Crew Roster · Personal File
Frank R. Hodges
Pilot
1st Lt. Frank R. Hodges was the pilot of B-24D 41-23732, 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, on the 16 April 1943 mission to Brest, France.
Initially reported Missing in Action, Hodges was declared a Prisoner of War per public press release dated 20 July 1943. He was one of three crew members who parachuted from the aircraft before it went down and was later returned to duty.
Sortie Log
1 CATALOGUED SORTIE
16 APR 1943
16 APR 1943
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
№ 51
16 APR 1943
Brest
B-24D serial 41-23732, assigned to the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, departed Hardwick on 16 April 1943 on a bombing mission to Brest, France. The aircraft was last sighted at approximately 1328 near Isle D'Ouessant (Ushant), off the coast of Brittany, where it was seen to crash into the sea after coming under attack from enemy aircraft. Three men were seen to parachute from the aircraft before it went down. Those three crew members were subsequently declared Prisoners of War and later returned to duty. No eyewitnesses to the attack remained in the group at the time the MACR was compiled on 26 October 1944, more than a year after the loss. The MACR was prepared at the request of Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C.
Liberty Lass41-23732