Personnel

CREW



2ND LT JOSEPH H. RAINE                  P KIA   11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

2ND LT ALBERT H. WYNKOOP          CP RFS   (busted eardrum on second mission, sent stateside)

2ND LT HOWARD J. KALBACH, JR     NAV KIA    11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

2ND LT  PHILIP D. PITTS                 BOM KIA   11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

T/SGT VINCENT S. LINGUANTI         ROG KIA   11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

T/SGT WALTER F. JORGENSEN         TTE POW 11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

S/SGT ELMER L. FARNSWORTH         BTG KIA   11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

S/SGT EDWARD WEINSTEIN           WG POW 11 SEP 44 RUHLAND Died of wounds as a POW

S/SGT JOHN C. MEACHAM                TG POW 11 SEP 44 RUHLAND

SGT PHIL J. SCUDDER                    BTG CPT  REMOVED  FROM CREW AT CREW REDUCTION TO NINE;

                                                                          ASSIGNED MEDIUM  BOMBERS AND FLEW 32 MISSIONS.



350TH SQDN.. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH ON 02 AUG 1944.. 

LT LEW E. WALLACE (FROM LT HANSEN CREW) WAS FLYING CP ON 11 SEP 44 AND BECAME A POW.

A/C flown LN-O 43-38047, INNOCENT BYSTANDER. 



Missions flown by Lt Joseph H. Raine and Crew:



#        DATE               TARGET                        A/C # & NAME



1.     24/8/44             RUHLAND                      2102657, LN-Y Boss Lady

2.     25/8/44             POLITZ                         338043,   LN-T

3.     26/8/44             BREST                          46297,     LN-X Spirit of Pittwood

4.     30/8/44             BREMEN                        2102695, LN-F

5.      3/9/44              BREST                          338047,  LN-O Innocent Bystander

6.      8/9/44              MAINZ                          338047,  LN-O Innocent Bystander

7.      9/9/44              DUSSELDORF                 338047,  LN-O Innocent Bystander

8.    10/9/44              NURNBURG                    338047,  LN-O Innocent Bystander

9.    11/9/44              RUHLAND                      338047,  LN-O Innocent Bystander (SHOT DOWN)



Lt Philip D. Pitts joined the army in 1942 and passed his Officers Candidate School exam in 1943 becoming a 2nd Lt. From there he went to the USAAF Bombardier School in Deming, New Mexico and received his Bombardier Wings on March 19, 1944.  He joined the Crew of Lt Raine and were sent overseas and Stationed  with the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts, England on August 2, 1944.  His Crew was shot down on their 9th mission on September 11, 1944 to Ruhland, Germany.  The Crew was flying 338047,  Innocent Bystander.  Lieutenant Pitts was to  receive the Air Medal  on Sept 15, 1944 at 7pm if he had lived, instead the Air Medal and the Purple Heart (1998) were awarded posthumously.

         From Marion D. Pitts (brother of Lt Pitts)  



"Lt Raine was flying off left wing of Capt Giles and his ship simply exploded, killing Lt Raine and 4 of his crew. All 9 aircraft of the 100th BG "C" Group (Low) were 350th BS aircraft.  All 9 were lost on this mission and the Group lost 12 aircraft total this day.  The Group was hit that day by an enemy force estimated at over 500 fighters  They hit the 100th BG in 3 waves coming out of the sun.  They overwhelmed the low Group tearing the 350th apart, knocking 6 planes out of the lead squadron."  MACR 8815



JORGENSEN WALTER F 350TH SQDN, (TTE), (POW) 47 TAMARACK TRAIL SARATOGA NY 12866



Subj: Lt. Pitts (2)  

Date: 11/20/2001 11:43:45 PM Pacific Standard Time 

From: Zdiarsky@LF.CZU.CZ 

To: karen_pitts_20895@yahoo.com 

CC: MPFaley@aol.com 

Sent from the Internet (Details) 

 

Dear Karen S. Pitts,



Mike Faley, the photo archivist of the 100th BG Foundation forwared me

your request. My name is Jan Zdiarsky and I am a director of the

museum especially dedicated to the air battle in which your uncle was

killed. Our museum is in my hometown Kovarska, in Czech Republic,

Europe. Our town was a centre of the battle. I am researching over 17

years on the history of the Ruhland mission and the battle of 11th

September 1944. We have already good knowledge about the battle since

all that time. As you probably know, from the plane 047 of your uncle

survived only three men. I have contact with two of them. The first is

my good friend Lew E. Wallace, the replacement copilot. The second is

Cowan Meacham, the tail gunner.



By our research we can see, the plane crashed near of Tellerhäuser,

Germany, which is about 10 miles from my home, killing most of the

crew. Your uncle and other were buried in Oberwiesenthal, then in

Neudorf, Germany. After the war they were transported to American

military cemetery in continental Europe. Now is most of the crew of

Lt. raine buried together on the national Cemetery in Jefferson

Barracks in St. Louis. in summer 2000 I visited your country and I

visit also their common grave on the National Cemetery and placed them

a flower.



Last year I also visited your national Archives where I was 

researching about original German reports, written when they captured

airmen, found crashed planes or found any killed airmen. There I found

also a dogtag and some personal socuments which Germans taken away from

him when they found him dead, also as other information. If you wish,

I can send you copies and photos which I made on archives. I can also

send you for your information statements of crewmen of your uncle.

Exist also a possibility to made contact of you and Lew Wallace or/and

Cowan Meacham.



Dear Lady, please send me your address, I would like send you the

publication which I wrote about that battle (it is in English).



I would also very like invite you to visit our museum and possibly

also the crashsite where the your uncle died. The site we found about

three years ago.



I would very glad to learm a little more about you and family 

of Lt. Pitts, who is very important for our research, as I hope you

understand. I would very glad invite any information about him,

photos, etc.



Very sincerely, Jan Zdiarsky

director of the museum



 karen_pitts@nlm.nih.gov

Tele: (301)402-6155  

 Karen S. Pitts 

National Library of Medicine

History of Medicine Division 

8600 Rockville Pike 

Bethesda, MD 20894