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This message was forwarded to Chris and myself concerning the real Miss Liberty Bell, via a 305th BG historian in the UK.
The story concerning the real 42-31255 Miss Liberty belle is rather
unique and may I say, should appeal to a great many. Originally
purchased with War Bonds from the citizens of Philadelphia City, the
name was agreed upon through her first original Pilot and crew that of
Richard 'Dick' Wolff from Media PA. The other connection with PA and
the original ship was her Crew Chief, MSgt John Van Camp, also a
resident of PA. Van Camp took care of 255 throughout her 64 missions
flying from Chelveston.
It is said small handwritten notes were discovered from time to time
within the airframe between missions when repairs were made, on which
there were a great many. Those notes were written from citizens of
Philly, allegedly, hoping that 'their' bomber would triumph and return
home when war finally ended.
Sadly she did not. On Aug 3rd 1944 while returning from her 65th
mission, she crashed just short of the runway at Chelveston, at the
nearby village community of Wymington, Bedfordshire. The ship was
crippled from anti aircraft fire suffered over Kaiserslautern on route
to the target that day; Merkwiller Oil Refinery. They later suffered a
number of fighter attacks, as did the majority of the 305th, over the
target itself. However MLB soldiered on keeping formation on three
engines. Even with severe damage, they mamaed to keep position in the
High Sqn, and returned to the British coast later that afternoon, as
the crossed the east coast of England, a second engine began to falter
and was reduced in power. They were running then on just 2 engines, a
third bearly ticking over. On approach to the field, a second plane
firing red flares jumped ahead of them, forcing MLB 255 to go around
for a second approach. At that moment one of the two remaining good
engines began to red line and overheat, eventually catching fire. The
two Pilots push the throttles on the third lazy engine, and further
attempted to restart the dead forth, to try and gain power to go
around again.
At less than 200 feet they banked around the village of Wymington,
turning around the cottages and houses below. The dropped till level
with the village church steeple, just 125 feet high, forcing the plane
to skim to one side to avoid hitting it. In an amazing feat of
airmanship, the Pilots brought the plane back into level flight, just
60 feet above the ground and just clearing the thatched roofs below.
Witnesses saw, heard and felt the plane as it passed overhead. Shaking
tea cups and plates on kitchen dressers as she headed over the village
and back towards Chelveston.
In the last seconds, with one engine ablaze, two almost at a stop, MLB
struck one of several tall Elm Trees (60 ft tall), ripping almost 8 ft
of the top clean off. The impact was taken between the Copilots
position and number three engine, causing a further explosion. The
plane was wrenched from the sky and pancaked into a field right beside
the High Street, by a miracle avoiding hitting the Manor Farm House
and several cottages in that part of the village.
Reports of the day, most unusual to see this in local and national
media newspapers, referred to heroic actions that saved the villages
from almost certain death.
Roger, I have researched this whole story, mission and the crew for
over ten years. Many years ago, I communicated with John Marsh a past
curator-Director at Grissom; sending him the whole story and several
recovered pieces of the original Miss Liberty Belle that were found at
the crash site today. I regret to say I never had a further response
from John in the time after, to say whether he had displayed the
pieces and the photos and story on MLB????
The unique story of how this crew and the plane they flew, the one you
have represented there at Grissom, I would say is a very marketable
one. It is a classic example of courage and heroism by what we all
consider to be The Greatest Generation.
FYI - Of the nine man crew, only two survived that crash. I tracked
down both, now sadly deceased. In 2000 the 305th dedicated a wonderful
plaque at the crash site. We had a group of 50 US visitors from the
group at that gathering, including one of the survivors, Engineer
Floyd Rowe, the widow of one of the two Pilot's, Maxine Morrill, and
the younger Brother of the Radio Operator. All the village plus many
more attended this event, 400 people in all. There's a small piece
about this memorial in the latest CAN DO notes newsletter.
Anyhow, I just wanted to put the story of the original MLB on record
just in case in the fog of time, all that I originally passed to
Grissom had been lost.....
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