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WWII B-26 Crash Site Research [43-34430] Allmuthen, Belgium ...

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Page 1: WWII B-26 Crash Site Research [43-34430] Allmuthen, Belgium ...

WWII B-26 Crash Site Research [43-34430]

Allmuthen, Belgium

History Flight Team Allmuthen

APRIL 2012

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Introduction Archaeological test excavations were conducted between April 10th and the 19th, at a WWII B-26 bomber crash site believed to be associated with MACR #11985 in Allmuthen, Belgium. Controlled test units revealed the presence of numerous uniform parts of a US Army Air Forces flight crew and human remains within the primary impact crater and its immediate surroundings. This report was prepared to document the procedures and findings of the research and test excavations. Site Background On December 23, 1944, the 397th Bomb Group lost ten B-26 aircraft while attacking the Eller railroad bridge in Germany. It was the first day of good flying weather during the Battle of the Bulge. Two of these aircraft, serial numbers 43- d 42-

Group records state that the attack formation executed a circling maneuver to tighten up their formation in the vicinity of Malmédy and then turned toward the target in Germany. The formation immediately received antiaircraft fire just beyond Malmédy. The time was 10:20, and

- Hunconscious was the first aircraft to fall. It flew at the very rear of the formation in the #6

-

after the motor exploded. Bank Nite Betty was the second aircraft lost. It flew in the #3 position of Flight A, Box II. The

aircraft 144 hit at about top turret

The 397th continued with its mission and struck the target, destroying the bridge. Afterward, flak and enemy fighters claimed eight more bombers. Forty-five members of the 397th died that day. After the war, The American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) accounted for thirty-nine of the dead. The six men aboard Hunconscious were the only ones missing.

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Cook, William P., 1st Lt, Pilot, O-749470 Lefavre, Arthur J., F/O, Co-Pilot, T-125780 Honeyman, Eric M., Sgt, Toggler, 39037489 Swalwell Jr., Ward C., S/Sgt, Radio Operator/Waist Gunner, 16137958 Lane Jr., Frank G. S/Sgt, Engineer/Top-Turret Gunner, 15354581 Fevold, Maurice J., S/Sgt, Armorer/Tail Gunner, 36656924

During the 1990s, Germans Horst Weber and Manfred Klein started researching Hunconscious and the other aircraft lost by the 397th. After years of work, Klein and Weber pinpointed nine of the ten 397th crash sites. Only one was in Belgium or anywhere near it. This was the crash site of Bank Nite Betty. The plane had split in two pieces while at altitude. The forward fuselage and wings landed southeast of Allmuthen, Belgium. The empennage landed about 3.5 kilometers northwest near Losheim. Klein and Weber knew that flak had claimed two 397th aircraft over Belgium. The researchers also knew that Bank Nite Betty was one of them. There was only one possibility for the other aircraft Hunconscious. But where exactly did it crash? The picture became clearer in November 2006 when a Belgian forester found two long bone fragments near a large crater about 500 meters from the spot where the nose of Bank Nite Betty landed. The discovery led to the involvement of another group of Germans, the Airwar History Working Group Rhine-Moselle. American researcher Danny Keay joined them, and they searched the site. The team discovered pieces of USAAF gear, including a leather fragment from the collar of a B-3 winter flying jacket. It bore a laundry mark, H-7489. The bomb toggler aboard Hunconscious, Sergeant Eric Honeyman, used that mark. Klein and Weber had known about the crater but had always associated it with the Bank Nite Betty crash. The new discoveries changed their thinking. In December 2006, two representatives from the U.S. Army Memorial Affairs Activity-Europe (USAMAA-E) arrived on site, conducted an investigation and took possession of the bone fragments and other artifacts. USAMAA-E deferred the case to the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) for action. Two JPAC historians visited the site in early 2007. One member of the Airwar History Working Group acted as their guide. In June of 2011, a History Flight search team found the debris field. The primary impact crater was located in October of that year. History Flight subsequently planned test excavations for April 2012 to take advantage of the lowest level of vegetation growth during the year.

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Figure 1. July 1945 aerial photo showing impact crater location.

