Memorials › FLT O Bill Jack Cook
FLT O Bill Jack Cook
2 Nov 1919 – 2 Dec 1944
| Birth | 2 Nov 1919 |
| Death | 2 Dec 1944 |
| Cemetery | Zachary Taylor National Cemetery Louisville , Jefferson County , Kentucky , USA |
| Added by | Owen Michael McKinney on 23 Jan 2010 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45538753 |
Bio
Fl/Of. Bill J. Cook Co Pilot KIA Home: Ft Worth, Texas Squadron: 577th Bomb Sq 392th Bomb Gp Service ID #T-122209 Awards: Air Medal, and the Purple Heart Pilot 2nd/Lt. Glenn R. Billingsley KIA Target: Bingen Germany Date Lost: 2-Dec-44 MISSING AIRCREW REPORT: #11142 Serial Number: #42-94867 Aircraft Model B-24 Aircraft Letter:"A-Plus" Aircraft Name: (No Nickname) 30th Mission Location:(1.5) kilometers west of Kellenbach Cause: Fighters Crew of 9 6KIA 3POW This day would go down in the 392nd's history as one of the roughest missions ever flown in terms of aircraft and aircrew casualties. It would be the highest attrition the Group would ever suffer through the remaining missions of World War II. It was also ironic that the evening of this date, the 200th mission party celebration for all Enlisted Men of the 392nd was planned. At 0515 and 0640 hours, (18) aircrews were briefed on the target and at 0930, all began their take-offs. Two squadrons were put up this day, flying high and low formations off of the 44th Bomb Group at Shipdham. The mission went orderly until the IP where heavy clouds were encountered for start of the bomb run. MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES: This aircrew's ship was attacked by enemy fighters while they were in the Group's bomber formation, just after "bombs away" at the target though there is indication that, because of the dense clouds being flown in at the time, the plane's being hit by anti-aircraft fire, or with fighter cannon shells, could not immediately be determined (but later confirmed by crew survivor accounts that enemy fighter attacks had mortally crippled their ship, and not flak). German Report #KU3466, Hqs Mainz-Finthen, confirmed the crash site of this aircraft as (1.5) kilometers west of the village of Kellenbach, (20) kilometers south of Simmern/Hunerueck. Remnants of the ship scattered over a 1.5 kilometer area; 99% destroyed according to this German account, and the shoot-down occurred at about 1230 hours. INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF CREWMEN FATES: Lt. Pettigrew, Bombardier, gave a Casualty Questionnaire account after his POW liberation citing that the target had been the railroad marshalling yards at Bingen, Germany; that the plane went under attack by enemy fighters just about 1230 hours; and that (6) men could not bail out of the stricken bomber due to their wounds or having been killed in-flight. These members were reported as Lt. Billingsley, Flight Officer Cook, and Sgts. Guion, Hampton, Kimball and Pace. He reported the ship going down near the village of Bad Krueznach with these (6) men aboard, and that (2) remaining members besides himself had managed to bail out successfully. His report went on to relate, as regarded the Pilot, Lt. Billingsley, that the latter crew member had either been killed by fighter gun fire or explosion of the plane as it went down. Lt. Pettigrew noted further that the Pilot had inquired over intercom immediately before the plane went down whether the shell impacts were from flak, or fighters, as their aircraft was in dense clouds and nothing outside could be seen at that moment. It was believed the Pilot was killed during the second firing pass of the enemy fighters at which time the Co-Pilot took over the ship's controls. The German Report #KU3466 noted above had also indicated this aircraft had exploded in mid-air having been shot down by fighters. There were no other crew survivor accounts in this MACR. The German supplementary Report #KU1146A of 1400 hours on 2 December confirmed the taking of (3) crew members as POWs, and their transfer to the Dulag-Luft West prisoner interrogation center at Oberursel, north of Frankfurt. (Note: Strangely enough by odd coincidence of names, a Sergeant Granville Francis Billingsley was also taken prisoner and transferred along with the above crewmen of Lt. Billingsley's aircrew, according to this latter German report. This Sergeant was not a member of any other 392nd crew that participated on this mission of 2 December). A German medical report on one of the surviving crew members, Sgt. Matthews, indicated that this man had been wounded by shell fragments on the neck and lower left leg and was treated satisfactorily for five days. Limited MACR information indicates that most or all of the crew members had flown about (16) combat missions up to this raid. BURIAL RECORDS: After the war, the Army thoroughly investigated this crash area. Their research revealed that Billingsley's aircraft had impacted 1.5 km southwest of Kellenbach and 2 km south of Konigsau at a place called "The Vignoble." The downed plane fell in two parts. The rear part fell at the entrance of the village; two fliers who were in that part of the plane died instantly and were half burned. A third aviator was found between the wreckage of the forward part of the plane and the rear part. It was felt that this man had jumped from the plane without a parachute and was killed upon impact. The next day, after the fire subsided, two charred bodies were removed from the forward part of the wreckage. On Dec. 3, the remains of the five deceased were interred in the cemetery at Kellenbach. They were exhumed by the US Army in June 1945 and reburied in a temporary military cemetery in Europe, pending identification and burial instructions from the next-of-kin. The #42-94867 crew 2nd/Lt. Glenn R. Billingsley Pilot KIA Fl/Of. Bill J. Cook Co Pilot KIA 2nd/Lt. Joseph Kaswan Navigator POW 2nd/Lt. William B. Pettigrew Bombardier POW T/Sgt. Oscar L. Hampton Engineer KIA T/Sgt. Walter A Guion Radio Op. KIA S/Sgt. Avila D. Matthews Gunner POW S/Sgt. Burleigh A. Kimball Gunner KIA S/Sgt. John W. Pace Gunner KIA
Inscription
FLT O, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
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