Crew Roster · Personal File

Charles W. Mankin

Pilot

2nd Lt. Charles W. Mankin Jr. (O-798147) was the pilot of the B-24 lost on 2 March 1944 during the Frankfurt mission. He did not survive the loss of his aircraft. He had completed 5 missions, including flights to Gotha (February 20, 22, and 24, 1944) and Frankfurt (2 March 1944).

Crew accounts differ on the exact circumstances of his death. One account states he ordered the crew to bail out and was seen getting out of the cockpit but did not pull his ripcord. Another states he was found dead at Amiens, France, with German soldiers reporting he attempted to jump too near the ground and his parachute did not open.

A third account from German intelligence at Dulag Luft claimed he was still in the aircraft when it crashed, though surviving crew members doubted this. His body was reportedly badly burned and was brought to navigator F/O Robert L. Burke at Amiens, France. German sources indicated he was buried near a fighter base and military post outside Amiens.

Killed in Action

Sortie Log

2 CATALOGUED SORTIES
02 MAR 1944 — 02 MAR 1944

The sorties below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.

8AF Mission

Date

Target

Aircraft

№ 244

02 MAR 1944

Frankfurt

On 2 March 1944, the aircraft was on a mission to Frankfurt, Germany. Over France, the plane was hit by flak on two or three engines, causing a fire. The pilot requested a course home and the aircraft fell out of formation, losing approximately 4,000 feet before the alarm bell sounded. The crew bailed out at approximately 15,000 feet at approximately 11:30 AM. Seven parachutes were observed in the air. The casualty questionnaire noted that one man was burnt before bailing out. The pilot, 2d Lt. Charles W. Mankin Jr., was killed — his parachute did not open. The aircraft did not explode on striking the ground. The plane was hit by large flak holes causing fire on two or three engines. The wreckage was not examined by the narrator. The aircraft came down in northern France in the vicinity of Bray-sur-Somme and the area around Albert.

A B-24 Liberator (KU 1059) of the 93rd Bomb Group was lost on 2 March 1944 during a mission to Frankfurt, Germany. The aircraft left formation approximately 5 miles east of Abbeville, France. According to survivor accounts, the crew bailed out in groups: the tail gunner, waist gunner, and ball turret gunner exited through the camera hatch; the nose gunner, navigator, and bombardier through the nose wheel hatch; and the co-pilot, radio operator, and engineer bailed out together. The pilot, 2nd Lt. Charles W. Mankin Jr., did not survive. The aircraft struck the ground near Doullens, France (per German sources), and near Fricourt, 3 km from Albert, per a German prisoner-of-war document dated 2 March 1944. The aircraft identifier was KU 1059.

—