Unrecovered Eighth Air Force Crewmen Killed In Action Over The
North Sea, English Channel And Other Bodies of Water
Lowell L. Getz
Of the approximate 292,000 American men and women killed in direct
combat during World War II, the remains of approximately 73,400 were not
recovered. More than 26,000 Eighth Air Force flight crewmen were killed in action
during World War II. A majority of the planes of these crewmen were shot down
over land. The remains of most of those killed were recovered and subsequently
buried in American cemeteries in Europe or were returned to their families after the
war. This was not the case regarding those crewmen whose planes went down in
the North Sea and English Channel and other bodies of water. Some of these
crewmen were picked up by Air Sea Rescue and returned to England; others were
rescued by the Germans and became POWs. The remains of some of those killed
were recovered from the water either by the English or Germans. However, a large
proportion of the crewmen whose planes went down in the water, either went to
the bottom with their planes or were drowned and their remains never recovered.
Whereas there are records of those Eighth Air Force crewmen who were listed as
Missing In Action (later changed to Killed In Action), there is no compilation of the
crewmen who were lost in the various bodies of water and whose remains were
never recovered.
In this account I provide a listing of approximately 2,620 crewmen, whose
bodies were never recovered from the North Sea, English Channel and other bodies
of water in which their planes went down. The remains a few of those listed may
have been recovered and returned to their families, without the records being
corrected. It was not possible to identify such individuals. The entries are arranged
chronologically. For each crewman, I list name, serial number, date of loss of the
aircraft, bomb or fighter Group, body of water, Missing Air Crew Report (MACR)
number, aircraft number, and the unofficial aircraft name, if recorded. In respect o
names of the aircraft, some had more than one name; in these instances, I used the
last name given for the aircraft. Names of the aircraft are available mainly for the
heavy bombers (B-17s and B-24s). Names of only a few of the fighter planes are
available in the records.
For several long missions, the 354th and 363rd Fighter Groups of the Ninth Air
Force were loaned to the Eighth Air Force. Losses incurred by these two Groups
when on loan to the Eighth Air Force are included in this compilation.
To locate the record for a given individual, enter the last name in the search
box and the table will go to the line with that name and highlight the name. When
there is more than one crewman with the same last name, if the first one identified
is not the correct individual, keep tapping the “return” key until the correct
crewman is found. If you know the serial number of the crewman, enter that (for
officers, use capital “O” and a hyphen in from to the numbers), likewise for the
aircraft number and name. If you know only the date, scroll down until you find that
date and search the entries for name you want.
This list of unrecovered crewmen has been compiled from a number of
sources: The Mighty Eighth Combat Chronology and The Mighty Eighth Combat
Chronology Supplement (Paul M. Andrews and William H. Adams, Eighth Air Force
Memorial Museum Foundation, 1997); The Mighty Eighth (Roger A. Freeman,
Motorbooks International, 1991); The Mighty Eighth War Diary (Roger A. Freeman,
Motorbooks International, 1981); The Flying Fortress Story (Roger A. Freeman,
Arms & Armour Press, 1998); B-17 Nose Art Name Directory (Wallace R. Forman,
Phalanx Publishing Co., 1996); World War II Registry (wwiimemorial.com/);
American Battle Monuments Commission (http://www.abmc.gov/home.php); and
Missing Air Crew Reports, “MACRs” ( U. S. National Archives).
MACRs are available from the U. S. National Archives at College Park, MD
(8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 220740-6001) and on-line when subscribe to
Fold3.com. MACRs typically contain for bombers: “loading list” of all crewmen on
the plane, including rank and position on the plane; fate of each crewman; list of
next of kin and address; statements of crewmen in other aircraft in the formation as
to what they observed regarding fate of the aircraft and number of parachutes
observed to come from the plane; if there were survivors, there may be statements
as to what went on as the plane went down and what was observed regarding other
crewmen. There may be a map showing the approximate location of where the
aircraft went down. Some MACRs include German records of crewmen that were
recovered, alive or dead. For fighter pilots: rank; next of kin and address;
observations of other pilots in the Group regarding what happened to the pilot and
aircraft; and sometimes a map with an approximate location of where the aircraft
went down.