31 July 2010

Remains of Second World War US Airmen Found?

The wreckage of a downed B24 bomber recently discovered in the Adriatic Sea may contain the remains of US airmen MIA since 1944.
Gerald Landry, 73, spent the best part of three decades looking for the bomber pilot shot down by the Luftwaffe in December 1944.

Now, in a remarkable discovery, artefacts recovered from the bottom of the Adriatic Sea near Croatia could confirm the death of First Lt Russell Landry.

Lt Landry was part of an 800-strong force of Allied fighter pilots sent to bomb oil refineries in Blechhammer and Odertal, Germany.

However, Luftwaffe fighters supporting the German army at the Battle of the Bulge fended off the attack, shooting down 22 planes in just ten minutes.

One of the lead bombers, the Tulsamerican, was seriously damaged and crashed into the Adriatic while attempting to return to its Italian base.

Seven of the ten men on board were rescued by local fisherman and picked up by a British rescue ship. The three others were never seen again and the aircraft was lost.

That was until now. Dramatic pictures taken last month reveal the plane, covered in plant life, resting on the seabed where it has been for 66 years.

By: Shelldrake

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