Crew 74 (pilot Curt Vogel) was assigned B-24H 42-95159 and named it ROUGH RIDERS II. They were able to complete four missions in this aircraft, but before they could apply the name and nose art, the ship was lost when another crew took it for a mission to Neunkirchen. On this day, May 27, 1944, the group was assembling over Cromer and had just completed a left turn and were making a right turn when the pilot of #159, 2Lt Howard Lobo, either did not or could not complete the turn rapidly enough and collided with another B-24 42-95183 of the 755th squadron, BRINEY MARLIN piloted by 2Lt Lester Martin of Crew 71R. The impact tore the entire tail assembly from #159 and that aircraft was last seen spinning down into the under cast about five miles offshore into the North Sea. All ten men aboard were listed as MIA and later declared dead. Two bodies were recovered after washing ashore - those of the navigator and bombardier. This was their first mission.

Aboard BRINEY MARLIN (#183) that day, as a fill in top turret gunner/flight engineer, was S/Sgt Chester R. Carlstrum, the tail gunner on Crew 74 (he was also qualified as a flight engineer). When the collision occurred, Martin rang the bail out bell. Carlstrum dropped down and opened the bomb bay and salvoed the bomb load. He then bailed out through the bomb bay. The tail gunner S/Sgt Wilbert Abshire, also a fill in crewman that day from Crew 75, bailed out from the tail section. In the few seconds between collision and the two men bailing out, the ship had lost several thousand feet of altitude. Martin was able to regain control and he rescinded his bail out order. The impact had bent about 6-8 feet of the right wing of BRINEY MARLIN down at a 90° angle (see photos below). They radioed the control tower at Horsham and asked for instructions. Colonel Isbell took off in GINNY, the group's P-47. He looked over the B-24 from the air and ordered Martin to point the aircraft out to sea and bail the crew out. Martin decided he had enough control and decided to instead, attempt a landing at base. Keeping the airspeed high, they were able to land okay without further incident. As they were over the North Sea when the accident happened, Carlstrum and Abshire were never found, and presumably drowned in the English Channel. They are both listed at Cambridge on the Tablets of the Missing. The rest of Crew 74 did not fly that day. Carlstrum was on his 25th mission. Les Martin gives a lot of credit to Carlstrum for saving the plane that day. His quick action in releasing the bomb load is one of the factors that helped Martin regain control of the aircraft.

Chester R Carlstrum