41-11591 Queen Bee, Lorraine

UPL 15438 media-15438.jpeg UPL 15438 B-24 Liberator #41-11591' Lorraine' 513rd BS, 376th BG, 9th AF, flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by William R Zimmerman, returning safely to Libya. Seen here taxiing on a badly flooded air base in Italy, April 44.

Object Number - UPL 15438 - B-24 Liberator #41-11591' Lorraine' 513rd BS, 376th BG, 9th AF, flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by William R Zimmerman,...

B-24 41-11591 'Lorraine' 513th BS, 376th BG, 9th AF, flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid, piloted by William R. Zimmerman, returned safely to Libya. Renamed from 'Queen Bee'.

Later transferred to the 450th Bomb Group, was on flight from Casablanca to RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall Mar 29, 1944. Due to fog, aircraft was unable to locate St. Mawgan and was diverted to Fairwood Common. Unable to descend because of clouds, crew was ordered to bail out. Four did so and landed safely. However, the flight engineer refused to jump, possibly due to the low altitude. The pilot had to try and crash-land the plane, the plane passed over the airfield, lost height, smashed through a guard hut, and came to rest with its nose embedded in the hedge bank. Pilot survived the crash but the flight engineer had forgotten to buckle himself into the co-pilot's seat was thrown through the windscreen on impact and died in hospital 3 days later.

Connections

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Units served with

  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Ninth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 376th Bomb Group 513th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 19148243
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 376th Bomb Group 513th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 36049846 / O-798466
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Co-pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 376th Fighter Squadron 513th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 14094694 / O-689574
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 376th Bomb Group 513th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 17063967 / O-680634
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator

Missions

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Survived Ploesti

Ploiești, Romania 1 August 1943 Flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid, piloted by William R Zimmerman, returned safely to Libya.

Crashed

Swansea Airport, Fairwood Common, Swansea, Swansea SA2 7JU, UK 29 March 1944 Was on flight from Casablanca to RAF St. Mawgan in Cornwall Mar 29, 1944. Due to fog, aircraft was unable to locate St. Mawgan and was diverted to Fairwood Common. Unable to descend because of clouds, crew was ordered to bail out. Four did so and landed safely. However, the flight engineer refused to jump, possibly due to the low altitude. The pilot had to try and crash-land the plane, the plane passed over the airfield, lost height, smashed through a guard hut, and came to rest with its nose embedded in the hedgebank. Pilot survived the crash but the flight engineer had forgotten to buckle himself into the copilot's seat was thrown through the windscreen on impact and died in hospital 3 days later.

Assigned

Benghazi, Libya 513th BS, 376th BG, 9th AF.

Assigned

Later transferred to the 450th Bomb Group.

Revisions

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
Changes
Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Removed punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity.

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
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Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
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41-11591: Gallery (7 items)