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Peace of Mind

Szöveg: Sándor Galambos |  2018. január 30. 8:44

It was more than 70 years before Julie Owens Robinson, the niece of 2nd Lt. George Lenon Owens Jr. learned the exact circumstances of her uncle’s death. The woman living in North Carolina visited Hungary to pay tribute, on behalf of her family, to the memory of her uncle – the co-pilot of a B–24 heavy bomber that had crashed between Kiskunlacháza and Délegyháza.

Julie Owens Robinson had mourned her uncle for seven decades before she came to Hungary, where during her visit she learned the circumstances of the death of a then 23-year-old second-lieutenant.

“Two years ago, I found a cardboard box full of letters in my grandmother’s house. Most letters were sent from the front by my uncle to his family, but there were some others written by relatives of missing comrades to each other. At that point I realized the extent of the tragedy and trauma caused by the war, the loss of husbands and beloved relatives. I wanted to see the site where the plane with my uncle aboard had crashed, the place where he had died", this was how the woman living in the United States summarized the significance of her visit to Hungary.

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WO Károly Magó, President of the Hungarian Aviation Archeology Association wrote a study on the circumstances of the death of 2nd Lt. Owens and his comrades. During his research, he concluded that, led by Major Burke, the 461st Bombardment Group took off on its seventh mission on 13 April 1944, and the bombing target was the Duna Aircraft Components Factory. The formation included a plane with side number 49, piloted by 2nd Lt. Paul S. Mowery, with co-pilot 2nd Lt. Owens aboard. While flying over the target, the B–24s took heavy flak from the ground and were attacked by fighters. According to US reports, during the mission they encountered a total of 58 fighters, of which the twin-engine ones also fired rockets at the formation. The gunners of the B–24 Liberators reported taking out three attacking fighters and the probable shooting down of another three planes. 15 planes of the American formation got damaged during the mission, and two bombers did not return, because Lt. Charles W. Bauman’s plane with side number 44 was hit by flak, its engine burst into flames in the explosion, and the fire spread to the fuel tank too. The damaged bomber was forced to make a sharp left turn, in consequence of which it collided with 2nd Lt. Paul S. Mowery’s plane, and then went down in the target zone.

The impact of the collision tore down a propeller and part of the starboard wing of 2nd Lt. Mowery’s B–24, and sent the plane into a spin toward the ground. The crew of another bomber flying in the formation, however, saw that the pilot was able to level the Liberator at an altitude of some 600 meters. 2nd Lt. Mowery’s plane finally crashed near Kiskunlacháza, at Bugyi–Alsódélegyháza-puszta. The gendarmes arriving on the scene found two dead bodies, those of 2nd Lt. Owens and Mowery. The co-pilot was probably killed at the moment of collision, and the pilot-in-command died of skull-base fracture shortly after the crash.

Julie Owens Robinson found this study on the internet, and shortly after reading it, she came to Hungary with her husband, with the support of the HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base and the Hungarian Aviation Archeology Association. WO Károly Magó, the President of the aviation archeology association and amateur historian Nándor Mohos, one of the most recognized experts on US missions flown over Hungary first guided them to the area above which the two B–24s collided, and then they travelled to the crash site of 2nd Lt. Owens’ plane, and also visited the Reptár in Szolnok, because the engine of the bomber with side number 44 is on display in Central Eastern Europe’s unique aviation history museum. 

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“We still don’t know the exact site of the wreck of 2nd Lt. Owens’ plane, so all we were able to show his niece was the engine of the Liberator piloted by Lt. Bauman, which was hit by flak and therefore collided.  We found that engine thanks to a friend of mine who had called me in the spring of 2008 because the plough of a Szigetszentmiklós farmer got stuck while ploughing. We started digging at the site, and found an aircraft engine at a depth of 20 centimeters. I called the owner of the land, who told me that he would be very happy if we could remove the “obstacle" from his field. Three days later we started excavating the site. The result went beyond all expectations, as the engine uncovered in the farmer’s field was that of a US B–24H Liberator bomber. Having inspected its components, we concluded that this engine was hit by anti-aircraft fire" – this is how WO Magó, the leader of the then excavation told us the story of what happened 10 years ago. The landowner’s grandmother told him that she had even seen the plane itself, as she was 23 years old when the Liberators bombed the aircraft component factory. She and her family fled to a cellar, where, after a while, they heard the frightening roar of a falling plane, and later, they also went to see its broken, burnt-out fuselage that largely remained in one piece. The grandmother told us that after the crash, the fuselage of the plane was transported to the then aircraft factory for examination.

2nd Lt. Owens was long considered missing in action.

“We had my uncle’s mortal remains transported home several years earlier, and laid them to eternal rest in North Caroline. However, out of consideration, we didn’t reveal to our mother that he would never return home even after we managed to ascertain the exact circumstances of his death. It gives me peace of mind that thanks to my hosts, I have been able to see the land where he lost his life" – this was how Julie Owens Robinson said farewell to her companions.

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Photos by the author and archives

Source: Magyar Honvéd, December 2017

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