“Liberty Lass”

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.

Earlier in her service, Liberty Lass was among the Liberators whose nose art was recognizable to observers as the formation circled Alconbury for landing after the October 9, 1942 mission to Lille.