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Submit- Full
name
SCANLON, Thomas Joseph - Date of
birth
unknown -
Age
unknown - Place of
birth
Williamsville, Erie County, New York -
Hometown
Erie County, New York
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-800406 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Co-Pilot -
Unit
563rd Bombardment Squadron,
388th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
25 July 1943 - Place of
death
North Sea, west of Denmark
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-5907 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Wing and a Prayer
Destination: Hamburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the diesel engine works
MACR: 3120
More information
2nd Lt Thomas J. Scanlon attended college and was a clerk.He enlisted in New York City, New York on 28 March 1941.
The mission of the day was bombing the diesel engine works in Hamburg, but due to cloud cover the airfield of Rerik-Zweedorf was bombed.
The precise details as to the manner in which this airplane was lost are not very clear. No one of the returning crew members on the other aircraft in the group were certain of the last time they saw it. The only thing that is certainis that it bombed the target together with the rest of the formation. One crew reported it missing shortly after the formation had left the target. Another crew seemed to have felt that it broke away from the group as it passed the Danish west coast and headed to join a larger group. At that time it didn't seem to be in any particular trouble. However this airplane was last seen being attacked by enemy fighters. It is thought that the airplane must have went down in the North Sea somewhere west of the Danish peninsula. The fact that the remains of two crew members washed ashore makes it certain it crashed into the sea.
The entire crew of ten men was killed. Eight of them are still unaccounted for.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.388bg.org, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Public Records Index
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, SBTS emarches