Assigned USAAF, B-24J #42-110007, re-designated as PBY-1 when assigned to USN, went on to be assigned to USN Special Air Unit No. 1 as Bu #32271. Utilized as remote controlled explosive laden flying bomb on Anvil* project. USN provides A/C and command crew to 388th BG for mission. Dispatched on mission to destroy the V3 long range cannon battery at Mimoyecques 12 Aug 44. Command crew** were killed, when preparing to bail out, when 2,000 lb.'s of Torpex prematurely exploded over the Blyth estuary and destroyed the A/C. Debris landed in Newdelight Wood, Suffolk.



*Anvil was the USN equivalent of the USAAF Aphrodite project, war weary bombers filled with explosives and flown to target by an operator on a 'Mother' ship utilizing radio control and 'Anvil' TV cameras. Command crew were needed to take off and establish steady flight before bailing out over UK.



** Command crew Lt Joseph P Kennedy Jr and Lt Wilford J Willey KIA [ Joe Kennedy - son of Joseph P Kennedy Sr and eldest brother of future US president John F Kennedy ].