2/Lt Bob Blackburn

2/Lt Robert B. Blackburn (O-558842), co-pilot of B-17G 42-102554, 338th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bomb Group

About: 2nd Lt Robert Bruce Blackburn of Huntington Park, California, co-pilot of a Fortress that crash-landed at Nieuw-Milligen on 21 November 1944, one of the four Americans of its crew whom Noordman puts in the barn at Harskamp with Murphy days later. He spent the winter hidden in Amersfoort with Ray Haydel.

Unit or role: USAAF; 2/Lt, O-558842, co-pilot, 338th Squadron, 96th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force (MACR 10416; E&E 3057, Haydel's report).

Where: Huntington Park, California; hidden at Langegracht 23, Amersfoort, from December 1944, and at Schaepmanlaan 4, Amersfoort, from April 1945.

Evidence: ✓ the Missing Air Crew Report, 24 November 1944 (MACR 10416, US National Archives 91092303); ✓ the escape reports of three of his crew (E&E 3057, Haydel; 2976, Willig; 2977, Bonekat); ✓ Jan van Eijden's helper file, US National Archives 286705335; ✓ Mrs Eilerts de Haan-Boom's form, US National Archives 286652778; ◐ the barn rests on Noordman, p. 285, alone; ◐ the Americans' missing-in-action card, which quotes two other reports.

Jan van Eijden, who hid him, gave his name as "Robert Breu Blackborn, 24 jaar, 2e piloot 2e Luitenant", of 6333 Stafford Ave, Huntington Park, California (Van Eijden's letter, p. 8, 9 January 1946); his own list has "Robert Bruce Blackburn" (p. 5, read on the image), and so does the Americans' summary of the file (p. 12). The Missing Air Crew Report gives his next of kin as his father, Mr Ralph N. Blackburn, 6222 Stafford Street, Huntington Park (MACR 10416, frame 4).

The Missing Air Crew Report, dated 24 November 1944, has B-17G 42-102554, nicknamed "Jean O", leave AAF Station 138 for a combat mission to "Osnabruck, Germany", with nine aboard: the pilot Lloyd R. Worden Jr., "Blackburn, Robert B.", 2/Lt, O-558842, as co-pilot, the navigator Sidney Willig, the bombardier Harold Bonekat, the engineer Ray Haydel, and Torres, Griesel, Herlihy and Wells. All are typed "MIA", and "RTD" is written beside each in another hand (MACR 10416, frame 2, read on the image). Its remarks say what was known:

A report was received from the 3rd Bomb division that an a/c bearing the letter "C" was seen by a fighter to land in a woods approximately 10 miles SW of Apeldoorn (5210N 0555E). The crew landed with the a/c and all men are believed to be safe. This was apparently either A/c #792 (Lt. Chrismon, 413th) or a/c #554 (Lt. Worden, 338th). No other information has been received on either of these planes.

— USAAF · Missing Air Crew Report 10416 · 1st Lt Robert F. Adamek · 24 November 1944 · the report

The crew's own reports and the German papers add to it:

• Haydel: the Fortress left on 21 November 1944 at 0700 and "Crash landed NIEW MILLIGEN" the same day (E&E 3057, p. 1).
• Bonekat: it left Snetterton Heath on the morning of 21 November and came down at Milligen, "About 1330 hrs" (E&E 2977, report form, read on the image).
• Willig: on a bombing run over "MERSEBURG, GERMANY" it "was shot up by flak, and the pilot made a crash landing at MILLINGEN, HOLLAND" (E&E 2976, Appendix D, read on the image).
• The Germans:
  • The back page of an Air Base Area Command letter of 8 December 1944, a letter of 2 December from the Higher SS and Police Leader Nordwest at Apeldoorn, translated in the MACR, sends two flight routes secured at the emergency landing of "an American 4-engined bomber" on 21 November at "0245 p.m., at the road APELDOORN/AMERSFOORT" (◐ it names no aircraft or crew, so the tie to this Fortress rests on date and place).
  • Their capture reports of 22 November for Worden, Torres, Griesel and Wells give the landing as "NEU-MILLIGEN at the road APELDOORN-AMERSFOORT", each man taken at or near the place of landing. There is none for Blackburn (MACR 10416, frames 8–12).

