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Eric
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B-24 Liberators in flight  1268313947_B-24Liberatorsinflight.jpg.2200f5fbdaa7bf4e7b186acda0c32b56.jpg    

 

 

 My Uncle, Lt. Warren E. Sonner, USAAF (Copilot) was killed by a German 88mm Shell in a B24 (Sierra Blanca) over Siracourt, France on a bombing mission to take out a German V1 Launch Sight. The aircraft and remaining crew returned to England.  My family was unsure of the circumstances surrounding his death. I found a picture of him with the aircraft and crew and an excerpt in a book written by the aircraft’s Waist Gunner who described the incident in which an anti-aircraft shell passed through the floor of the cockpit, through the seat on the left side of his body, exited next to his neck, finally leaving the aircraft through the top of the cockpit. Fortunately for the rest of the crew, it failed to detonate.  Lt. Sonner was in control of the aircraft when struck and he fell over the yoke pushing the B24 into steep dive. The Waist Gunner (who wrote the account) came forward and helped pull him off the yoke allowing the Pilot in Command to recover the aircraft. The writer stated,”Sonner never new he was hit.”

 

His Grandfather was a German citizen who emigrated from Alsace Lorraine and his Grandmother was the daughter of an Austrian Master Machinist (Last Name, Huber). Lt. Sonner was a Tool and Die Maker (deferred from service) who enlisted after his younger brother (Richard) was drafted, attended Army O.C.S. and then sent to Flight School becoming a DC3 Pilot.

 

Richard (Dick) flew in Pacific operations in New Guinea and ‘The Hump’ between China and India. He lost a lot of friends in those mountain passes, some to Japanese Fighters and some to bad weather and mountainous terrain.

 

After his service in the Army Air Force, Dick flew his entire career with Eastern Airlines retiring a a Senior Captain at age 66. He was a character! He loved beer and scotch. One night (with a hurricane close off shore) Dick asked me if I wanted to go body surfing on the shore of Long Island, NY. I accepted the challenge. It was ‘pitch assed dark’ the shore break was enormous and the rip was so fast that we got out over two miles from where we went in. My Aunt and my girlfriend at the time were worried because they couldn’t see us and we didn’t hear or answer their calls. My Aunt told my girl that there was nothing to do but go back to their Beach House and hope for the best. I was 18 then, but my Uncle was in his middle 40s.

 

The family said Warren could do a handstand while driving a Harley Davidson......He died before I was born in 1947.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is the Fritz X ..the first guided bomb is history ..on   9 September 1943 it also became the first such bomb to sink a ship in combat – the Italian battleship Roma which as a great accomplishment in the year 1943.. it really goes to show how advanced the Germans were at that time.

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image.png.6412999a85d569d69f2ac8d969e87cf0.png

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