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

Delivered Cheyenne 13/4/43; Gore 21/4/43; Smoky Hill 22/4/43; Morrison 4/5/43; Assigned 12AF – 97th BG/414th BS; 31/5/43; Returned to the USA Bradley 4/7/44; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Altus 9/10/45.

Delivered Cheyenne 31/12/42; Salina 10/1/43; Morrison 5/3/43; Brookley 8/3/43; Morrison 10/4/43; Assigned 416BS/99BG Navarin 5/6/43; Oudna 4/8/43; battle damaged Messina 6/8/43 with Barton, Trentadue {Wounded in Action}, Lesney {Wounded in Action}, May, Shay, Harper, Valleau {Wounded in Action}, Steele, Kellerman, Cunningham; force landed Comiso, 2 engines out & 3 WIA, aircraft repaired 12/8/43; Tortorella 11/12/43; transferred 483BG Tortorella 31/3/44; Salvaged 2/8/45. JIG-JIG.

Delivered Cheyenne 3/5/43; Smoky Hill 17/5/43; Dow Fd 21/5/43; Assigned 534BS/381BG [GD-L] Ridgewell 15/6/43; Missing in Action 5m Schweinfurt 17/8/43; enemy aircraft, crashed Oostmalle, nine miles W of Turnhout, Bel. Missing Air Crew Report 381. LUCKY LADY.

Delivered Long Beach 28/1/43; Denver 30/1/43; Assigned 4Ferry Gp Memphis where line chief Sgt Oscar Penrod ground looped aircraft 20/3/43; Morrison 14/4/43; Assigned 347BSA/99BG Navarin 5/5/43; Oudna 4/8/43; damaged by fire 16/9/43, repaired at depot; transferred 840BS/483BG Tortorella 4/44; Missing in Action Nis, Yugo. 15/4/44 with Jim Preston, Johnston, Gresham, Lindholm, Toutant, Cieslak, Cooper, Pierce, Cline, Brown (10 Killed in Action); flak hit between # 3 & 4. The main fuel tanks took fire as the wing folded back all in seconds; crashed Nis, W/O. Missing Air Crew Report 3909. WHIZZER II.

Delivered Cheyenne 11/5/43; Gore 24/5/43; Smoky Hill 25/5/43; Kearney 27/5/43; Dow Fd 2/6/43; Assigned: 338BS/96BG [BX–] Snetterton 12/6/43; MIA Kassel 30/7/43 Pilot: Carmelo Pelusi, Navigator: Mayer Hurwitz, Engineer / Top Turret Gunner: Walter Koch, Ball Turret Gunner: Bob Holleman, Waist Gunner: Earl McCloy (5KIA); Co-Pilot: Don Falk, Bombardier: Bruce Yarwood, Radio Operator: Delbert Williams, Waist Gunner: Don Ross, Tail Gunner: Elmon Fisk (5POW); Enemy aircraft, two engines out, another smoking, so jettisoned bomb load, crashed Tielrode, 12 miles W of Antwerp, Belgium. MACR 145. LUCKY LADY II.

Delivered Long Beach 24/9/43 Gr Island 6/11/43; Assigned 351BS/100BG [EP-Z] Thorpe Abbotts 11/11/43; on mission to Frankfurt 24/1/44, with Frank Valesh, Co-pilot: John Booth, Navigator: John Johnson, Bombardier: Maurice G Zetlan, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Herscell H Broyles, Radio Operator: Ernest M Jordan, Ball turret gunner: Louis G Black Jr, Waist gunner: Paul Carbonne, Waist gunner: Herschel Broyes (9 Returned to Duty);Tail gunner: Roy Ulrick (Prisoner of War); flak hit in tail, limped home to RAF Eastchurch, Kent, UK & repaired. TG was blown out of tail and became POW; witnesses swear he flew through the air still in his seat and hanging on to Browning gun handles!; transferred 351BS [EP-Z]; retUS 6/45; 121 BU Bradley 19/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 22/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 11/12/45.

Delivered Dallas 27/6/44; Langley 24/7/44; Dow Fd 18/8/44; Assigned 839BS/487BG Lavenham 29/10/44; transferred 833BS/486BG [2N-M] Sudbury 10/44; 2m transferred 410BS/94BG Rougham 29/5/45. Used for photography along Belgian-Dutch coasts (coded WIPE); crash landed with Walt Sutherland at Vils, Austria 16/7/45. Salvaged 9AF Germany 20/2/47.

Delivered Cheyenne 10/3/43; Dow Fd 10/4/43; Assigned 336BS/95BG [ET-K] SPOOK II Framlingham 21/5/43; Horham 15/6/43; 3m, transferred 527BS/379BG [FO-E] Kimbolton 22/6/43; 524BS [WA-E]; Missing in Action Schweinfurt 14/10/43 with Alden Johnson, Radio Operator: Antonio Velasquez, Ball turret gunner: Raoul Rosseau, Waist gunner: Jim Locke, Waist gunner: Ralph Scripter,Tail gunner: Gene Johnson (6 Killed in Action), Co-pilot: Warren Holtsberg, Navigator: Vince Tapping, Bombardier: Lou Dubois, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Ben Brittain (4 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft, crashed in Limburger Forest, near Dornheim, W of Darmstadt, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 954. LADY ASTRID.

Delivered Denver 30/1/43; Salina 12/2/43; Morrison 28/2/43; Assigned 358BS/303BG [VK-C] