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Personal info

Full name
HILBINGER, Conrad J
Date of birth
17 January 1919
Age
23
Place of birth
Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
Hometown
Trumbull County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
O-438032
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
365th Bombardment Squadron,
305th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
13 January 1943
Place of death
In the near vicinity of the monument for this crew at the crossing of Clamarastraat and Burgweg
Groene Boomgaard, Pollinkhove, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 29 20

Immediate family

Members
Conrad Hilbinger (father)
Kathleen (Stebbin) Hilbinger (mother)
Barbara H. (Hamilton) Hilbinger (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
41-24601
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Buckeye Blitz
Destination: Lille, France
Mission: Bombing of the Atelier D'Hellemes railroad factory
MACR: 15639

More information

At 14.40 in the vicinity of Diksmuide, Belgium, the airplane took a direct hit from the guns of the Fw 190 of Unteroffizier Erich Scheyda of 3./JG26.

All ten crew members were killed when the plane blew up in the air.

A German salvage crew arrived at the crash scene at Pollinkhove and could identifiy the pilot, Lt. Conrad Hilbinger, the co-pilot, 2nd Lt Robert Anderson, the bombardier 2nd Lt Arthur Halbrooks, the ball turret gunner, S/Sgt Hugh Erwin and the engineer, S/Sgt Vane Brown. The next day, they were buried in a common grave, together with three unidentified bodies at the cemetery of Pollinkhove. These bodies must have been the remains of S/Sgt Parise, S/Sgt Anderson and 2nd Lt John Kelliher. The next day, the bodies of S/Sgt Robert Dickson and S/Sgt James Boyette were found in the wreckage. They were buried along their comrades on 20 January. Members of 5./Flak Regiment 53 served als honor guard.

At the place of the crash in the Clamarastraat in Pollinkhove, a statue remembers those fallen airmen.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Family Tree

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Robert Stebbin