Looking for info

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by BlauK
I wonder if the MACR would have time and altitude info, or some other details.
You could buy a copy of it from the archives since you now know the number.

It's possible they have that information,
http://www.accident-report.com/macr.html
who knows, it could be the best $25 you've ever spent.

MACRs were created when an aircraft failed to return from a combat mission. They document all of the “known” information at the time of the loss. They most often include the aircraft number, some aircraft names, machinegun serial numbers, crew lists, mission, last know location, and eyewitness accounts. Many of the MACRs also include documents collected after the war related to the fate of the crew. They often contain captured enemy documents and statements from crewmembers after their release from POW camps. Keep in mind, there are no two alike and there may be as few as three pages to a report, or as many as fifty.

[Guppy35]

MACR would have all the info they gathered at the time.  MACR might have reports of other crews who saw the shoot down.

What you'd want is for the family to request the Individual Deceased Personnel File from the Army.

That would have any interviews done with the 3 guys who survived the shoot down as well as translations of any German documents attributed to that crash such as where it came down, who and how etc.  This would have all the MACR stuff in it as well.

Takes about 6 months or so for the stuff to come back once the family requests it.

I've done that for the families of a few different crews and the info in there is amazing if not a bit sobering.

381st BG history lists no name for the plane  MS-U as the codes.  Says crashed at Wiednbruck, Germany.  7 KIA 3 POW

If you want to take this as far as you can, PM me and I'll help as best I can.  having travelled the road a few times now, I can probably speed it up a bit.

[Guile]

You can get copies of the MACR mailed to you for free from the archive at Maxwell AFB.  You obviously already have his name to submit.  The person you should email is Lynn Gamma.  Her email is

lynn.gamma@MAXWELL.AFB.MIL


I did the same thing for my grandafther in trying to look up the B-24 he was in when they ditched in the Adriatic Sea.  However, even though I got the serial number of the B-24 they ditched in, the records of the plane names from that time aren't 100% reliable, they are more like 90%.  The Army Air Force didn't record the names with the serial numbers, officially.   I am pretty sure he went down in "Lamplighter II", but I cannot cross reference the serial to the exact plane name.  It may take some detective work on your part.  Good luck.

[BlauK]

Drediock,
please let us know how it turns out.

[DREDIOCK]

Sorry guys. Didnt  meant o blow ya's off and I appreciate the help.
Had some side issues to concentrate on and ddint want to bury myself and get lost doing this while really needing to concentrate on that.
Which is exactly what would happen if I kept on digging LOL

I'll now be back to working on this thing this weekend
Thanks for the info and Email links
Ill pop off a note to Maxwell tonight after work. Might as well try the free route first eh?

Yes there were survivors. Thjey actually came to visit my mother in laws mother (grandmotherinlaw?)
My mother in law as only like 11 at the time and wasnt made privy to the conversation that took place.
And the only thing she (my mother in law)was told was that the plane blew up.

Beyond that she knew almost nothing and if they told her mother more then that. She never said.
Course what you tell someones mother. And what really happend may be two almost entirely different things.

[Guile]

I got my grandfather's MACR in about 4 days.  It was about 9 pages worth.  It had the initial report, crew member reports, some investigation notes, a rough map of the ditch, and 3 crew member's accounts of what happened to the plane and crew.  One of those account's was my grandfather's.  Although it was more of a standard statement of how it all happened as he probably told an investigator who then typed it, more importantly, (to me) grandfather had signed it.  Good luck, and I hope any info you finds helps you out.  I know it sure filled in alot of the holes for me.

I find myself wanting to make a b-24 skin of his aircraft and submitting it to HTC so that I can "fly" with him in the game...