Robert A Tunnell
Military ROLL OF HONOURPrinted caption on reverse: '60900 A.C.- Lt. Tunnel and Lt. McCarthy of the 654th Bomb. Sqdn. 25th Bomb Group. standing beside a flak damaged DeHavilland "Mosquito" Reconnaissance. England. August 4, 1944 U.S. Air Force Photo
' The names 'Bob' and 'Daniel' have been handwritten above 'Lt. Tunnel and Lt. McCarthy' respectively. Handwritten caption on reverse: '12/8/44.' Passed for publication by censors on 12 August, 1944.
Roger Freeman Collection
Roger Freeman Photo.
Mosquito Photo-Reconnaissance Units of World War 2 by Martin W Bowman.
Flew as camera chase plane for Anvil* bomber which exploded in front of the Mosquito causing an emergency landing at Halesworth. 12-8-44.
Took off at 1500 hours from Watton. Failed to return from PR mission to Nijmegen-Eindhoven area in Mosquito with 8 CCU photographer S/Sgt John G 'Buddie' Cunney, Lt Tunnell's Mosquito was hit by enemy machine-gun fire and crashed on Plantlunne airfield. Killed in Action (KIA) 18 September 1944.
Awards: PH
* USN equivalent of USAAF Aphrodite remote controlled flying drone bomber.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Reconnaissance
- Unit Hierarchy: Wing
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 8th Combat Camera Unit 325th Photographic Reconnaissance Wing 25th Bomb Group 654th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 06995337
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Navigator / Cameraman
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 325th Photographic Reconnaissance Wing 25th Bomb Group 381st Bomb Group 534th Bomb Squadron 654th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator / Observer
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 12 August 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Winfarthing
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Holton
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Other Emergency landing |
Beccles, Beccles, Suffolk NR34, UK | 12 August 1944 | Flew as camera chase plane for Anvil* bomber which exploded in front of the Mosquito causing an emergency landing at Halesworth. |
Died |
Lünne, Germany | 18 September 1944 | Failed to return from PR mission to Nijmegen-Eindhoven area in Mosquito with observer S/Sgt John G 'Buddie' Cunney, Lt Tunnel was blinded by searchlights and crashed on Plantlunne airfield. Killed in Action (KIA) 18 Sept 44. |
Humboldt County, CA | |||
Buried |
Tablets of the Missing Cambridge American Cemetery Coton, Cambs, UK | ||
Based |
Watton | 18 September 1944 | Assigned to 654th BS, 25th BG, 8AF USAAF. |
Revisions
Norman Malayney, "The 25th Bomb Group (Rcn) in WWII", Schiffer Publishers, 2011, page 116
John Hey, Netherlands, personal correspondence.
Norman Malayney, "The 25th Bomb Group (Rcn) in WWII" , Schiffer Publishers, 2011, page 116.
AAM DB Entry.
Mosquito Photo-Reconnaissance Units of World War 2 by Martin W Bowman.
AAM DB Entry.
Mosquito Photo-Reconnaissance Units of World War 2 by Martin W Bowman.
ABMC, Roll of Honor
The 25th Bomb Group Book (rcn) in World War II by Norman Malayney / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia