ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 149013
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| Date: | Saturday 24 March 1945 |
| Time: | 13:26 |
| Type: |  Consolidated B-24J Liberator |
| Owner/operator: | United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) |
| Registration: | 42-50735 |
| MSN: | 2620 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 9 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Hamminkeln, NW of (NRW) (Operation Varsity) -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Bungay, Suffolk, England, USAAF Station 125 |
During Operation Varsity, the Queen of Angels was to make its supply drop over DZ-B [Drop Zone B], north-west of Wesel, Germany. After making a low (200 feet), wide turn after the drop, the aircraft was met with German ground small arms fire. The oxygen tanks/bottles ruptured and the ensuing on-board fire engulfed the aircraft; engine 3 was also on fire causing the aircraft to loose its vital hydraulics. All nine of the crewmen were hit by shrapnel and burned by the blaze. The pilot, Lt. Laurence Lofgren, was able to climb to 900 feet, but could not sustain the altitude. The aircraft and crew were badly disabled; the plane flew out of control and plummeted toward the earth. Two badly injured, but alive crewmen were able to bail out before the Queen of Angels crashed in a farm field north-west of Hamminkeln, Germany. Because the plane had descended to only 100-200 ft., the waist gunner, S/Sgt. Kenneth Joe Stalder's parachute failed to open properly and he was killed on impact. For reasons still not fully understood to this day by the sole survivor, S/Sgt. Alan W. Keenen, the tail gunner, opened his parachute while still inside the aircraft and then bailed out the wrong way from the belly hatch. Both these actions gave his chute the precious time (and air) it needed to nearly open fully. Barely missing the treetops, he landed extremely hard and broke his ankle. He was immediately captured by the Germans and spent the remainder of the war at Stalag Luft One in Barth, Germany as a POW. The Queen of Angels crashed and exploded about 500 yards from where S/Sgt. Keenen had landed with the remaining seven crewmen still on board. The crewman were either fatally burned and wounded or already dead. It was Lt. Lofgren's 26th birthday on 24 March 1945.
Sources:
Betsy Keenen Walker
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Sep-2012 06:57 | Uli Elch | Added |
| 09-Sep-2012 07:04 | Uli Elch | Updated [Registration, Cn, Total occupants] |
| 09-Jun-2014 05:03 | GWAP53 | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Jan-2020 17:34 | Uli Elch | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
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