Pilot 1st/Lt. James O. Bolin KIA
Hometown: Pine Bluff Arkansas
Squadron: 506th BS 44th Bomb Group
Service # O-424895
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Target: Watten V Weapon site (NO BALL)
Missing Air Crew Report Details
USAAF MACR#:
Date Lost: 2-Feb-44
Serial Number: 41-24282
Aircraft Model B-24D
Aircraft Letter: Y
Aircraft Name: RUTH-LESS
Location: crash land Friston England
Cause: Flak AA 10 KIA
"Military Installations" were the words used to describe the target for today, which we later learned meant V-1 launching sites. The mission was flown under severe icing conditions and a 10/10th cloud cover over both France and southern England. Over the target area moderate accurate flak was encountered with several of our ships suffering minor flak damage. One 506th Squadron plane crashed upon return on the outskirts of Eastbourne.
Lt. Bolin, pilot of A/C #41-24282, became separated from the formation during the return. While lowering altitude in trying to find a base in southern England, he crashed into a low hill inland from Eastbourne. Eight of the crew were killed instantly, while Sgts. Wilson and Bales were taken to Princess Alice hospital where they both died later that same day.
Ruth Wulff Swanson, sister of Orville Wulff, wrote: "Our parents did receive a letter from someone back in 1944 who apparently was either related to or who knew the Radio Operator (Chester W. Yurick) who lived a short time after the crash that day – long enough to tell the details of the crash. If our information was correct, they had accomplished their mission and were then attacked and lost two to three engines, and the instrument panel was badly damaged. They were too badly (#3 only?) damaged to return to Shipdham, so opted to attempt a landing on the coast of Eastbourne. However, being a British field, they had to establish identification before clearance for a landing, had to circle back around Eastbourne (which was covered in a
heavy cloud bank). They were cleared for landing, and needed to complete the final circle and land. In that final circle, without instruments, they came in too low and couldn't clear the hill (Butt's Brow). They crashed just below the crest of it."
A detailed description of this crash is included in the book "Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories" by Ian McLachlan and Russell J. Zorn (Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1991). See Chapter 8 "Hurry Home Boys." The authors gathered eyewitness accounts, including one from a Mrs. Ellen Barrow who heard the approaching plane and wondered if it might be a German raider. However the engines sounded irregular and the plane was low. Soon thereafter the bomber appeared, flying slowly and looking exhausted according to Mrs. Barrow. She saw an airman standing at one of the waist-gun windows, and her heart went out to him. As it went by she whispered:
"Hurry home, boys."
A schoolboy, Derek Wilkinson, was outside on the grass at Willingdon Golf Course. He saw the bomber and realized that unless it gained altitude, it would crash into the nearby hills. On those hills was Audrey Armstrong, rounding up sheep with the golf-club's greenskeeper. She heard the straining engines and saw the pilot as both realized that a crash was inevitable. The aircraft crashed into the hill and exploded. An engine tumbled down the hill near her. She and the greenskeeper ran toward the wreck once the explosions had stopped, but found only smoldering debris. Amazingly there were some signs of life. One aviator died at the scene despite receiving first aid. Two more died later at a nearby hospital. Audrey thought that if the bomber had only been 40 feet higher it would have been able to make it to the emergency landing strip at Friston near Eastbourne. A stone memorial was placed at the crash site on 13 May 1995 due to the exceptional efforts of Kevin Watson and through the backing of the Eastbourne Mayor. Each year a memorial ceremony is conducted at the crashsite. There is also a small museum in Eastbourne in honor of this crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------
James Bolin was killed on a hillside at Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK when his B24D Liberator named Ruth-Less crashed whilst attempting to land at a small airfield near the village of Friston.
The crew had departed from their base at Shipdham, Norfolk for an attack on a V2 missile assembly bunker at Watten, in the Foret d'Eperlecques near St Omer, northern France. The aircraft sustained substantial damage from flak on its bombing run and could not make it back to its base. An emergency landing was attempted in southern England, but in very poor weather conditions and with the loss of one engines, the aircraft could not outclimb the cloud shrouded hill in front of it. Moments before they were killed, some of the crew had been waving at people on the ground.
