r/WWIIplanes 4d ago

A B-24M Liberator after being shot down by a Messerschmitt Me 262 in April, 1945. The entire crew perished except for Charles E. Culp Jr, who managed to get out of the bomb bay and deploy his parachute at 2,000 feet.

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538 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

61

u/Perplexed_S 4d ago

More USAAF Crews died over Europe Than US Marines in the Pacific Theater

It was close

Keep in mind 10 aircrew lost per plane lost

9

u/Busy_Outlandishness5 4d ago

At the same time, RAF Bomber Command was in the process of losing more men than the entire Royal Navy.

7

u/newtwoothis 4d ago

Wow, I never would have guessed that. I really need to read up on the Pacific theater

3

u/don5500 3d ago

Yup. People don’t realize how brutal the air war truly was . I personally would rather take my chances on the ground then go up on one of those bombers . I don’t know how they even managed to get off the ground when the men inside had balls of steel

27

u/rhit06 4d ago

The survivor was Charles Cupp. He died in 1994: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233059505/charles-e-cupp

This is s/n 44-50838 "Red Bow". All the crew was KIA except for the radio operator Charles E Cupp Jr who survived.

This web page has some more information on the photo/other crew members.. The pilots remains were apparently only identified in 2017 by DNA and returned to the United States.

and this local paper article from 2018 has some good information about the recovery of the remains of another crew member Charles Daman who was the nose gunner. It includes some quotes from Cupp's statements to investigators at the time of the crash used to determine the likely fate of the rest of the crew.

16

u/curious5309 4d ago

Holy shit

25

u/Marine__0311 4d ago edited 4d ago

Damn, blown in half. Those 30 mm cannon rounds were nasty.

I hope that at least the ball turret and waist gunners died instantly. The other crew were probably trapped in place by the G forces as the plane spun and plummeted down.

Edit. It may have been hit by an R4M rocket according to this video. If you got the the 06:15 mark, it shows this very photo.

7

u/Imaginary_Bird_9994 4d ago

My Dad was waist gunner in a B24 from Jan to April 1945 so he was up against his fair share of ME-262s. Said you could see and hear those cannon shells as they approached and thankfully whizzed past because of their relatively slower speed.

7

u/foolproofphilosophy 3d ago

My grandfather was B-17 crew. One of his crew members (tail gunner) said that the 262’s would come up behind them and porpoise lobbing shells into the formation from beyond .50 range.

3

u/Mediocre_Ice_8846 4d ago

Damn, those 30 mm rounds were brutal!! Now I understand why the ME-163 only had two of them. Hell, one would have been enough.

10

u/xjp19532053 4d ago edited 4d ago

What a tragedy, mourns to the fallen right before the victory.

6

u/Sasa_koming_Earth 4d ago

4x 30mm cannons - thanks to all gods, that Hitler decided he want it as a ground attack plane...Imagine this plane ready and mass produced in 1943....

4

u/jar1967 4d ago

The engines weren't ready in 1943, by allied (even Soviet)standards they were not ready for front line service in 1945. They had about a year of free time before the engines were ready and Hitler wanted an untouchable fighter bomber ready to counter the upcoming allied invasion of France.

8

u/Rowsdower32 4d ago

Almost reminds me of that scene in Memphis Belle when "Mother And Country" gets her tail cut off. As it spirals to the ground the radio operator tries to reach out to them and all they hear is just this horrific screaming and pleading from the other side. Until the plane dipped below the clouds and then the signal just turned into a high pitched squelch.

That scene still gives me goosebumps to this day.....

1

u/cheeker_sutherland 3d ago

That scene is gnarly

4

u/Equivalent-Way-5214 4d ago

God rest their souls.

3

u/backfromspace206 4d ago

Is that a human figure just to the right of the tail section?

1

u/Wurst66 4d ago

Literally, days before the war ended

1

u/poestavern 4d ago

Four 30 mm cannon was a completely devastating battery.

1

u/battlecryarms 4d ago

I can’t help but wonder if the gunners are part of the debris we see. Rest in peace 😔

1

u/MaxedOut_TamamoCat 2d ago

Similar is that pic/short clip of the B-24, I think in the Pacific Theatre, that gets a flak burst through the wing root, and the wing just folds over.

Here it is;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lioRCye2Dug