Crew Roster · Personal File
Elmer Benjaris
2nd Lt. Elmer T. Benjaris served as bombardier of B-24H 42-51078 on the 17 January 1945 mission to Harburg. He was listed as missing in action on the original MACR, with his status later updated to returned to duty.
Completed Tour
Sortie Log
1 CATALOGUED SORTIE
17 JAN 1945
17 JAN 1945
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
№ 798
17 JAN 1945
Harburg
B-24H serial 42-51078 was flying with the 93rd Bomb Group, 328th Squadron, on a bombing mission to Harburg on 17 January 1945. The aircraft carried a crew of 10 with no passengers. At 1212 hours over the target area, the aircraft received a flak hit in the bomb bay just before bombs away. Witnesses reported the bomb bay burned for approximately two minutes before exploding. The aircraft went into a dive and broke up completely. Eyewitness accounts from crews of the 44th Bomb Group varied on the number of parachutes observed: Lt. Daily reported three chutes, two of which were on fire; Lt. Erikson reported the aircraft broke up completely; Lt. Lowe reported seven chutes. The MACR confirmed parachutes were used. A German hospital document (Reserve-Lazarett V Hamburg, dated 19 January 1945) confirmed that three crew members — Bieber, Harth (Earth), and Schmidt — were admitted on 17 January 1945 with burns and contusions, having been transferred by the Reichsstatthalter Hamburg.
Ole Mort42-51078