Crew Roster · Personal File

Frederick E. Mckanna

Navigator

2nd Lt Frederick E. McKanna served as navigator on B-24J 42-109618. He was reported MIA on 4 November 1944 and annotated K/A on the MACR cover sheet.

His body was recovered from the Jadebusen on 12 November 1944. His identification tag (serial 0-719115, T43-44, A P) was transmitted to Evaluation Center West, Oberursel, along with a photograph, per German document KU-3294.

German records of 17 November 1944 (EU-3294) confirm McKanna was among the dead found and was buried at the Garrison Cemetery Wittsund.

Killed in Action

Sortie Log

2 CATALOGUED SORTIES
12 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

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

Garrison Cemetery Wittsund