Please click here for more information, there is also plenty to explore in our online archive.
The American Air Museum is a charity - Find out how you can support us
Military
Charles Kline Crew 801st BG - 850th BS Standing Left to Right: Gerald H. Ransom (G), Jesse H. Snider (B), Richard J. Brace (N), Clyde H. Schultz (CP), Charles R. Kline (P), Floyd A Lauletta (G) Kneeling Left to Right: Dana R. Wemette (G), Arthur G. Abate (G), George W. Odom (G), Warren L. Rock (G) This crew (minus Odom and Ransom) were shot down on the night of July 4/5 1944. All aboard were KIA
Killed in Action (KIA). Member of Kline crew in B-24H Carpetbagger, 42-50386, which was shot down by ME 110 south of Paris at 0200hrs. T/O from Harrington, site of crash Les Trois Mares, Oise. MACR 6991.
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 801st Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA). B-24H AC #42-50386. Shot down and crashed NE of Paris. MACR 6991. B-24H Carpetbagger, 42-50386, shot down by ME 110 south of Paris at 0200hrs. T/O from Harrington, site of crash Les Trois Mares, Oise. Final interrment in Epinal...
Group
The 490th Bomb Group, like the 486th and 487th Bomb Groups transitioned from flying B-24 Liberators to B-17 Flying Fortresses, which were used in combat missions from late August 1944. Based at Eye, Suffolk, the Group were focused in the early months...
Group
The 801st Bomb Group was established as part of the Eighth Air Force in late March 1944 to carry out 'Carpetbagger' missions. These were night missions over France and other parts of occupied Europes to support resistance forces by dropping in agents,...
Squadron
B-24 Liberator
Military site : airfield
Harrington was built by the 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army in 1943. Completed in 1944, it was the furthest Eighth Air Force combat airfield from the east coast.The Eighth's Special Operations Group was based at the airfield, first...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Boston, Massachusetts | 1924 |
| Lived in | East Boston, Boston, MA, USA | 1943 |
|
19 Seaview Avenue |
||
| Enlisted | Boston, MA, USA | 6 April 1943 |
| Died | Lagny-le-Sec, France | 4 July 1944 |
|
The B-24 number 41-29599 named BOOTS took off at 2331 on 4 July 1944 from Harrington, UK to deliver supplies to the French resistance (Operation Peter). The plane was shot down by flak over Lagney le Sec, France, at 2am on the morning of 5 July. The entire crew of ten was killed. MACR 6991. S/Sgt Abate was a machine gunner. He was serving as the tail gunner on a B-24H which took off from Harrington at 2331hrs, 4 July 1944 on "Operation Peter" His aircraft was shot down by an ME110 night fighter approximately 35 miles south of Paris. It exploded and crashed 0200hrs at a spot known locally as Les Trois Mares, Lagny-Le-Sec(Oise), France. All eight crew members were KIA. Seven are buried in Epinal. His body was found in a corn field about 200 yards south of the crash site badly mutilated and buried with the right wing gunner in one coffin by the Germans in the French Cemetery at Creil. |
||
| Buried | 1945 | |
|
Plot B Row 42 Grave 14 |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2020 14:06:20 | Andycole0 | Changes to awards |
| Sources | ||
American Battle Monument's Commission, www.abmc.gov |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 16 August 2016 16:23:25 | Lucy May | Changes to service number, biography and unit associations |
| Sources | ||
Corrected service number from 31308747 to 31308746 as per NARA enlistment record: Brought in information from duplicate record. Sources: |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 30 August 2015 23:57:59 | 466thHistorian | Changes to events |
| Sources | ||
801st BG website |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 30 August 2015 23:55:24 | 466thHistorian | Changes to highest rank, events, person associations, place associations and aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:04:05 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Combat Chronology, USAAF SN Website, http://www.801492.org/MainMenu.htm / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia |
||
