Ralph W Holcombe
Military ROLL OF HONOURFell out of formation after bombing target at Diepholz, GR on 21 Feb 1944 with trouble in one engine just before bombing and unable to feather the prop B-17GSH #42-30280 'Crazy Horse' of 482BG/812BS fell behind. The Boeing was attached by Fw 190 of Sturmstaffel 1. Ball gunner Henri Raemer shot the fighter down. Later another engine fell out, yet again the prop couldn't be feathered. B-17 42-30280 crashed in lake IJsselmeer near Horst/Ermelo the Netherlands. Killed in Action (KIA).
1Lt. Holcombe kept a/c in level flight to allow the crew to bale out, all bailed out over land between Vierhouten and Ermelo.1LT Holcombe landed in the water and drowned. He was found by a Tijmen de Graaf fisherman of Bunschoten on April 28th, 1944. He was first buried in Amersfoort at the cemetery 'Rusthof' and moved to the American cemetery at Margraten on 11 March 1946, section H, row 6, grave 4.
AM w/Oak Leaf Cluster
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Crazy Horse
- Unit: 482nd Bomb Group 812th Bomb Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Died |
21 February 1944 | ||
Buried |
11 April 1946 | H, r16, gr.4 | |
North Carolina, USA |
Revisions
Crazy Horse - by Cees Steijger. ISBN: 978-90-826.329-0-3 (Dutch)
Research by Cees Steijger author of 'Crazy Horse - a good day to fight, a good day to die' about the crash of 42-30280 in former lake IJsselmeer (scheduled to be published summer 2016).
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2470, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces & page 24 in HISTORY OF THE OPERATIONAL PERIOD OF THE 482nd BOMBARDMENT GROUP, D790.G482.M6, 1944