Missing Planes of the 452nd Bomb Group

About the Book

This 250-page book is packed with details about the missions of the Eighth Air Force's 452nd Bomb Group. It lists every crew that was lost. Itemized accounts for each mission include:

All crew members:

- rank

- position

- the fate of each member

The plane's number

The plane's name

The MACR number

The mission date

The target name

The reason for being Missing In Action

Plus details on each mission, including anecdotes from the members who flew them!

About the Author

Edward Hinrichs was born May 23, 1922. He was the fourth child of a family of nine children. His parents were of German descent. His father was a blacksmith who took great pride in the fact that, during the great depression; he was able to provide his family with food and shelter without any outside assistance.

Ed Hinrichs enlisted in the Army Air Force on August 26, 1942. He was 20 years old at the time. Ed was trained at the Army Air Force School in Amarillo, Texas as a Flight Engineer for a B-17. He was then assigned to a crew at Ardmore, Oklahoma after a few months of training. His crew flew a B-17 to England. Ed was then assigned to the 8th Air Force, 45th Combat Wing, 452nd bomb group and 728th Squadron.

Ed flew 30 combat missions, 17 missions of these in a lead plane over Europe. Ed received the Air Medal and 4 Oak Leave Clusters, the Presidential Citation that was awarded to the 452nd Bomb Group for the April 7 mission. Ed also received three battle stars. He returned to the United States in July 1945.

Ed was discharged from the service October 19, 1945.

On a more personal note, Ed met his wife-to-be in the spring of 1941. They decided to wait for a wedding until after the war.

Ed was sent to England. His future bride was sent to the South Pacific, as 2nd Lieutenant nurse, on the hospital ship USS Hope. Their mission was to return the wounded and sick back to the United States. She was discharged in May of 1946.

The two were married on June 8, 1946. They had four daughters. He was in commercial construction as a superintendent most of his working life. Ed retired in October, 1980. It was at this time he started to write the book MISSING PLANES. His wife was his typist, proofreader, spelling and grammar checker. After a long illness she died in April 1997, at the age of 74.

During his research, Ed was very fortunate to link up with Mr. John A. hey from Holland. Mr. Hey was researching all missing 8th Air Force aircraft for the Liberation Museum there. Ed and Mr Hey have been exchanging international information since 1994. ("This research is an unending job," says Ed).

When asked why he began the Missing Planes project, Ed Hinrichs explained:

I always wanted to write. I was very interested in history. I had four uncles who served in the Civil War. I had reserached their records and was surprised that the stories I had heard did not match the records I received from the National Archives. I realized how much a story can change as it passes from one person to another.

I flew 30 combat missions over Germany in World War II. At the time, I saw no need to keep any records. After all, we were all young and eager to fly. We did realize the danger, but always flet that if someone were to die, it would be someone else. It was only after I had completed my tour of duty that I started to realize how lucky I was. And this never fully registered until I had returned to my home after the war.

I was like a young kid with unlimited supply of his favorite ice cream. I was so happy that I must have appeared to many people like a damned fool. I would be driving my car, and as I would pass a person walking, I would yell a warm greeting of the day. They would look at me in a puzzled matter and all they would see was a young man with a big smile. I really was free--no more missions to fly!

Years later, people asked me if I had flown any missions to certain German towns (and when). I could only answer that I probably did but was not sure. This brought me back to the records that had been kept on my relatives during the Civil War. I was sure I could do better than that. I did not know it would take years before I could say that I knew what happened to every man in my Bomb Group who was lost.

I began th project by finding records that would show the dates I flew and the targets bombed. After much letter writing, I finally got a certified copy of the dates and targets--and a big plus--the days I had flown in the lead plane of the Group. I took this to a reunion of our Bomb Group. I was surprised at the number of men who wanted a copy of these records. Each mission I had flown by close to 300 other men.

I bought reels of microfilms from Maxwell Air Force Historical Research Center. On these sets of films are listed the dates of planes that were lost, and other pertinent information. I also bought microfiches of the Missing AirCraft Records. (The government has a MACR for every plane lost.) From these recrods I began to write the book. The original book was revised over the years as more information became available.