SSGT Carl R. Lewis was a crew member aboard a Consolidated B-24D Liberator Heavy Bomber (the "Annie Oakley") that was shot down near the Kiel Canal, Germany on May 14, 1943.
Their mission was to carry incendiary bombs to Kiel.
Enroute, when they crossed the coast of Denmark and looked down, they could see fighter planes taking off from their bases and rising fast towards them. They were hit in the right out board engine by a burst of flak and set that engine on fire and forced them out of formation.
The fighters then began to pick on them as a "cripple" and soon were firing upon them from all directions. Number three engine burst into flame and number one engine ran away and the plane went into a violent spin.
The landing spot of the "Annie Oakley" was near Rendsberg, Germany.
There were ten men on-board with eight killed instantly.
One of the men killed instantly was Sidney W. Graham.
Bill Roach died later in the hospital.
There was one survivor: Louis Kissinger.
This is Louis's account to Sidney's mother of the last mission of the "Annie Oakley."
Their mission was to carry incendiary bombs to Kiel.
Enroute, when they crossed the coast of Denmark and looked down, they could see fighter planes taking off from their bases and rising fast towards them. They were hit in the right out board engine by a burst of flak and set that engine on fire and forced them out of formation.
The fighters then began to pick on them as a "cripple" and soon were firing upon them from all directions. Number three engine burst into flame and number one engine ran away and the plane went into a violent spin.
The landing spot of the "Annie Oakley" was near Rendsberg, Germany.
There were ten men on-board with eight killed instantly.
One of the men killed instantly was Sidney W. Graham.
Bill Roach died later in the hospital.
There was one survivor: Louis Kissinger.
This is Louis's account to Sidney's mother of the last mission of the "Annie Oakley."
SSGT Carl R. Lewis was a crew member aboard a Consolidated B-24D Liberator Heavy Bomber (the "Annie Oakley") that was shot down near the Kiel Canal, Germany on May 14, 1943.
Their mission was to carry incendiary bombs to Kiel.
Enroute, when they crossed the coast of Denmark and looked down, they could see fighter planes taking off from their bases and rising fast towards them. They were hit in the right out board engine by a burst of flak and set that engine on fire and forced them out of formation.
The fighters then began to pick on them as a "cripple" and soon were firing upon them from all directions. Number three engine burst into flame and number one engine ran away and the plane went into a violent spin.
The landing spot of the "Annie Oakley" was near Rendsberg, Germany.
There were ten men on-board with eight killed instantly.
One of the men killed instantly was Sidney W. Graham.
Bill Roach died later in the hospital.
There was one survivor: Louis Kissinger.
This is Louis's account to Sidney's mother of the last mission of the "Annie Oakley."
Their mission was to carry incendiary bombs to Kiel.
Enroute, when they crossed the coast of Denmark and looked down, they could see fighter planes taking off from their bases and rising fast towards them. They were hit in the right out board engine by a burst of flak and set that engine on fire and forced them out of formation.
The fighters then began to pick on them as a "cripple" and soon were firing upon them from all directions. Number three engine burst into flame and number one engine ran away and the plane went into a violent spin.
The landing spot of the "Annie Oakley" was near Rendsberg, Germany.
There were ten men on-board with eight killed instantly.
One of the men killed instantly was Sidney W. Graham.
Bill Roach died later in the hospital.
There was one survivor: Louis Kissinger.
This is Louis's account to Sidney's mother of the last mission of the "Annie Oakley."
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