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Personal info

Full name
MC ERLANE, Paul E
Date of birth
3 May 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
11052642
Rank
Sergeant
Function
Left Waist Gunner
Unit
333rd Bombardment Squadron,
94th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
9 April 1944
Place of death
Baltic Sea, 1 km off the beach of Elmenhorst, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Peter Mc Erlane (father)
Elizabeth (O`Kane) Mc Erlane (mother)
Mary F. Mc Erlane (sister)
Anna E. Mc Erlane (sister)
Peter J. Mc Erlane (brother)
Rita E. Mc Erlane (sister)
Rose E. Mc Erlane (sister)
Margaret J. Mc Erlane (sister)
Patricia L. Mc Erlane (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-97080
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Warnemunde, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Arado/Heinkel aviation industry
MACR: 3800

More information

Sgt Paul E. McErlane volunteered for U.S. Army Air Corps on 28 May 1942 at Boston, Massachusetts

This aircraft was seen to circle down immediately after bombs away and crashed into the sea near the target and exploded. Time of this observation and happening was at 1225 hours. Various crews reported seeing two, three, six and ten chutes leave the aircraft.

The 10 men of the crew tried to parachute. Seven of them drowned, threemen were brought ashore by a revenue cutter and handed over to the Naval Airbase HQ. of Warnemunde. Further plane crashes and downings were not reported at the county district of Rostock.

His brother, Peter J. Mc Erlane, was killed in action on 28 November 1944 in France.

Sgt McErlane is remembered at St Patrick Cemetery in Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts with a memorial marker.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - Darling Family Tree

Photo source: Lange Family Tree, www.findagrave.com