He was one of the four Americans of a Fortress shot down on 21 November 1944 who, by Noordman's account, were in the barn of 24–25 November with Murphy, Hardy, Davison and the RAF officer John Craven, which Noordman names as J. van Essen's at Harskamp (the barn, on Pegasus II and Roekel; Noordman, p. 285). Hardy, the eyewitness, met "four U.S. Aircrew, none of whose names I know", a Fortress crew shot down on 21 November, in a barn "somewhere in the OTTERLO area" (Hardy); the names are Noordman's, who says the men stayed in the country until the liberation (p. 285). No escape report was found for Blackburn; those of Willig, Bonekat and Haydel are held (E&E 2976, 2977, 3057), and none mentions the barn or the British paratroopers; Willig's and Bonekat's helper list names other helpers for 23 and 24 November and for 28 November to 2 December (E&E 2976, Appendix C, below).

With F/Lt John Craven and J. van Essen, whose pages have what is known of the men in the barn.

◐ The Americans' card for "Bob Blackburn", a typed index card in their list of airmen missing in action, says what Craven's own report (I.S.9(WEA)/1/308/2402, now WO 208/5408/39, not digitised; the Kew entry) had of him: "F/Lt Craven ... met Lt Bob Blackburn and Sgt Ray --- of Fortress crew (MIS approx 19 Nov 44) in KOOTWIJKERBROEK on 29 Nov 44. Moved to BUNSCHOUTEN at farm called 'VALKENHOEF'" (the card, checked on the image). ◐ "Sgt Ray" is very probably Ray Haydel, with the rank as the card has it; the card is second-hand. It puts Craven with the two Americans at Kootwijkerbroek on 29 November, four days after the night of 24–25 November in Noordman's barn at Harskamp. The card does not say who moved to Valkenhoef. ◐ Valkenhoef is very probably P. van 't Klooster's farm, Valkenhoef A 9 at Hoogland near Amersfoort (Reilly's card runs the prefix together as "P.V.T."; the helper file is van 't Klooster, P.), where Thomas Reilly's card has Craven and six other airmen sheltered "from 2 Jan till 1 Mar 45" (Reilly's card; the certificate list, entry 2268). So the move may be Craven's own, in January, after Blackburn was already with Van Eijden in Amersfoort; no source puts Blackburn at Valkenhoef.

From December 1944 he and Ray Haydel were hidden in Amersfoort by Jan van Eijden of Lange Gracht 23, who smuggled them into the town from the Veluwe by night (the whole account is on Haydel's page):

• Van Eijden's letter of 9 January 1946: the two airmen were in his house "Vanaf 21 December 1944 tot aan 13 Mei 1945" (p. 8).
• Van Eijden's questionnaire of 9 July 1945: Blackburn hidden "22-12 till 11-5", five months, received "via G.v.d. Born" and passed on "Liberated"; Haydel "22-12 till 13-5" (pp. 4–5, read on the image). Van Eijden names G. v.d. Born ("Jos"), Langestraat 87, Amersfoort, as a helper (p. 4).
• Haydel's report: Jan van Eijden, "working for water company", Langegracht 23, from December 1944 to April 1945, then Mrs Eilerts de Haan, Schaepmanlaan 4, from April to May 1945 (E&E 3057, Appendix C).

Three other American papers have him in hiding:

• On 10 February 1945 Lt John Low "received the following names of U.S. personnel, safe but in hiding", among them "Lt Blackburn, co-pilot B-17" (Low's report, p. 11); ◐ the surname, rank and aircraft fit him, but no first name is given. The same page is filed again in Lt Alvin Vogtle's report (p. 50).
• Bonekat's report of 19 April 1945, the day after he reached the Allies at Appel, has "2/Lt BLACKBURN R.B. Evading in Holland" (E&E 2977, report form, read on the image).
• Willig's report of 22 April 1945: "Dutch told Lt. WILLIG Apr 1945 he was evading in AMERSFOORT, HOLLAND (E4097)" (E&E 2976, Appendix D, read on the image).

✓ Mrs C. M. H. J. Eilerts de Haan-Boom of Amersfoort lists "Lt. Robert B. Blackburn" and Haydel as housed by her from 19 April 1945, 22 days, "from J. Drewes, via P. Meyboom, Schaepmanlaan 6, Amersfoort", with the remark "Lt. Blackburn had a broken arm and was transported on 10-5-45 to military hospital in Brussels or Antwerpen. Went back to old address: fam. van Eyseden, Amersfoort" (her form, p. 3, checked on the image; her slip of 'Food, shelter and comforts: Apr - May 45' for Haydel carries Haydel's report number IS9/WEA/1/428, p. 6). ◐ The "old address" is probably Van Eijden's, spelled Eyseden here. Her Dutch copy of the table has "Ging terug naar oude adres: fam. van Eyden, Kortegracht no.? Amersfoort" (p. 5, read on the image), and box 11 on her p. 2 has "Fam. van Eyden, Kortegracht?" (p. 2): a street that is not the one in Van Eijden's own papers (Lange Gracht 23), and queried by her. The remark "Went back to old address" sits level with Haydel's row, below Blackburn's, so it may be Haydel's or both men's. How the arm was broken is nowhere said.

Haydel's report, of 14 May 1945, has him "Taken to hosp in BOEST 11 MAY" (E&E 3057, p. 1, read on the image); ◐ "Boest" is perhaps Soest, next to Amersfoort. The IWM's American Air Museum lists him as evaded (the entry). Nothing later about him has been found.

• The day the Fortress came down: 21 November 1944 in the MACR, the crew's three reports and the German papers; 22 November in Van Eijden's letter and questionnaire (p. 8, p. 5); "Oct-Nov 44" on Mrs Eilerts de Haan's form (p. 3); "MIS approx 19 Nov 44" on the Americans' card, quoting Craven's report (above).
• Where it came down. Nieuw-Milligen, or Millingen, in the crew's reports and the German capture reports; woods about ten miles south-west of Apeldoorn in the MACR; "near Utrecht" in the American Air Museum's entry, a compiled database (the entry).
• The target: "Osnabruck" in the MACR; "MERSEBURG" in Willig's report (E&E 2976, Appendix D).
• The aircraft's name: "Jean O" in the MACR; "Campus Queen" in Van Eijden's letter (p. 8).
• The time it came down: about 1330 in Bonekat's report; 0100 p.m. in the German capture reports; 0245 p.m. in the SS letter (E&E 2977; MACR 10416).
• His home address: 6333 Stafford Ave in Van Eijden's letter and 6333 Stafford St on Mrs Eilerts de Haan's form (p. 3, read on the image); 6222 Stafford Street, his father's, in the MACR.
• Where he was in late November and December. The Americans' card has Craven meeting him at Kootwijkerbroek on 29 November and then a move to a farm "Valkenhoef" at "Bunschouten"; Van Eijden has him in Amersfoort from 21 or 22 December. ◐ Valkenhoef is Craven's farm at Hoogland from January 1945 (above), so the card need not put Blackburn there.
• Where the Americans were on 23 to 29 November.
  • Willig's and Bonekat's helper list has Van Ee near Stroe providing "food and shelter 23 Nov 1944", Teus Roskamp of Barneveld "food and shelter 24 Nov 1944", and an unidentified man near Stroe "shelter and meals 28 Nov – 2 Dec 1944" (E&E 2976, Appendix C, read on the image).
  • Noordman has all four Americans in the barn at Harskamp on 24 and 25 November (p. 285); the Americans' card has Blackburn with Craven at Kootwijkerbroek on 29 November.
  • ◐ The list names helpers and dates, not a route, and does not say whether Blackburn was with Willig and Bonekat.
• The day he left, and for where.
  • Van Eijden's questionnaire has him to 11 May, and his letter has both airmen in his house to 13 May (p. 5; p. 8).
  • Haydel's report has him "Taken to hosp in BOEST 11 MAY" (E&E 3057).
  • Mrs Eilerts de Haan has him taken on 10 May ("10-5-45") to a military hospital "in Brussels or Antwerpen" (p. 3); her Dutch copy says "omstreeks 10 Mei 1945", about 10 May (p. 5, read on the image).
  • ◐ 11 May has two sources, Van Eijden's own table and Haydel; the hospital may have been Soest first.
• Where he was from 19 April 1945. At Schaepmanlaan 4 with Mrs Eilerts de Haan in her form and in Haydel's report (from April); in Van Eijden's house without a break to 13 May in his letter, and to 11 May in his questionnaire (p. 8; p. 5).

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