Col. Robert M. Slane (91stBG/323BS), where does one begin to describe his service. On 10 October 1943 his crew was running on vapors and landed in a beet field upon reaching England. This A/c "Sir Baboon Magoon" was extricated and lost shortly thereafter. There was a story of this operation in Popular Science 1944, after the A/c was lost. Here is a link to that article: https://books.google.com/books…. Slane and crew were assigned to 42-5714 "Old Faithful" on 14 Oct 1943. 42-5714 Del Cheyenne 3/9/42; Ass 423BS/306BG [RD-S] Thurleigh 16/5/43 OLD FAITHFUL; tran 323BS/91BG Bassingbourn 11/9/43; tran 322BS [LL-S]; MIA Schweinfurt 14/10/43 w/Bob Slane, cp-Joe Johnson, b-Bill Runner, ettg-Sherman Sly, ro-Vic Kuhlman, btg-Lou Brown, wg-Chas Croth, wg-Bob Solomon (8POW), n-Art Foster (EVD-ret UK 19/9/44), tg-Claud Smith (KIA); e/a KO’d #3 & #4, c/l on rail line S of Metz, Fr. MACR 899. Salvaged by Luftwaffe, and restored to be used by KG 200. (Dave Osbourne) His story of the second Schweinfurt mission and his time at StalagLuft III can be read on the 91st BG site, or in Slane's book, Journey to Freedom and Beyond. http://www.91stbombgroup.com/91st_tales/44_schweinfurt.pdf. In 1956 he ejected from a B47 over Canada - 3 others were lost. For the crew names click on the photo. We believe this photo was taken in the states.
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