Final Flight
James reached the Second Lieutenant rank assigned to the 388th Bomber Group of the U.S. Army Air Force before he was shot down over the Baltic Sea on April 11th, 1944, co-piloting the B-17 aircraft nicknamed “Shoo Shoo Baby.” The craft’s vertical stabilizer was shot by four German FW 190 planes, and the pilots were able to keep formation briefly before crashing into the sea.
Based on the lack of evidence otherwise, it is apparent that the flight mission during which James died was his first and only major assignment. The mission was an opportunistic bombing raid involving the 388th Bomber Group aimed at the aircraft factories in Rostock, Germany. James and his crew did not reach the city before the German air forces which they in fact were attempting to mitigate through the mission fired at the plane, destabilizing it and causing it to crash into the Baltic Sea. Six other men were on the plane when it crashed. The remains of the plane and the men aboard were eventually declared unrecoverable.
The plane, “Shoo Shoo Baby,” was likely named after the widely popular 1943 song, which an overseas pilot such as James might have sung to his sweetheart: “Don’t cry baby / Don’t sigh baby / Bye, bye, bye baby / … / When I come back we’ll live a life of ease.”
Based on the lack of evidence otherwise, it is apparent that the flight mission during which James died was his first and only major assignment. The mission was an opportunistic bombing raid involving the 388th Bomber Group aimed at the aircraft factories in Rostock, Germany. James and his crew did not reach the city before the German air forces which they in fact were attempting to mitigate through the mission fired at the plane, destabilizing it and causing it to crash into the Baltic Sea. Six other men were on the plane when it crashed. The remains of the plane and the men aboard were eventually declared unrecoverable.
The plane, “Shoo Shoo Baby,” was likely named after the widely popular 1943 song, which an overseas pilot such as James might have sung to his sweetheart: “Don’t cry baby / Don’t sigh baby / Bye, bye, bye baby / … / When I come back we’ll live a life of ease.”
James's Plane