On August 25th 1944, a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crash landed in the village of Belton in Suffolk near Great Yarmouth.¹ Named the ‘Belle of the East’, this remarkable aircraft and its crew were returning from a bombing raid in Germany to their base at RAF Rackheath; one of seventeen United States Army Air Force (USAAF) bases on loan from the RAF in the county of Norfolk. But the B-24 never made its way back to base after its raid, so what brought this aircraft to the ground? What happened to its crew? And what is the story of this American Second World War bomber?

The ‘Belle of the East’ was constructed in Fort Worth Texas and was of the ‘H’ variant, making it a B-24H Liberator. It was given the serial number 41-29420 and wore the identification code ‘4z:L+’.² It was originally crewed by a crew of 10 which were as follows:

Willard H. Sell – Pilot
Ken Ireland – Co-Pilot
Bruce Owens – Navigator
John Simanowith – Bombardier
Charles Schultz – Flight Engineer
Fred Enck – Radio Operator
Mick Lavery – Waist Gunner
Charles Cochey – Waist Gunner
Bob Farnsworth – Ball Turret Gunner
Morton Schecter – Tail Gunner³

In March of 1944, the crew of the yet to be named B-24H Liberator, took flight from Wendover field in Utah, USA, taking the ‘South Atlantic route’⁴ towards their destination at RAF Rackheath. The journey (including stopovers) took a total of 26 days. Shortly after it had arrived at RAF Rackheath, the aircraft was assigned to crew W-40, later becoming crew No. 40. It was also here at RAF Rackheath that the B-24H, would be given its name the ‘Belle of the East’ by the crew, as six of them were from the Eastern United States. The original crew of this aircraft conducted and completed all 35 of their required missions from April 1944 – July 1944, before being allowed to end their tour and head back home to the United States. The original crew flew missions in war torn Europe, predominantly into Germany, they also flew bombing missions into German occupied France and Belgium.

After the original crew had completed their 35 missions, a new crew was tasked with replacing them and taking the helm of the B-24H Liberator, the ‘Belle of the East’. By late July 1944 the new crew began their own bombing missions. The replacement crew were as follows:

Craig Harriton – Pilot
Gene McMahan – Co-pilot
John Boesen – Navigator
Fred Sammetinger – Bombardier
Norval Cunningham – Flight Engineer/ Top Turret
Eugene Jacquemart – Radio Operator
Charles Kordes – Waist Gunner
Charles Grinell – Waist Gunner
Verner Gray – Ball Turret Gunner
Thomas Lewis – Tail Gunner⁵

Now, the most eagle eyed readers would probably spot that the new crew for the ‘Belle of the East’ were only crewing the aircraft for about a month before it came down in Belton. When compared to the original crew who managed to complete all 35 of their missions without a casualty or loss of the aircraft, an incredible achievement, it does raise an eyebrow. Was it possibly the crew’s fault? Bad luck? Or was it the enemy flak that finally downed the ‘Belle?’ What is evident, is that engine #1 and later engine #3 cut out. Due to the low altitude the aircraft was flying, and the loss of the engines, the pilot rang the alarm bell for a bailout.⁶ The engine failure was deemed to be a lack of fuel, but was this the case?

When looking at the after action report, we can see the crews account for the aircraft at the beginning of the bombing mission and all seemed well according to the pilot Craig Harriton. They prepared to set out for a mission to the Norddeutsch Dornierwerke Aviation works in Lubeck, Germany at 07:30 on the 25th August, alongside another 44 aircraft of the 2nd Air Division.⁷ Pilot Craig Harriton, in his after action report, would claim, ‘We took off, and as far as I knew everything went well. We had 2700 gallons of gas in our tanks.’⁸ For this mission, it is also important to note that Marvin Berman replaced Eugene Jacquemart and Thomas Lewis did not fly the mission due to the ball turret not being fitted. Furthermore, the co-pilot also backed the pilot’s story, claiming that, ‘Nothing went wrong until after we started back from the mission.’⁹ They both claim that fuel was correctly transferred by the engineer from the auxiliary tanks both on the way and back from the mission. ‘Heavy but inaccurate flak’¹⁰ was encountered during the mission so it is possible that the fuel tanks were damaged and were leaking fuel on the ‘Belle’s’ return leg from Germany, or that it possibly suffered engine failure due to the flak. An investigation was made but the aircraft was too badly damaged to come to a definitive conclusion. The final possible cause of the crash was due to user error when transferring fuel. This can be seen below:

The entire crew of this crash survived, all but the waist gunners and the radio operator heard the bail out alarm and left the aircraft. When the aircraft came down, onlookers rushed to the scene to help those who went down with the plane, including Miss G. Claxton, who rushed into the apparent danger to help rescue the still trapped waist gunners, and Mr Walter Sharman who also assisted in rescuing the crew. Mrs Beare and a Mr Botwright also rushed to help those who went down with the bomber. The crew were moved on to a different B-24 bomber, and the story of the ‘Belle of the East’ ended on August 25th 1944.

That was until 54 years later, when Waist Gunner Charles Grinell returned to the village from his home in Washington DC, to give his belated thanks, and to meet some wartime friends he made who were living at Coltishall. The story made the Eastern Daily Press and can be seen below:

References:

Second Air Division Digital Archive

Researched and Written by Luke Champion.

1. AAR Station 145. War Department. U.S Army Air Forces. Report of aircraft accident, 25th August 1944.
   Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th
   August 1944, MC 376/200, USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 36 of 45. ↩︎
2. History of the ‘Belle of the East’. Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The
   East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th August 1944, MC 376/200, USF 11/7. 467th bomb group, image 12 of
   45. ↩︎
3. Ibid ↩︎
4. Ibid ↩︎
5. Belle of the East, B-24H 15 CF Liberator 41-29420 4Z:L+ 791st BS 467th BG STN 145 Rackheath.
   Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th
   August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 3 of 45. ↩︎
6. Description of aircraft accident. Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The
   East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 37 of
   45. ↩︎
7. Belle of the East, B-24H 15 CF Liberator 41-29420 4Z:L+ 791st BS 467th BG STN 145 Rackheath.
   Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th
   August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 3 of 45 ↩︎
8. Statement of 1Lt. Craig. Harrington, 0-799015, 791st Bomb Sqdn. Pilot. Board of proceedings at
   hearing – 1030 hrs – 26th Aug 1944. Members of board – Major Albert L. Wallace Jr. Major Fred E.
   Holdrege Jr. 1st Lte Ted H. Climer. Officers present – Lt. Col. Allen F. Herzberg. Captain Walter R.
   Giesecke. Accident involving crashing of aircraft due to apparent lack of fuel. Documents and
   photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 38 of 45. ↩︎
9. Statement of F/O Gene R. McMahan, T-62254, 791st Bomb Sqdn. CO-PILOT. Documents and
   photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 40 of 45 ↩︎
10. Belle of the East, B-24H 15 CF Liberator 41-29420 4Z:L+ 791st BS 467th BG STN 145 Rackheath.
    Documents and photographs relating to the crash of B-24 ‘Belle Of The East’, 5th December 1943 – 25th
    August 1944. MC 376/200 USF 11/7. 467th Bomb Group, image 3 of 45. ↩︎