Salvage of B-24H s/n 42-7638 "Big Banner"

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Last Friday I spotted some remains of USAAF B-24H 42-7638 “Big Banner”.

"Big Banner" cashed in the IJsselmeer lake in The Netherlands in December 1943. Four aircrew were buried by the Dutch during WW2, three of which had jumped from the B24 with their parachutes before it crashed into the lake. When it was recovered in 1975 when part of the IJsselmeer was impoldered, the remains of five aircrew were found inside the B-24 wreck. Only the copilot 2Lt. Charles E. Taylor survived; he visited the excavation back in 1975.

Despite being largely complete, only a few parts of Big Banner’s wreckage remain today. This engine is on display at the Batavia Land museum in Lelystad. It is a 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 Twin Wasp 1200 hp radial engine.

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