Bill’s blog archive: Daily Posts

While the world’s attention was focused elsewhere on June 6, 1944, the 459^th Bomb Group, based at Giuilia, Italy, was sending its B-24 “Liberators” to attack the railroad marshalling yards at Braznov, Romania.  The pilot of their only B-24 lost on the raid was 2^nd Lieutenant Joseph E. Buchler, of Ronkonkoma, New York. The plane’s nickname was “Jackie Boy”, tail # 42-52717

After bombing the target, another pilot noticed that “… (Jackie Boy) had begun to lag in the formation and I called him and asked if there was anything wrong and he replied that he had feathered one engine, but was all right.  We slowed down our flight a little and he caught up with us.  He stayed with formation for a little while, then started dropping back and in a short while he was completely out of sight.”

As the plane began to lag, Lieutenant Buchler finally realized that the aircraft would never get back to Italy.  About 90 miles from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the order to bail out was given. Months later, after he returned to their base in Italy, the copilot, 2^nd Lieutenant Robert L. Cole, described the event in terse language:

Bail out procedure uneventful though slow. Total time – about 5 minutes. Crew assembled safely on ground later with minor injuries.”

Fortunately for the crew of “Jackie Boy”, their parachutes landed them in an area controlled by Chetniks, partisans fighting against the German occupiers of their country.  They were well treated while on the ground, and by early September, had been returned to their base in Italy.  In addition to the pilot, the crew of “Jackie Boy” was:

• 2^nd Lieutenant Robert L. Cole, Syracuse, NY
• 2^nd Lieutenant George Salapa, Jr., Cleveland, OH
• 2^nd Lieutenant Charles L. Davis, Washington, DC
• Staff Sergeant George G. Koch, Jr., Atlanta, GA
• Sergeant John F. O’Grady, Jr., Clifton, NJ
• Sergeant David LaBissoniere, Milwaukee, WI
• Sergeant Thomas G. Pettigrew, Chicago, IL
• Sergeant George R. Hurd, Fort Worth, TX
• Corporal Frederick A. Kuercher, Milwaukee, WI

The entire crew survived the war.