Initially Bolin and the rest of the crew were interred at Brookwood Cemetary near Woking in Surrey, but after war some of the crew's families had their bodies repatriated back to the USA.
There is a book called "Ruth-Less and Far From Home" that tells the story of what happened to Bolin. Many of the families had no idea that their loved ones had been killed on English soil, but due to the secrecy at war time, were simply informed they had died "somewhere in the ETO" (European Theater of Operations)
(bio by kevwatson1)
Crew of RUTH-LESS,
1st/Lt. James O. Bolin Pilot
1st/Lt. Orville L. Wulff Copilot
2nd/Lt. Edward J. Ackerman Navigator
2nd/Lt. Harold W. Schwab Bombardier
T/Sgt. James H. Bales Engineer
T/Sgt. Chester W. Yurick Radio Op.
S/Sgt. James L. Wilson Gunner
S/Sgt. Aubrey J. Maloy Gunner
S/Sgt. Ralph E. Strait Gunner
S/Sgt. George M. Dewald Gunner
Hometown: Pine Bluff Arkansas
Squadron: 506th BS 44th Bomb Group
Service # O-424895
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Target: Watten V Weapon site (NO BALL)
Missing Air Crew Report Details
USAAF MACR#:
Date Lost: 2-Feb-44
Serial Number: 41-24282
Aircraft Model B-24D
Aircraft Letter: Y
Aircraft Name: RUTH-LESS
Location: crash land Friston England
Cause: Flak AA 10 KIA
"Military Installations" were the words used to describe the target for today, which we later learned meant V-1 launching sites. The mission was flown under severe icing conditions and a 10/10th cloud cover over both France and southern England. Over the target area moderate accurate flak was encountered with several of our ships suffering minor flak damage. One 506th Squadron plane crashed upon return on the outskirts of Eastbourne.
Lt. Bolin, pilot of A/C #41-24282, became separated from the formation during the return. While lowering altitude in trying to find a base in southern England, he crashed into a low hill inland from Eastbourne. Eight of the crew were killed instantly, while Sgts. Wilson and Bales were taken to Princess Alice hospital where they both died later that same day.
Ruth Wulff Swanson, sister of Orville Wulff, wrote: "Our parents did receive a letter from someone back in 1944 who apparently was either related to or who knew the Radio Operator (Chester W. Yurick) who lived a short time after the crash that day – long enough to tell the details of the crash. If our information was correct, they had accomplished their mission and were then attacked and lost two to three engines, and the instrument panel was badly damaged. They were too badly (#3 only?) damaged to return to Shipdham, so opted to attempt a landing on the coast of Eastbourne. However, being a British field, they had to establish identification before clearance for a landing, had to circle back around Eastbourne (which was covered in a
heavy cloud bank). They were cleared for landing, and needed to complete the final circle and land. In that final circle, without instruments, they came in too low and couldn't clear the hill (Butt's Brow). They crashed just below the crest of it."
A detailed description of this crash is included in the book "Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories" by Ian McLachlan and Russell J. Zorn (Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1991). See Chapter 8 "Hurry Home Boys." The authors gathered eyewitness accounts, including one from a Mrs. Ellen Barrow who heard the approaching plane and wondered if it might be a German raider. However the engines sounded irregular and the plane was low. Soon thereafter the bomber appeared, flying slowly and looking exhausted according to Mrs. Barrow. She saw an airman standing at one of the waist-gun windows, and her heart went out to him. As it went by she whispered:
"Hurry home, boys."
A schoolboy, Derek Wilkinson, was outside on the grass at Willingdon Golf Course. He saw the bomber and realized that unless it gained altitude, it would crash into the nearby hills. On those hills was Audrey Armstrong, rounding up sheep with the golf-club's greenskeeper. She heard the straining engines and saw the pilot as both realized that a crash was inevitable. The aircraft crashed into the hill and exploded. An engine tumbled down the hill near her. She and the greenskeeper ran toward the wreck once the explosions had stopped, but found only smoldering debris. Amazingly there were some signs of life. One aviator died at the scene despite receiving first aid. Two more died later at a nearby hospital. Audrey thought that if the bomber had only been 40 feet higher it would have been able to make it to the emergency landing strip at Friston near Eastbourne. A stone memorial was placed at the crash site on 13 May 1995 due to the exceptional efforts of Kevin Watson and through the backing of the Eastbourne Mayor. Each year a memorial ceremony is conducted at the crashsite. There is also a small museum in Eastbourne in honor of this crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------
James Bolin was killed on a hillside at Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK when his B24D Liberator named Ruth-Less crashed whilst attempting to land at a small airfield near the village of Friston.
