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Stanley Duane Bennett

Military

  • MacKinnon aircrew - 412th Bomb Sqdn B-17F-65-BO “Lonesome Polecat I” #42-29693 BACK ROW 1st Lt. Malcolm B. MacKinnon (pilot) F/O Eugene W. Wood (co-pilot) 2nd Lt. William H. Powell (navigator) 2nd Lt. Gerald J. Jenkins (bombardier) MIDDLE ROW T/Sgt Alexander A. Mareck (waist gunner) T/Sgt John J. Vail (radio operator) S/Sgt John F. Davoren (waist gunner) S/Sgt George Babich (top turret gunner) FRONT ROW S/Sgt Stanley D. Bennett (tail gunner) S/Sgt Lyle P. Blackridge (ball turret gunner). This photo is believed to have been taken while the 95th Bomb Group was still in Rapid City, South Dakota. The crew, as shown above, is not the crew that was flying in the Lonesome Polecat on June 11th, 1943, when it was shot down and all aboard were KIA. Not with the crew that day were S/SGT Blackridge, 2LT Powell, and 2LT Jenkins.

    MacKinnon aircrew - 412th Bomb Sqdn B-17F-65-BO “Lonesome Polecat I” #42-29693 BACK ROW 1st Lt. Malcolm B. MacKinnon (pilot) F/O Eugene W. Wood (co-pilot) 2nd Lt. William H. Powell (navigator) 2nd Lt. Gerald J. Jenkins (bombardier) MIDDLE ROW T/Sgt Alexander A. Mareck (waist gunner) T/Sgt John J. Vail (radio operator) S/Sgt John F. Davoren (waist gunner) S/Sgt George Babich (top turret gunner) FRONT ROW S/Sgt Stanley D. Bennett (tail gunner) S/Sgt Lyle P. Blackridge (ball turret gunner). This photo is believed to have been taken while the 95th Bomb Group was still in Rapid City, South Dakota. The crew, as shown above, is not the crew that was flying in the Lonesome Polecat on June 11th, 1943, when it was shot down and all aboard were KIA. Not with the crew that day were S/SGT Blackridge, 2LT Powell, and 2LT Jenkins.

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WIA. 19 May 1943. B-17F #42-29737. Shot down 11 June 1943 in B-17 #4229693. Plane crashed into North Sea. Killed in Action (KIA).
4 March 1943: Married Martha Janet Snyder in Auburn, Nebraska.

Service

People

  • Malcolm MacKinnon

    Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 412BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) Bremen, Germany. Shot down 11-Jun-43 in B-17 42-29693. Plane crashed into North Sea. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 2807. Awards: AM, PH.

Units served with

  • 95th Bomb Group

    95th Bomb Group

    Group
    The 95th Bomb Group was the only Eighth Air Force Group to be awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The first, shared by all four Bomb Wing Groups, was for the bombing of an aircraft factory under intense enemy fire at Regensburg on 17 August...

  • 412th Bomb Squadron

    412th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

Aircraft

  • 42-29693 'Lonesone Polecat'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Cheyenne 4/2/43; Rapid City 20/2/43; Kearney 12/3/43; Assigned 412BS/95BG [QW-O] Alconbury 29/3/43; t/o Framlingham (6m), Missing in Action Cuxhaven 11/6/43 with Malcolm MacKinnon, Co-pilot: Gene Wood, Navigator: Dick Miller, Bombardier:...

  • 42-29737 'Louise'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Cheyenne 11/2/43; Rapid City 22/2/43; Salina 4/3/43; Kearney 12/3/43; Assigned 92BG Alconbury 9/4/43; transferred 412BS/95BG [QW-N] Framlingham 12/5/43; with R.E. Robinson force landed Framlingham afd 17/5/43; with Robinson 19/5/43, Navigator...

Missions

  • VIII Bomber Command 62

    11 June 1943
    The harbour facilities, port areas and U-Boat pens at Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhaven, Germany are the primary targets for this mission. This is the largest number of heavy bombers yet despatched on a single mission - 252. This is the first mission flown...

Events

Event Location Date
Born Auburn, Nebraska, USA
Died 11 June 1943
Nationality
American
Nickname
Duane
Service numbers
Not yet known
Highest rank
Staff Sergeant
Role/job
Tail Gunner
Awards
  • Purple Heart with 1 oak leaf cluster

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
29 September 2019 00:53:01 Jim Hersom Changes to biography
Sources

Jim Hersom
Date Contributor Update
29 September 2019 00:50:37 Jim Hersom Changes to events
Sources

Jim Hersom
Date Contributor Update
29 September 2019 00:48:23 Jim Hersom Changes to middlename and nickname
Sources

Jim Hersom
Date Contributor Update
10 May 2017 17:18:09 Al_Skiff Changes to awards and mission associations
Sources

Key Image ID.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:25:18 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2807 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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