B-24 the Sharon D.

[jankees]

2020-4-24_16-16-34-282



2020-4-24_16-15-50-196



2020-4-24_16-16-20-208



So many different B-24's so many fantastic names and noseart, and quite often there's a story behind it.

This the story of the Sharon D. and its pilot, Lt Col Leon 'Bob'Vance.

Bob Vance started at West Point and graduated in 1939, becoming a lieutenant and marrying his girlfriend, Georgette Brown, the day after his graduation. The had a daughter in 1942, which they called Sharon Drury Vance. Lt Col Vance worked as a flight instructor, before being transferred to England, where he was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 2nd Bomb Division, where he flew Liberators, and he named one after his daughter, Sharon D.

On the 5th of June, 1944, he led the 489th Bomb Group in another aircraft on a diversionary bombing mission in the Pas de Calais. When he was over the target in the lead plane, his bombs wouldn't drop, and since he wanted to make sure the group hit the target, they circled around to fly the approach again. This time, they came under an intense flak barrage, and his aircraft was hit severely: 4 crew members were wounded, three engines were disabled, and fuel lines were ruptured. Still, standing behind the pilots, he led the group over the target and this time the bombs dropped on time. Another flak burst hit, killing the pilot and almost completely severing Col Vance's foot, which got stuck in the mangled cockpit. The copilot began a descent to maintain airspeed, and Col Vance managed to feather the engines, while a crew member was applying a tourniquet on his severely bleeding leg.

The aircraft managed to reach the English coast, and Col Vance, realising it was impossible to land, took the controls and ordered the surviving crew members to bail out, which they did. After they had jumped, he discovered he was stuck, he could not get the remains of his foot from the wreckage of the pilots seat. He also believed there was still a crew member aboard, so he decided to ditch the aircraft, which he managed to do while being severely wounded, losing blood and standing between the two pilots seats, thinking that at least the other crew member had a fighting chance of being picked up by a boat and survive.

However, the one bomb that was still on board exploded at this moment, blowing the B-24 to pieces, and sending Vance through the air, now liberated from the wreckage. He managed to inflate his life vest, and spent the next 50 minutes trying to find the crew member he thought was still aboard, before he was rescued by a a RAF boat.

He had survived his ordeal, but only to missing two months later, when the C-54 that was evacuating him back to the US disappeared between Iceland and Newfoundland.

On January 4 1945 it was announced that he would receive the Medal of Honor posthumously, and the presentation was delayed until 1946 so that his daughter Sharon could receive her father medal.

[glennc]

One additional thing, Vance AFB, near Enid Oklahoma bears his name. I was stationed there for a couple years in the mid 80s.Glenn

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you for doing this paint scheme, Jankees, and making sure its history and the story of Lt. Col. Vance is known here.

I noticed over the years that Vance's daughter Sharon, who the aircraft was named after, was one of the key figures in the organizing and volunteering for the Collings Foundation tour stops in Southern California each year. Sadly, Sharon recently passed away due to cancer. Sharon's husband, Jim Kiernan, was a well known 8th Air Force Historian in the San Diego area.