The crew had departed from their base at Shipdham, Norfolk for an attack on a V2 missile assembly bunker at Watten, in the Foret d'Eperlecques near St Omer, northern France. The aircraft sustained substantial damage from flak on its bombing run and could not make it back to its base. An emergency landing was attempted in southern England, but in very poor weather conditions and with the loss of one engines, the aircraft could not outclimb the cloud shrouded hill in front of it. Moments before they were killed, some of the crew had been waving at people on the ground.
Initially Bolin and the rest of the crew were interred at Brookwood Cemetary near Woking in Surrey, but after war some of the crew's families had their bodies repatriated back to the USA.
There is a book called "Ruth-Less and Far From Home" that tells the story of what happened to Bolin. Many of the families had no idea that their loved ones had been killed on English soil, but due to the secrecy at war time, were simply informed they had died "somewhere in the ETO" (European Theater of Operations)
(bio by kevwatson1)
Crew of RUTH-LESS,
1st/Lt. James O. Bolin Pilot
1st/Lt. Orville L. Wulff Copilot
2nd/Lt. Edward J. Ackerman Navigator
2nd/Lt. Harold W. Schwab Bombardier
T/Sgt. James H. Bales Engineer
T/Sgt. Chester W. Yurick Radio Op.
S/Sgt. James L. Wilson Gunner
S/Sgt. Aubrey J. Maloy Gunner
S/Sgt. Ralph E. Strait Gunner
S/Sgt. George M. Dewald Gunner
Pilot 1st/Lt. James O. Bolin KIA
Hometown: Pine Bluff Arkansas
Squadron: 506th BS 44th Bomb Group
Service # O-424895
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Target: Watten V Weapon site (NO BALL)
Missing Air Crew Report Details
USAAF MACR#:
Date Lost: 2-Feb-44
Serial Number: 41-24282
Aircraft Model B-24D
Aircraft Letter: Y
Aircraft Name: RUTH-LESS
Location: crash land Friston England
Cause: Flak AA 10 KIA
"Military Installations" were the words used to describe the target for today, which we later learned meant V-1 launching sites. The mission was flown under severe icing conditions and a 10/10th cloud cover over both France and southern England. Over the target area moderate accurate flak was encountered with several of our ships suffering minor flak damage. One 506th Squadron plane crashed upon return on the outskirts of Eastbourne.
Lt. Bolin, pilot of A/C #41-24282, became separated from the formation during the return. While lowering altitude in trying to find a base in southern England, he crashed into a low hill inland from Eastbourne. Eight of the crew were killed instantly, while Sgts. Wilson and Bales were taken to Princess Alice hospital where they both died later that same day.
Ruth Wulff Swanson, sister of Orville Wulff, wrote: "Our parents did receive a letter from someone back in 1944 who apparently was either related to or who knew the Radio Operator (Chester W. Yurick) who lived a short time after the crash that day – long enough to tell the details of the crash. If our information was correct, they had accomplished their mission and were then attacked and lost two to three engines, and the instrument panel was badly damaged. They were too badly (#3 only?) damaged to return to Shipdham, so opted to attempt a landing on the coast of Eastbourne. However, being a British field, they had to establish identification before clearance for a landing, had to circle back around Eastbourne (which was covered in a
heavy cloud bank). They were cleared for landing, and needed to complete the final circle and land. In that final circle, without instruments, they came in too low and couldn't clear the hill (Butt's Brow). They crashed just below the crest of it."
