A very wet and windy trip to Barmouth to meet some new friends with Tricia so
dropped in a walk up to the crash site of B-17G 44-8639 from the 511th
bomb squadron , 351st bomb group which struck the slopes of Craig Cwm
Llwyd near Barmouth North Wales on the 8th of June 1945 .
The plane
flying to RAF Valley from Polebrook with a full crew and 10 passengers
returning home after the cessation of hostilities arrived in the area
just below a 900 ft cloud base the pilot 1st Lt H.R.Hibbard asked
for a QDM to Valley but unfortunately turned on a reciprocal bearing
finding himself heading into the estuary at Barmouth the pilot turned
right to avoid the mountains but sadly the bomber hit Craig Cwm Llwyd at
1100 ft with the tragic loss of all 20 souls on board .At the site today there is a sizable burn area littered with small remains and below is a very nice memorial placed on the mountain by local aviation historian Matthew Rimmer .
Crew lost =
1st Lt H.R.Hibbard
Cpt J.C.Robinson
Technical.Sgt M. Marksheid
Cpt J.A.Glover
Master Sgt J.Q.Montgomery
Staff Sgt S.A.Caruso
Technical .Sgt L.A.F.Rhein
Technical.Sgt K.W.Craumer
Staff Sgt R.E.Smith
Staff Sgt T.O.Smith
Sgt D.I.Rapoport
1st Lt R.E.Higley
Technical Sgt P.Lucyk [ DFC ]
Technical Sgt M.Lemewski
Corp C.G.Pool
Sgt S.R.Coons
Sgt B.P.Dobbs
Sgt J.D.Leasure
Sgt E.R.Birtwell
Sgt C.F.Devaney
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