James E O'Brien

Military
media-48138.png UPL 48138 Major James E O'Brien, Co-Pilot on B-24D 41-23819 'Rugged Buggy" 44Bomb Group, shot down 14-May-43 on a mission to bomb the port facilities at Kiel. Germany. The aircraft crashed at Eckenforde, Germany. Major O'Brien became Pow..

Michel Beckers WW2CRASHSITERESEARCH

Object Number - UPL 48138 - Major James E O'Brien, Co-Pilot on B-24D 41-23819 'Rugged Buggy" 44Bomb Group, shot down 14-May-43 on a mission to bomb the port facilities at Kiel....

Picture https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/airwar-ww2-the-pilots.54010/page-…



Completed 20 missions. January 27, 1943, successfully piloted very shot up plane back to England. Shot down 14 May 1943 in B-24D 41-23819 'Rugged Bunny' while serving as Co-Pilot. Prisoner of War (POW) at Stalag Luft 3.



POW

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 44th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment
B-24 Liberators of the 44th Bomb Group line up for takeoff at Shipdham in 1943. The 'Flying Eight-Ball' emblem of the 68th Bomb Squadron is visible on the nose of the leading aircraft. Image stamped with field press censor, 1943. Press Agency photograph- original printed caption has been removed.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Rugged Buggy
  • Unit: 44th Bomb Group 68th Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Zagan, Poland 14 May 1943 - 25 May 1945 Held at Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia (now Poland) Officially Returned to Military Control (RMC) 25-May-45.

Died

25 July 2001

Born

Monogahala, Pennsylvania, USA

Buried

Jefferson Memorial Park, Pleasantville, Pennsylvania

Revisions

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 18-Feb-2015. Confirmed SN and added POW event per National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database; made connections to Place and Mission within existing website data; Edited Biography per "Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces" Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 15509 / MACR 15509, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol 1 by Bishop & Hey p. 119, picture of plane p. 118, NARA POW records, 44th BG Roll of Honor and Casualties by Lundy pp. 43, 70-72 Quoted pp. 70-72 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / http://8thairforce.com/44thbg/search/perlastname.asp

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