B-24 Liberator Shot Down in Carolines Raid in WWII

A Sad Sight

This B-24 Liberator was part of a bombing mission that targeted the Palau Islands on May 4, 1945. Japanese forces and anti-aircraft installations populated the island at the time. 

Brief, the B-24 bomber in the video, and its crew took off from Angaur Airfield and went to Koror Island, Palau, for the mission. Unfortunately, this B-24 sustained a direct hit between the no. 2 engine and fuselage, causing the port-side wing to fold upward and brake off.

With one wing completely shattered, the plane fell from the skies until it eventually crashed into a mangrove swamp. 

It was reported that nine of its crew members died from the crash while the Navigator successfully bailed out. However, 2nd Lt. Wallace F. Kaufman was later captured and became a prisoner of war until he was executed a few weeks later.