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Robert "Bob" Rhinehart
The Sky Shark
WW11 Bomber

Please email if you know the identity of the other men in this photo.

I've done quite a bit of research on this picture and found out the following.  The aircraft is a B-24 Liberator.  It's designation is B-24H-5-CF.  At one time it was with the 8th Air Force, 453rd Bomber Group and I believe, the 577th  or 566th squadron.  It's serial number was 41-29192.  During it's short life, it had many crews but had many missions to its credit as shown by the bombs painted under the cockpit window.  I believe each bomb represented one mission.  I found 3 other similar pictures of "The Sky Shark" with different crews and pilots.  This was not unusual.  So many bombers / crews were shot down and lost, crews were changing constantly.  The Sky Shark was downed near Wetzlar, Germany on February 24, 1944.  One picture I saw, without my Uncle, said the pilot was Jack Hayden.  I will keep searching for the identity of the others with my uncle. 

          1/5/2011 - update submitted by Jimmy Rhinehart, nephew of Robert Rhinehart.