Film Footage of B-24 Combat Missions
7th Bomb Group – Pandaveswar, India
The elusive footage of Goad’s crew being filmed (as mentioned in Robert Dorr’s 7th Bomb Group History) has finally been located. The file from the U.S. National Archives #18 CS 643 contains six reels of footage of various B-24 bomber crews from the 7th Bomb Group, 493rd and 9th Bomb Squadrons flying combat missions out of Pandaveswar, India. The footage was filmed over several days during the month of September 1943.
Fantastic footage of Lt. Kelley and his crew are found in these films. Reels 2, 3 and 5 contain close-up scenes of this crew. Positive identifications have been made for Lt. Harold Goad, Lt. Earl Healzer, Lt. John Kelley, Lt. Peacock, Sgt. Omar Austin, Sgt. Frank Chiarello, Sgt. George Marshall, Sgt. Frank Peters and Sgt. Robert Witte. There are also close-up scenes of another crew in Reel 2, presumably from the 493rd Bomb Squadron, that have not yet been identified.
Click here for the ”DVD Guide” (provided in PDF format) that contains a detailed description of the films.
If you can identify anyone in these films, please leave a comment on the YouTube page where you view the film or send an email to the address on the DVD Guide pages.
National Archives File #18 CS 643
© 2010 Leslie K. Roane
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