A detailed description of this crash is included in the book "Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories" by Ian McLachlan and Russell J. Zorn (Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1991). See Chapter 8 "Hurry Home Boys." The authors gathered eyewitness accounts, including one from a Mrs. Ellen Barrow who heard the approaching plane and wondered if it might be a German raider. However the engines sounded irregular and the plane was low. Soon thereafter the bomber appeared, flying slowly and looking exhausted according to Mrs. Barrow. She saw an airman standing at one of the waist-gun windows, and her heart went out to him. As it went by she whispered:
"Hurry home, boys."
A schoolboy, Derek Wilkinson, was outside on the grass at Willingdon Golf Course. He saw the bomber and realized that unless it gained altitude, it would crash into the nearby hills. On those hills was Audrey Armstrong, rounding up sheep with the golf-club's greenskeeper. She heard the straining engines and saw the pilot as both realized that a crash was inevitable. The aircraft crashed into the hill and exploded. An engine tumbled down the hill near her. She and the greenskeeper ran toward the wreck once the explosions had stopped, but found only smoldering debris. Amazingly there were some signs of life. One aviator died at the scene despite receiving first aid. Two more died later at a nearby hospital. Audrey thought that if the bomber had only been 40 feet higher it would have been able to make it to the emergency landing strip at Friston near Eastbourne. A stone memorial was placed at the crash site on 13 May 1995 due to the exceptional efforts of Kevin Watson and through the backing of the Eastbourne Mayor. Each year a memorial ceremony is conducted at the crashsite. There is also a small museum in Eastbourne in honor of this crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------
James Bolin was killed on a hillside at Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK when his B24D Liberator named Ruth-Less crashed whilst attempting to land at a small airfield near the village of Friston.
The crew had departed from their base at Shipdham, Norfolk for an attack on a V2 missile assembly bunker at Watten, in the Foret d'Eperlecques near St Omer, northern France. The aircraft sustained substantial damage from flak on its bombing run and could not make it back to its base. An emergency landing was attempted in southern England, but in very poor weather conditions and with the loss of one engines, the aircraft could not outclimb the cloud shrouded hill in front of it. Moments before they were killed, some of the crew had been waving at people on the ground.
Initially Bolin and the rest of the crew were interred at Brookwood Cemetary near Woking in Surrey, but after war some of the crew's families had their bodies repatriated back to the USA.
There is a book called "Ruth-Less and Far From Home" that tells the story of what happened to Bolin. Many of the families had no idea that their loved ones had been killed on English soil, but due to the secrecy at war time, were simply informed they had died "somewhere in the ETO" (European Theater of Operations)
(bio by kevwatson1)
Crew of RUTH-LESS,
1st/Lt. James O. Bolin Pilot
1st/Lt. Orville L. Wulff Copilot
2nd/Lt. Edward J. Ackerman Navigator
2nd/Lt. Harold W. Schwab Bombardier
T/Sgt. James H. Bales Engineer
T/Sgt. Chester W. Yurick Radio Op.
S/Sgt. James L. Wilson Gunner
S/Sgt. Aubrey J. Maloy Gunner
S/Sgt. Ralph E. Strait Gunner
S/Sgt. George M. Dewald Gunner
Hometown: Pine Bluff Arkansas
Squadron: 506th BS 44th Bomb Group
Service # O-424895
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Target: Watten V Weapon site (NO BALL)
Missing Air Crew Report Details
USAAF MACR#:
Date Lost: 2-Feb-44
Serial Number: 41-24282
Aircraft Model B-24D
Aircraft Letter: Y
Aircraft Name: RUTH-LESS
Location: crash land Friston England
Cause: Flak AA 10 KIA
"Military Installations" were the words used to describe the target for today, which we later learned meant V-1 launching sites. The mission was flown under severe icing conditions and a 10/10th cloud cover over both France and southern England. Over the target area moderate accurate flak was encountered with several of our ships suffering minor flak damage. One 506th Squadron plane crashed upon return on the outskirts of Eastbourne.
Lt. Bolin, pilot of A/C #41-24282, became separated from the formation during the return. While lowering altitude in trying to find a base in southern England, he crashed into a low hill inland from Eastbourne. Eight of the crew were killed instantly, while Sgts. Wilson and Bales were taken to Princess Alice hospital where they both died later that same day.
