Matthew L Vinson

Military

8/19/43 Plane was 'Blackheart Junior'. Vinson watched as his crew members bailed out of his burning bomber. He had no parachute so he rode the plane down and crash landed it a few feet from a heavily mined area on a north-east Englansh beach. An exploding oxygen box tore a big hole in the ship and made the interior of the fuselage so hot the flames fused metal doores, buckled aaway the heavy glass cockpit windshields and burned off the pilots' seat safety belts. Machine-gun ammunition exploded durin gthe blazing descent and the plane's entire 2,000 pound bomb lad went up in a single explosion from the heat after vinson crash-landed it. There is only one explanation, Vinson said. 'The Man Upstairs brought me down. I talked to him, I talked to him plenty--- and he must have heard me. The accident happened while a heavy force of Flying Fortresses was enroute to Holland to bomb Nazi airfields. Vinson suffered only minor burns on his hands and forearms and part of his head. His flying clothes protected his body



DSC awarded for his actions 19 Aug 1943

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 96th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Black Heart Jr.
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 339th Bomb Squadron

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Houston, Texas

Revisions

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Pete Moore,  Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol I by Bishop & Hey  p. 252; Snetterton Falcons, pg 51-52