Shooting down of the bomber Checkerboard Fort on 25 April 1945

The shooting down of the bomber on 25 April 1945 is an event that occurred during the mission of the American bomber s/n 43-38369 of the 327th Bombardment Squadron of the 92nd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces over the Reichsgau Sudetenland in Germany. During the raid on Plzeň the aircraft was damaged by a flak hit, shortly afterwards it exploded and its wreckage fell at the boundary of a forest and a field near Čeminy. Six crew members did not survive the shooting down of the aircraft; two were captured.

Damage to the aircraft and its crash

The aircraft "" under the command of of the 327th Bombardment Squadron was flying over the city for the third time shortly after 11 o'clock when it was heavily hit by a salvo of 88mm shells fired by a battery of anti-aircraft flak near Chotíkov, close to the later route of the I/20 road from Plzeň to Karlovy Vary. The hit and burning engines no. 1 and 2 made further controlled flight impossible; the pilot still managed to leave the combat formation and the aircraft began to fall in a spiral. The aircraft commander ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft, but only two airmen, the radio operator and the nose gunner, managed to leave the aircraft. While still above the level of the clouds the aircraft exploded; after all, was thrown out of the aircraft by the explosion. The remaining crew members probably died in the explosion. The wreckage of the disintegrated aircraft fell onto the edge of the forest and onto fields northeast of the aforementioned village.