“Naughty Nan”

B-24J serial 42-99949, nicknamed "Naughty Man" in MACR 9662 (recorded in unit records as "Naughty Nan"), was assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, based at Hardwick. On 21 September 1944 the aircraft departed Hardwick on an operational mission to Koblenz, Germany.

At approximately 1256 hours, at coordinates 50 53N 03 18E at 16,000 feet over Belgium, the aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision while forming up in clouds. The nose section struck the tail assembly of another B-24 (plane "C", flying in the 3-3 position). Co-pilot Stanislaus Mikolajczyk seized the controls just before the collision to avoid an aircraft closing from the right; the impact sent the aircraft into a left bank and then into an unrecoverable spin.

Pilot Lt. Johnson was thrown half out of his seat and unable to open the escape hatch. He was flung clear when the forward bomb bay door opened under his weight, followed by the co-pilot and engineer Cecil D. Johnson, who broke a leg after only partially fastening his parachute. Radio operator Joseph Bradley escaped through a large hole in the nose section. The aircraft crashed and two bombs exploded on the ground, nearly demolishing a nearby house.

Four crew members did not survive: the tail gunner (found half out of his turret), the bombardier and waist gunner (both found at the rear escape hatch), and the navigator and nose gunner (found near the nose section). The other B-24 involved in the collision crashed approximately 1/4 mile away.

Canadian liaison officer Captain R. A. Pelletier, who reached the crash sites that afternoon, credited a Belgian civilian, Mr. Depraestere-Belandshoere, with giving first aid and arranging transport for the injured to hospital.