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#ChristmasEve thread on loss during single largest mission flown by the 8th #USAAF in #WW2 on Dec 24, 1944 as the weather lifted during the #BattleoftheBulge. @militaryhistori @jaketapper @thehistoryguy @jesse_history @WWIImuseum @AFmuseum @usairforce @MilAvHistory @Hankinstien
B-17G "Miss Bea Havin" (44-8614) launched with T/SGT Warren Stanton and 8 other men in a bomber stream of 2,046 bombers and 1,000 fighters. Thirteen bombers wouldn't return and 100 men lost their lives that Christmas Eve.
Colonel Fredrick W. Castle was promoted to Brigadier General on Nov 20, 1944 at the age of 36, one of the youngest generals of the war. He flew as co-pilot on lead bomber with the 487th Bomb Group from RAF Lavenham to bomb a Luftwaffe airfield in Babenhausen that Christmas Eve.
The 487th missed their P-51s and flew on without escorts. They were jumped by Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" over Liege, Belgium. The Germans focused on the lead aircraft. BG Castle lost an engine and fell out of the stream. JG3 pounced and the plane plummeted as the crew bailed out.
BG Castle remained at the controls of his aircraft so his crew could bail out. Then the right wing was hit and the gas tank exploded. Nine men were saved by his selfless act and BG Castle was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Miss Bea Havin was at the tail end of the formation and planes of JG3 hit at 1257pm at 22,000 feet. The Fortress, on fire, spun left in a dive. 5 chutes were seen. Inside was chaos as the co-pilot Chatterton, badly burned, fell back in before he could jump.
Warren J. Stanton of Brooklyn, NY was killed along with the pilot, co-pilot, and tail-gunner. His age is unknown as I am still researching him.
He is buried with the co-pilot in Rock Island National Cemetery, Illinois.
There is a memorial to the men of "Miss Bea Havin" @CommuneComblain near where the plane fell that Christmas Eve, Castle was dramatized in the film "12 O'Clock High" and is buried in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium some miles from where he fell. Requiescat in Pace
