Story
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The Bonnie Vee story starts with 21-year-old Second Lieutenant Daniel Albert Abraham and his voyage upon Bonnie Vee the morning of September 27, 1944 – it’s truly a hero’s legacy. A day that history documents as “uneventful enough” in the life of a WW II Pilot unfolded into miscommunication between the lead aircraft in a squadron and 35 US planes on a bombing mission over Germany.
It all starts in the Fall of 1943, when Daniel Abraham, then 20 years old, joined the fight in Europe on November 15th and reported for training as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After successfully completing his training, Second Lieutenant Abraham reported to the 8th Air Force, 8th Command, 2nd Combat Wing, 445th Bombardment Group, 700th Squadron at RAF Tibenham, England on June 29th, 1944.
There, Abraham joined the crew of Bonnie Vee, a B224H Liberator, serial #42-95128, callsign “Displease.” As part of the 700th Squadron Abraham flew hundreds of hours aboard Bonnie Vee on numerous missions out of Tibenham, striking to the heart of Germany. Notably, in his short tour Abharah was awarded his second Air Medal when Bonnie Vee was hit with an unexploded anti-aircraft shell that penetrated the flight deck, severely wounding the co-pilot. Abraham rushed to the cockpit and administered first-aid all the while forming the necessary rudiments of navigation to ensure Bonnie Vee’s safe return. A rare photograph of Abraham and Bonnie Vee shows the damage to the plane alongside the crew safely returned to base.
Our story continues to the morning of September 1944. Less than a year after his commissioning, Abraham and the 445th Bomber Group, 2nd Combat Wing, headed toward Kassel, Germany on a scheduled mission to bomb Henschel, an engine and vehicle factory. Thirty-nine B-24’s including Bonnie Vee were scheduled for the mission… but four planes would abort before the target.
Under thick, overcast weather conditions, thirty-five planes planned to drop bombs through the clouds using a Pathfinder Force radar found in the lead aircraft. The plan was to fly Southeasterly followed by a left turn towards Kassel, concluding with a planned rally over Eisenach, Germany. However, the lead plane turned almost prematurely East, heading straight to Eisenach – too far north for the planned target. (There are conspiracies and debate about the mistake with the most logical explanation being an egregious error, but after signaling the lead, the signal the group received back was “keep it tight, keep it together.”) Almost every navigator in the 445th instantly picked up on the lead’s mistake but it was too late to risk a correction as a stream of bombers were approaching from the rear. Pilot MAJ McCoy and Second Lieutenant Abraham aboard Bonnie Vee decided to stay east and bomb the city of Gottingen, about 50 miles away, flying without escort.
After the bombing the B-24 crew made the effort to rejoin the 2nd Combat Wing about 100 miles ahead. Just as Bonnie Vee made a turn, she was attacked by 150 German fighters in a series of 3 waves. In just over 3 minutes the special unit attacked using tight line formations and the specially equipped armored planes took down 25 of the 445th bombers. Two additional planes crash landed in occupied France, another in Belgium and one near the base in Norfolk, England. Two planes made it across the channel making forced landings on emergency air strips while the four remaining planes were able to return to Tibenham. Of the 238 men aboard the 25 bombers that went down in Germany, 117 were killed in action or subsequently died of injuries.
Bonnie Vee crashed one kilometer West of Richelsdorf and history reveals that Second Lieutenant Daniel Albert Abraham made it safely to the ground before he was apprehended and killed by the locals. He was 21 years old and had served with his squadron for less than 90 days. Short lived and highly honored and decorated, he holds the distinguished Flying Cross Purple Heart award among several others.
Although not a happily ever after if there is any silver lining to our story. After the war the killers of grounded airman (12 in total) were apprehended and brought to justice at a war crimes trial. It will never replace the life of Daniel Abraham but gives us the meaningful story of Bonnie Vee. We can only imagine the connection the crew had with one another as the nine crew members aboard the plane. As we reflect on the past, we embrace new opportunities for Bonnie Vee’s future. We’re creating our own story of today’s Bonnie Vee – and connect her to a place where locals come together. We reflect on what we can only imagine was once an incredible camaraderie as we re-create our own unique guest journey.