No_Report

Summary

Aircraft Serial Number (Type): 43-9455 (Douglas A-20J-5-DO Havoc)

9th AF; 416th Bomb Gp; 670th Bomb Sq

Mission # 90; Box: I; Flight: 1; Position: 1; A/C Fuselage Code: F6-T

Reason: Enemy anti-aircraft

Damage: Crash Landing, Battle damage

Point Of Departure: AAF-170 Wethersfield RAF Station, England

Location: Abandoned RAF field, England

*Personnel*
Duty	Name	Rank	S/N	Status
Pilot	Jackson, Chester Ronald	Capt	O-736226	Not Injured
Bombardier/Navigator	Maltby, Alfred H.	1Lt	O-747669	WIA
Airplane Mechanic - Gunner	Burns, Donald E.	Sgt	39288631	Not Injured
Photographer	Allen, Byron Kidd	Pfc	17071355	KIA

Description:
Captain Jackson nursed his badly damaged plane back to Southern England where he crash landed. One of his gunners, Private First Class Byron K. Allen [of the 4th Combat Camera Unit], bailed out of the stricken plane over the U.K; he was killed when his parachute failed to open from 1,000 feet. He was buried in the Cambridge American Military Cemetery in Cambridge, England.
(416th BG History 1944)

The left engine of Capt Jackson's ship was hit by flak as the plane turned off the target, and it was put out of commission. The damage was such that feathering the left propeller was impossible, and the engine finally "froze" due to loss of oil. With the propeller frozen in a flat position, Capt Jackson experienced difficulty controlling the aircraft and lost approximately 30 miles per hour speed. Approaching Lydd, Kent, England the ship was down to an altitude of 1,000 feet. Capt Jackson gave the crew the warning that they could bail out, as he was going to crash land the ship. Only one member decided not to ride out the ship, PFC Byron K. Allen, a member of the 4th Combat Camera Unit riding with the crew to take pictures of the mission, left the ship, but his parachute failed to open sufficiently at such a low altitude, and he was instantly killed upon striking the ground. The aircraft was losing altitude at an extremely fast rate and it became necessary to put it down on the first available resemblance of an airfield. With exceptional skill Capt Jackson crashlanded on an abandoned RAF field without further injury to his crew. The ship came to a stop and the crew got out, only to be greeted by a hail of 50 calibre bullets from a Spitfire overhead shooting at a passing buzz bomb.
("670th Bombardment Squadron (L) History")

General Orders No. 125, 12 July 1944, Purple Heart is awarded to: 670th Bombardment Squadron (L), Alfred H. Maltby, O-747669, Second Lieutenant, Air Corps, United States Army. For wounds received in action against an enemy of the United States on 5 July 1944, while serving as Bombardier-Navigator on an A-20 airplane on a combat operational mission over enemy occupied territory. Entered military service at Hastings, Florida.
(416th BG Purple Heart Awards (PDF))

See Mission # 90 for additional details