Combat Losses 397th Bombardment Group (M)

December 23, 1944

Serial # Type Sqdn Dead MACR Crash site 43-34185 B-26-G-1-MA 598 1 11898 Hosingen, Luxembourg 43-34430 B-26-G-10-MA 599 6 11985 Allmuthen, Belgium 43-34159 B-26-G-1-MA 599 3 11897 Steinberger Ley, Germany 43-34136 B-26-G-1-MA 599 3 13039 Manderscheid, Germany 42-96144 B-26-B-55-MA 596 7 11483 Allmuthen, Belgium * 42-96280 B-26-F-1-MA 597 0 11349 Kinzenburg, Germany 43-34139 B-26-G-1-MA 599 3 11986 Ammeldingen, Germany 42-96182 B-26-B-55-MA 599 5 11487 Üdersdorf, Germany 43-34221 B-26-G-5-MA 598 8 11549 Auderath, Germany 43-34434 B-26-G-10-MA 599 9 11490 Demerath, Germany

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* crash site divided between Allmuthen and Belgian territory near Losheim, Germany. The distance between the two sites (3.5 kilometers) equals the altitude at which the aircraft was flying when it broke apart. Crewmember bodies were recovered at both sites. Project Objectives The objectives of the 2012 test excavations were to corroborate the artifactual evidence on the site with the historical research, determine if human remains from the crew of 43-34430 were present in and around the primary impact crater previously located by History Flight in Allmuthen Belgium, and to notify officials in the DOD's accounting community if human remains were found. The site The site is on a small hill, within a larger valley with drainage to the northwest. The primary impact crater associated with the crash of 43-34430 is in a recently clear cut, privately owned, spruce forest plantation. Part of the debris field where human remains were previously found in 2006 is located in a spruce plantation owned by a different landowner than the primary impact crater location, and is slated for clear cutting with the purpose to convert the land into a nature preserve.

Figure 2. Crash site prior to any 2012 fieldwork. The primary impact crater was filled with approximately 15 feet of discarded logging cuttings and trees not suitable for sale and contained five feet of standing water at its base. The ground of the clear cut plantation was similarly covered with years of discarded logging slash and had two

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large piles of throw away timber directly south and uphill from the crater. A local resident, Paul Scholzen, was interviewed by the team and said that he salvaged brass from the belts of .50-caliber ammunition that were strewn across the site after the war. He also stated that the impact crater was full of water at that time (ca. 1946) and that the majority of the aircraft wreck had been removed by salvagers of a nationality unknown to him. He also stated that there was a small caliber German AA unit set up on the hill opposite the crash site within sight of the crash (less than a kilometer away) and that he saw no human remains of the flight crew immediately after the war. Although, no captured German records pertaining to this crash have been found, it is highly likely that members of that AA unit visited the site immediately after the crash. Today, the site shows evidence of extensive salvage of the plane and a post-impact explosion of at least one of the four 1,000 pound bombs the plane was loaded with when it was shot down.

Figure 3. Aerial view after site cleared.

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Permits and Authorities In consonance with Belgian permits and authorization procedures, permission for the test excavations was granted by all of the private land owners whose property is adjacent to or contains the primary impact crater and debris field. The National Forest Service (with jurisdiction over the specific area) officer Erich Hönen and the law enforcement authority for the area (Büllingen Forest District) granted permission prior to History Flight detailing volunteers onto the site. These regulatory authorities and landowners came out daily to monitor the project. Several local police officers also volunteered their off-duty time to assist with the testing. History Flight Team Members US Team Members Buster Cadaver dog. Paul Dotsi Retired Police Detective. Cadaver dog trainer and handler. Mark Noah

Team Leader and founder of History Flight. WWII aircraft structures expert, restorer and historian.

Agamemnon Pantel, Ph.D. Team Archaeologist. International Heritage Manager. Kent Schneider, Ph.D. Team Archaeologist.

Former U.S.D.A. Forest Service Regional Archaeologist.

Remote sensing expert. Paul Schwimmer TeamSurveyor. Certified land surveyor.

Owner of Aborland Land Consultants.

Bill Warnock Allmuthen Team Historian. WWII historian.

Founding member of the 99th Division MIA Project

Belgian Team Members Daniel Rienland Local Police Officer. WWII historian. Jean Louis Seel Expert in use of EM equipment. Battle of the Ardennes historian.

Founder of the 99th Division MIA Project.

Jean Pillippe Speder Expert in use of EM equipment. Battle of the Ardennes historian.

Founder of the 99th Division MIA Project.

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Methodology and Implementation A. Before commencing the project, a thorough sweep of the entire area was conducted with a metal detector and expert operator to initially determine the potential for the presence of unexploded ordnance within the area. B. A thorough sweep of the entire area was conducted with a trained and tested cadaver dog to detect the potential presence of human decompositional chemicals. This was also done, to create a cleared pathway for the introduction of equipment and a low PSI rubber tracked backhoe into the site, further reducing the potential for damage to in-situ surface human remains and historical artifacts.

