in Memory of
Lt. Theopilus E. Beinar, USAF
Born: November 28, 1919
Killed in plane flight at Elmshausen Bergstrasse, Erback, Germany
April, 13, 1944
Lt. Theopilus E. Beinar, USAF
Born: November 28, 1919
Killed in plane flight at Elmshausen Bergstrasse, Erback, Germany
April, 13, 1944
Theopilus Beinar signed up in February of 1942, a couple of months after Pearl Harbor. Whatever he was before the war, he must have brought something into the service, because though enlisted as a Private, it was apparently already intended that he be made a warrant officer. As it turned out, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 545th Bombardment Squadron, in the 384th Bomb Group.
He served as a navigator on B-17 Flying Fortresses on at least nine missions, one of which ended with a bad landing that destroyed the plane, though the crew was not injured. His last flight was aboard the 42-31048 - if the plane had a nickname, or nose art a la Big Chief Cockeye, I found no record.
The April 13th mission targeted a ball bearing plant in Schweinfurt, Germany. Ball bearings were used in planes, trains, tanks, and the entirety of German industry, so the bombing would certainly have made sense. And, of course, it made sense for the Germans to try to stop it. Of 23 Flying Fortresses on the mission, six were lost. Some of the crewmen made it to earth, to become POWs, but this only included one person from Beinar's plane.
Lieutenant Beinar's memorial stands at Vernon and Harlem Streets.
The name of the town with the target plant is Schweinfurt, not Schweinfort, and I'd guess the aircraft fell at Elmshausen near Erbach, not Erback.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm sure you're right. American renderings of foreign names are notoriously unreliable. I've changed Schweinfurt, but because the plaque uses the Erback spelling, I decided to let that one stand.
ReplyDeleteDave
Hello Dave,
ReplyDeleteiam a 30 year old German and do some research for an american from Yuma, AZ whos uncle served in the "Mrs. Geezil" that crashed 1 mile east of Beinars Plane. I life in a small village called Schlierbach, approx 7 miles from Elmshausen, where another plane of 384th BG crashed to earth. As you wrote, i think youre right with Elmshausen. But the correct District is not Erbach. It is Bensheim at the Bergstraße. Good work and best regarts. But someone should take care of Beinars Memorial, it looks bad.
This was really helpful that Florian Gehrisch commented here. I am researching a fellow crewmember of Beinar's that survived. HE said (at the time), that they denied another plane had gone down nearby. Now I know it was the "Mrs. Geezil."
ReplyDeleteted beinar was my uncle
ReplyDelete