Killed in Action (KIA) 5 November 1944



AM/ PH

On Board 42-95024 Gypsy Queen when, On the 5th November 1944, she was one of 366 2nd Division Liberators that set out on a mission to Karlsruhe Railway Marshalling Yards in Germany, No B-24's were lost in the mission itself but four aircraft crashed on their return.



Gypsy Queen was reported to have one engine feather when it crashed, presumably having lost this due to flank damage. In 1973 a spokesman at the farm where she crashed at Church Farm described seeing her approach from the North with the crew baling out close to the river Waveney, some at extremely low altitude. He said the B-24 appeared to be attempting an emergency landing, but the nose of the aircraft dug into the ground and it broke up. He recalled the fuselage broke in half, the nose was wrecked and there was a fire with ammunition exploding.

————-

(I have a letter from my father, Karl Eisele, Jr., detailing their crew and stating that Leo was a tail gunner, and that he tried to bail out before the 5 Nov. 1944 crash, but knocked himself unconscious by hitting his head on the plane trying to leave the escape hatch, thus could not pull his parachute cord.)