I give credit for the information shown on this webpage to "Greenharbor.com. 41-23788 is shown above in a reasonably famous and often used photograph.
On 23rd December 1943 the crew of this USAAF Liberator were flying a daylight operational flight to bomb Bremen. Before reaching the target the aircraft was struck by a flak shell or shells which burst close to, or upon hitting the aircraft. One shell torn off an engine and also knocked off the propeller on the engine next to it. The same flak burst, or another burst, then struck the bomb bay which damaged the bomb doors and also the gang-way which ran above it to allow access from the front to back of the aircraft. The intercom between front and back appears to have been disabled. Control was lost and the aircraft lost height, the captain ordered the crew to bale out and four of the crew in the front of the aircraft complied to land safely and become PoWs. The airmen in the rear of the aircraft had probably not been aware of the order to abandon and it then seemed that the pilot assisted by the bombardier remained in the cockpit and were able to regain control of the aircraft. They had no navigator or wireless operator to assist them with directing the aircraft back to England so it appears that them had crossed the North Sea but made landfall in the Spurn Head area. Probably running out of fuel and spotting what appeared to be a flat area of ground they immediately made a belly landing but unknown to them this was a tidal mudflat at Skeffling, the mudflat was mined and when the aircraft touched down it was destroyed. All six airmen still on board were killed in the resulting explosion, the bodies of four were certainly recovered but the remaining two either were never found, or their bodies were not identifable so are buried in "unknown" graves.
60 M.U. of the RAF were given the task of recovering the wreckage and they stated in their record book that this should be complete by 7th January 1944 but also stated that the task was extremely difficult due to the work only being possible at low tide and the wreckage had to be drawn to the shore by winch. At high tide the wreckage was completely covered in water. In creating these webpages for accidents in Yorkshire I have set a rule that the aircraft must have crashed onto land in the county and not in the North Sea or The Humber, as this crash was so close to the shore and it appears to have been low tide it was out of the water so I have included it.
Pilot - Lt Parke H Jones Jr USAAF (O-674587). Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (B/7/3).
Air Gunner - SSgt Wilson Patrick Besse USAAF (38194491). Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (E-O-43).
Air Gunner - SSgt Alphonse Joe Terwey USAAF (37281321). Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (A-1-36).
Air Gunner - SSgt Michael Paul Zdonick USAAF (31169351). Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (E-O-38).
Bombardier - 1Lt John Jay Buckholts USAAF (O-669980). Missing.
Air Gunner - SSgt Rhodes C Gordon USAAF (13089150). Missing.
Radio Operator - TSgt Patrick J (John?) Fries USAAF. POW.
Co-Pilot - 2Lt John W Griffin USAAF (O-748630). POW.
Radio operator - TSgt Chester A Martin USAAF (13125993). POW.
Navigator - 1Lt Anthony Piccolo USAAF (O-670165). POW. Died 1990.
Graves of four of the crew who are buried at Madingley Cemetery. Photographs found on "Findagrave".