Personnel

CREW

DATE: 31 December 1944                  350th Sqdn.         A/C #43-38457 "NINE LIVES"



MISSION: Hamburg                             MACR #11359      Microfiche 4180



1st Lt William G.MacNab              P     KIA    31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

2nd Lt Nelson B.Vaughan          CP    KIA    31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

2nd Lt Charles J. Scott            NAV  FEH   moved up to Lead NAV (Flying at end of hostilities.)

F/O     Douglas S. Eden          BOM   FEH  moved up to Lead BOM (Flying at end of hostilities)  SN# 0-1997861

2nd Lt Jack Berkowitz             NAV POW  31 DEC 44 HAMBURG   From C.W. Wilson crew       SN# 0-777438

2nd Lt Raymond E.Comer, Jr.    BOM POW  31 DEC 44 HAMBURG    From C.W. Wilson crew

 T/Sgt Henry S.Ethridge           ROG  KIA   31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

 T/Sgt Joseph A.Chadwick        TTE POW  31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

 S/Sgt Edward L.Woodall,Jr.      BTG POW  31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

 S/Sgt Duane F.Rench                WG  KIA    31 DEC 44 HAMBURG

 Cpl Leno R. Delmolino                WG  Taken off Crew to reduce to nine men. 

 S/Sgt Francis J.Seyfried           TG KIA    31 DEC 44 HAMBURG



350th Sqdn.    Joined 100th on 26 AUG 1944. 

L.R. DeLmolino (original WG) grounded because of change from 10 to 9 men crew and no need at the time for "spare" gunners.  Became a Intelligence Specialists in the 351st. Charles J.Scott and Douglas S. Eden were replaced for the 31 Dec 1944 Hamburg mission by Jack Berkowitz and Raymond E. Comer, both from the Hong Kong Wilson crew and both became POWs. Scott and Eden moved up to Lead Navigator and Lead Bombardier after the crew's 16th mission and were flying at the end of hostilities.



EYEWITNESS: "At 1250 hours,19,000 feet,2 B-17's believed to be A/C 43-38457 and

             A/C 42-31987 pancaked together,circled and crashed,still attached to

             each other.Six chutes were seen before the A/C landed,most of them are

             believed to have fallen on land.There was no fire from the A/C in the

             air or on the ground although there was some smoke."



p.91/92 of CONTRAILS gives U8 a bit more graphic picture.  "Lt.W.MacNab was leading

the "C" Squadron low flight. Lt.G.Rojohn flew behind and high.In the fierce aerial

struggle,both MacNab and his co-pilot,Lt.N.Vaughan,had been wounded.Their ship rose

periously toward Rojohn's,who had moved in after Webster had been downed. A collision

seemed unavoidable.

There was a sickening thud as the planes made contact.They shuddered and locked, headed

out over the North Sea.The engines of MacNab's lower plane were smoking. Rojohn and his

co-pilot,Lt.W.Leek,immediately cut their engine switches,avoiding a probable

explosion.

The situation was something too fantastic for even Hollywood to simulate.The two planes

clung together as Rojohn and Leek battled the controls,and by sheer strength,managed

to slowly turn the eight enginied monstrosity toward land.

T/Sgt Chadwick bailed out while ths planes were still over water,but his chute fortun-

ately did not collapse,and he was washed ashose . . . S/Sgt. E.Woodall,also from MacNab's

ship ,landed in water and managed to reach shore. . . . . Chadwick was taken into

custody that night,together with navigator J.Berkwitz,bombardier R. Comer and Woodall.



Seven men,T/Sgt.O.Elkin,T/Sgt.E.Neuhaus,Sgt.J.Shirley,S/Sgts.J.Russo,R.Little,F.Chase,

and Lt.R.Washington bailed out of Rojohn's ship. . . . The fate of Russo,Little and

Chase was unknown



Rojohn and Leek continued to fight the controls,using the engines of the lower aircraft,

and rode the grafted bird in for a landing. There have been amazing stunts pulled in 

the colorful and courageous history of mans will to fly, from the days of Daedalus and Da Vinci 

to the days of the brother Wright and Billy Mitchell,but none more strangely heroic than the day Rojohn and Lesk safely

crash-landed their two planes pick-a-back on a field in North Germany."





