08-04-2020, 18:50
The Last B-24
2018 - WGBH Boston - shown on PBS America
![[Image: image-24D7_5E8CFDD0.jpg]](https://www.tvgirlsgallery.co.uk/image-24D7_5E8CFDD0.jpg)
The B-24 is the Liberator bomber and the last one of 18,000 which rolled off the production line in Tulsa in 1944 was named Tulsamerican. This plane flew its last mission in December 1944 from an Italian base to bomb an oil refinery in Germany. It was attacked by German fighters and one engine was put out of action. It returned home and not able to make its own base it attempted to land on an emergency airstrip on the Croatian island of Vis. Two more engines then failed and it had to ditch in the Adriatic just short of the island. Seven of the crew were rescued but the other three sank to the seabed with the aircraft.
The programme is about the attempt by the US government to retrieve the remains of the lost aircrew. Dozens of divers and archaeologists assisted by a Croatian Navy ship hoover up tons of silt and sand from the area around the plane and sieve it all for the larger fragments. These are then put on a conveyor through a machine which uses uv light to pick out pieces of bone and teeth. These are then sent to the largest forensic archaeology lab in the world, owned by the Pentagon, who carry out DNA analysis to show that all the remains belong to the pilot, Eugene Ford who then receives a burial with full honours at Arlington.
The Americans, unlike the British, set great store by repatriating the remains of servicemen killed overseas however long ago they died and its obvious that no expense is spared in doing so. The voiceover states that there are 25,000 men who are thought to be locatable in this way and the the programme to retrieve them will continue for decades.
2018 - WGBH Boston - shown on PBS America
The B-24 is the Liberator bomber and the last one of 18,000 which rolled off the production line in Tulsa in 1944 was named Tulsamerican. This plane flew its last mission in December 1944 from an Italian base to bomb an oil refinery in Germany. It was attacked by German fighters and one engine was put out of action. It returned home and not able to make its own base it attempted to land on an emergency airstrip on the Croatian island of Vis. Two more engines then failed and it had to ditch in the Adriatic just short of the island. Seven of the crew were rescued but the other three sank to the seabed with the aircraft.
The programme is about the attempt by the US government to retrieve the remains of the lost aircrew. Dozens of divers and archaeologists assisted by a Croatian Navy ship hoover up tons of silt and sand from the area around the plane and sieve it all for the larger fragments. These are then put on a conveyor through a machine which uses uv light to pick out pieces of bone and teeth. These are then sent to the largest forensic archaeology lab in the world, owned by the Pentagon, who carry out DNA analysis to show that all the remains belong to the pilot, Eugene Ford who then receives a burial with full honours at Arlington.
The Americans, unlike the British, set great store by repatriating the remains of servicemen killed overseas however long ago they died and its obvious that no expense is spared in doing so. The voiceover states that there are 25,000 men who are thought to be locatable in this way and the the programme to retrieve them will continue for decades.