| Built at the Glenn L Martin factory at Baltimore, Maryland as a B-26B-50-MA. Accepted by the Army Air Force on 15/11/43. Then flown by New Castle (2nd Ferry Group), Wilmington, Deleware (from 11/12/43), to Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky (from 12/12/43), and assigned to the 391st BG. Flown overseas to the UK via the Southern Ferry Route (Listed as Carribean Wing), departing the USA on 7/1/44. The aircraft record card then lists, SOXO A (Europe - 8th AF) on 7/1/44, and SOXO R (Europe - 8th AF) from 24/2/44. Original group aircraft flown over from the USA by 2nd Lt. Edward F Holliday. A flak hit caused the starboard engine to catch fire, which eventually resulted in the loss of the right wing on the 28/5/44 mission to the Maison Lafitte Railroad bridge. The pilot, 2nd Lt. Robert Gray Goodson and all the crew bailed out successfully before the aircraft crashed at Lillebonne, 2 km NE of St. Antoine, 2 km south of Belbec, France. The tail gunner, Sgt. Louis T Raona, the first to bail out, evaded capture, but the rest of the crew were captured as POW's. The final entries on the aircraft record card list, GLUE 9AF CON AFMSC on 29/5/44, and, SOXO CON MIA on 29/5/44. |