MISSIONS OF CAPT. DOUGLAS S. EDEN (Lead and 350th Bomb Squadron Bombardier and Lead Navigator on 4 Chowhound Missions May 45)



1.     25/09/44   LUDWIGSHAVEN   A/C 338011   The Reluctant Dragon

2.     26/09/44   BREMEN               A/C 2102598 Super Rabbit

3.     27/09/44   MAINZ                 A/C 231991   Miss Chief

4.     28/09/44   MERSEBURG         A/C 2102958

5.       2/10/44   KASSEL

6.       3/10/44   NURNBURG

7.       5/10/44   HANDORF

8.       6/10/44   BERLIN

9.       9/10/44   MAINZ

10.    15/10/44  COLOGNE

11.    17/10/44  COLOGNE

12.    18/10/44  KASSEL

13.    22/10/44  MUNSTER

14.    26/10/44  HANOVER

15.      5/11/44  LUDWIGSHAVEN

16.    10/11/44  MAINZ (last mission flown with Macnab Crew, went to lead crew training)

17.    24/12/44  BIBLIS

18.    25/12/44  KAISERLAUTERN

19.    31/12/44  HAMBURG (Lead missions beginning with Hamburg)

20.      6/01/45  ANNWEILER

21.    10/01/45  COLOGNE

22.    14/01/45  DERBEN

23.    28/01/45  DUISBURG

24.    21/02/45  NURNBURG

25.    24/03/45  STEENWIJK

26.      9/04/45  MUNICH

27.    10/04/45  BURG-bei-MAGDEBURG

28.    17/04/45  AUSSIG





---> SUBMITTER INFORMATION

SUBMITTER: Elizabeth A Eden-Maguire

EMAIL: edenmagu@hotmail.com

PURPOSE: Report a website error

INTEREST: I am the veteran's child: 

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 503-492-2213



---> MESSAGE

Message:  My father is Douglas S. Eden, Maj (retired), USAF. He served as a bombadier under 1st Lt Wm G MacNab. You report my dad as moving to "Lead Nav" which is incorrect; he was moved to "Lead Bombadier." Also, you report his 18th mission on Kaiserslautern as being on 12/28/1944, which is incorrect. According to several sources, including your Missions database, that mission was sent out on 12/25/44.



When I was in my mid-teens, the USAF sent my family to Germany (Sembach AFB near Kaiserslautern, as a matter of fact). We lived off-base in Enkenbach for a time, and I remember a conversation between my dad and our German landlady. She was remembering the bombs dropping over she and her family on Christmas Day, 1944. As a teen, I barely recognized my dad's back stiffen or his color change. It was only later when he told me that only one "raid" had been sent out that Christmas Day way back in 1944--and he'd been the lead bombadier. Although I was a teenager, I recognized the implications immediately--if he hadn't actually dropped those bombs on her, he'd ordered them dropped.



I've never forgotten that conversation--two former "enemies" meeting face to face…and finding out we're all just people. I learned some things myself that day.



War is sometimes necessary. But war is never pretty, and there is sometimes no way to avoid innocents getting in the way.



Appreciating what the 100th Bomb Group did for our freedom,

Beth Eden-Maguire





CAPT. DOUGLAS EDEN AIR CORP HISTORY AND MISSION COMMENTS:



May 18, 44-Assigned Crew #5694, 2nd Lt MacNab's Crew

May 19, ’44 - Ardmore, Oklahoma, 222 CCTD GP II Sq’d 8 (Maj Angiers)

July 25, ’44 - Left Ardmore, Oklahoma

[delay en-route, 8 days]

Aug. 5, ’44 - Kearney, Nebraska

Aug. 15, ’44 - Left Kearney, Nebraska. Arrived: Grenier Field, Manchester, N.H.

Aug. 16, ’44 - Left the United States.

Aug. 16, ’44 - Goose Bay, Labrador.

Aug. 18, ’44 - Meeks Field, Iceland.

