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416th Bombardment Group (L) No Report August 5, 1944, Saturday
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416th Bombardment Group (L) No Report August 5, 1944, Saturday
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Aircraft Serial Number (Type): 43-9220 (Douglas A-20G-25-DO Havoc)
9th AF; 416th Bomb Gp; 671st Bomb Sq Mission # 114; Box: II; Flight: 2; Position: 4; A/C Fuselage Code: 5C-E Reason: Enemy anti-aircraft Damage: Crash Belly Landing, Battle damage Point Of Departure: AAF-170 Wethersfield RAF Station, England Location: Normandy
Description: Lt Perkins' plane was hit by flak southeast of Caen and had one [engine] shot out. When he tried to crash-land on the Normandy beach head, he couldn't get the wheels down. He made a perfect belly landing, however, and none of his crew were injured. (416th BG History 1944) Lt. Perkins in #220 received the brunt of it. His right engine was conked out and a piece of flak had punctured one of his wing tanks. Unable to make it back to England, he made a forced landing in Normandy, completely washing out the ship. He and his crew, S/Sgt. Sherry and S/Sgt. Linneman were unhurt, and will be returning soon in a Transport plane. Perkins Returns from France with A Story Lt. Ronald Perkins and his gunners, S/Sgt. Sherry and S/Sgt. Linneman returned from Normandy on August 7th, and the crew had quite a story to tell. It seems that the flak not only put a hole in the wing tank and knocked the right engine out, but also affected the left landing gear. Lt. Perkins did a great job of landing the ship. He brought it down on a landing strip with one engine and one gear down. The plane spun around several times when it hit, completely washing it out. The crew stepped out unhurt, except for a shaking up. "We're lucky to be alive", Lt. Perkins said on his return... and the next day he ran off another mission. There's just no way of keeping the 671st crews down! ("671st Unit History by Jim Kerns" (PDF)) See Mission # 114 for additional details |