March 18, 1943, 4th victory

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

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The mission of the USAAF

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COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES

THURSDAY, 18 MARCH 1943

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force)

VIII Bomber Command
Mission No. 45 :

76 B-17's of the 1st Bombardment Wing and 27 B-24's of the 2d Bombardment Wing are dispatched against the submarine yards at Vegesack, Germany ;
73 B-17's and 24 B-24's drop 268 tons of bombs on the target at 1531-1535 local.
Seven U-boat hulls appear severely damaged. This mission marks the first successful combat use of automatic flight control linked with bombsights.
Our claims are 52-20-23 ;
we lose 1 B-17 and 1 B-24 ; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair ;
9 B-17's and 14 B-24's are damaged ;
casualties are 1 KIA, 16 WIA and 20 MIA.

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B-24 declared lost on March 18, 1943 :

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serial number	plane type / name	squadron	code	reason	mission lost on	pilot / crew
41-23666	B-24D-1-CO "Hot Freight"	93 BG 330 BS	AG B	Fighter and flak 15.37	Submarine yards at Vegesack Crash Location : near Moslesfehn (7kms s.s.w. Oldenburg)	Pilot Lt. Howard E. Kleinstuber KIA CP 2Lt. Raplh L. Hanson N 2Lt. Robert B. Ward KIA B Lt. Neil E. Stevens KIA TT S/Sgt.Phillip T. Servin KIA RO T/Sgt.Louis A. Webb POW BT Sgt.John D. Skall KIA LW S/Sgt.S/Sgt.James A. Deshotel KIA RW S/Sgt.Raymond E. Bell KIA TG S/Sgt.Edwin T. Robinson KIA
?	B-24	?	?	Fighter 15.15	Crash Location : Square 7423 North Wangerooge (in see)	?
?	4-mot. ?	?	?	Marine Artillery 15.13	Crash Location : Jadebusen (in see)	?

In the chronology above there is only one B-24's loss declared by the USAAF on March 18, 1943 but :
"Early 8th AF losses like this were not assigned Missing Air Crew Reports until the end of the war, this accounts for such high MACR numbers when they are listed prior to mid-1943. The MACR system as we know it was not put into place until the summer of 1943."
If there were no survivors after war maybe that some loss are not registered in common documents.
I've new datas from Olaf Timmermann that show clearely that there were 2 B-24, 1 "4-mot." and 1 B-17 loss on March 18, 1944.

KNOKE declares to have taken off at 14.12 and to intercepted bombers approaching the coast. This hour is compatible with the schedules of bombardment 15.31-15.35 in COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF USAAF

.
The falling point estimated by KNOKE 20KMS at the Southeast of Helgoland, put back on a card, corresponds to the square UR-7. KNOKE indicates the falling point of his friend Dieter GERHARD in the square UR-9.

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Source : "The Mighty Eighth"
The only B-24 lost that day was from the 93rd.

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Source : HeavyBombers Message Forums <forums@heavybombers.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 9:41 PM
Subject: 18 MARCH 1943

The B-24 lost on 3/18/43 was B-24 #41-23666 "Hot Freight" assigned to the 93rd Bomb Group, 330th Bomb Squadron. Pilot was Lt Howard E. Kleinstuber, 7 KIA 1 POW ...MACR number unknown.
Early 8th AF losses like this were not assigned Missing Air Crew Reports until the end of the war, this accounts for such high MACR numbers when they are listed prior to mid-1943. The MACR system as we know it was not put into place until the summer of 1943.
Contact the 93rd Bomb Group Association for additional details on this loss :
http://www.heavybombers.com/93rdbg.html
Best of luck with your research,
HeavyBombers.com - Forums

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1 B-17 declared lost on March 18, 1943 :

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serial number	plane type / name	squadron	code	date lost	reason	mission lost on	pilot / crew
41-24558	B-17 'Hunga-Dunga'	303 BG 358 BS	VK F	March 18, 1943	?	FTR GF. CR. Bremerhaven, Germany.	Lt. Charles N. Austin, P 5 KIA 5 POW Crew from 92 BG

- - - Thanks to Jean Secardin for his help - - -

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Description of this victory by Heinz Knoke and different information :

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Warning ! To facilitate the reading, lines of Heinz Knoke's flightbook, appearing above, were modified with small computing assembly. If the disposal is not in accordance with the original, the main thing of the information, namely the mission 177 of the 18 March has no change.

	Heinz Knoke Informations	Personal comments
Source	I flew for the f... page 90
Date	March 18, 1943
Type of claimed plane	B-24 Liberator
Place of the interception	Above Helgoland in 8000m (25,000 feet)
Crash Location	In sea 20km (12 miles) in the Southeast of Helgoland	Square UR-7
Presumed Mission USAAF
Presumed route USAAF	Helgoland > approach German coasts
Schedule	KNOKE's takeoff from Jever at 14.12 ; landing in Jever at 15h30.
Weather report
Knoke's Unit	2./JG1	His aircraft, Bf109 G1, black 1
Description of the fight	KNOKE is leader of the squadron. In 8000m head-on attack in tight formation. He opens fire on the Liberator of a little down, the plane begins to burn at once, makes a sway on the right-hand side and deviates from the box by falling. A second pass by the back above the tail then a third frontal pass.
Détail 1	An explosion occurs and B-24 splits. KNOKE misses to collide the fragments of wings and engines. He touches the fuselage of a mere nothing !	A sure victory.
Détail 2	Knoke does not mention parachutes.	But it can have it had there, and luckily they can have benefited from boats looking for Dieter GERHARD.
Détail 3	He writes that his companion Dieter GERHARD shot down some minutes before another Liberator. Dieter attacks then (right in the middle of the box!) a B-17 by the back before being lethally wounded.	KNOKE did not certainly see and identified the aircraft shot down by GERHARD Himself. . B-24 or B-17 ?
	To the left Dieter GERHARD in front of Bf 109 F, black 5. To the right Bf 109 G-1 WNR. 14150 registered DG+UO before the delivery in the 2. JG1. It is on commands of this plane carrying black 6 that D. GERHARD will be lethally wounded on March 18, 1943..
Détail 4	DIETER GERHARD jumps in parachute and fall 15 ' later in the geographic square UR-9 .	The nearness of the falling point of KNOKE's B-24 is confirmed.

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