Crew Roster · Personal File
John H. Cowden
Nose Gunner
S/Sgt. John H. Cowden served as Nose Gunner. He was listed as MIA on the MACR.
German records identify Cowden as one of five crew members killed in the crash near Saalau/Kamenz. He was from Colorado. His body was not individually identified.
Killed in Action
Sortie Log
7 CATALOGUED SORTIES
12 OCT 1944 — 16 JAN 1945
12 OCT 1944 — 16 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
№ 674
12 OCT 1944
OsnabrückM/Y
42-100670
№ 760
24 DEC 1944
Ahrweiller??
Formation position 4-3
42-94814
№ 761
25 DEC 1944
HallschlagC/C
3-2
Calais Clipper / Luftwaffe's Lament42-7634
№ 781
05 JAN 1945
Target unrecorded
Hi Right 3-3
42-51241
№ 783
06 JAN 1945
Bonn Rhine H/BH/B
Lo Left 4-1
42-XX501
№ 789
10 JAN 1945
Target unrecorded
Lead aircraft (Ø marker). RCM operator listed as additional crew.
Silver Eagle42-50362
№ 796
16 JAN 1945
Lauta
B-24J Liberator serial 42-51275, assigned to the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, departed Hardwick on 16 January 1945 on a bombing mission to Lauta, Germany. Eyewitness S/Sgt. Metro Hereshko observed the aircraft drop out of formation about a minute after bombs away, peel off to the left and downward apparently under control, then go into a spin. No parachutes were observed from the tail position before visual contact was lost. German records confirm the aircraft crashed on 16 January 1945 at approximately 1300 hours at the north border of the village of Saalau near Wittichnau, northeast of Kamenz, Saxony. The crash was reported as 100% destruction. Of the nine-man crew, five were captured, one (F/O Robert A. Newell) was killed when his parachute failed to open, and five other crew members were killed in the crash. German authorities identified the five dead by name from information provided by T/Sgt. Charles W. Curran.
42-51275