Loading List 1, Box I




Loading List 2, Box II
(Note Changes to Boxes and Flights)




Primary Target area around MBS Coordinate (NGZ) wL242885
Extracted from GSGS-4416/AMS-M641 Sheet S1 - "Bonn" 1:100:000 Military Topographic Map
(Downloaded from Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939,
GSGS 4416 / AMS M641, 651, 671 Germany, Poland, Middle Danube 1:100,000,
Bonn sheet)
(Note: This coordinate and map display represent the Primary Target Location, the Location actually attacked may differ)
(Annotated Full Map PDF)

Missing Air Crew Reports, Aircraft Accident Reports, and other incidents

Date	Report		A/C Serial # Type	Mis- sion #	Bomb Sq	Location	Personnel (Status when available)
Dec 25, 1944 Monday	MACR 11667		43-22317 A-26B	177	668	Losheim, Germany	Svenson, Robert Ross (MIA, KIA) Fild, Philip G. (MIA, KIA)
Dec 25, 1944 Monday	MACR 11668		43-21717 A-20J	177	668	Losheim, Germany	Prentiss, Richard Burr (MIA, KIA) Bursiel, Francis Harold (MIA, KIA) Brown, Daniel Miller (MIA, KIA) Wylie, Alvin Orr (MIA, KIA)

To view more information regarding an Incident/Report, click on the Report hyperlink.
( = Entries having actual Reports available for review.   = Entries having additional Images or Photos.)
To view an individual's Memorial page, click on the "Name" hyperlink.

Included are Box, Flight and Position; Bomb Squadron; Aircraft Serial Number, Fuselage Code and Model; and Crew Members
transcribed from individual mission Loading List documents by Chris and Mary Adams and Carl Sgamboti.
Some information, such as Squadron, Serial Number, etc. has been expanded from other documents.

Group and Unit Histories

Mission # 177 -- December 25, 1944, Monday PM
Hillesheim, Germany -- Railroad Junction

"416th Bombardment Group (L) - Group History 1944"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

The afternoon mission was again a costly one. The target was a railroad junction at Hillesheim. None of the flights were able to identify the target through the haze that covered it. Instead, a casual target was selected by three of the five flights. One flight scored excellent results on the town of Pelm, south of the primary. A second flight scored good results on the town of Fousdork; the third, excellent results on Gereisten where a group of buildings adjoining the railroad tracks were destroyed. A malfunction in the release mechanism prevented one of the flights from bombing. The other flight, the lead flight in the formation, did not bomb when the formation leader was shot down. The formation was subjected to intense accurate heavy flak from a point just over the bombline to the target and back to that first point. The formation leader's plane was hit by flak between the I.P. and the target. It lost the left wing and went spinning to the earth, crashing near the town of Resheim. One chute was seen. The crew consisted of Captain R.B. Prentiss, Lt F.H. Bursiel, Staff Sergeant D.M. Brown, and Sergeant A.O. Wylie. The number two plane in Captain Prentiss' flight was shot down shortly after. One engine was smoking as the plane fell earthward and exploded near Losheim. No chutes were seen. The pilot of this plane, An A-26 Invader, was Lt R.R. Svenson; his gunner, Staff Sergeant P.G. Fild. Both crews are listed as MIA. Fourteen other planes received category "A" damage and three, category "AC" damage. Captain Prentiss, Lt Bursiel, B-N, led the first box; Captain Harrold, Lt Brewer, B-N, led the second box.

"Attack Bombers, We Need You! A History of the 416th Bomb Group"
Ralph Conte
Pages 182 - 183

Mission #177 - 25 December - PM - Hillshelm. Captain Prentiss and Lt. Burseil, BN led Box I with Major Price and Lt. Hand, BN leading Box II. Price was scheduled to lead this formation, but had a problem taking off. Prentiss took the lead. Other flight leaders were Lts. Brown and Kerns, BN, Lt. Svenson was flying deputy to Box I leader. Reaching the target, heavy accurate flak hit Prentiss' ship as well as his right wing man and his deputy. All planes went down with no chutes seen opening. They crashed with none escaping. Flak damaged almost all the planes. The gunner in Prentiss' ship S/Sgt Brown was on his last mission and was slated to return to the states. Major Price and Lt. Buchunan had to land away from base. Our fighter escorts held Luftwaffe planes from attacking our formation. Christmas 1944 was not a good day for the group. We lost four ships and crews and 39 aircraft were severely damaged. Like Captain Miracle, Lt. Zubon a West Point Grad. flew his 65th mission the morning of Christmas.

Early in the morning of 27 December, at 0100 an air raid alert sounded. Everybody who could hear, or awaken, jumped in the fox holes. After thirty minutes with no action, all retuned to their sacks. About five minutes later, machine gun fire and cannon shots were heard, and everybody jumped back into the foxholes, in their underwear, covering themselves up as a strafing job by German fighters, raked the field for about ten minutes. No casualties or damage was reported. It was determined that someone had lit a flare near one runway, luring the planes toward our field, and the strafing began.

Plans were drawn up in the event of an emergency evacuation. The group stands on strict alert, with doubling of the guards. Also, foxholes were manicured and cleaned out, just in case. All personnel were confined to base for a two week period.

"668th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

Christmas 1944 proved, ironically enough, the most disastrous day in the Squadron's history. Through cloudless skies, our aircraft participated in two highly successful missions against supply points behind the Ardennes salient. Intense accurate hostile ground fire was encountered on both sorties. The following personnel failed to return and are missing in action Capt. Richard V. Miracle, Capt. Richard B. Prentiss, 1st Lt. Jack J. Burg, 1st Lt. Francis H. Bursiel, 1st Lt. Robert R. Svenson, S/Sgt. Daniel M. Brown, S/Sgt. Arthur F. Galloway, S/Sgt. Phillip G. Fild, S/Sgt. John R. Simmonds and Sgt. Alvin C. Wylie.

