Bad Penny

Harvey Brown (middle) with 'The Bad Penny ' summer, 1944On November 1, 1944, the crew of "The Bad Penny" became one of the 1,756 15th Air Force B-24s lost in combat. The Bad Penny was lost on a mission to bomb an ordinance depot near Vienna, Austria. The crew  was leading a flight of B-24s and shortly before the bomb run sustained serious flak damage. Shortly after "bombs away" The Bad Penny was seen to leave formation with one engine feathered and the number two engine smoking. It was the last time the plane was seen. All of the crew was able to parachute to safety, but they were listed as missing in action for the remainder of the war.

Click the links below to see portions of the
Missing Air-crew Report for Bad Penny

Page 1 of MACRpage 2 of MACR
 

Extra Joker

On August 22 and 23, 1944, the 451st flew missions to Vienna, Austria. Both days will long be remembered by members of the Bomb Group for the loss of combat crews and the ferocity of the German counter attacks. Harvey flew on the August 22nd mission to bomb gasoline storage facilities. On the 23rd the group went back to bomb the same area, the Markersdorf Airdrome.  Returning crews reported Luftwaffe fighters attacking in groups of ten or more with out regard for losses. The group lost 14 aircraft in these two missions. 140 men were lost, some of whom didn't live to become POWs. However, the 451st gunners shot down 33 German fighters, probably destroyed an additional 15 and damaged another nine. This mission was flown without the benefit of fighter protection, losses were expected to be high.

 On the 23rd of August, a good friend of Harvey's, Ken Whiting (Harvey had flown with himExtra Joker moments before its decent into the ground a week earlier),  was flying the day's mission to Markersdorf. Ken actually wasn't supposed to fly Extra Joker, but switched with another pilot because the other pilot was supposed to fly Squadron lead and Extra Joker had the wrong bomb sight.  Extra Joker sustained heavy damage by 20 mm fire from a ME-109. Note the large hole and fire in left wing. Seconds after this photo was taken the aircraft went into a spiralling decent and crashed, killing all aboard.
 
 
 

Click the HERE to see the dramatic photo series of Extra Joker getting shot down.
 
 

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