For eight long days back at Harrington, Chuckie’s Squadron Command didn’t hear anything from the Ambrose Crew or those on the ground about the fate of the Carpetbagger mission or their friends and colleagues of The Worry Bird crew.

Finally on 4 May 1944 Allied Forces Operations at Baker Street London received a message from French agents in the field that Chuckie was killed, along with a part of Chuckie’s airplane with the aircraft number.

French witnesses on the scene reported the aircraft had arrived over the target and made three descending circles. It struck the ground on the third circle, crashed and burned, killing all crew members except George W. Henderson, S Sgt. James J Hedddleson and St. James C. Mooney.

This is copy of the actual report dated 6 May 1944 which can be found in the National Archives.

Carpetbagger missions were carried out by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to clandestinely deliver agents and supplies into Nazi-occupied Europe. The OSS was a wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II, and a predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces.

To support the Allied invasion of France on D Day in June 1944 the Carpetbaggers from January – to June dropped three-man parties (a total of 100 men and women) into various parts of France as agents to co-ordinate widespread overt (as opposed to clandestine) acts of resistance. They served in a variety of functions including arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, circuit organizers, liaison officers and radio operators. The names of all 13,000 OSS personnel and documents of their OSS service, previously a closely guarded secret, were released by the US National Archives on August 14, 2008. 

French agents were directed from OSS offices in London “Baker Street” where they occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed. Secure communications were established with OSS HQ in London and Station 179, Harrington where the 801st Bomb Group OSS Liaison Officer, S2 Lt. Sullivan directed the covert Carpetbagger operations.

It would be two more years before the Wilson family were told that Chuckie was killed.