Crew Roster · Personal File
Edward W. Spedding
Co-Pilot · 409th Squadron
2nd Lt Edward W. Spedding served as co-pilot aboard B-24J 42-109618 on the mission of 4 November 1944. He was reported MIA and annotated K/A on the MACR cover sheet.
German records confirm the aircraft came down in the Jadebusen tidal flats north of Wilhelmshaven; crew members not recovered from the wreck were reported drowned.
Killed in ActionPASSED 04 NOV 1944
Sortie Log
3 CATALOGUED SORTIES
09 OCT 1944 — 04 NOV 1944
09 OCT 1944 — 04 NOV 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
№ 670
09 OCT 1944
Target unrecorded
Formation position 2-1 (left column)
42-51241
№ 674
12 OCT 1944
OsnabrückM/Y
42-50714
№ 700
04 NOV 1944
Jever Air Base
B-24J serial 42-109618 departed Hardwick on 4 November 1944 on a mission to Jever Air Base. The aircraft failed to return from the mission; no eyewitness saw it leave the formation and there was no radio contact after the target. According to German records (Air Base Command A 13/XI, Jever), the aircraft crashed near Voslapp, 7 km north of Wilhelmshaven, in the Jadebusen tidal flats at approximately 1146 hours on 4 November 1944. Four crew members were found dead; their bodies were buried at the Garrison Cemetery Wittsund. One crew member (S/Sgt Lloyd O. Calcut) was captured. The remaining crew were reported as drowned. German document KU-3294 (dated 20 November 1944) transmitted identification tags and photographs of four recovered crew members to Evaluation Center West, Oberursel. The MACR form notes no survivors were confirmed and no parachutes were observed.
42-109618
§ Interment
Cemetery
Netherlands American Cemetery