Crew Roster · Personal File

Frederick D. Worthen

328th Squadron

HometownSt. Paul, MN

MACR-12008 Account

Bombardier of B-24J 42-78486. Listed as "Werthen" on the original MACR form; correct spelling confirmed as Worthen across German records and next-of-kin lists.

Captured 28 January 1945 on Schouwen Island, Holland. Transferred to Dulag Luft West on 30 January 1945.

From the 2nd Air Division Association Yearbook

Assigned to 8th Air Force, 93rd Bomb Group, 328th/329th Sqdns. at Hardwick, England. Flew 23.5 missions. On Jan. 28, 1945, over Dortmund, Germany with two engines out (propellers windmilling) and a third engine failing, bailed out near Haamstede, Holland. All crew were captured within two hours. Passed through Dortmund (devastated), then ten days of solitary confinement at Oberursel; transferred to Stalag XIII-D at Nuremberg. On April 4, 1945 began forced march to Moosburg (Stalag VII-A); liberated April 29, 1945.

Prisoner of War

Sortie Log

4 CATALOGUED SORTIES
12 SEP 1944 — 08 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

№ 626

12 SEP 1944

HemmingstedtO/R

Marked with Ø symbol.

Willie's Worry42-100428

№ 674

12 OCT 1944

OsnabrückM/Y

Lead aircraft (circle-1 marker); aircraft did not take off — mag trouble noted

Fart Sack Time / Little Orphan Annie II42-94971

B-24J serial 42-78486, marked "486-G," departed Hardwick on a bombing mission to Dortmund on 8 January 1945. The aircraft left the formation just before bombs-away and peeled off to the right, apparently still under control when last observed. German records (Downing No. KU 3628 / H 131) indicate the aircraft crashed and burned on the southwest point of Schouwen Island, Holland, on 28 January 1945 at 1400 hours. Markings were not identifiable as the aircraft burned in the combat area. All ten crew members survived and were captured. They were processed through the POW Concentration Point of the Air Forces, Holland, and transferred to Dulag Luft West (Evaluation Center West, Oberursel) beginning 30 January 1945.

42-78486

§ Personal Record

Before the War

Born May 25, 1923 in St. Paul, MN. Enlisted in USAAC Aviation Cadet Program Nov. 12, 1942. Graduated from Victorville AAB as bombardier/navigator, second lieutenant, April 1, 1944. Air crew assembled in Lincoln, NE; trained in B-24s in Boise, ID; picked up airplane in Topeka, KS. Flew to England in July 1944 via Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and Wales.