Descriptif
One fine morning in February 1945, on the 20th to be precise, as the pupils of the small Hainaut village were in the schoolyard, a deafening noise was heard through the thick morning fog.
A young pupil Liliane Turck, aged 12, attends primary school at the convent of the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul(Former Orchard School) run by the superior, Mother Solange. Testimonial:
Suddenly, "...we heard a frightful noise above us; all the children lay down in the yard. We could hardly notice the plane passing very low overhead. The noise suddenly became louder. After a few moments, there was a loud bang in the distance towards Ronse.
This explosion...... came from the skies and was an American bomber called "Pale-Ale", of which this is a brief description:
Aircraft data sheet
Type:B24H 20-CF
Serial number: 42-50336
Unit: 466th Bombardment Group, 8th US Air Force, 786th Squadron.
[Registration: U8-G (a horizontal bar above the G)3
Nickname: "Pale Ale."
He headed straight for the Hamlet of Beauvolers where they found the big reaper... The impact of the machine still fully loaded with ammunition (they had indeed cancelled the mission to Russia, they were going back to their base...)
The farm opposite was blown up and there was damage for miles around...
[The crew
2d Lt. Robert G. Gordon, pilote.
2d Lt. Jack D. Campbell, copilote.
2d Lt. Ferdinand M. Kjar, navigateur
2d Lt.Henry Wynia, bombardier.
Richard R. Prybylski, mitrailleur.
Sam Kessler, opérateur radio.
Barney B. Fisher, mécanicien
Sgt.Harold Hendrickson, mitrailleur de nez.
Harvey R. Stamper, mitrailleur
Aloysius W. McCloskey, mitrailleur.
The mission in detail
February 20, 1945 saw mission 8AF 836 in which the 2nd Bombardment Division, of which 466 Group was a part, was involved. This group lost a plane which crashed in Belgium. The target was Nürnberg in Germany. Due to bad weather, the mission was recalled as the formations were flying over Belgium on their way to the target.