At precisely 5:52 PM on Saturday August 12, 1944, a medium sized bomber left Winfarthing-Persfield Army Air Base in Norfolk, England. Just as the end of the runway approaches the plane managed to lift sluggishly into the air, for this plane was specially outrigged for a secret mission code named "Anvil." This was a Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator, which was the same as the U.S. Army B-24D Liberator. It normally carried a crew of ten, and eight machine guns (0.50 inch), a bomb load of 8,000 lb. and a maximum speed of 300 mph.
This special airplane had only a pilot and co-pilot. No machine guns or armament of any kind, and no payload of 8,000 lb. Instead it carried 21,170 lb. of high explosives!! The number on this Navy PB4Y-1 was 32271. This identified it as the plane of Navy Lt. (jg) Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. The other brother of Navy Lt. (jg) John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who became our 35th President.
Just call me Joe, that was what he wanted. He was 29 years old and single, six feet tall with gray-green eyes and light brown hair. "Joe" was an experienced Patrol Bomber Commander with a complete tour of submarine patrol duty behind him. He was credited with sinking four submarines

and damaging ten more.
His co-pilot was Navy Lt. Wilford Willy, a small reedy man 33 years of age. He was married, with three children and was a 16 year Navy veteran. Their mission was to destroy V-2 German "Mittelwerke" (Central Works), an underground factory complex in the middle of the Harz Mountains as we had not been able to penetrate it with continued regular bombing raids. This special bomber had also been rewired to become a "Drone," a radio controlled robot. Two Vega Venturas PV-1 "Mother" air planes flew close behind. They would fly the Liberator after the two pilots bailed out. A squadron of P-51 Mustang fighter planes were to protect everyone from the "Luftwaffe" (German air force.) However, before Lt. Kennedy and Lt. Willy could bail out, three check points had to be carried. At exactly

Navy Lt. (jg)
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.

6:15 p.m. they passed over Framingham, England, this was "Able" the first check point. Lt. Joe banked his plane to the left and headed for Becclec, England. This was "Baker" the second check point.
Suddenly - - - -  at 6:21 p.m. PB4Y-1 number 32271 blasted into

thousands of pieces. Two orange fire balls enveloped the plane, along with two terrible explosions, a second apart!! The next day, when the ground was searched, there was no trace of Kennedy or Willy. Nothing even big enough to pick up was found, .... not even a button!! No reason to explain the explosions has ever been found. Three safety devices were onboard the planes to keep the high explosives from going off prematurely. Yet, somehow, that is what happened. The mystery remains with us to this very day!!
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. .... his greatest ambition in life was to become President of the United

PB4Y-1

States. This is one of the reasons that John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President, to fulfill brother Joe's dream!! Their father had already begun to groom Joe for this job. John Kennedy was never interested in politics of any kind.
In 1946 the Navy's final tribute to one of their war heroes, was the launching of a new Destroyer, the U.S.S. JOSEPH PATRICK KENNEDY DD850.