Delivered at Denver 26th August 1943, and originally assigned to the 303rd Bombardment Group at RAF Molesworth. The aircraft was subsequently transferred to the 384th Bombardment Group on 2nd November 1943, and named Silver Dollar.

In it's time with the 384th, the aircraft was assigned to 7 missions, gaining combat credit for 5 of these.

During a training flight on 26th December 1943, a malfunctioning right landing gear forced the crew into a belly landing at Little Staughton. There were no injuries to the crew, however the aircraft sustained damaged (including a damaged nose section due to the chin turret, see images) - this was to put the aircraft out of action until its next mission just over 2 months later on 6th March 1944.

On the 9th March 1944 the aircraft was part of mission #74 for the 384th, to the Heinkel Aircraft Plant at Oranienburg, Germany. With the main target covered by dense clouds, the formation diverted to the Secondary Target which was the city centre of Berlin.

At the moment of bombs away over the target, at 13.58 and an altitude of 23,400ft., a higher group in the formation had slipped above the postion of Silver Dollar. A bomb dropped from an aircraft of the 379th Bomb Group struck just forward of the vertical stabiliser, severing the entire tail section from the fuselage. The aircraft immediately entered an uncontrolled dive, with all four engines still running. It was eventually to crash to the ground at Mallenfeld, Germany. Of the ten crew, two were able to parachute to safety and became Prisoners of War. Of the remaining eight members of crew, all bodies were recovered by German forces from the wreckage and were interred at a cemetery at Elsgrump, Germany. After the war, five of the bodies were identified, with the remaining three unidentifiable and these crewmembers are officially classed as 'Missing in Action'.

The crew for this final flight were:-

Pilot                1st. Lt. Merlin Howard Reed             MIA, 19 combat missions

Co-Pilot          2nd Lt. Bruce Martin Rininsland       KIA, 17 combat missions

Navigator       1st Lt. Peter Gudyka                         MIA, 21 combat missions

Bombardier    2nd Lt. John Lawrence Heiss            KIA, 16 combat missions

Radio Op.       T/Sgt. Eobert Francis Wellman         KIA, 20 combat missions

Enginer/TT      Sgt. Robert O. Johnson                    MIA, 16 combat missions

Ball Turret       S/Sgt. Arthur John Osepchock         POW, 19 combat missions

Tail Gunner     Sgt. Emmet Francis Hardy                KIA, 17 combat missions

Waist Gunner S/Sgt. John James Plotz                    POW, 18 combat missions

Waist Gunner S/Sgt. Joseph Jacobson                     KIA, 11 combat missions

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 Keith Andrews on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.