An early loss, when the squadron was flying under the briefly existing 858th Night Leaflet Squadron (Jun-Aug 44). They went down on the night of 5/6 July 1944 over Rotterdam when their plane exploded in mid-air. Keedwell's parachute candled and he was killed on impact. Though the survivors were without injury, all nine ended up in German hands sooner or later and finished the war as POWs. We are grateful to John Hey of the Netherlands for John Hey's summary of MACR 6988.

O's
James R.    Brown        - Pilot       ASN 0756169    (POW)
John M.     Mann         - CoPilot     ASN 0817243    (POW)
Carlisle W. Limehouse    - Navigator   ASN 0709415    (POW)
Roger C.    Keedwell     - Bombardier  ASN 0762574    (KIA) Honor Roll Card

EM's
William D.  Harris       - TTG         ASN 11129380   (POW)
Norman      Hollander    - WG          ASN 16065396   (POW)
George A.   Jellison     - TG          ASN 33688109   (POW)
John H.     McNamara     - BTG         ASN 37021184   (POW)
Stivers L.  Lee          - RO          ASN 39108011   (POW)
Ralph M.    Tyne         - G           ASN 36647108   (POW)

ASNs so-colored for EMs link to their NARA Enlistment Records.

Incident Aircraft: B17G 42-39811

Additional crew data sources:
Brown Crew Personnel files
05Jul45 Alert Roster

Group-Related Downloads:
406th NLS Air Crew Card Index
406th NLS Squadron RZI Card File
AAFRH-21 "AAF Aid to European Resistance"
Air Power History Article
Allied Leaflets Index
Aerospace Historian Article
"Carpetbaggers" by Parnell
Cheddington (Station 113)
Night Leaflet Squadrons Operations reports (Jun44-Jul45)
"They Flew by Night" editor Robert Fish
Serial Number Index of B24s

Available on Request:
"Secret Squadrons of the 8th" by Carty (leaflet squadron portion only)
"Spies,Supplies & Moonlit Skies Vols 1&2" by Ensminger (On disk $12ea - $10ea via Paypal)
"Leaflet Operations during the 2nd WW" by James M. Erdmann

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