Herbert Crew 802

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Herbert Crew 802

Back row, left to right...
•	Lloyd Herbert, pilot
•	William Covington, co-pilot
•	Harold Bachman, navigator
•	Timothy Tarpey, bombardier
Not in the photo...
•	Vincent Kalata, left waist gunner

Front row, left to right...
•	Louis Brooks, gunner
•	Laurence Nursall, radio operator
•	Joe Powell Jr, engineer
•	George Guy, gunner
•	Marshal Johnson, right waist gunner

Herbert Crew 802 Summary

The Herbert Crew 802 was one of the Group's orignial crews that trained in Alamogordo. They transferred into the 492nd as crew 1036 from the 32nd CCTS (Combat Crew Training School) at Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona. There was one personnel change that brought Sgt Kalata into the crew. See the Training link on the right.

2nd Lt Lloyd Herbert signed out for B-24J, 42-110153. To our knowledge they didn't give their ship a nickname. They flew their assigned plane to England via the southern route. Their ground Crew Chief, M/Sgt Bernard, went with them, bumping Sgt Kalata onto the Queen Elizabeth.

By our count the Herbert Crew 802 flew 3 missions. We are led to believe that they flew each mission with a full crew without any substitutions in personnel.

On 19 May 44, the Herbert Crew flew their assigned ship in a bombing raid on a marshalling yard at Brunswick, Germany. They flew in the right-wing postion in the lead element of the Group's B section, aka high right squadron. Their fate was sealed when the Luftwaffe caught the Group without fighter protection.

The Group was hit by about 40 enemy fighters. The Germans began their attack by taking out the lead element of the second section, which comprised of Lewis 813, Herbert 802 and Fisher 805. Herbert was seen dropping out of the formation and would not be seen or heard of again for 58 more years. 10 KIA, MACR 5240.

Some accounts have reported seeing the Herbert plane's front section blow up. The Germans found the plane's tail section near Erichshagen, Germany. Five bodies were recovered and initially buried in the Jewish Cemetery at Hoya/Weser. After the war, the bodies were reburied in the Ardennes American Cemetery. Later three of them were brought back to the US.

The remains of the other five would be found for another 58 years. Enrico Schwartz, an East German businessman, and his partner Swetlana Reimer founded the Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team. They have been responsible for finding two of the missing crews from the 492nd. They found the other half of the Herbert crew 802 and most of the McMurray Crew 801.

The discovered crewmen were returned for a Military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. We found an online article on the Herbert Crew and another on Lloyd Herbert. We recreated edited versions for this website which can be read under the Story links on the right side of this page. We have also provided you a link to the Arlington Cemetery website located underneath Web Links.

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