Information about this photograph:

  1. Aircraft No: 42-102536
  2. Tail Letter: C
  3. Fuselage ID: N8-C
  4. Group/Squadron: 398th, 601st
  5. Official Name of Aircraft: Here's Hopin
  6. Date of Photograph: 25 December 1944, the day after the crash
  7. Photo Location: Nuthampstead
  8. Crew at time of Photograph: Don Grinter's Crew on 24 December 1944
  9. Final Disposition of A/C: 24 December 1944 crash at the Nuthampstead Air Base, Grinter Crew.

    Assigned as original aircraft on 26th April 1944. Crashed and exploded on take off at the Nuthampstead Air Base, Grinter Crew; 2 KIA. The A/C remains were moved as scrap to 71 M.U. Slough Berkshire. (M.U.= Maintenance Unit).
  10. Interpretive Comments: The following information was provided by Malcolm Osborn during October 2004. There were two crashes that cold, foggy morning of 24 December 1944. These were 42-97374 Zimmerman and 42-102536 Grinter. Grinter's A/C 42-102536 exploded violently after burning for a short while. However, Zimmerman's A/C 42-97374 was the first A/C to crash that day, and also burnt, but miraculously did not explode. The Zimmerman A/C came down just off the end of the main runway, still on 131 site. Both aircraft were totally destroyed. Their remains were eventually removed to a scrap depot at Slough, Berkshire. Both aircraft were carrying 4000 Lbs bomb loads and were filled with maximum gas.

Related Information: Additional information about this crash can be found in the FLAK NEWS and Veteran's Personal History Sections. Specific articles are:

  1. No Forgetting Christmas Eve Mission by Lou Stoffer, Engineer/Gunner, 600th Squadron

See also:

  1. Grinter's Crew - 600th Squadron - July 1944

Source Information:

  1. Photo Source: Geoff Rice
  2. Photo Reference: 42-102536-N8-C_19441225_GR
  3. Photographer: Unknown but probably 398th Base Photographer.
  4. Information compiled by the 398th Web team with special thanks to Geoff Rice.
  5. If you would like to add information about this photograph, please contact our Aircraft Photo Coordinator. Please include the title.