Sortie2BDB-24Bombed Primary
“Miss Star Dust”.Over Kaiserslautern.
Mission 676 · 14 October 1944 · Kaiserslautern, Germany
Serial
42-100355
B-24J
Fuselage Code
AG
Squadron
330th
Ted's Traveling Circus
Aboard
10
men
The crew.
§ 10 aboard
Name
Position
Serial
Hometown
On this flight
1LtWalter F. Hughes
Pilot
Station 1
O-764680
Santa Barbara
Completed his tour
Returned
→
2LtPeter Scott
Co-Pilot
Station 2
O-772526
—
Returned
→
2LtLouis H. Windsor
Navigator
Station 3
O-712976
—
Returned
→
2LtRalph Hendershot
Bombardier
Station 4
O-0768958
—
Returned
→
SgtConway Thorstenson
Engineer / Top Turret
Station 5
39464774
—
Returned
→
T/SgtNorbert L. Ecclesfield
“Eck”
Radio Operator
Station 6
3904111
—
Returned
→
SgtMichael J. Kusnir
Waist Gunner
Station 8
35236546
—
Returned
→
SgtBoyd L. Justice
Tail Gunner
Station 9
38440786
—
Returned
→
SgtRobert T. Lee
“The Old Man”
Nose Gunner
18215267
—
Returned
→
SgtCarroll F. Ruby
Gunner
33734687
—
Returned
→
The load.
§ 6,000 lb aboard
AN-M64
500-pounder
12× 500 lb
TypeGeneral Purpose · TNT/Amatol
Weight6,000 lb
The flight.
§ Ship’s Record
The Day
Took off fromHardwick (Sta. 104)
Landed atHardwick (Sta. 104)
The Record
ResultBombed Primary
Record confidenceValidated against a source
Formation
Flew with330th Squadron
Fuel & Equipment
H2X scope photoNo
The target.
§ As Briefed
KaiserslauternUnknown
LocationKaiserslautern, Germany
Notes.
§ From the Record
The ninth mission took the crew south to the marshalling yards at Kaiserslautern. The formation assembled over London and crossed the coast at Boulogne, tracking through Lens, Douai, and Valenciennes to the target. The return ran out through Luxembourg, Trier, Mons, and Ostende.
Flak was meager but accurate on the bomb run. Cloud cover was complete and Hughes again handled the bomb drop without a bombardier. Whether the bombs found the yards was impossible to say. The aircraft came back clean, and all crew were safe. Elsewhere in the formation, three men had bailed out.