Figure 4. Cadaver dog at work in front of pre-existing piles of logging cuttings. C. A survey-grade grid was created over the site by a professional land surveyor using a Trimble Epoch GLONASS Dual Frequency survey quality GPS Base and Rover (WGS 84) together with an Earthmate PN_40 DeLorme GPS (WGS-84 UTM, Zone 32N). All test units and diagnostic artifacts were x/y/z recorded using a Nikon Nivo 5.M Laser Total Station.

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D. The entire site was covered with decades of logging cuttings and the clear cut area with 5 foot high vines and nettles. The primary impact crater was filled with 10-12 feet of discarded timber slash and five feet of water. Once the cleared pathway was established into the site by controlled manual grubbing, the low PSI backhoe with a flat edge bucket was used to clear the vegetation from the clear cut area as well as the discarded timber in the primary impact crater. All vegetation and logs removed from the crater were deposited onto a pre-existing spoil pile of logging cuttings located directly south of the crater. This was done to avoid covering up additional areas within the debris field itself. A Ph.D. field archaeologist supervised this entire operation and controlled the conditions to ensure there was no damage to human remains or artifacts, and to ensure that the integrity of the subsurface was sustained.

Figure 5. Timber cuttings filled the primary impact crater. E. In those locations where flight crew uniform parts, personal equipment and/or crew station artifacts were found, controlled standardized test units were excavated by arbitrary 25cm. levels to determine if human remains were present. Standardized unit recording was done and all diagnostic finds were recorded using the electronic survey equipment. F. Unit1, located at the upper portion of the crater, and Unit 3, located within the forest to the south, were done in response to surface evidence. Unit 2, located directly adjacent to the primary impact crater, was excavated to determine the presence or absence of surface and subsurface evidence prior to the introduction of the mechanical equipment for the cutting of the crater drainage ditch. G. Following the establishment of these initial three test units, a N-S trench was excavated in order to drain the five feet of standing water from inside the crater. The upper strata of the trench

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were hand excavated down to culturally sterile soil and screened using standardized 1cm.wire mesh screens. Once sterile strata were exposed, the remainder of the trench excavation was done using the flat-blade backhoe to below the water level. Wet screening stations were established within the drainage trench for the purposes of processing all the hand and mechanically excavated soil from the trench itself. H. The base of the primary impact crater, clearly delineated by the water line and soil

without attempting to square off the unit. This was done both for logistical reasons given the condition of the soil as well as to retain the integrity of the primary crater cone as such. The unit was, however, quartered into Sections A, B, C and D, to provide a better degree of provenience control albeit the highly questionable primary nature of any finds within this matrix. Numerous USAAF boots and boot fragments were immediately exposed on the surface of Unit 4 when the water was drained. All material from Unit 4 was manually excavated and water-screened through 1cm. standardized metal mesh over fine-screening mesh. The initial excavaton of Section A of Unit 4 yielded human bone within the upper 25cm. of muck. The bone was field identified by a Team Osteologist as a right human tibia fragment showing apparent fragmentation from the impact of the original crash. Once human remains had been discovered in the field, all excavations were suspended, the site stabilized and protected. Local law enforcement, USAMAA-E, JPAC and DPMO were immediately notified by telephone from the field.

Figures 6a/b. Water screening stations adjacent to primary impact crater.

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Field Results Refer to the survey map below for exact locations of test units and other features.

Figure 7. Site map plotting features and artifacts.

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Unit 1: The artifact inventory is as follows:

UNIT # CATALOG # DEPTH DESCRIPTION

1 1-001 Surface find Left USAF flying boot

1 1-002 0-25 cms.b.s Leather jacket fragment

1 1-003 0-25 cms.b.s Main wheel fragment

1 1-004 ms.b.s Main landing gear brake fragment

1 1-Lot 005 0-25 cms.b.s Electrical bus fragments

1 1-Lot 006 0-25 cms.b.s Sheet metal fragments

1 1-007 0-25 cms.b.s

Hydraulic line fragment with G-

model specific AN fittings

1 1-Lot 008 0-25 cms.b.s Steel landing gear parts

1 1-009 0-25 cms.b.s Flack jacket armor plate

1 1-010 0-25 cms.b.s Nose cone plexiglass fragment

1 1-Lot 011 0-25 cms.b.s .50-caliber ammunition

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Unit 2. The artifacts collected in the water screening of this unit were as follows:

