B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress – The Queen Of The Skies

Delivered Tulsa 16/3/44; Kearney 29/3/44; Dow Fd 4/4/44; Assigned 331BS/94BG [QE-V] Rougham 8/4/44; Missing in Action Berlin 6/8/44 with Orville Spenst, Co-pilot: Larry Metzroth, Navigator: Ed Pacek, Bombardier: Ira Dodd, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Chas Brown, Radio Operator: Forest Crosman, Ball turret gunner: Jim Theiss, Waist gunner: Bob Hurd (8POW-rescued by German Sea patrol);Tail gunner: Frank Trilling (KIA-drowned); flak damage and three engines out, ditched North Sea, off Frisian Islands. Missing Air Crew Report 8075.

Delivered Denver 10/4/43; Tinker 19/4/43; Memphis 25/4/43; Homestead 30/4/43; Macon 16/5/43; Memphis 22/5/43; Homestead 1/6/43; Assigned 419BS/301BG St Donat 17/6/43; Oudna 6/8/43; {2m} crash landed 11/8/43; Salvaged 19/8/43.

Delivered Denver 13/3/43; Assigned 27BS/2BG New Castle 6/4/43; force landed Meeks Fd, Iceland with John O’Brien 17/4/43; transferred 324BS/91BG [DF-Z] Bassingbourn 23/5/43; Missing in Action 29+m Cognac 31/12/43 with Bayard Dudley, Co-pilot: Glen Neff, Bombardier: Jack Hill, Ball turret gunner: Joe Young,Tail gunner: Roy Adkins (5 Killed in Action), Navigator: Edgar Moore, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Orlin Gregory, Radio Operator: Alex Fontecchio, Waist gunner: Jim Ross, Waist gunner: Bill Hennig (5 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft riddled cockpit, with radio room afire, then #2, crashed Salaces, near Lesperon, 15 miles N of Dax, near Bordeaux, Fr. Missing Air Crew Report 1976. OKLAHOMA OKIE.

Delivered Tulsa 26/11/42; West Palmm Beach 9/1/43; Assigned 341BS/97BG Biskra 21/1/43; Chateau-du-Rhumel 8/2/43; Missing in Action Grossetto A/fd 26/4/43, with Dick Charlton, Calkins, Locke, Buskin, Lent, Meares, Vince, Leffler, Walters, Thoreson. AXIS AXES.

Delivered Tulsa 19/5/44; Kearney 30/5/44; Grenier 7/6/44; Assigned 534BS/381BG [GD-H] Ridgewell 28/6/44; Missing in Action Stendahl 8/4/45 with Harvey Adelmeyer, Co-pilot: John Frampton, Navigator: Norman Melvin, tog-Ed Dybicz, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Dick Dailey, Waist gunner: Bob Cobb (6 Killed in Action); Radio Operator: Jim Hayden,Tail gunner: Ed Houser (2 Returned to Duty); flak, crashed Gottingen, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 13873. (last group aircraft lost in action) MISS FLORALA.

Delivered Cheyenne 22/1/44; Billings 25/1/44; Cheyenne 30/1/44; Kearney 11/2/44; Presque Is 28/2/44; Assigned 728BS/452BG Deopham Green 3/3/43; with Bob Cook, force landed English base 20/3/44 (10 Returned to Duty); Missing in Action Berlin 28/3/44 with Bob Cook, Radio Operator: George Silva,Tail gunner: John McLaughlin (severely wia, died in hospital next day) (3 Prisoner of War); Co-pilot: Ron Casey, Navigator: John Osswalt, Bombardier: John Rowland, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Gerald Poplett, Ball turret gunner: Carl Blichmann, Waist gunner: Fremont Granade, Waist gunner: Dick Thayer (7 Killed in Action); flak hit #4 gas tank, the right wing broke off and it spun in to crashed near Chateaudun A/fd, Fr. Missing Air Crew Report 3488. PASSIONATE WITCH II.

Das Schicksal dieser B-17 Fliegenden Festung ist nicht bekannt.

Delivered Cheyenne 20/3/44; Gr Island 12/4/44; Dow Fd 28/4/44; Assigned: 570BS/390BG [DI-B] Framlingham 3/5/44 MARY JANE; mechanical problems and battle damage, plus # 3 & 4 smoking Saarbrucken 9/11/44 Pilot: ‘; crash-landed continent; crew bailed NE St Quentin, but no credit sortie; Salvaged. 29/11/44. MAIRZEY DOATS aka MIS’TER COMPLETELY..

Delivered RAF [AN518] as part of Lend-Lease Act; 90 Squadron (WP-B) Polebrook, UK Aug-41; transferred 220 Squadron, Portreath, MIA Bygland, Norway, 8-Sep-41. First B-17 loss (RAF). Salvaged. This was an RAF loss not a USAAF loss.

Delivered Denver 24/1/44; Hunter 15/3/44; Dow Fd 19/4/44; Assigned: 364BS/305BG [WF-A] Chelveston 30/4/44; MIA Brandenburg 6/8/44 Pilot: Doug Farmer, George Kimball, Renato Roccucci, Lou Goodman, Tom McKee, Bob Meyer, Tony Catala, Chas Rogers, Edwin Denz (9POW); flak, crashed Wittmundehafe, Germany. MACR 7881.