B-24 Liberators Mid-Air Collision Over German-Polish Border Dec. 17, 1944

WWII photo of B-24 Liberators, one missing the tail portion of the plane, after a mid-air collision

by Todd DePastino

We received a poignant note about last summer’s VBC Magazine issue, which contained Bob Podurgiel’s account of WWII veteran Santo Magliocca’s 22 missions as a ball turret gunner with the 727th Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force flying out of Castellucci, Italy.

Santo tells of a harrowing first mission on December 17, 1944, the second day of the Battle of the Bulge.

That day’s trauma included the sight of mid-air collision right next to his plane. Two other B-24s hit each other, sending one plummeting to the earth with its tail sheared off.

A reader named Marvin Fry read the story and immediately recognized the collision incident. He wrote this letter:

Hand written note to Todd DePastino from Marvin Fry

Marvin Fry, originally from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, picked up VBC Magazine in a dentist’s office. He read Santo’s account of that December 17, 1944 mission over the Odertal oil refinery on the Poland-German border, which included a note about the mid-air collision.

Marvin knew he was reading a first-hand account of his older brother’s death. Cpl William Dean Fry was in the tail of the plane that had been severed in the collision. In subsequent correspondence and phone call, Marvin relayed more of the story.

Marvin was five-years old on December 17, 1944, when his brother’s B-24J Liberator #42-51941 of the 726th Bomb Squadron, 451st Bomb Group, took off from Castellucci as part of a bombing mission targeting the a synthetic oil plant in German-occupied Silesia (now Poland). The mission was critical to crippling the German war effort, but it would end in tragedy for Marvin’s brother and his crew.

Shortly after passing over the target, the aircraft moved to take the lead position in formation when it collided with another B-24J, #42-52045. The impact sheared off the tail of #42-51941, causing it to burst into flames and plummet towards the ground. The aircraft crashed near Rzymkowice, Poland, killing all but one crew member. The photograph at top was taken from a nearby plane. In the upper right, you can see Fry’s B-24 nose down, missing its tail, heading to earth.

William Dean Fry

William Fry was only 19 years old at the time of his death and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.

Marvin said he recalls the day the telegram was received letting his family know William was Missing in Action. His mother never really recovered from the loss.

The sole survivor of Fr4y’s B-24 was SSgt. Joseph Weisler, a photographer who had joined the crew for this mission. Weisler was able to bail out of the stricken aircraft and parachuted to the ground, where he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war.

Most of the crew of the other B-24 survived the collision. However, 2nd Lt. John L. Sullivan Jr., the co-pilot from Quincy, Massachusetts, was killed.

The Missing Air Crew Report includes eye witness testimony from another B-24 crew member who saw the action. Kenje Ogata was one of only five Japanese Americans to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

WWII typewritten eye-witness statement of the mid-air collision