Black Cat (aircraft)
48°57′59″N 12°07′54″E / 48.96635°N 12.13180°E
Black Cat | |
---|---|
Type | Consolidated B-24J-1-FO Liberator |
Manufacturer | Willow Run, Ford Motor Company |
Serial | 42-95592[1] |
Owners and operators | United States Army Air Forces |
In service | – 21 April 1945 |
Fate | Shot down over Germany |
Black Cat was a Consolidated B-24J-1-FO Liberator[note 1] aircraft and the last American bomber to be shot down over Germany in World War II.[2] It was one of thousands of B-24s produced by the Ford Motor Company at its Willow Run production plant.
Background
In April 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and SHAEF were convinced Hitler and other die-hard Nazis were planning to make a last stand in the Alps near Berchtesgaden. In order to prevent this happening, and because the European strategic air war was over, the Allied air forces tried to prevent the Germans from concentrating remaining men and materials in Bavaria.[3]
Fatal mission
On 21 April 1945 at around 0630 local time 137 B-24 bombers from the
Wayside cross
At the crash site, a wayside cross with a plaque was erected to commemorate the dead.
Commemorative stamp
Surviving members of the 466th Bomb Group petitioned the U.S. Postal Service to release a postage stamp depicting Black Cat in flight. The stamp was released in 2005.[6]
Notes
- ^ The B-24J was the main production model of the Liberator, accounting for more than a third of all B-24s built. Each factory that built B-24s had a unique code, applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft was built; -FO denotes a B-24 built by Ford at Willow Run.
References
- ^ "1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-91974 to 42-110188)".
- ISBN 0-201-48310-6.
- ^ Childers, p. 192
- ^ Childers, p. 198
- ^ Childers, p. 211
- ^ Neely Tucker (2005-07-30). "The 10 Lost Lives of the Black Cat". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 October 2013.