Operation Rype, B-24 (“Cookie” 42-40549) Crash Site Memorial Pyramid
Details:
On a remote mountain peak. Monument
A stone pyramid about 8 feet tall with an attached marble inscribed plaque.
The memorial remembers the crew and OSS operatives who perished when the B-24 Liberator “ Cookie” (42-40549) of the 856th Bomber Squadron, 492nd Bomber Group (flying out of Station 179- Harrington) supporting “ Carpetbagger” missions crashed on April 7, 1945 while attempting to parachute four members of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) Norwegian Operation Group/Norso cell into Norway to support Operation Rype. Carpetbagger missions were flight operations to deliver operatives into enemy territory. All 12 aboard were killed in the crash. (Reference Missing Aircraft Report {MACR} 13740). The plane crashed on the Plukkutjønnfjellet mountain peak near Snåsa in Middle Norway.
Operation Rype was an OSS Mission led by Major William Colby (later a Director of the CIA) the Leader of the OSS Norwegian Operation Group which included teams Norso I & II with the mission of impeding the redeployment of 350,000 enemy forces from Norway to Germany in 1945. The OSS Team was partially recruited from the 99thInfantry Battalion (Sep) (Norway) who formed the core of the OSS Norwegian Operation group; the OSS was a precursor to the present day CIA. Operation Rype (Grouse) was very successful despite the loss of two aircraft (this crash and one at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland; see this website Site Kirkwall for more on the other crash).
The crew of B-24 “Cookie” (42-40549) included:
1LT WILLIAM H. HUDSON -PILOT
1LT LEON G. DIBBLE Jr. – CO-PILOT
2LT RICHARD A. BOSCH - BOMBARDIER
F/O ARTHUR. H. BARBKNECHT- NAVIGATOR
SGT GILBERT. F. MAGRUGER – RADIO OPERATOR
SGT FAYETTE SHELLEDY- GUNNER
SGT JACK H. SPYKER- GUNNER
SGT ANGELO SANTINI - ENGINEER
The Operatives of the OSS Norwegian Group on board included:
1LT BLAINE E. JONES
T/3 ROBERT. N. ANDERSON
CPL KNUT J. FALCK
T/5 BERNARD N. IVERSON
Special thanks to the OSS Gjefsjoen Group for assistance with this memorial. OSS Gjefsjoen is a group that fosters the memory of Operation Rype and works out of the former HQ of Operation Rype at the Gjefsjøen fjellgård.
Monument Text:
The text is written in English and reads:
TO THE
MEMORY
OF
1LT BLAINE E. JONES
1LT WILLIAM H. HUDSON
1LT LEAN G. DIBBLE Jr.
2LT RICHARD A. BOSCH
F/O ART. H. BARBKNECHT
SGT GILB. F. MAGRUGER
SGT FAYETTE SHELLEDY
SGT JACK H. SPYKER
SGT ANGELO SANTINI
T/3 ROB. N. ANDERSON
CPL KNUT J. FALCK
T/5 BERNARD N. IVERSON
WHO DIED
FOR DEMOCRACY
1945
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
492nd Bomber Group
856th Bomber Squadron, 492nd Bomb Group
8th Air Force
99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) (Norwegian)
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
OSS
OSS-Norwegian Operational Group (Norso I/ Norso II)
Wars:
WWII
Battles:
Operation Carpetbagger
Operation Rype
Other images :
