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E.R.Bingham
2/10/2004 1:23:06 PM | On the aircraft data page for Heavy Date(http://www.401bg.com/history/aircraft.asp?acid=38788) it is listed on the top as the last mission being Furstenfeldbruck,on April 9th.Yet,when we scroll down to the bottom we see 10 Apr 1945 Oranienburg as being the last with Spence and crew(God bless them)being MIA.Is this a typo?It says they
Sustained major flak damage and force-landed at the Luftwaffe base at Fassberg, Germany.Was this near Oranienburg?Did they actually land at the field they were bombing?I am aware they were captured and some escaped,are any of these men alive today?Are there any accounts of what happened,this bird fascinates me!
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Donald Byers
2/10/2004 2:09:56 PM | Here is my web page with pictures.
http://www.donald-byers.com/612thPictures.htm
Don Byers
Lubbock Texas
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Scott McElvain
2/10/2004 6:25:42 PM | Me too. My dad flew as co-pilot on Heavy Date with Bloetscher's crew prior to Spence. Andy Bloetscher and Hughie Reiner (Mike's dad), Flight Officer on Spence's crew, met at the Portland Reunion and had a long talk. Andy died in '93 and Hughie a few years ago. Jim Carson is still alive in Plano, Texas.
Hans Schull is building a major scale flying model of Heavy Date, plans to fly it at the reunion, and has a website. Just do a search on "Heavy Date". It's story is in the website.
Fassburg was not a target that day as far as I know.
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Scott McElvain
2/10/2004 8:07:21 PM | In the Group's "blue book" or annual put together after the war, there is an extensive writeup on Heavy Date and her last mission. It used to be in Hans Schull's website, I think, but is not there now unless I missed something. If you don't have access to a copy, I can send you one after I've recovered from my move..............
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Hans Shull
2/12/2004 12:08:31 PM | I did have the entire story on my site at one time but it got lost in the move to the updated site.
The story is just great and I hope to get it on my site in the future.
One correction, I won't be flying Heavy Date at the reunion, she will be displayed in the hotel during it. First flights will be a short time after the reunion and I will take video of the event.
The site is www.hoverhans.8m.com
Sorry for the lack of updates to the site. Most of what I am doing now is control setups and sanding so pics would not show much in the way of progress.
She is coming along well and will be display ready for the reunion.
Hans
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Juli Spence
3/31/2004 1:01:48 PM | I can't tell you how much my nother-in-law is looking forward to meeting you and seeing the model at the reunion. Dad (Claude Spence) never talked about the war much and this has gotten her talking about all the memories she has from her point of view here in the states. She thought she read that there would be a dedication ceremony for Heavy Date. Is this in the plans?
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