Crew Roster · Personal File
Everett C. Harth
Engineer / Top Turret
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner of B-24H 42-51078. Listed as MIA on the original MACR, with status later updated to RTD. The MACR spells the surname as 'Earth' but the German hospital document and serial number confirm the correct spelling is Harth.
Born 24 August 1923 in Virginia. A German hospital record from Reserve-Lazarett V Hamburg dated 19 January 1945 confirms he was admitted on 17 January 1945 with second-degree burns (Verbrennungen II. Grades).
Sortie Log
2 CATALOGUED SORTIES
10 JAN 1945 — 17 JAN 1945
10 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
№ 789
10 JAN 1945
Target unrecorded
My Achin' Back!42-110017
№ 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