“A NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK”--- FOR SURE!!The missing aircraft report says, “following a 30 mm cannon hit to #4 engine from a single ME 262 approaching from 7 o’clock, the plane remained on fire, under good control, 8 chutes were counted and the plane entered the clouds”. This was the wind-up of my 19th mission on April 7, 1945 flying as Bombardier on Bill Kotta’s crew #75 in the 570th Squadron. It was a particularly active day for German “Bandit” activity. Our plane was hit (coordinates 5248-0880) as we approached the I.P. in a sweeping left turn to the north of Hanover and Celle enroute to the target in Neumunster .Neumunster was the secondary target for the day. Following safe parachute landings for all 9 crew members, we were taken prisoner in a radius of 10 miles or so in the area of Celle and Bergen, Germany. With valuable help recently from the Research Staff at the museum in Tucson, combined with the internet, we have learned the fate and location of the final resting place for Square J 225, after doing its job for 55 missions. There was an excitement and satisfaction in a cold telephone call I received on the morning of June 26, 2002. An obviously friendly lady living in Boulder, Colorado called me. She wanted to confirm that I was on the crew of a B- 17 shot down near Hanover, Germany on April 7, 1945. Mrs. Monika Meile was born in Germany and came to the United States about 50 years ago, became a citizen and never went back until this past year. While over there, she had the assistance of a young man (age32) named Matthias Baars. Matthias is Chairman of a local area historical society. He has a strong interest in WWI1 and had developed a curiosity about actual pieces of a B- 17 that had crashed into a barn nearby during the war and were on display in the local museum. He asked her help with his attempts to locate the air crew from the plane which had crashed in Brunkensen, a 400 person sub-division of the town of Alfeld, about 35 miles southeast of where we had bailed out. The serious fire in the right wing apparently overcame the integrity of the wing structure and the plane crashed minus the wing which blew up and disintegrated. Matthias describes this as, “they did not find the right flight surface” after the crash which must have dropped off between Celle and Brunkensen. The crash observer reportedly recovered a piece of paper and a pair of coveralls, each with crew member Howard L. Johnson’s name on them. Mr. Baars interest continued and thru investigation via the internet he eventually encountered the 390th Bomb Group and with the Airplane Number 44-8225 located the correct Howard L. Johnson as Radio Operator, Crew #75, that was shot down on April 7. With the assistance of Carolyn Beaubien, our museum research volunteer, the crash was confirmed for this aircraft and he was provided with names of the entire crew and their present addresses, etc., for those that are presently museum members. To assist him with the translations and U.S. contacts he e–mailed Mrs. Meile and asked her assistance in making a connection. Alphabetically my name was first on the list so she called me “out of the blue”, so to speak, on June 26 and confirmed that I was a member of the crew on the crashed plane. We all greatly appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the 390th Museum Staff for their help to our new found German friend. Matthias Baars and Mrs. Meile in Boulder, Colorado. The remaining four, Messrs Bowler, Detwiler, Gillmore and Johnson and their wives participated in a long planned mini reunion in Park City, Utah from July 6 thru July 10 and the information via e-mail and telephone from Germany and Colorado could not have been more timely. All in all, a very successful get together for 4 old men after finally locating the “Missing Needle”. Hopefully the German Museum will part with a piece of old Square J 225 for each of us, for a truly great souvenir. Jim Bowler |