PERSONNEL:

PERSONS WHO ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE LAST KNOWLEDGE OF AIRCRAFT

PERSONNEL WHO ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE SURVIVED

EYEWITNESS DESCRIPTIONS OF CRASH

Lt. B. A. DeMarco’s observation:  A/C #867, about tem minutes before reaching target, lost altitude.  Tail gunner thinks he saw 6 chutes, wheels dropped down. Did not see A/C crash or land.

DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH EFFORT

PREPARING OFFICER

PREPARED BY: Date and Signature not on MACR

DATE PREPARED:

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

On the Regensburg mission this crew was the lead crew of the second element of the low squadron.  Wingmen were Ronald Braley and Thomas Hummel, both of whom also went down. At 1020 a swarm of fighters attacked the low squadron over eastern Belgium and so severely damaged the aircraft that Claytor sounded the bail out alarm. Eight of the men aboard got out safely, but Musante's chute caught on the horizontal stabilizer and, when the plane exploded in mid air, or when it crashed he was killed. A William M. Hinton, who was flying in place of Robert H. Wussow, apparently did not bail out he may have stayed too long to assist Musante and was killed. Both Hinton and Musante were given a military funeral and were buried 20 August 1943 "on the Airdrome St. Trond."  Hinton in grave #287 and Musante in grave #268.

Two other replacements flying on the crew that day were, William M. Quinn as radio operator and Clifford R. Starkey as tail gunner.  Starkey became a POW but Quinn evaded capture and made it back to England. Claytor, Nutting, Burgin and Bailey also were successful in evading capture and, after months with the underground, got back to England. Kenny Lorch was finally made a POW after hiding out nearly eight months. It was the 10th mission for most of the crew but only number two for Hinton.

When questioned, after the war, as to Musante, Claytor had this to say: "He was a strange boy and was frequently given to air sickness.  I think he was actually afraid of the air.  However, I mentioned having him removed from the crew several times but he always persuaded me to keep him.  He seemed to be brave and courageous except I believe he had an inherent fear of the air.  I admired him very much and have never seen him fail in anything but I do believe he was afraid to bail out.

Charles Bailey's statement as regards Musante was as follows: "Musante was the youngest and I was the oldest. I always took a personal interest in him because I was  older then he, and he seemed to depend on me to a great extent.  He always had trouble hearing over the intercom and I always made it a point to be sure that he always understood the commands given over the intercom so when the pilot gave the command to bail out I checked with Musante and he started making preparations to bail out.  We both went to the escape hatch and I pulled the emergency release, and Musante stepped up to jump but for same reason he changed his mind, and motioned for me to jump first. Because two engines were on fire, and the plane seemed to be going down fast, I couldn't see any reason to waste ,more time, so I jumped. After my chute opened, I tried to keep my eye on the plane to see how many chutes opened but all I could ever see was eight chutes. The underground organization that helped me told me that one of the crew members was killed when the plane went down because his chute hung on the plane and from their description I knew it was Musante.