UNIT # CATALOG # DEPTH DESCRIPTION 2 2-001 0-25 cms.b.s Turret ring fragment

2 2-002 0-25 cms.b.s

Glenn L. Martin Co. electric motor turret

tag 2 2-003 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit gear handle

2 2-004 0-25 cms.b.s Control quadrant pulleys

2 2-005 0-25 cms.b.s Flight control bell crank

2 2-006 0-25 cms.b.s Sheet metal 2 2-007 0-25 cms.b.s Extrusion angles 2 2-008 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit glass

2 2-Lot 009 0-25 cms.b.s Rubber fuel bladder fragments

2 2-Lot 010 0-25 cms.b.s G-model specific

fragments

2 2-Lot 011 0-25 cms.b.s Flak jacket armor plates

2 2-Lot 012 0-25 cms.b.s Chart plotter fragments

2 2-Lot 013 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit placards and switch plates

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Drainage Trench [DT] adjacent to Unit 2: The following artifacts were recovered from the upper 25cm strata of the drainage ditch:

UNIT # CATALOG # DEPTH DESCRIPTION DT DT-Lot 001 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit armor plates

DT DT-002 0-25 cms.b.s Handheld E6B

navigational slide rule between plates

DT DT-Lot 003 0-25 cms.b.s 50 caliber ammunition

DT DT-004 0-25 cms.b.s Turret ring fragment DT DT-Lot 005 0-25 cms.b.s Cowling clamps

DT DT-006 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit window post with rubber seal and

window glass DT DT-007 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit control arm

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Unit 3: The artifacts recovered from this unit were as follows:

UNIT # CATALOG # DEPTH DESCRIPTION 3 3-Lot 001 0-25 cms.b.s Uid rubber fragments 3 3-Lot 002 0-25 cms.b.s Uid cloth fragments

3 3-Lot 003 0-25 cms.b.s Flack jacket armor plates

3 3-004 0-25 cms.b.s Flight crew flying

helmet fragment with chin strap

3 3-005 0-25 cms.b.s .45 caliber pistol

holster with ammo pouch fragment

3 3-006 0-25 cms.b.s Possible life raft bag fragment

3 3-007 0-25 cms.b.s Leather flight jacket fragments and straps

3 3-Lot 008 0-25 cms.b.s Sheet metal fragments

3 3-Lot 009 0-25 cms.b.s Webbed material remnants

3 3-010 0-25 cms.b.s Cockpit glass

3 3-Lot 011 0-25 cms.b.s .50 caliber ammunition

3 3-Lot 012 0-25 cms.b.s Phenolic flight control pulleys

3 2-Lot 013 0-25 cms.b.s Fuel hoses 3 3-014 0-25 cms.b.s Extrusion angles 3 3-Lot 015 0-25 cms.b.s Fuel bladder

fragments 3 3-Lot 016 0-25 cms.b.s Hydraulic line

fragments with G-model specific AN

fittings 3 3-017 0-25 cms.b.s Rubber window seal 3 3-Lot 018 0-25 cms.b.s Sheet metal

fragments 3 3-Lot 019 0-25 cms.b.s Cellulite film 3 3-020 0-25 cms.b.s Aircraft radio

adjacent to this unit 3 3-Lot 021 0-25 cms.b.s G-model specific

vertical card cockpit compass

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Unit 4: The only one of four sections excavated (A) yielded the following artifacts:

UNIT # CATALOG # DEPTH DESCRIPTION

4 4-Lot 001 0-25 cms.b.s Fuel bladder fragments

4 4-002 0-25 cms.b.s Fuel hose

4 4-003 0-25 cms.b.s Crew station laminated glass

4 4-Lot 004 0-25 cms.b.s 7.92 bullets (2)

4 4-005 0-25 cms.b.s Right human tibia and smaller bone

fragments

4 4-Lot 006 0-25 cms.b.s Numerous Boot part fragments

4 4-Lot 007 0-25 cms.b.s Uid. Leather fragments

4 4-008 0-25 cms.b.s. Flight control surface fragment

Related Artifactual Evidence Many pieces of aircraft wreckage of non diagnostic value were found scattered as far as 300 meters from the center of the impact crater. These were either left where they were found or brought to the local forest ranger. An aircraft flare pistol, for example, was found in the adjacent valley 300 meters away. A local farmer, Johann Fösges, told the team that while hunting in the 1950s he found a flying boot with a human foot in it 200 meters up the hill from the crash site. Important finds such as the possible human pelvic bone next to a piece of the aircraft's armor plate and small arms ammunition for the crew's side arms were plotted with the total station and are indicated on the survey map of the site.

