384th BGHA - 2nd Lt. James Wesley Brown Jr. Crew

2nd Lt. James Wesley Brown Jr. Crew

Shot down: May 8, 1944

in the English Channel

B-17G 42-97081 (lower left) | Courtesy of 384thBombGroup.com⇗

On May 8, 1944, 2nd Lt. James Wesley Brown Jr. and his crew were flying the Group’s 103rd mission on board B-17G 42-97081⇗. Their target for the day was the V-Weapon Service Bunker in Sottevast, France.

Just after completing their bomb run (the final approach before dropping bombs on target), the aircraft was hit by multiple flak bursts that knocked out their oxygen system and tail wheel. Their #4 engine caught fire, and the left wing was left dangling. None of the crew had been injured during the ordeal.

2nd Lt. Carl Willliam Kuba (Bombardier), detailed in the Missing Air Crew Report⇗ that he then jettisoned the bombs over the English Channel to lighten the load. The crew had gotten the engine fire extinguished, and believed that they could make it back to base, but the lack of oxygen proved critical, and they had to drop down to 13,000 feet. At this point, flames shot from the left wing, and the intercom system had stopped working.

It was then that 2nd Lt. James Brown (Pilot), gave the order for the crew to bail out into the English Channel. 2nd Lt. Brown and 2nd Lt. Donald Vernon Chubb (Co-Pilot), remained at the controls until the end, ultimately going down with the aircraft to ensure their men had every possible second to escape.

As detailed in the Missing Air Crew Report: S/Sgt. George H. Yeager (Tail Gunner) was the seventh man to bail out. From his vantage point in the water, he witnessed the aircraft's final moments. He said, “The first explosion in the aircraft came when it was about 5 to 600 feet above the water. It went into a dive and then hit the water and sank. It came back up and another explosion occurred and it began burning, staying afloat for about 4 to 5 minutes.”

The struggle for survival in the freezing water was grueling. Sgt. Yeager also mentioned, “I had some difficulty in getting rid of my chute, as one side of it stuck... I pulled the cords on my Mae West and it inflated and then deflated. I began swimming about.” He further detailed that he had not seen any of his crewmates after landing in the water.

2nd Lt. Kuba followed shortly after as the eighth and final man out. He recounted his desperate moments after hitting the water: “I delayed opening my chute to prevent my drifting too far away from the rest of the crew... My clothing kept me warm and dry for a while, but as the water successively penetrated each garment, I discarded it. My fingers became numb, and I was unable to remove my coveralls.”

Though Spitfires circled overhead and dropped a dinghy, it landed too far away for anyone to reach. 90 minutes after the crew landed in the water, Air/Sea Rescue arrived; however, the bitter cold water had taken its toll, killing all but two of the crew.

Although the body of S/Sgt. Donald Reis (Waist Gunner) was recovered, the others were not, and they remain missing in action to this day. They are individually memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge, Normandy, and Ardennes American Cemeteries, ensuring their names and sacrifice are never forgotten.