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Personal info

Full name
HELDERMAN, Max A
Date of birth
29 January 1920
Age
24
Place of birth
South Dakota
Hometown
Oaktown, Knox County, Indiana

Military service

Service number
O-686086
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Bombardier
Unit
413th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
12 May 1944
Place of death
Near Kamberg, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
K 3 10

Immediate family

Members
Noah E. Helderman (father)
Annis B. Helderman (mother)
Virginia (Diedmeyer) Helderman (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-97654
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Goering's Nightmare
Destination: Brux, Czechoslovakia
Mission: Bombing of Sudetenlandische Treibstoffwerke AG-Hydrogenation plant
MACR: 4861

More information

1st Lt Max A. Helderman graduated from Washington High School and Vincennes University. Prior to his enlistment in the Army Air Forces he was a teacher in the Sandborn schools. His parents were also teachers.
He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in La Fayette, Indiana on 8 July 1942. He received his commission and bombardier's wings on 15 July 1943, at Big Springs, Texas. He was in England since November 1943.

The plane was the lead pathfinder of this mission and went down in a tight spiral with the right wing cut off at #4 engine and was on fire.

Only two men survived: the pilot Capt Jim Knupp and the radio operator Manuel Reuben. The plane crashed at 1215 hours in an open pasture near Kamberg.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / 1930 Census, www.fold3.com - MACR, Newspaper article

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, Newspaper article