Help with crash information? B24 crash WW2

[bayonetman]

Way outside my line, but I recently won a knife on eBay that is identified to Lt. John A. Podawiltz. The Lt was a pilot (not sure yet whether pilot or copilot) of a B24 bomber that crashed. I have found some information on him, would like to find some more on the crash that took his life.

 

What I know:

 

B-24 bomber, 10th Air Force, 7th Bomb Group (H), 492nd Bomber Squadron

 

Based at Pandeveswar, India? or Panargarh?

 

His bomber crashed November 11, 1943. stated in one source as at Kyaukse, Burma

 

I know there are sources to find some crash information, but as I said, not in my area of expertise at all. Can anyone help me find more about the crash?

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated to enhance my display of the knife of this hero.

 

John A. Podawiltz

Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces

Service # 0-735109

492nd Bomber Squadron, 7th Bomber Group, Heavy

Entered the Service from: Michigan

Died: 11-Nov-43

Buried at: Plot B Row 0 Grave 457

Honolulu Memorial

Honolulu, Hawaii

Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart

[pathfinder505]

Contact

AAIR Contact Information

 

E-mail: aair@AviationArchaeology.com

4409 Hillview Way

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

 

 

They have the MACR's and Crash reports and are very reasonable and great to work with.

[316th FS 324th FG]

Footnote is also a great source of MACRs if you are a subscriber. I think you can even get a trial membership for one week for free.

[Bob Hudson]

Footnote is also a great source of MACRs if you are a subscriber. I think you can even get a trial membership for one week for free.

 

I ran his name through footnote.com and three other paid databases and this is the only thing I found:

 

[Bob Hudson]

I assume you saw this:

 

"Lt. John A. Podawiltz Killed in Action in Burma November 11

Word has just been received here that Lieutenant John A. Podawiltz, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Podawiltz, former residents of Eau Claire and now living at 320 Grand Boulevard East, Detroit, Michigan, was killed in action at Kyaukse, Burma, on Armistice Day, November 11, while piloting a 4-motor B-24 bomber.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz enlisted in July 1941 and received his basic training at Chanute Field.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz was one of ten Air Corps soldiers at the Enid Army Flying School, Enid, OK selected from the enlisted ranks to become aviation cadets.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz is second from the right in the above picture of a group of five of these men."

 

[bayonetman]

I assume you saw this:

 

Lt. John A. Podawiltz Killed in Action in Burma November 11

Word has just been received here that Lieutenant John A. Podawiltz, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Podawiltz, former residents of Eau Claire and now living at 320 Grand Boulevard East, Detroit, Michigan, was killed in action at Kyaukse, Burma, on Armistice Day, November 11, while piloting a 4-motor B-24 bomber.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz enlisted in July 1941 and received his basic training at Chanute Field.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz was one of ten Air Corps soldiers at the Enid Army Flying School, Enid, OK selected from the enlisted ranks to become aviation cadets.

 

Lieutenant Podawiltz is second from the right in the above picture of a group of five of these men.

 

Yes, that is one of the personal information items I found. He is also in NARA as he enlisted as a Private and was later promoted to Officer status as mentioned above:

 

Field Title Value Meaning

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 16022320 16022320

NAME PODAWILTZ#JOHN#A######## PODAWILTZ#JOHN#A########

RESIDENCE: STATE 63 WISCONSIN

RESIDENCE: COUNTY 035 EAU CLAIRE

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 6393 WAUSAU WISCONSIN

DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 01 01

DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 07 07

DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 41 41

GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT# Private

GRADE: CODE 8 Private

BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION AC# Air Corps

BRANCH: CODE 20 Air Corps

FIELD USE AS DESIRED # #

TERM OF ENLISTMENT 0 Undefined Code

LONGEVITY ### ###

SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 0 Civil Life

NATIVITY 63 WISCONSIN

YEAR OF BIRTH 15 15

RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 1 White, citizen

EDUCATION 4 4 years of high school

CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 857 Unskilled occupations in production of rubber goods

MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents

COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 1 Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)

CARD NUMBER # #

BOX NUMBER 0207 0207

FILM REEL NUMBER 2.64# 2.64#

[bayonetman]

I have ordered a MACR from Aviation Archeology. Thanks much for the information!

[bayonetman]

I have ordered a MACR from Aviation Archeology. Thanks much for the information!

 

I received the following answer from MACR:

 

Hi Gary,

 

Other than what you have I could not turn up any more information on Podawiltz, and no reports were found.

 

Sorry,

 

Craig Fuller

AAIR Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research

www.AviationArchaeology.com aair@aviationarchaeology.com

4409 Hillview Way

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

480-218-8198

 

Anyone have any other suggestions? One respondent did suggest that possibly the Lt. was killed or mortally wounded but the plane did not go down. I understand the the MACR records usually recorded the death of crew members but it might now be complete.

 

I note that in the American Battle Monuments Commission listing, he is shown as being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Is there any listing of the recipients?

 

I checked the listing of the other members of his squadron, and there are no other listings on that date. Of course, that only means that none are buried in National Cemeteries not that others did not die on that same date. He is listed as buried, so the body was recovered, lending more credence to the possibility that the plane did not go down. Really hope I can find more of his story.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

[bayonetman]

Thanks to all that have helped, either here or in PMs.

 

I have found unfortunately that there is no listing of the recipients of the DFC, so that is a dead end.

 

I have sent off to St. Louis to see if his records survived. Since he has been deceased for over 62 years his entire record is now public record so if there is anything there I ought to be able to get it.

 

By looking at some of the Genealogy sites, I was able to find information on his parents and brothers and sisters. Some digging turned up a nephew, the son of one of his brothers. Apparently none of his generation have survived, but the nephew remembers family stories about Uncle Jack (full name was John Albert Podawiltz but was known in the family as Jack).

 

To the best of the nephew's memory, the story in the family was that Lt. Podawiltz was the co-pilot of a B24 that was shot up on a raid on Rangoon. Both the pilot and he were seriously wounded but he managed to get the plane back to base and land it before dying shortly afterward. This is supposed to be why he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously. The story was that the rest of the crew survived.

 

Family memory is notoriously inaccurate, so I hope that I can get some records from St. Louis that might either substantiate or correct the story.

 

I am starting a display frame for the knife, which will be updated as and if I find more information.

 

The knife itself it interesting even if the story is incorrect. Most collectors don't recognize this as being a US issue WW2 knife and pass it by when they see one. I am going to post further information on the knife on the Edged Weapons section probably tomorrow for those that might be interested.