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Archive Report: US Forces
1941 - 1945

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via Helpdesk
15th Air Force
07.08.1944 831st Bombardment Squadron (H), B-24H 42-52721, 1st Lt. Richard J. Erhardt

Operation: Blechammer, Oil Refinery, Hungary

Date: 7th August 1944 (Monday)

Unit No: 831st Bombardment Squadron (H), 485 Bombardment Group (H), 55th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force

Type: B-24H

Serial No: 42-52721

Code: J

Base: Venosa Airfield, Italy

Location: Magyórovár, Hungary

Pilot: 1st Lt. Richard Joseph Erhardt O-811352 AAF Age 22. PoW *

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. Wladyslaw Jos ‘Pat’ Paterak O-820048 AAF Age 20. PoW *

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Frederick Irving O-706528 AAF Age 23. PoW *

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Morgan Montague Browning O-706794 AAF Age 20. PoW *

Nose Gnr: S/Sgt. John Joseph Battista 36757901 AAF Age 19. PoW **

Turret Gnr: Cpl. William Robert Hering 32777717 AAF Age 20. PoW ***

Engineer/ Waist Gnr: T/Sgt. John Daniel ‘Jack’ Coughlin 12089553 AAF Age 19. PoW ***

Radio Operator/Waist Gnr: Sgt. Charles Henning Dahlgren 33601805 AAF Age 19. PoW ****

Ball Turret Gnr: S/Sgt. Walter Leslie Dougherty 19124840 AAF Age 20. PoW ***

Tail Gnr: S/Sgt. Carlie Dial 34671609 AAF Age 20. KiA

* Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

** Unreported PoW Camp.

*** Stalag Luft 4, Groß-Tychow, Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland (Moved from Stalag Luft 6 Heydekrug on 28th May 1944.

**** Unstated Hungary PoW Camp.

Above left to right: 2nd Lt. Paterak, S/Sgt. Battista, Cpl. Hering, S/Sgt. Dogherty from their School Year books.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 7th August 1944 eighty-eight (88) B-24s from the 55th Bombardment Wing were detailed to bomb the north Synthetic Oil Refinery at Blechhammer in Hungary.

Despite intense and accurate Flak bombs hit important parts of the refinery including the generator and boiler houses, treatment buildings, a compressor, a pump house, cooling towers and oil storage tanks.

Twenty (20) Bf109s attacked the 460th Bombardment Group (BG) after bombs were dropped and four (4) attacking the 464th BG. Ten (10) more attacked the 460th BG and eight (8) attacked the 485th BG. Bomber gunners claimed four (4) destroyed and seven (7) probables. B-24H 42-52721 was the only bomber from the 485th BG that was lost. The aircraft crashed near Magyarovar in Hungary

The following eye-witness statements describe the loss of B-24H 42-52721.

Statement by T/Sgt. Vernon N. Jennings 38464292:

“Over the target in the Flak area, Flak hit number #2 engine of Lt. Ehrhardt's plane. It began to smoke and dropped out of our box and tried to join the low box to our left but he kept dropping back and also dropped altitude until he was hardly visible from our box. As we were over the Lake Balaton area, two enemy fighters (too far to tell what kind except for single engine) jumped him. Each fighter made one pass at him from 6 o'clock level, the plane winged over and started into a steep dive. I saw five parachutes open before it dropped out of my sight behind a cloud. I did not see the plane crash”.

Statement by S/Sgt. Norbert A. Froelich 32830435:

“We were flying number #3 position of the high box, lead wave. Lt. Ehrhardt was flying number #4 position. Over the target flak hit directly below his number #2 engine. Heavy white smoke was seen until he feathered that engine. Apparently there was some other damage because he kept losing altitude. He kept dropping back but at one time he had pulled up almost under us though at a much lower altitude. He then dropped back again quite a ways. In the vicinity of Lake Balaton two enemy fighters each made a pass at him from six o'clock level. A burst of flame was seen over number #4 engine. His plane then went into a dive and five chutes were seen. More might have gotten out but he went below some clouds and couldn't be seen anymore. I did not see the plane crash”.

Statement of Sgt. Slavko Nenadich 37564250:

“Lt. Ehrhardt's ship, Blue J, was lead ship in our element, we were on his left. Just after bombs away his number #2 engine was hit by Flak. He went to our left and joined a lower formation. I saw him for about thirty minutes, number #2 engine was feathered. After about 30 minutes I seemed to have lost track of him due to clouds”.

Note: Sgt. Slavko Nenadich became a PoW at Stalag Luft 4 after his B-24J 42-78501 was shot down on a mission to Pardubice, Czechoslovakia on the 24th August 1944. The crew of ten (10) all baled out and became PoWs.

Aboard the aircraft S/Sgt. Dial called over the interphone that fighters were attacking immediately after which the tail turret received several direct hits from cannon fire. His last words were “Let the wheels down”. S/Sgt. Dial was killed and the hydraulic fluid and oxygen lines in the tail turret was set ablaze. Some of the crew were told by their captors that the remains of one person were found in the wreckage and were initially buried at Magyórovár in Hungary.

Note: An aircraft that deliberately lowers its wheels in combat was taken to signify that it was surrendering, however, it was not universally recognised.

It was believed by the waist gunners that S/Sgt. Dial had shot down the first two German fighters that attacked the aircraft, damaged a 3rd and it was the 4th fighter that hit his turret.

The pilot sounded the bale out bell and the crew abandoned the aircraft. The Co-Pilot and Nose Gunner were wounded.

2nd Lt. Paterak reported that:

"After we were interrogated I had a chance to talk with my engineer and he told me that when he asked the German interrogator about Carlie Dial and other members, the interrogator showed him dog tags of Carlie Dial, and said that was all that was found inside the plane. My first knowledge of his death was given to me by my Navigator, Lt. Fred Irving, whom I saw in the local jail in a small town in Hungary. He got the information from the gunners who were actually in the back of the ship at the time of the attack".

Burial details:

Above: Grave Marker for S/Sgt. Carlie Dial (Courtesy of Fred-FindAGrave)

Above courtesy of The Robesonian, dated 27th August 1943

S/Sgt. Carlie Dial. Air Medal, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters (AM (3 OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Ardennes American Cemetery, Plot A, Row 33, Grave 5. Born on the 12th December 1923 in Robeson, North Carolina. Son of Plummer and Dollie (née Locklear) Dial of Fairmont, Robeson County, North Carolina, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to this crew and their families (Jan 2025).

Other sources listed below:

RS 15.01.2025 - Initial Upload

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Acknowledgments: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and Captain François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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