Aug. 19, ’44 - Arrived Valley (Holyhead) Wales.

Aug. 20, ’44 - Left Valley, Wales. Arrived 8th A.F. Replacement Depot (near Stone & Hanley)

Aug. 24, ’44 - Left 8th A. F. R.&R. Depot Arrived Diss.Thorpe Abbotts 100th Bomb Group 350th Squadron. 13 Combat Wing, 3rd Division.



MISSIONS:

(1) Sept. 25, ’44 - Ludwigshafen, Germany (mar. y’d.)

(2) Sept. 26, ’44 - Bremen, Germany (F. W. Aircraft plant)

(3) Sept. 27, ’44 - Mainz, Germany (mar. y’d.)

(4) Sept. 28, ’44 - Merseburg, Germany (oil)

(5) Oct. 2, ’44 - Kassel, Germany (tank factory)

(6) Oct. 3, ’44 - Ludwigsburg, Germany (airfield)

(7) Oct. 5, ’44 - Munster, Germany (airfield) (Handorf)*

(8) Oct. 5, ’44 - Berlin, Germany (engine factory)

(9) Oct. 9, ’44 - Weisbaden, Germany (ordanance) (Mainz)*

(10) Oct. 15, ’44 - Cologne, Germany (mar yd.)

(11) Oct. 17, ’44 - Cologne, Germany (mar yd.)

(12) Oct. 18, ’44 - Kassel, Germany (tank factory)

       Oct  20, ’44 - Awarded Air Medal. (dated 9 Oct)

(13) Oct. 22, ’44 - Munster, Germany (mar y’d)

(14) Oct. 26, ’44 - Hannover, Germany (mar. y’d.).

       Nov  1  '44 - LEAD BOMBARDIER

(15) Nov. 5, ’44 - Ludwigshafen, Germany (chemical)  -SEE LETTER "SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND" FOR STORY OF THIS MISSION

(16) Nov. 10, ’44 - Weisbaden, Germany (airfield) (Mainz)*

       Nov. 27, ’44 - Commissioned 2nd Lt.

(17) Dec. 24, ’44 - Biblis, Germany (airfield)

(18) Dec. 25, ’44 - Kaiserslautern, Ger. (mar yd) Led C (hit)

(19) Dec. 31, ’44 - Hamburg, Germany (mar yd) Led B (missed)

       Jan.   3, ’45 - Appointed Squadron Bombardier.

(20) Jan.   6, ’45 - Anwieler, Ger. (T.O.) Led GP (began as B) (hit)

(21) Jan. 10, ’45 -  (Koln)* Duisburg, Ger. (T.O.) Led Group (C& M to Koln) (hit)

(22) Jan. 14, ’45 - Derben, Ger. (underground oil) Led Group (hit)

(23) Jan. 28, ’45 - Duisburg, Ger. (RR bridge) Led Wing (hit)

       Feb.   5, ’45 - Appointed 1st Lt.

       Feb.   9, ’45 - Flak leave. Bournemouth, England [Rest leave, 8 days]

       Feb. 10, ’45 - Received 1st Lt.

(24) Feb. 21, ’45 - Nurnberg, Germany (mar y’d) Led Wind (P.F.F.) (hit)

       Mar. 22. ’45 - Orders for Captaincy.

       Mar. 24, ’45 - Received Captaincy.

(25) Mar. 24, ’45 - Steenwijk, Holland (airfield) Led C (hit)

(26) Apr.   9, ’45 - Munich, Austria (airfield) Led C (hit)

(27) Apr. 10, ’45 -BURG-bei-MAGDEBURG Germany (airfield) Led B (hit)

(28) Apr. 17  ’45 - Aussig, Czechslovakia (mar. y’d.) Led B (hit)



CHOWHOUND MISSIONS:

[1] May 2, ’45 – Amsterdam (food) Led Group (hit)

[2] May 3, ’45 – Alkmaar, Holland (food) Led Wing (hit)

[3] May 5, ’45 – Alkmaar, Holland (food) element lead (hit)

[4] May 7, ’45 – Amsterdam, Holland (food) element lead (hit)

May 8, ’45 – V.E. day