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B-24 Liberator
Assigned to 833rd Bomb Squadron, 486th Bomb Group, 8th AF USAAF.
Failed to Return (FTR) raid to Luztkendorf, Germany. Hit by Flak and abandoned, 5 x EVD, 5 x POW. 28-May-44. MACR 5390.
Wreckage of the aircraft was discovered by Marcel Dubois in Belgium.
Group
The 486th Bomb Group flew both B-24s and B-17s, swapping from the former aircraft to the latter in late July 1944 after 49 missions. In total the Group flew 292 missions during the war and remarkably the 834th Bomb Squadron lost no aircraft or...
Squadron
Military | Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28 May 1944 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
Awards: POW
Military | Sergeant | Radio Operator | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
Awards: POW
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
Awards: POW
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 486th Bomb Group
Four missions. Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag Luft III.
Awards: AM, POW, WWII Victory.
Military | Flight Officer | Bombardier | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Evaded. Hidden by the Belgium people, liberated in September, 1944 by the American Army.
Awards: WWII Victory.
Military | Major | Pilot | 486th Bomb Group
Named his A/C after LSU's mascot Mike the tiger, as he was a former track star at Louisiana State University.
...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Evaded. Hidden by the Belgium people, liberated in September, 1944 by the American Army.
Military | Sergeant | Nose Gunner | 486th Bomb Group
Assigned to 832BS, 486BG, 8AF USAAF. Fellow Louisiana State University Alumni, influential in the naming of Lt Alfred Sanders B-24. Only flew 5 missions. Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Evaded. Lived with Belgian...
Military | Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 486th Bomb Group
Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
Awards: POW, WWII Victory.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 486th Bomb Group
Assigned to 832BS, 486BG, 8AF USAAF. Shot down 28-May-44 in B-24 42-52764 'Mike, Spirit of LSU', Evaded (EVD). Lived with Belgian Underground from May till September 1944.
Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME.
28 May 1944
Military site : airfield
Situated between the villages of Great Waldingfield and Acton, the airfield was used by the 486th Bomb Group from March 1944 to August 1945. Facilities for administrative offices for the Combat Wing were also made available here and along with barrack...
Crash site
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Assigned | Sudbury, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10, UK | 1944 |
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Assigned to 833rd Bomb Squadron, 486th Bomb Group, 8th AF USAAF. |
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| Crashed | Houssière Wood, Braine-le-Comte, Belgium | 28 May 1944 – 28 May 1944 |
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Failed to Return (FTR) raid to Luztkendorf, Germany. Hit by Flak and abandoned, 5 x EVD, 5 x POW. 28-May-44. MACR 5390. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 17 May 2022 12:55:34 | Al_Skiff | Changes to unit associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbmsn.asp?SN=42-52764&Submit6=Go |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 28 September 2021 15:21:15 | Emily | Changes to nicknames, markings, description, events, unit associations and media associations |
| Sources | ||
Removed references to nickname being Mike-Spirit of LSU as unlikely to be accurate. The captured aircraft report in MACR 5390 described the wreckage of the aircraft as having a 4N squadron code (833rd Bomb Squadron), which indicates the aircraft was assigned to a different squadron to Sanders. furthermore 486th.org states that Sanders only flew this aircraft on one occasion, making it unlikely he had the opportunity to alter it's markings or change squadron before it crashed. The association of this aircraft with the Spirit of LSU nickname appears to have originated from a piece of of aviation art made in 1994 by Glenn Core, which features a number of factual inaccuracies, notably that both aircraft depicted in the painting wear the same 3R-K squadron code, and that the nose art is based off a 1973 etching by the same artist, and as such cannot be considered a reliable source of this aircraft's appearance. Information about the recovery of this aircraft from 486th.org |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 29 April 2016 09:40:04 | Al_Skiff | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbmsn.asp?SN=42-52764&Submit6=Go |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 28 April 2016 17:08:44 | Al_Skiff | Changes to description and events |
| Sources | ||
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbmsn.asp?SN=42-52764&Submit6=Go |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 28 April 2016 14:54:11 | Al_Skiff | Changes to production block number, nicknames, markings, description, events, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbmsn.asp?SN=42-52764&Submit6=Go |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:55 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
MACR 5390 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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