Leo L Henry
Military ROLL OF HONOURSupplied via Ancestry UK
Killed in Action (KIA) 5 November 1944
AM/ PH
On Board 42-95024 Gypsy Queen when, On the 5th November 1944, she was one of 366 2nd Division Liberators that set out on a mission to Karlsruhe Railway Marshalling Yards in Germany, No B-24's were lost in the mission itself but four aircraft crashed on their return.
Gypsy Queen was reported to have one engine feather when it crashed, presumably having lost this due to flank damage. In 1973 a spokesman at the farm where she crashed at Church Farm described seeing her approach from the North with the crew baling out close to the river Waveney, some at extremely low altitude. He said the B-24 appeared to be attempting an emergency landing, but the nose of the aircraft dug into the ground and it broke up. He recalled the fuselage broke in half, the nose was wrecked and there was a fire with ammunition exploding.
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(I have a letter from my father, Karl Eisele, Jr., detailing their crew and stating that Leo was a tail gunner, and that he tried to bail out before the 5 Nov. 1944 crash, but knocked himself unconscious by hitting his head on the plane trying to leave the escape hatch, thus could not pull his parachute cord.)
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 329th Bomb Squadron 409th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-718089
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier / Pathfinder Navigator
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Gypsy queen
Missions
- Date: 5 November 1944
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Died |
5 November 1944 | I have a letter from my father, Karl Eisele, Jr., detailing their crew and stating that Leo was a tail gunner, and that he tried to bail out before the 5 Nov. 1944 crash, but knocked himself unconscious by hitting his head on the plane trying to leave the escape hatch, thus could not pull his parachute cord. | |
Born |
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Buried |
Revisions
Addendum added by Ted Eisele, son of Karl Eisele Jr.
I have a letter from my father, Karl Eisele, Jr., detailing their crew and stating that Leo was a tail gunner, and that he trailed to bail out before the 5 Nov. 1944 crash, but knocked himself unconscious by hitting his head on the plane trying to leave the escape hatch, thus could not pull his parachute cord.
My father Karl Eisele served with Leo on this plane.
ABMC / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia