Delivered at Cheyenne, Wyoming 2nd April 1943. Assigned to the 545th Bombardment Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group 28th May 1943, at RAF Grafton Underwood.

The Inferno was assigned to 10 missions during its time with the 384th, earning combat credit for 7 of them.

#42-3231 The Inferno flew its final mission on 12th August 1943 while on a mission targeting the Synthetic Fuel Hydrogenation Plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This mission was the 384th Bomb Group’s 14th combat mission and the Eighth Air Force’s 81st mission. Numerous aborts and losses on this mission meant the formation had difficulty in coming together effectively, and an attack on the primary target was abandoned. Military targets of opportunity were attacked as the formation left the target area.

The Inferno was flying lead in the second element of the low squadron when, for an unknown reason, the aircraft was seen to slip away from the formation.  Now isolated from the safety the formation offered, they were attacked by six or seven enemy fighters on their left side. The pilot, Capt. Carrington, deliberately turned the aircraft to face the enemy fighters, and pulled the nose up so that the ball turret gunner could fire at them. An intense fire ensued in the bomb bay, and with the aircraft now doomed, the order was given to bail out.

The Inferno crashed at Erfstadt, near Liblar, Germany.

2Lt. Jesse Hausenfluck, who was also flying in the low squadron that day and witnessed the event, described the actions of The Inferno crew as “one of the most outstanding feats of personal bravery I have ever witnessed. [The pilot] did not swerve from his course. All guns which were available and could be brought to bear on the fighters were brought to bear.”

Crew of The Inferno that day were:

Pilot                                Capt. Richard Thompson Carrington Jr.    POW, 10 combat missions

Co-Pilot                          2Lt. Harvey Charles Esty                            POW, 2 combat missions

Navigator                       1Lt. Robin Everett Taber                            POW, 6 combat missions

Bombardier                    Capt. Michael Hayes Smithwick                POW, 10 combat missions      

Radio Operator              T/Sgt. Arthur Edward Brittain                    MIA, 6 combat missions       

Engineer/Top Turret       T/Sgt. Phillip Elbert Schmidlapp               POW, 10 combat missions

Ball Turret Gunner          Sgt. Win Richard Smalley                          MIA, 10 combat missions

Tail Gunner                     S/Sgt. Walter Carl Parkins                         MIA, 9 combat missions

Waist Gunner                 S/Sgt. Joseph Anton Scholand                  POW, 9 combat missions

Waist Gunner                 S/Sgt. Floyd Montell Wingate                   MIA, 9 combat missions

Carrington, Esty, Taber, and Smithwick spent the remainder of the war as prisoners of war at Stalag Luft 3, and later Stalag VII-A.

Schmidlapp spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war at Stalag XIII-D.

Scholand spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war at Stalag VI-G.

Brittain, Smalley, Parkins, and Wingate remain missing in action to this day. They are memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery.

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website (384thbombgroup.com) for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of the Group’s activities during World War 2.

Research courtesy of Mikayla Leech on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.