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How It Looked From The Airplane by Joe Zippilli - 766th Bomb Squadron The mission (13 April 1944 - Duna A/C Factory, Budapest, Hungary) report was accurate in describing the collision of our aircraft in the number 4 position and that of Lt. Baumans. I was in the upper turret facing aft when I heard a muffled explosion I looked over my left shoulder and saw that a portion of the left wing of Lt. Bauman's had been blown away and the remaining portion of the wing was a ball of fire. The lift on the right wing caused it to rise and flip over in an upside down attitude. It then began losing altitude and the right wing came down and smashed the upper turret Plexiglas dome. Our plane then began to lose altitude. Lt. George Reed, our navigator, who was seated at the radio table when the collision occurred pulled on my leg and signaled to me to bail out, which I proceeded to do, and Lt. Reed followed immediately thereafter. The other crew members had also been ordered to bail out. At Stalag Luft III when I was able to rehash the events with Lt Reed he advised me that when Lt. Bauman's plane collided with ours the propeller from the right wing of that plane had cut through the fuselage at the co-pilots position striking Lt. Owens. It was Lt. Reed's belief that Lt. Owens was killed instantly and never left the aircraft. I have no first hand information regarding Lt. Mowery. However, one of our crew, and I can't recall who it was, said that his chute failed to open. If that be the case, it can be assumed he was killed on impact. The balance of the crew bailed out successfully, including Lt. Philip Caroselli. The eight surviving members of the crew and Lt. Caroselli were interned in Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp in Sagan, Germany, until late January 1945 when we were forced marched several days in the snow, then put in cattle cars and taken to Stalag VII, in Moosburg, Germany, from which we were liberated on 29 April 1945 by the 14th Armored Division. Shortly after the end of the war Lt. Mowery's body was returned to the United States and was buried at his home town of Dillsburg, PA. I and two or three other crew members attended the funeral. In the summer of 1958 my wife and I visited Lt. Reed in Lawville, NY where he was practicing law in his father's law firm. One week after our visit Lt. Reed and the pilot of a Piper Cub were killed as the plane crashed shortly after take-off. My wife and I attended the funeral. |
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