May 28, 1944 the Lt. Eugene Hicks plane took off from Sudbury, England to bomb a synthetic oil plant at Lutzkendorf, Germany. This was the 6th mission and 3rd plane for this crew. They were the lead plane in the lower squadron. As they approached the targe they were hit by flak and lost #3 engine. Losing air speed they left the squardron and dropped the bombs on a railroad storage yard the continued toward base. The Sudbury control tower received notification from the radio station at West Malling that they had received a message from #345, which gave its position South of Liege, Belgium. The aicraft reportedly made the coast, and over the English Channel the #4 engine quit. Ten of the crew successfully bailed out, and Lt. Hicks crashed into the sea and died on impact. Three of the men were taken prisoner of war and seven others were seen and reported but never found. (MACR 5389) |
| CREW INFO | |||||
| Name | Rank | Position | First Mission | Last Mission | Status |
| Eugene R. Hicks | 2nd LT | Pilot | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| John Johnson | 2nd LT | Copilot | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| David D. Moll | 2nd LT | Navigator | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| James N. Bogert | CAPT | Pin Pt. Navigator | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | POW |
| Kenneth E. Russel | 2nd LT | Bombardier | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| John C. Mroz | Transferred. | ||||
| George Munro | S/SGT | Radio/Waist | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | POW |
| James R. Todd | M/SGT | Engineer/Waist | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| Charles R. Smith | S/SGT | Asst. Eng./Top | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | POW |
| Olin Bundrick | SGT | 2nd Engineer | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| Robert E. Drake | S/SGT | Armorer/Ball | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| Murray Moskowitz | SGT | Nose | 05/07/44 | 05/28/44 | KIA |
| MISSION INFO | |||||
| MISSION | DATE | NAME | ID | S/N | TYPE |
| 003 | 05/09/44 | Robin-D-Cradle | TB | 496 | B24H |
| 005 | 05/20/44 | 523 | B24H | ||
| 006 | 05/24/44 | TR | 300 | B24H | |
| 008 | 05/25/44 | TD | 42-50345 | B24H | |
| 010 | 05/28/44 | TD | 42-50345 | B24H | |
| Completed 6 Missions | |||||
| Created 01/17/99 | Modified 12/23/16 |
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