42-52597 Lady Lightning
466th BG - 785th BS 466th Bomb Group collection
466th BG Historian
Our pilot (Arthur Kraft) picked the plane up at the Willow Run factory and had to sign a $50,000 voucher. We were a new group. In February 1944 we took off from West Palm Beach, FL, stopped in Trinidad and then on to Belem, Brazil. From there we went to Fortaleza, Brazil which was the jumping off point to fly over the Atlantic. From Fortaleza we flew to Dakar (now in Senegal). On the way to Dakar, we were past the point of no return when we were caught in an electrical storm. We were lit up like little Las Vegas! The radio operator had the trailing antenna out and lightning struck it, entering the catwalk in the bomb bay that lead to the cockpit. It completely destroyed the radios. The tail gunner was asleep on the catwalk at the time. He had GI flashlight in his pocket at the time. The lightning destroyed the flashlight and left a hole in the fuselage large enough to crawl through, but luckily the tail gunner was just stunned.
The next day we flew to Marrakesh, Morrocco where the repair of the plane took place. Then on to Shannon, Ireland and then to Attlebridge. When we arrived at Attlebridge we decided the appropriate name of the aircraft should be "Lady Lightning"! - James Bates, Waist Gunner
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 787th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35553545
- Highest Rank: Technician Third Grade
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 466th Bomb Group 784th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33305393
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Attlebridge Arsenal, Station 120
- Site type: Aircraft crash site
Missions
- Date: 15 August 1944
- Date: 22 March 1944
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Other First Combat Mission |
Berlin, Germany | 22 March 1944 | |
Other Shot Down |
7946 Wanneperveen, Netherlands | 15 August 1944 | |
Delivered |
Willow Run, Ypsilanti Charter Twp, MI 48198, USA |
Revisions
"Attlebridge Arsenal" - Brassfield & Wassom - page 161
Original story from a letter from James Bates to John Woolnough, February 1994
MACR 8428 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database