B-24D Pelly-Can went down with all crew members after rammed by a B5M “Mable.”
“The three 319th planes were some ten
minutes ahead of the 380th contingent and we were separated by at least one
mile. I, Sanxter, was second in line and behind Roy as we had planned. The Nate
[sic, actually B5M1 "Mabel"] was seen by us, and I presume by Roy's
crew, as it climbed out from the Makassar air strip. Noticing the fixed gear
and only one plane we did not view it with any true alarm. The Jap climbed to
our altitude ahead of us then moved to the left as he passed behind our lead
plane, thus no attack was made on him. Suddenly the Nate turned sharply to his
left coming in behind Olsen and far in front of us. His maneuver was obviously
unfriendly but still we did not see any firing at him although he should have
been an easy target for the tail gunner or right waist gun as he approached the
B-24. In any case we were momentarily stunned to watch the Nate fly directly into
the wing of Roy's plane just outboard of the number four engine. Predictably
the wing came off as did one from the Nate with both going down together in
tight spirals. We didn't actually see the splash because we were now too busy
preparing for our bomb run ... The sight of Roy and crew going down was
particularly grievous to me because I had been the co-pilot of his crew from
Willow Run to Iron Range."
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