Beside a road on the edge of the small town of Ladelund, in Schleswig-Holstein, stands a stone memorial to a B24 Liberator nicknamed ‘Daisy Mae’. On 4 August 1944 the aircraft crashed into the cornfield behind the memorial after the 10-man crew evacuated the plane. The plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire while on a mission to destroy a gas plant in Kiel. In 2010 Maik Petersen, a local history enthusiast, found the remains of the aircraft in the field. This lead to a search for the survivors. Fifteen years later, on 10 August 2025, descendants of two crew members were in Ladelund to unveil the memorial.
- Thomas Dowson
- Last Checked and/or Updated 18 August 2025
- Germany, World War II, Schleswig-Holstein
In 2010 a local man Maik Petersen unearthed small pieces of the Daisy Mae with the help of a metal detector. It was while researching the crash of another plane that he learned of the crashing of the Daisy Mae on the edge of Ladelund. He spoke to villagers who had witnessed the scene, who had seen the men jumping out.
Petersen then posted a request for information on an online Army Air Forces forum. Within a couple of hours he had sufficient details to be able to then get the report of the missing air crew, which contained the names of the crewmen. He searched the internet and found a short news item on Youtube in which Allen Sabol, a gunner on that ill-fated flight of Daisy Mae, was recounting his experiences during World War II. Sabol spoke of the moment he and his fellow crew had to evacuate the plane and the horrific ordeal as a Prisoner of War in the following months. Petersen tracked down Sabol, and telephoned him with his news. An account of the emotional telephone call, and the events leading up to it, is available in the St Louis Post-Dispatch to read.
All ten crew members survived, but were promptly picked up by the local police. After a brief spell in a nearby interrogation centre they were sent by train to a Prisoner of War Camp in northern Poland, the Stalag Luft IV. Before his death in 2014, Sabol recorded his horrific experiences as a PoW, recordings of these can be found on the websites of the US Library of Congress and the Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.
Following his encounter with Sabol in 2011, Maik Petersen committed to creating a lasting memorial to the Daisy Mae and her crew. On 10 August 2025 a memorial was unveiled in the presence of descendants of two crew members (Allen Sabol and John Harper), eyewitnesses of the crash and local residents (read an account of the ceremony in the local press). Mounted on a large stone is one of the fragments of the bomber recovered by Petersen with his metal detector.
The memorial site is easy to find: it is located on the corner of Schulstraße (L245) and Klinter Weg, with the B24 crash site behind the stone. Those who have accounts for this website can click on the map icon in the itinerary section below to see the exact location and the street view. Although, as of August 2025) it is a bit too soon to see the memorial stone in streetview.
WWII, the Holocaust & the Third Reich
In our Guide to World War II, the Holocaust and the Third Reich, y can find more sites and landmarks, memorials and museums to visit. From the Pearl Harbour Memorial in Hawaii to the martyr village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France. From Japanese internment sites in the US to the Death Camps in eastern Europe. Use our Itinerary Builder to create travel lists and itineraries when planning your travel to these sites and memorials.Â
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Find more sites, memorials and museums to visit in our Schleswig-Holstein Travel Guide and/or our Guide to WWII, the Holocaust & the Third Reich in Germany.
B24 Daisy Mae Memorial
On the edge of the small town of Ladelund is a stone memorial to B24 Liberator nicknamed ‘Daisy Mae’. The Allied bomber, based at North Pickenham in England, took part in a mission to attack a gas plant in Kiel on 4 August 1944. While over Kiel it was hit by German anti aircraft fire. After jettisoning the ammunition, the pilot attempted to fly back to base, but the 10-man American crew were forced to evacuate the plane over Ladelund. In 2010 the remains of the aircraft were discovered by a local history enthusiast On 10 August 2025 the memorial stone was unveiled in the presence of two of the crew’s descendants.
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