Experten109/40

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hoping for some more pics like this, but I'll get it started.


The first series of photos capture the death of Lt. James L. Knarr and S/Sgt. Charles G. Reichley on July 22, 1944, in A-20G-25 #43-9432, as part of the last flight to attack the village of Kokas in Dutch New Guinea. Knarr's plane was hit by flack. The photos were recorded on Capt. Jack Klein's automatic belly camera. No one saw what happened to Knarr and Reichley, including 2/Lt. Melvin Kapson, the other A-20 in the photos, who just missed being struck by Knarr's plane. The fate of Knarr and his gunner wasn't discovered until the the film from Klein's plane was developed back at Hollandia. Knarr was flying his 70th combat mission; Reichley was on his 46th.

~ Thanks Veltro

Dash7ATP

Hmmmmm........  Let's think about these photos for a second.   Gun camera photos ???  I kinda doubt it.

If the P-40 had just shot the first plane (smoking in 1st photo) with the 2nd in frame, then how come both planes are still in the photos as the P-40 continues to close on them? Maybe the P-40 wasn't moving......... Naw, tha'ts not possible.  I also wonder why the 2nd plane had not flown out of the picture to the left.   All of this while the shot plane lost several hundred feet of altitude, hit the water, and destructed, while the P-40 continues to film it. 

Very interesting.....

Dash

da Rock

Excellent film, but are you sure the camera was the gun camera of a P-40? Gun cameras on fighters didn't pan to follow the subject. Or look back.

It's always been a puzzle how those pictures were taken. They were obviously from a plane that was about the speed of the other two, flying ahead and to the left of the subjects. The camera looks like it is pointing back at an angle. Japanese camera man?

proptop

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They look like Douglas A-20's to me...(the Sally did not have a dihedral in the stab...among other things )

Experten109/40

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dunno. just went by what the guy on the website said. nutter dude bailing. P-40 gun camera.
you think he lived?

Ernie P.

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I think I've seen that picture before. It was in Europe, a motion picture, gun camera from a P-51; and the victim was an FW-190. Memory could be faulty, but... Thanks; Ernie P.

Experten109/40

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yep your probably right.

dubs1946

Hi the shots look real but a gun camera hmmm most gun camera shots are fuzzy and out of focus as they are from a moving picture.
If you look at the building above the aircraft that is not crashing and then look at the building position in the other 2 shots it shows the flying aircraft has moved significantly, to me the shots have 1 or 2 sec. time period.
What a way to go ouch.
Dave.

F4u5

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Actually, that first picture is from a book I saw at Barnes and nobles. It was called "Gun Camera Footage" or something similar. It had some nasty photos of planes going in....all sad if you think about it.

Jeff

JohnMcGowan

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I think its from the European theatre also. There is some gun footage on youtube that made me remember this photo, if Im not mistaken, this same photo may be the one where in the video the German pilot gets dorked pretty hard by the stab as he bails out, but it may also have been the video of a pilot bailing out of a 109 since the rear stab sat higher on that plane. At any rate , it knocked the crap out of him! I guess he was just trying his best to avoid all the .50 cal lead that was filling up his plane.

Experten109/40

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this?

JohnMcGowan

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P-40-, Thats gonna leave a mark! [X(] LOL
I dont think its that actual photo I was talking about , but thats a darn fine example of what I was describing. [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Veltro

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The first series of photos capture the death of Lt. James L. Knarr and S/Sgt. Charles G. Reichley on July 22, 1944, in A-20G-25 #43-9432, as part of the last flight to attack the village of Kokas in Dutch New Guinea. Knarr's plane was hit by flack. The photos were recorded on Capt. Jack Klein's automatic belly camera. No one saw what happened to Knarr and Reichley, including 2/Lt. Melvin Kapson, the other A-20 in the photos, who just missed being struck by Knarr's plane. The fate of Knarr and his gunner wasn't discovered until the the film from Klein's plane was developed back at Hollandia. Knarr was flying his 70th combat mission; Reichley was on his 46th.

Experten109/40

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I'll foward that info to the guys website. thanks. know anything about the next pic? looks like it was a mid-air collision judging the the
fighters missing stab below it.

fieseler156

just a few comments on the combat photos been shown the first one showing what is claimed to be a japanese mitsubishi is a US A20 HAVOC been caught by anti aircraft fire over a japanese supply base at kokas dutch new guinea
after been hit the A20 dove into mac cluer gulf and was destroyed and the wingman escaped these photos were taken from a THIRD A20
the B24 was on a raid over central germany when a direct flak hit on the fuel tanks turned it into a fireball what you think is the remains of a fighter are bombs spilling from the bomb bay as the aircraft breaks up
the reference i am using is time life publication america in the air war the pubiications contain many photos and stories of pilots and their aircraft a great tribute to there memory

THERCAV8R

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Here is a another tid bit of info on the B-24 photo. Guess who is piloting the other B-24 in the photo? It is none other than George McGovern the Senator who ran for president in 1972 against Nixon. He was the lead ship and group commander.

chris923

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Mc Govern never flew in New Guinea. He flew out of Italy, read his book. Very good.

Chris923

Experten109/40

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not the dark shaped bomb looking thing falling from the B-24.. but the light coloured fighter looking
shape under the fire ball. looks like it rolled over and its missing the left stabilizer. its kind of big to
be a bomb.

invertmast

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thats the aileron.

Mk23socom

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It says that the B24s were flying over Central Germany though, not New Guinea.

What's the book called!?

Experten109/40

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thanks.

Mk23socom

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Some of these photos are REALLYsobering..

chris923

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Ambrose, Stephen, The Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944–45, Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-7432-0339-9

Sorry McGovern didn't write it, Stephen Ambrose did. They had been freinds for many years before McG0vern would let Ambrose tell his story.

Chris923

US185Damiani

That 1stphoto is 2 A-20 Havocs, one has taken a hit from a Japanese ship during a skip bombing raid if I remember my history correctly.

TimT2000

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This one looks like a kill shot.
Tim