Sam L Laskin
MilitaryIWM, Roger Freeman Collection
On 14 June 1944, the 34th Bomb Group flew a mission to bomb Cambrai-Epinoy airfield in France, in support of Allied ground troops in Normandy. Laskin was flying “Mean Kid”, a brand new B-24 on its fifth mission, which sustained severe damage from enemy fire over Antwerp. Unable to make it home to Mendlesham in Suffolk and with only one landing wheel down, the pilot Lieutenant Sam Laskin crash landed the aircraft at Manston, Kent.
Laskin was badly wounded, but his crew remained unscathed and as a result Laskin received the Silver Star for valour.
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
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Mean Kid
- Unit: 34th Bomb Group 18th Bomb Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: RAF Mendlesham
Revisions
Colonel Bob Simpson, 34 BG Mission summary: http://colbobsimpson.com/history/history_34th_bomb_group.html
http://www.8thafhs-pa.org/member-profiles/sam-l-laskin-34th-bg/story-sam...
http://articles.philly.com/2013-11-12/news/43935234_1_veterans-day-ameri...
1996 34th BG Roster / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia