As I have gathered more and more information for this webpage, it has become clear that a large segment should be structured around the history of the Shopworn Angel and all the crews that flew her. It is a story that is much like that of all the brave crews that flew in this intrepid b-26 war machine. There was heroism, tragedy, divine providence, irony, and so many things that have kept me up late at night trolling search engines, bulletin boards, and writing e-mails.
There is something mystifying about this plane and this project. I have been able to find out way more than seems possible. After all, this is a set of occurances which happened over 50 years ago and involved memories and individuals that are being lost to me daily. Fate, luck, and hard work have helped me to form a history or timeline that should not be forgotten. I am proud yet dismayed that this website is among precious few that present history using primary resources. I encourage all of you to record oral histories and gather and annotate photographs before it is too late. I thank everyone who have helped me to gather the information you find here.
I have decided to shift my attention for the time being, from gathering information to formatting it and presenting it here.
The Shopworn Angel was a Martin B-26B aircraft. It was known as the Y5*J. It's serial # was 42-95917. The 42 at the beginning of the serial number tells you that the plane was built in 1942. She was part of the "Silver Streaks" officially known as the 495th bomber squadron 344th bomber group. The name "Silver Streaks" is derived from the fact that the undercarriage of the planes was stripped to the bare metal. I believe it was determined that a plane that is silver on the bottom would be camouflaged in relation to the sky above from the eyes of antiaircraft gun crews. The olive drab upper carriage would blend in with the earth below to an enemy fighter plane attacking from above. Enemy fighters and AAK guns were always a potential threat along with any mechanical problems. Ultimately it was antiaircraft (flak) that brought an end to the Shopworn Angel.
See this link for information regarding names and markings on the Silver Streaks.
Nose Art of several other Silver Streaks.
The First Crew:
I always assumed that the Shopworn Angel had at least one crew before Frank Carrozza's crew and that there was at least one after my father completed his 65 missions and was sent back to the states. I had some knowledge of Captain Henry Woodrum and Captain Lucious B. Clay piloting the plane at some point. In October 2006 a lucky Google search using just the right combination of key words led me to the son of Captain Woodrum. His name is also Henry (Hank) Woodrum and is a pilot and humanitarian in his own right. Some excerpts of our coorespondance will shed light on the early history of the Shopworn Angel;
"I had always thought that my Dad had named the plane. I know that he and his crew flew one across the Atlantic to England via the southern route from South America to Ascension Island."
I'd like to think that the plane mentioned above became the Shopworn Angel. I don't know how I'd ever verify this without getting really lucky (I have before as you will see).
WWII planes were famous for their noseart. It's hard to believe I've found the name of the ground crewman who painted the noseart! In the webpage; http://www.b26marauder.info/B-26_NamesAndNumbers.htm
Is the following information:
"SHOPWORN ANGEL|# 42-95917|B-26B-50-MA|Y5-J|NOSE ART BY GEORG HOAGLAND|PHOTO|"
I was disapponted that the "PHOTO" link did not function and found nothing useful in the source code. Nevertheless, I was able to cooberate this finding in a bulletin board post from Bill Royal at (http://www.b26.com/guestbook/2002.htm). WWW.B26.com is a tremedous source of information and has helped me a great deal on this project.
Date:
5/27/2002
Time:
4:42:35 PM
Bill Royal BombGp: 344 Squadron: 495 Years: 42-45. Mike---I was browsing today to see what I could find and brought up b26.com/photo and saw a picture of the plane which I was the assigned armorer. The name of the plane was "Shopworn Angel". The nose art was done by George Hoagland of the armament dept at the request of the assigned pilot, Henry Woodrum who, at the time of this picture, was on leave in London. The pilot of the 26 at the time this picture was taken was Lucius Clay who was, I believe , a captain at the time. It is hard to believe that the plane would be repaired and go on to fly several more missions before being shot down with Lt. Woodrum and his crew. I know that Woody was saved by the French and eventually made it back to Stansted. I never heard what happened to the rest of the guys.There is quite a bit of information in the above. Stuff you'd never hope to find such as the armorerof the plane and, once again, the artist who created the nose art. This also backs up Hank' Woodrum's understanding that his father named the plane.
The picture Mr. Royal talks about was no longer available from b26.com (at least I couldn't find it). Again, in a strange stroke of luck I wrote to Jack K Havener who was the pilot of "Terre Haute Tornado". They say he knows more about this bird (b-26) than anyone else. Jack sent me a color slide of the Shopworn Angel after it had been belly landed by Captain Clay. Remember this was the 1940's and color film was in it's infancy! Here is a link to the photo.
A Red Herring: Something Mr. Royal mentioned above had me confused for several years. He says that Woodrum and crew got shot down in the Shopworn Angel. But as you will see latter Captain Brennan and what I call the third crew were shotdown in the Shopworn Angel much later. Finally Hank Woodrum straightened things out;
As I understand it, the Shopworn Angel was my Dad's plane. A crew was assigned to an aircraft and that is the one they flew unless something was wrong with it and they flew another one if they had a mission to fly. Each crew did not fly every day or every sortie. So there were times when someone else would fly an aircraft other than their own. I don't know the particulars of Clay's crash, but I know that Dad was pissed at him for wrecking his plane. He could have been flying it because his was down and the Shopworn Angel wasn't scheduled to fly that day. I don't know what the name was for the Y5T that Dad was shot down in and I don't know if that was the aircraft of the other crew or one that Dad and his crew was assigned to while the Angel was down. I just know that he couldn't fly Shopworn Angel because it hadn't been repaired yet after Clay's crash.
So Henry Woodrum and the first crew of the Shopworn Angel were indeed shot down but they were in a different plane that day!
Here is the rest of their story as told by Hank Woodrum.
"Carl,
If your Dad began flying missions in June, '44, they probably didn't fly together. My Dad was shot down on May 28, 1944 while bombing a bridge in Paris. His crew was a substitute for one with a sick pilot. My Dad and his crew were to have begun a 3 day pass the morning of the 28th but were called out to relieve the sick crew. However, since they were to be off for 3 days, most had celebrated that evening and did not adhere to the 8 hour bottle to throttle rule. His co-pilot was Bud Morgan, Navigator was Griffith, a Staff Sgt., engineer was Burton and Rogers was the crew chief. Some of the names are listed in your website. They were not flying Shopworn Angel the day they were shot down due to Clay's crash landing. They were flying Y-5-T. His normal radio operator was E. R. Bowers who was on R&R the day they were shot down and not on the mission. Offenberg, the squadron navigator, drove him and some of the crew to the plane the morning of the mission and was one of the first to see him after he was returned to England after Paris was liberated. There was a new crew member the morning of the mission who was the tail gunner. Think his name was Hickey and I believe that he died of flak wounds after bailing out. I think all the other crew members except one survived and he was a POW but was reported missing after a forced evacuation. Think his name was Zagorski. My Dad remained friends with Bud Morgan for many years and also with some of the other crew. Al Freiberger was another close pilot friend of my Dad's who flew on D-Day and they remained friends and in contact for years.
My Dad wrote a book about what happened while he was shot down. Was never able to get it published. "
Here is a a special link for the information included in the MACR report I sent away for;
It's a shame Henry Woodrum's book didn't get published. It sounds like there is so much more to the story.
"My Dad wrote his book on an old (new at the time) Tandy/Radio Shack computer. I have a hard copy which I am reluctant to let out of my hands since the disks are probably no longer useful. I think the best way to read about his story is to find a copy of the book "Is Paris Burning" written by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre which is about the liberation of Paris. Dad is mentioned as are the French who he stayed with and helped him evade the Nazis. It was written in 1965 but you can probably locate it at a library or on line."
When I get the book I'll be sure to add important excerpts here. Thanks for your help Hank!
The Second Crew:
This is the crew for which this webpage was originally written. The crew that flew with my father Frank P. Carrozza flew missions from Stansted, England : June 4 - Sept. 6, 1944 and missions flown from Courmeilles, France : October 7 - Jan. 22, 1945
The initial crew on June 3, 1944 was;
LT. LYONS PILOT
LT. SHEPHERD CO-PILOT
LT. CARLSON BOMBARDIER - NAV.
S/SGT. INGLET ENGINEER - GUN
S/SGT. CARROZZA RADIO - GUN
S/SGT. HARRISON ARMORER - GUNThe 65 missions flown by Carrozza on the Shopworn Angel are listed and described on this website. Be sure to click all of the blue links which will include comments and memories decribed by Frank Carrozza to me (Carl Carrozza).
Find this section here
The Third Crew:
After Carrozza's mission 65: January 22, 1945 which targeted the railroad bridge in Senzig, Carrozza, Inglet, and (to my best knowledge) Sanders were sent back to the states. The Shopworn Angel was assigned a new crew. Of course the story from this point will be more disjointed as I have no logbook equal to my father's. It has been an interesting challenge to find the information to complete this tale. It has led me to communicate with some wonderful people and organizations who have been able to help fill in the gaps.
For quite some time, all I knew was what my father heard from his Captain Shepherd when they met once some years after the war. He had heard that the Shopworn Angel was shot down about a month after their tour of duty and that some of the crew members may have survived.
I later found evidence that the Shopworn Angel went down February 14, 1944 and that the pilot was Captain Thomas Brennan. Remember that I was confused by reports related to Woodrum and crew being shot down in what turned out to be another plane.
The big breaks came when Cheryl Vermey posted on a b26 bulletin board, and then on the the bulleting board associated with this webpage that her mother, Marguerite, was engaged to Harry Zuest, who was killed over Germany Febraury 14, 1945, when the Shopworn Angel was shotdown. She was looking for any buddies who may remember Zeust and are willing to help her to fill in the gaps of his life.
Not long after I heard from Donald Moomaw. He was selling a model of the Shopworn Angel on ebay. I bid on the model and asked him what his original interest in the model plane was...why did he make this plane to begin with? I find the timing and content of his return coorespondance to be beyond all probability but here it is; Link
The next advance happened when I found a website that will research these incidents for veterans and family members, AHFSO Research. Please follow this link to view the MACR report on the incident reported on Feb. 14, 1945.
I wrote back to AHFSO Research. They explained that they were not able to tell what happened to the POW's and KIA's specifically. I was afraid that the journey had come to an end. Again a post to my bulletin board has helped to make the story more detailed and complete;
" I am the daughter of Harry Zuest's sister Dorothy and just happened to be Googling last names and found all this info on the uncle I never knew. My Mom has the real story on what happened to her brother after he was shot down and will send it to me. She lives in FL during the winter."
Of course I wrote back requesting more information and soon received a reply;
"One of the things that I don't think is known is that he was alive after he was shot down and he was hung after that. My Mom is writing up all the details and there are a lot of details, she doesn't have a computer, she hasn't graduated to that and never will, so she will send it to me and I will email it to you and Cheryl and also scan in any pictures that I can find at her house."
How tragic to survive your plane being shot down only to be executed. A sense of history begs for still more information about the heros of the downed Shopworn Angel. Pictures and a more complete accounting of the third crew are respectfully found here.
Please understand that this may forever be a work in progress. Any additional information you may have no matter how small would be appreciated. Please write me at [email protected]
Come back from time to time to find updates.
