36th BS

Pratt Crew

Picture Credit: Rene Londoz, Belgian representative of the Bomb Group Association.

Picture taken at Harrington, names and faces have not yet been matched up. Names below are those who were in the incident on the night of 5/6 June 1944. 

MACR 5393

Officers:
Kenneth Pratt            - Pilot          (EVR)
Ralph Leindorf           - Copilot        (POW)
Russell J. Byrne, Jr.    - Navigator      (KIA)
Carlo C. Starkovich      - Bombardier     (KIA)

Enlisted:
Joseph A. Caron          - Radio Operator (KIA)
Roy C. Koons             - Engineer       (KIA)
Ollie D. Warren          - Dispatcher     (POW)
James A. Wagner          - Tailgunner     (KIA)

KIA details are on the Honor Roll page.  Pratt evaded successfully and returned to the UK on 10 September 1944.  Leindorf and Warren were captured and held in Stalag Luft IV for the duration.  The plane was brought down by flak, other Carpetbagger crews saw the ground explosion of the plane, near Wavre, Belgium.

An original member of the crew, Presley W. Smith, was not on this flight.  He flew as a substitute afterwards and later went to Cheddington with the Bronar crew to fly with the 406th Night Leaflet Squadron.

Incident Aircraft: B24D 42-63784

Above: Telex to 8th AF HQ requesting a replacement aircraft for Pratt's lost plane.  An ex-479th ASW plane, it was modified to Carpetbagger specs beginning 24 Nov 43 at Burtonwood Air Depot. 

Aircraft Details: Tom Brittan, 25 May 2001

Crew Details: Ensminger, August 2002, from various primary sources.  An augmentation crew, they probably came into the Group around mid-February of 1944 at Alconbury.  Pratt logs his first combat mission on the night of 7/8 March 1944 to Norway as Copilot to Fenster. His first appearance in Special Orders occurs in SO #11, dtd 15 March 1944 and issued from Watton (Station 376), when he and his fellow crew-officers were granted leave. 

The crew flew their first combat mission on 11 April 1944, with Presley Smith as Engineer.  But on the fatal night Roy C. Koons from the Ellis crew subbed for Smith, and paid for it with his life.  There may have been orphaned crew members, but the microfilm record is incomplete for the 15 Feb-31 Mar period of the Group.  Unlike the majority of the downed crews in the first half of 1944 for the Group, the Pratt crew went down relatively late in their tour (15th mission) and their misfortune can only be attributed to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Combat Period: Mar-Jun 1944 

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