From Contributor: (47121802) • Genealogybank.com
Columbus Evening Dispatch Wednesday, Feb 26, 1964 Columbus, OH Page: 22
EISEL Obituary

George A. Eisel, age 54, Tuesday, Veterans Hospital, Long Beach, Calif. Formerly of Columbus. Veteran of World War II. He was the lone survivor of the Iceland crash in 1943 which took the lives of 13 others. Employe Douglas Aircraft, California. Survived by wife, Florence, Santa Anna, Calif.; parents, Mr. and Mrs. George S. Eisel; sisters, Mrs. Charlotte Westkamp, Mrs. Victoria Heigel, Mrs. Ruth Brooker, Columbus; Mrs. Geraldine Davis, Dayton; also 4 nephews; 3 nieces; several uncles; 1 aunt. Funeral arrangements are being completed in California.
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Gunner S/Sgt. George A. Eisel, WIA
Hometown: New Jersey
Squadron: 93rd Bomb Group
Service #
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart
Pilot Capt. Robert H. Shannon KIA
Pilot Capt James E. Gott KIA

Target: Base Inspection Iceland
Missing Air Crew Report Details
USAAF MACR#:
Date Lost: 3-May-43
Serial Number: 41-23728
Aircraft Model B-24D-1-CO
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: "Hot Stuff"
Location: 12 KIA Plus 1 civilian 1 survivor RTD
Cause: This distinguished crew and passengers were killed in an aircraft accident in a B24 Liberator of the 8th Air Force (330th BS, 93rd Bomb Group) out of RAF Bovingdon, England, on Mt. Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula after an aborted attempt to land at the Royal Air Force station at Kaldadarnes, Iceland.
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B-24D Liberator (B-24D-1-CO, tail #41-23728) "Hot Stuff" was assigned to the 330th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces flying combat missions out of RAF Bovingdon, England. Hot Stuff flew its 25th mission on February 7, 1943, against long odds at a time when many planes were being shot down. Hot Stuff became the first heavy bomber in the 8th Air Force to complete twenty-five missions in Europe in World War II and reached its 25th mission three-and-a-half months before the widely celebrated B-17 "Memphis Belle". After Hot Stuff completed thirty-one missions, the plane and her crew were on the return flight to the states for a War Bonds publicity and morale-boosting tour on May 3, 1943, and Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, Commander of the European Theater of Operations needed to get back the the states as he had been summoned to Washington DC by the General of the Army, George Marshall. Andrews and his entourage hitched a ride on Hot Stuff, and in doing so bumped five crew members from the flight. Though they were supposed to refuel at Prestwick, Scotland before heading out over the Atlantic, the crew elected to skip stopping at Prestwick and proceed to their next waypoint, Reykjavik, Iceland. They arrived to find the weather at their destination quite dicey with snow squalls, low clouds and rain. After several after an aborted attempt to land at the Royal Air Force station at Kaldadarnes, Iceland, the B-24 crashed into the side of 1,600-foot-tall Mount Fagradalsfjall, near Grindavik, Iceland. Upon impact, the aircraft disintegrated except for the tail gunner's turret which remained relatively intact and 14 of the 15 aboard died except the tail-gunner Sgt Eisel who, though injured, survived the crash.

The crew of 41-23728
Capt. Robert H. Shannon
Capt. James E. Gott
Master Sgt. Lloyd C. Wier
T/Sgt. Kenneth A. Jeffers
S/Sgt. Paul H. McQueen
S/Sgt. George A. Eisel injured

Passengers
Lt. Gen Frank Maxwell Andrews
Brig. Gen Charles Henry Barth Jr.
Col Frank L Miller
Colonel Morrow Krum
LTC Fred A. Chapman
Maj. Theodore C. Totman
Maj. Robert H. Humphrey
Capt Joseph T. Johnson
Bishop Adna Wright Leonard civilian