Taylor, Ralph E Jr 1LT US Army Air Corps WWII

579 Bomb Squadron 392 Bomb Group 8th Air Force European Theater

Serial Number 02044872

Ralph E. Taylor Jr. was born on 21 July 1920 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The 1920 year is on his gravestone in the family cemetery. His father Ralph E. Taylor was born in Kansas (1889-1948) and was a well-known area businessman and civic leader, who owned two cleaners. His mother, Reba I. Taylor (1888-1974), a homemaker was born in New York. They also had Mary Isabell Taylor (B-1915) and John Robert Taylor (1926-2003). The family lived at 609 Shawnee Ave in Bartlesville. He was not married.

Ralph graduated from Bartlesville High School in 1938. He then attended Oklahoma A&M College (now OSU} at Stillwater. He left college and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November 1940 at Randolph Field, Texas a year before Pearl Harbor. He entered training and became a B-24 Liberator pilot. His pilot training began in 1941 at Army Air Corps Basic Flying School, Enid, Oklahoma. Pilot training continued in California. He received his wings and commission in April 1943 at Army Airfield, Alamogordo, New Mexico. While later assigned to Topeka Army Airfield, he flew his B-24 some 200 miles to Bartlesville and circled his home and his father’s business. He had called his family to tell them and there was an article in the newspaper. He was assigned to 579th Bomb Squadron, 392d Bomb Group, 8th Air Force when the unit deployed In July 1943, he flew his B-24 with crew to Wendling Airfield, Norfolk, England, which became the squadron’s operational base for the war.

When he had completed 15 missions, the 392d Bomb Squadron as part of the 392d Bomb Group, was assigned to attack the Gotha Messerschmitt aircraft factory in Gotha, Germany. The assault occurred on 24 February 1944. In a letter to his family, Taylor described the mission as ”without a doubt the toughest I’ve ever been on and our losses the greatest.” He said his aircraft had the lead for his group.

He had completed 25 missions, against some of the toughest 8th Air Force targets. He was advanced to the rank of first lieutenant in April 1944. Crew members on his ship were killed on several occasions, but he always managed to get his riddled bomber home.

He was reported missing in action on 7 July 1944 when his B-24 was shot down on a bombing mission over Bernberg, Germany. The squadron was attacking a German Junkers aircraft factory. The aircraft was a Ford B-24H, tail number 42-52160, named “Ski Nose”. The 1,000 bomber daylight attack was made without fighter escort. Accounts from other crews stated that Taylor’s lead aircraft was attacked head-on by 15 German fighters. Two engines were immediately shot out, the ship caught fire, went into a tail spin, and then exploded. His death was confirmed to his family in July 1945. The aircraft was piloted by 1LT Harold W. Prouse. Taylor was copilot. Nine crew members were onboard. Three, including 1LT Taylor were killed onboard the aircraft, three were captured (including Prouse) and sent to POW camps, and three were murdered by German police. During the war Joseph Goebbels (Nazi Propaganda Minister) and Heinrich Himmler (Chief of the SS – The Nazi organization that fielded combat divisions, ran concentration camps, and POW camps.) implemented a propaganda program that incited German citizens to mob violence against downed fliers. In 1946, US authorities learned that a German court had tried and convicted three police officers (who were also in the SS) for killing the three B-24 crew members.

His awards included the Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, and Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation (392 Bomb Group) for the attack on Gotha, Germany on February 24, 1944.

At the time of his death, Taylor’s brother, John Rob Taylor was a Navy pilot on PBY flying boats at Jacksonville, FL Naval Air Station. 1LT Taylor was initially buried in a German cemetery at Bernberg. At the end of the war, he was reinterred at the American Cemetery in the Netherlands. His remains were repatriated to Bartlesville He was buried at the White Rose Cemetery on 7 April 1950, after a funeral at the First Presbyterian Church.

His service and sacrifice are appreciated and will not be forgotten. He gave up his future so that we could have ours.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars Project (see

www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to

write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We

Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be

accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have

additional information to contribute to it, please contact Richard Grauel at richard.grauel@verizon.net

1/27/2023

Sources:

-US Federal Census, 1930, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35094635/ralph-e-taylor

Memorial ID 35094635 for Ralph E. Taylor

-Bartlesville Area History Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

- 392d Bomb Group Unit History, “Target Gotha – 24 February 1944 – Mission #41”

- “Air Medal To Taylor”, Bartlesville Morning Examiner Newspaper, 23 February 1944

- “LT Taylor Flies Over”, Bartlesville Morning Examiner Newspaper, 27 July 1943

- “Bartlesville Pilots Lead Liberators On Mission Over Gotha”, Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise Newspaper, 17 March 1944

- “Taylor Busy Over Europe”, Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise Newspaper, 8 February 1944

- “Lieut Taylor Missing In action Over Europe”, Bartlesville Morning Examiner, 23 July 1944

- MACR #07369 (Missing Aircrew Report), 7 July 1944, B-24,

SN 42-52160, Pilot: Prouse, Harold W, Bernberg, Germany, https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/rptAFMACR.asp?RecID=7033

- “Two Young Bartlesville Ensigns Are Home Again”, Bartlesville Morning Examiner Newspaper, 16 November 1945.

- “LT Ralph E. Taylor Jr” Obituary, Bartlesville Record, 5 April 1950

Ralph E Taylor