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Cadaver Dog Evidence A well proven cadaver dog was used systematically on this site and the alerts he made for decompositional chemical events normally associated with human decay, were plotted on the survey map (Figure 5). It is important to note that the dog alerted numerous times on the center of the crater where the human remains were found as well as on the items of personal equipment worn by the crew where no human remains were found. A chemical soil sample was taken from the center of the impact crater to be tested for the presence of human decompositional products and the results of that test are pending. The cadaver dog also alerted on the hill across the valley from the crash site where the farmer found the flight boot with the foot in it as well as near the stream where the long bones were recovered in 2006. Based upon the previous finds by the farmer, together with the results of the limited site testing, it is likely that a significantly larger area is scattered with fragments of the flight crew. Post-Crash Salvage This crash site has been extensively salvaged. Less than 200 pounds of what was once a fully loaded 36,000 pound aircraft were found in this study. Interviews with local residents indicate that by the end of the war the majority of the aircraft wreck had been removed and the primary impact crater was full of water. German and Allied units likely salvaged the wreck site as did the local population. Interviews with post-war Army veterans detailed to clean up the Ardennes in the 1950s document how the removal of human remains from the field was often done in a haphazard fashion and remains were sometimes cremated and sometimes handed over to the UN. It is likely that the only undisturbed archeological part of this site in the bottom of the impact crater because it was filled with water shortly after the crash until today. Synthesis of Site Evidence This highly salvaged wreck site is that of a G model WWII Martin B-26 bomber that crashed in Allmuthen Belgium before many or all in the flight crew could parachute to safety. That there are so many footware fragments and human remains in the wreck 68 years later reinforces that fact. Because the typical means to identify an aircraft wreck of the era (serial numbers from machine guns, engines, radio call signs and painted serial numbers on the vertical stabilizer) have been salvaged, the G model specific characteristics as well as the laundry mark of 43-34430's bomb toggler Sgt Eric Honeyman on the collar of his flight jacket recovered near unit three serve to differentiate this wreck from any other B-26 known to be lost in the area. Parts found in this wreck with the 38 parts prefix clearly show it to be a B-26 as does the Glenn L Martin Co turret tag, but only the G model specifics and Sgt Honeyman's collar clearly prove that this aircraft is B-26G-10 SN 43-34430. The only other B-26 to crash in this area was SN 42-96144 a B model with Vickers Hydraulic pumps that were designed without AN fittings. This wreck has the G

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model AN type hydraulic fittings. Additionally, SN 42-96144, broke in half and the tail with three crew were found several kilometers from the nose where its other three crew were recovered. The tail section of 42-96144 had the gun turret and tail gun turret several km from the nose of the crash. This B-26 wreck has parts of the gun turret and the tail gunner's turret in the impact crater and immediately adjacent to it, this wreck could not possibly be 42-96144. It also has the G model semi circular captain's control yoke with a push to talk switch whereas the B model has a figure eight control yoke without the Push-to-Talk switch. This wreck also has the distinctive G model specific rotating compass card ADF indicator found in unit three and the B model had a standing whiskey compass.

It is highly likely that this B-26 wreck is 43-34430 whose crew of six is still missing today. References 1943, November B-26 Structural Repair Manual Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. Washington, D.C. 1943, November B-26 Erection and Maintenance Manual Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. Washington, D.C. 1943, November B-26 Parts Catalog Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. Washington, D.C. 1943, December B-26 Pilot's Operating Handbook Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. Washington, D.C. 1944, December 23 397th Bomb Group Friendly Aircraft in Distress reports Forward base A 72. France 7. 397th Bomb Group Mission Report Forward base A 72. France 7. 397th Bomb Group Air Battle Narrative Forward base A 72. France 7. 1944, December 397th Bomb Group History Forward base A 72. France 7.

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1949, October 12 Individual Personnel Deceased Files for the flight crews of 43-34430 and 42-96144 2004 Rehr, Lte. Louis Marauder, A Memoir of a B26 pilot in Europe in WWII 2012, April Photographic walkthrough of the B-26G at the National Museum of the Air Force Mark Noah. Dayton, Ohio. 2012, February Photographic walkthrough of a B-26 at the Weeks Air Museum Mark Noah. Polk City, Florida.

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APPENDIX I AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH APRIL 2012

[Figure 3 [1 page]

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APPENDIX II SITE MAP

[Figure 7 [1 page]

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Appendix III

Representative Sample of Artifacts Recovered at Allmuthen Crash Site Compared to Original Items

[24 pages]

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