Ruth Wulff Swanson, sister of Orville Wulff, wrote: "Our parents did receive a letter from someone back in 1944 who apparently was either related to or who knew the Radio Operator (Chester W. Yurick) who lived a short time after the crash that day – long enough to tell the details of the crash. If our information was correct, they had accomplished their mission and were then attacked and lost two to three engines, and the instrument panel was badly damaged. They were too badly (#3 only?) damaged to return to Shipdham, so opted to attempt a landing on the coast of Eastbourne. However, being a British field, they had to establish identification before clearance for a landing, had to circle back around Eastbourne (which was covered in a
heavy cloud bank). They were cleared for landing, and needed to complete the final circle and land. In that final circle, without instruments, they came in too low and couldn't clear the hill (Butt's Brow). They crashed just below the crest of it."
A detailed description of this crash is included in the book "Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories" by Ian McLachlan and Russell J. Zorn (Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1991). See Chapter 8 "Hurry Home Boys." The authors gathered eyewitness accounts, including one from a Mrs. Ellen Barrow who heard the approaching plane and wondered if it might be a German raider. However the engines sounded irregular and the plane was low. Soon thereafter the bomber appeared, flying slowly and looking exhausted according to Mrs. Barrow. She saw an airman standing at one of the waist-gun windows, and her heart went out to him. As it went by she whispered:
"Hurry home, boys."
A schoolboy, Derek Wilkinson, was outside on the grass at Willingdon Golf Course. He saw the bomber and realized that unless it gained altitude, it would crash into the nearby hills. On those hills was Audrey Armstrong, rounding up sheep with the golf-club's greenskeeper. She heard the straining engines and saw the pilot as both realized that a crash was inevitable. The aircraft crashed into the hill and exploded. An engine tumbled down the hill near her. She and the greenskeeper ran toward the wreck once the explosions had stopped, but found only smoldering debris. Amazingly there were some signs of life. One aviator died at the scene despite receiving first aid. Two more died later at a nearby hospital. Audrey thought that if the bomber had only been 40 feet higher it would have been able to make it to the emergency landing strip at Friston near Eastbourne. A stone memorial was placed at the crash site on 13 May 1995 due to the exceptional efforts of Kevin Watson and through the backing of the Eastbourne Mayor. Each year a memorial ceremony is conducted at the crashsite. There is also a small museum in Eastbourne in honor of this crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------
James Bolin was killed on a hillside at Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK when his B24D Liberator named Ruth-Less crashed whilst attempting to land at a small airfield near the village of Friston.
The crew had departed from their base at Shipdham, Norfolk for an attack on a V2 missile assembly bunker at Watten, in the Foret d'Eperlecques near St Omer, northern France. The aircraft sustained substantial damage from flak on its bombing run and could not make it back to its base. An emergency landing was attempted in southern England, but in very poor weather conditions and with the loss of one engines, the aircraft could not outclimb the cloud shrouded hill in front of it. Moments before they were killed, some of the crew had been waving at people on the ground.
Initially Bolin and the rest of the crew were interred at Brookwood Cemetary near Woking in Surrey, but after war some of the crew's families had their bodies repatriated back to the USA.
There is a book called "Ruth-Less and Far From Home" that tells the story of what happened to Bolin. Many of the families had no idea that their loved ones had been killed on English soil, but due to the secrecy at war time, were simply informed they had died "somewhere in the ETO" (European Theater of Operations)
(bio by kevwatson1)
Crew of RUTH-LESS,
1st/Lt. James O. Bolin Pilot
1st/Lt. Orville L. Wulff Copilot
2nd/Lt. Edward J. Ackerman Navigator
2nd/Lt. Harold W. Schwab Bombardier
T/Sgt. James H. Bales Engineer
T/Sgt. Chester W. Yurick Radio Op.
S/Sgt. James L. Wilson Gunner
S/Sgt. Aubrey J. Maloy Gunner
S/Sgt. Ralph E. Strait Gunner
S/Sgt. George M. Dewald Gunner
Inscription
1 lT 506 BOMB SQ 44 BOMB GP (H) ARKANSAS
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Arkansas.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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