jun392 wrote:

A veteran crew of the 392nd Bombardment Squadron, 30th Bomb Group, was lost on Oct. 21, 1944 during a strike mission against Iwo Jima, part of the Volcano Islands that had been receiving a lot of attention from the 7th Air Force in the long preparation for an impending invasion. Lt. Robert Barnsley’s crew had arrived on Kwajalein in July 1944 along with three other new crews to continue the pressure against the enemy stronghold of Truk. In August they would all shortly make the move up to Saipan to join the rest of the squadrons of the 30th & 11th Bomb Groups which were commencing operations against Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands.

They had survived several close calls on previous missions while flying two other A/C. Fortunately they were able to bring those crippled aircraft back to base. On this particular mission they were flying in their new replacement B-24 which they had named ”Miss Fit" in a christening ceremony at Saipan. This would be her ninth and final mission.

A black single engine Japanese fighter was seen to make a diving attack on the formation from above. Several of the top turret gunners in nearby ships hit the Zero on the way down causing it to loose control, ram into the B-24 and shear off the entire tail section, including the fuselage behind the camera hatch. The fighter then disintegrated and debris plunged down through the group. The broken tail section of the B-24 along with the fighter's wing fell away into the slip stream. Witnesses said Lt. Barnsley's severely damaged B-24 fell out of formation and then spiraled down and out of sight. About every 500 feet of the rapid descent it made a complete roll till it finally plunged straight down into the sea. Some witnesses did see several forms tumble out during the death spiral but no parachutes opened. They did they see the aircraft hit the water. The location of the crash was given as 3 miles west of airfield #1 on Iwo Jima.

Horace F Rzehak