George G Griesbach
Military
Photo from Mighty Eighth Historical Society Facebook group
Object Number - UPL 60532 - George Griesbach
Completed a 30 mission tour
Killed while flying at Co-Pilot on United Airlines 608 when it crashed in Bryce Canyon, UT.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 785th Bomb Squadron 466th Bomb Group
- Service Numbers: 17121298
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Guess Who's Here
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 787th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 8 May 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Attlebridge Arsenal, Station 120
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
23 September 1922 | ||
|
Other 466th BG Tour |
22 March 1944 - 28 July 1944 | Completed a 30 combat mission tour. | |
|
Died |
24 October 1947 | On October 24, 1947, a Douglas DC-6 (NC37510) operating as Flight 608 by United Air Lines departed Los Angeles International Airport for a non-stop flight to Chicago, Illinois.Flight 608 carried 47 passengers and a crew of 5. In command of the flight was Captain Everett McMillen and Co-Pilot George Griesbach. In the back attending to the passengers were stewardesses Helen Morrissey, Shirley Hickey, and Sabina Joswick.At 12:21 PM, Captain McMillen radioed that there was a fire in the baggage compartment which they could not control, with smoke entering the passenger cabin. The flight requested an emergency clearance to Bryce Canyon Airport, Utah, which was granted.As the aircraft descended, pieces of the plane, including portions of the right wing started to fall off. At 12:27 PM, the last radio transmission was heard from the plane: "We may make it - approaching a strip." United Flight 608 had passed over the crest of a tall plateau and was about a mile from the approach end of the runway at Bryce Canyon when the nose of the plane suddenly pitched over. Unable to counteract the loss of control, the aircraft impacted with such force that all four engines were ripped from their mounts and thrown 300 feet beyond the fireball. The airliner crashed onto National Park Service land, killing all 52 passengers and crew on board.The cause of the fire and crash of United flight 608 was a mystery until three weeks later when an American Airlines DC-6 reported an in-flight fire over Arizona. The flight managed to make an emergency landing at Gallup, New Mexico. All 25 occupants escaped the burning plane, and the fire was extinguished. But unlike the Bryce Canyon crash a month earlier, investigators now had a damaged but intact aircraft to examine and study.The cause of both the Bryce Canyon crash and the near-fatal Gallup incident was eventually traced to a design flaw. A cabin heater intake scoop was positioned too close to the number 3 alternate tank air vent. If flightcrews allowed a tank to be overfilled during a routine fuel transfer between wing tanks, it could lead to several gallons of excess fuel being sucked into the cabin heater system, which then ignited the fuel. |
Revisions
George Griesbach was the pilot of Crew #507 of the 785th BS. The code on the a/c he flew on one mission has no bearing on what squadron he was assigned to.
"Attlebridge Diaries" - John Woolnough
"Attlebridge Arsenal" - Brassfield & Wassom
Photo added from The Eighth Air Force Historical Society facebook group by Pat Barr, Son of Raymond A Barr, Waist Gunner on "Guess Who's Here"
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Unit roster in the book ATTLEBRIDGE ARSENAL by Wassom & Brassfield, p345
