#10 OTHER ARMY AIR CORPS CREWS AT ZACHARY TAYLOR

This B-17, 42-30859, named “Skylark,” was assigned to the 96^th Bomb Group, 413^th Squadron. The crew was killed in a mid-air collision on January 29, 1944. They were buried on September 26, 1949 in Section E Plot 158-159 at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

1/Lt Louis C. Kandl, Pilot Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

2/Lt Brandin J. Britt, Copilot Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

1/Lt Albert Combs, Bombardier Golden Gate National Cemetery

2/Lt Robert W. Stanton, Navigator Golden Gate National Cemetery

T/Sgt Edward J. Knapp, Top Turret Gunner Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

T/Sgt Robert J. Scanlon, Radio Operator Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

S/Sgt Theodore E. Brown, Gunner POW

S/Sgt Aaron E. Shoop, Gunner Buried in Montana

S/Sgt Charles E. Harbaugh, Tailgunner POW

The crew did not return from this mission due to a mid-air collision over Germany in an air battle on the way back from the target. Two members of the "Skylark" crew survived and were taken P.O.W. They spent 12 months in Stalag Luft III, then 3 months in Stalag VIIA. They were liberated on April 29, 1945, by General George Patton's armored division and returned to the U.S. in May of 1945. The remains of the rest of the crew were located and returned to the U.S. in 1948. Four were interred in a military cemetery in Kentucky and the other 2 were interred by their families.

By Charles Harbaugh:

In January of 1944 the crew of "Sky Lark" was assigned the position of squadron leader. On the morning of January 29, 1944 after being briefed and assigned the target of Frankfurt, during the warm up and preflight inspection of the aircraft, a mechanical problem developed. While the problem was being rectified by the ground crew, the squadron took off with the normally second plane in the lead. By the time our plane was air worthy and we caught up with the assembling group, it was too late to take over the lead and we filled in farther back in the formation.

After the bombs were dropped through a hole in the overcast (undercast to us) on what we thought was Frankfurt we turned for home base. No friendly escort fighters appeared, but scores of German fighters did. They attacked the formation and tried to dive through the formation, a tactic used to loosen the defensive fire power and get a bomber on the side by itself.

All of a sudden I heard over the intercom, "Look out", then a crash and I was in the tail section alone, and the rest of the plane was gone. I had little trouble freeing myself but when I jumped and rolled over to open my parachute the tail section was following me down at nearly the same rate of speed I was falling. I waited as long as possible to open my parachute and somehow the parachute missed the tail section and we landed seconds apart in a small field. The tail section was not more than 200 Staff Sergeant Theodore D. Brown, the right waist gunner, was thrown out of the plane when it was broken in two at the waist. He was wearing his chute and landed safely.

After returning home after the war he was interrogated about the crash.

Theodore Brown:

"The collision happened at about 11:45 Greenwich Time at an altitude of 23,000 feet on the way home near Belgium. Besides me only the tailgunner could bail out; he was in the tail which had been separated. On the ground I met two crew members of the other plane, the bombardier and one of the waist gunners.

Our pilot Kandl didn't bail out. He was caught in the ship. My last contact with him was during the usual interphone conversation. When I saw him last he was not injured. I think he must have been trying to straighten the ship out also he must have known the tail was off. The controls were out and the ship was falling.

Ball turret gunner also didn't bail out, his chute was outside the ball. He was

not injured but trapped in the ball. I think the ball turret was cut off and could only be worked manually. The ship was falling and spinning and he couldn't get out off the ball.

Top turret gunner Knapp saw the wing ship coming toward us and started to warn the pilot but it was too late. The ship went into a dive and he was not wearing his chute and must have been trapped in the ship.

I saw Shoop, left waist gunner, the last time before I bailed out. He didn't wear his chute and I asked him if he wanted to put his chute on and he shook his head "no". Germans reported him dead. I think he either went out without a chute or stayed in the ship. I personally think he went out. The slipstream was cutting the ship and he stood near to the edge.

Due to the crash of the other ship colliding with ours and breaking ours in two, radio operator Scanlon may have fell against something in the radio room and lost conciousness and did not got out."

Charles Harbaugh about his capture:

"At the edge of a field there was a line of trees, about 50 yards long, behind another field and then a hill. I threw my chute into the tail section debris, passed the first field and hid under the trees. When I heard a search party approaching I left the trees on the other side to run across the second field toward the hills. Reaching the middle of the field, I saw a German soldier riding a motor bike around the edge of the line of trees. He shouted "Halt!" and I stopped at once. He rode to me and I became his prisoner. He asked for the chute, so we went back to the tail and took it. I wore my .45 pistols but didn't even think of pulling it. Furthermore the soldiers wore a weapon. He told me to walk on and showed the direction, so I walked. And he followed with his

motor bike. The time must have been about noon."

"I was taken to a small village a short distance away. Times and distances are

deceptive, especially after all these years. I do remember a column of smoke rising from the other side of a hill and what sounded like ammunition exploding in the fire. That evening one or two others and myself were taken by truck to a place where we met other American flyers and were kept over night. That is were I met Ted Brown, our waist gunner. He was thrown from the plane but had his chute on and was uninjured as was I. He drifted several kilometers away on the way down. "

"The next day we were put on a train and taken to the Dulag Interrogation Center in Frankfurt. After having been bombed a day or two before it is needless to say the civilians were not happy. We were protected by the army guards and were not mistreated at any time. After being interrogated by the Luftwaffe I was taken by train to Stalag Luft III near Sagan. I was in custody until January of 1945 when the Russians were moving into Germany from the east. At that time we were moved out and taken to Stalag VII A where I was liberated April 29, 1945.

I have never been able to get in touch with Theodore D. Brown. The remains of the crew members were returned to the U.S. in the late forties. I was notified by the War Department and attended the internment at a National Cemetery and met their next of kin but Brown did not attend and no one knew his whereabouts then."