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Tragedy at Fulbeck - 2 September 1944

There was a lot of activity going on at the US Air Force Base in Exeter (England). The C-47s of the four squadrons from the 440th Troop Carrier Group received a new identity. The ground crews and crew chiefs received pots with white and black paint and were busy to mark all planes with three white and two black stripes. The so-called invasion stripes were painted around the fuselage near the tail and on the upper and under surfaces of both wings.  The stripes were meant for identification. All airplanes without these markings were considered to be flown by the enemy and had to be shot down.

The planes were also inspected for the last time to participate in Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of Normandy. Soon the paratroopers arrived at the field. During the night of 5-6 June 1944 both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were dropped from 821 planes from the 9th Troop Carrier Command in the area between Sainte Mère Eglise and Carentan. 

One of the planes was the "Bama Belle", a C-47 with tail number 43-15067. Behind the cockpit the Squadron Identification 6Z was painted.  This was the marking for the 96th Troop Carrier Squadron. The other Squadrons in the 440th were the 95th, the 97th and 98th Squadrons, respectively with the markings 9X, W6 and 8Y.

To Fulbeck

After the Normandy invasion, the 440th moved to their new base at Fulbeck.  Soon the ground crews followed.  The base was known as USAAF Station 488.  The planes flew daily to the mainland of Europe to deliver the urgently needed supplies. On the return trip wounded soldiers were taken back to England.  New operations were planned and canceled.

One of these missions was  dubbed Operation Comet, planned  to drop paratroopers near Lille-Roubaix.  Paratroopers would be dropped in front of General George Patton's ground forces.  The first paratroopers of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, began to arrive on the base.  All the planes  were refueled and inspected.  The paratroopers started to pack their heavy equipment and ammunition in the so-called parapacks [which would be slung to the underside of the C-47s].

Several of the paratroopers were ordered to take the heavy parapacks to the airplanes.  Trucks were used to transport the bundles.  In one of the airplanes, nicknamed 'Toni', were Irving Brezack and Raymond Clark.

The story continues, below and includes photos of the damaged aircraft ...


This untold story of the 440th Troop Carrier Group comes from Jan Bos, a Dutch Airborne Troop Carrier Historian. (as posted on http://www.aircareintl.org/history/tcc020124.htm)

 

Fulbeck (2) Fulbeck (3) Fulbeck (4) Fulbeck (5)

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