on 27/1/44. The aircraft record card then lists, SOXO A (Europe - 8th AF) on 27/1/44, SOXO A (Europe - 8th AF) on 30/1/44, and SOXO R (Europe - 8th AF) from 24/2/44. Shot down by flak on the 8/7/44 mission to Nantes RR bridge, France. The lead aircraft flown by Lt. Col. George W Stalnaker, the 575th BS CO, was hit in the right engine over the target. Approximately 20 minutes later after completing the bomb run, the crew bailed out, after which the aircraft banked away in the opposite direction, stalled, went into a spin and exploded on impact with the ground near Coesmes in the Ille Vilaine region of Rennes, Brittany, about 19 miles SE of Rennes. All 8 of the crew bailed out (1 was captured, 7 evaded). The final entry on the aircraft record card lists, GLUE 9AF CON MIA on 10/7/44. |