Captains Miracle and Prentiss were original combat pilots of the Squadron. Captain Miracle, West Point graduate of the class of '42, was an able and respected officer on the threshold of a promising military career. Captain Prentiss, veteran of many hours of antisubmarine patrol in the Caribbean, and was a Flight Commander whose professional skill and wide experience will be sorely missed. Lieutenants Burg and Bursiel had both outstanding records as bombardiers, and they, as well as Lt. Svenson, were nearing the completion of their operational tours. S/Sgt. Fild was on the last mission of his combat tour.

"669th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

Christmas Day arrived, but there was no "Peace on Earth" for the enemy. Two missions were flown by the Group.

In the morning a road junction in the center of the town of Munstereifel was attacked. Only one flight was able to pick up the target, but they scored superior results, cutting the roads and blocking others when the surrounding buildings were destroyed by the bombs. Captain Stebbins, Lieutenant Calloway, B-N, leading a flight, bombed the town of Krimm with superior results, severely damaging a marshalling yard and cutting a highway. Lieutenant Blomgren, Lieutenant G.G. Johnson, B-N, bombed the town of Kronenburgerhutte when they could not locate the primary target. They severly damaged the main highway and nearby buildings. On the bomb run Lieutenant K.W. Kehoe's plane was hit by flak. Although the plane was burning, he continued on to the target and dropped his bombs with his flight. The plane broke away from the formation and went down burning; it crashed just before it reached the bomb-line. No chutes were seen. Lieutenant Kehoe and his gunner, Corporal R.F. Graham, are listed as MIA. The flak ranged from moderate accurate to intense accurate on the bomb run and over the target. Almost half of the formation suffered battle damage. The plane flown by Lieutenant W.J. Greene, on his 65th mission, was hit by flak in the right engine on the bomb run. He stayed with the formation, dropping his bombs on the target. By superior flying, despite injuries to his face from broken glass from a shattered windshield, he brought the plane back to a friendly base where he crash-landed it. His observer, Lieutenant J.L. Britt, was also wounded in the face by glass. Both Lieutenant Greene and Lieutenant Britt were awarded the PURPLE HEART.

In the afternoon of the same day, our planes took off to bomb another well-defended target, a railroad junction at Hillesheim, Germany. The formation encountered intense accurate heavy flak from the moment it crossed the bomb line until it came out. Again half of the planes in the formation suffered battle damage. Lieutenant McQuade, Captain DeMun's B-N, was unable to identify the primary target and chose a road junction in the town of Pelm. The bombs scored excellent results. Lieutenant Cornell's B-N, Lieutenant Enman, also chose another target, the town of Feusdorf, which he bombed with telling results. Although two planes were lost, neither was from our Squadron.

"670th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

Christmas Day of 1944 was different from others we had spent. There was the Christmas tree in the mess hall brightly decorated. There was the fine turkey dinner which Staff Sergeant Payton's men prepared so well. There was candy and fruit cake from home. There was even the radio blaring out with "White Christmas" and "Silent Night". But it was not like other Christmases we had spent. Thoughts were thousands of miles from Army Air Force Station A-55 that day. Two missions on Christmas Day kept everyone busy. The first was an attack on the Munsteriefel communications center and the town itself. Only one flight was able to pick up the target and achieved superior results. Another flight picked up another target and bombed it. This was the town of Krimm with its important marshalling yard and highway, which were severely damaged. A third flight hit the town of Kronenburgerhutte. Moderate to intense, heavy accurate flak followed the formation from the bomb-line to the target area and knocked down one of the planes of the 668th Squadron. The formation suffered heavy flak damage on this mission. The afternoon mission was an attack on the defended village of Hillsheim in which six of our crews took part. Although the primary target could not be picked up, heavy damage was scored on three secondary targets. They were the towns of Pelm, Fousdork, and Gereisten in Germany. Again the formation was subjected to intense accurate heavy flak from the bomb-line to the target and returning to the bomb-line.

"671st Bomb Squadron (L) Unit History"
Gordon Russell and Jim Kerns

Afternoon Mission

Due to the heavy damage on the morning attack, only 31 aircraft were dispatched in the afternoon. The planes were airborne at 1400. Major Price was supposed to lead the formation, but his plane failed on take-off and Captain Prentiss took over the lead of the second box. This time the target was the defended village of Hillsheim. Intense accurate heavy flak was encountered from Waimes to the target and back to Waimes enroute out. Captain Prentiss and his wingman, Lt. Svenson, were both shot down on the bomb run amid an intense barrage of accurate flak. Crews reported two chutes to have opened.

The bombardiers were unable to pick out the primary due to the weather and the confusion that resulted when the first two aircraft were shot down. Three flights hit targets near to the primary. Lt.Brown and Lt. Kerns led the 671st flight and bombed a railroad in a nearby town.

Again luck was with the 671st Bomb Squadron and all their ships returned, but not without battle damage.

This was the final mission for S/Sgt.Robert J. Mahoney who chalked up No. 51 with Lt. Brown. Mahoney, who joined the Squadron as a replacement flew the majority of his missions Lt.R.H.Smith who finished his tour last month.

[December 25, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map Map showing Western Allies and Axis troop position details in Western Europe as of approximately 1200 hours, December 25, 1944 World War II Military Situation Maps Collection Library of Congress

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