Hartland Plane Crash - Hartland, Devon, UK
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MoreOutdoor
N 51° 01.174 W 004° 31.109
30U E 393495 N 5653098
On 22 January 1943, a Consolidated Liberator, B-24D 41-24019 "S" of 2nd Antisubmarine Sqn, USAAF, was returning to its base of Chivenor, Devon, England when bad weather settled in over southwest England.
Waymark Code: WM1A6ZB
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/30/2024
Views: 1
Approaching the coast of England, the plane requested that it be assisted by the 19 Group controller, who was asked to give it homing directions according to established procedures, to enable the plane to find its airfield. Unfortunately, this request was made on the wrong radio frequency, and the group controller declined to respond. Although the controller at St. Eval then attempted to do so, he was too late, as the plane, flying through the pea soup, slammed at 1650 hrs into the shoreline cliffs about two miles east of Hartland Point, 40 miles up the coast from Newquay, killing the entire crew. The plane hit the cliffside about 50 feet below its crest.
Crew (all killed):
2nd Lt George Oscar Broussard, Jr (pilot)
2nd Lt Leonard L Deshant (co-pilot)
2nd Lt Robert Lucian Shedden (navigator)
2nd Lt Elliot Ernest Stone (bombardier)
T/Sgt Grant L Craig (flight engineer/top turret gunner)
T/Sgt Bernard F Hickman (air gunner)
T/Sgt Harold Kaplan (radio operator)
T/Sgt Frank Kozjak, Jr (assistant radio operator)
T/Sgt George Malham Shaheen (engineer)
S/Sgt Louis A Nagy (ASV radar operator)
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The coordinates listed are for the nearest car park to enable walking the short distance to the approximate crash site, there are no memorial markers present
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Exert from local newspaper 2018
Search is still on to find relatives of crew members killed in WW2 air crash
Thursday 29th March 2018 THE 75th anniversary of a WW2 air crash near Hartland Point, in which an American plane came down killing all ten crew aboard was commemorated by a few in January, but their search is still on to contact relatives of crew members.
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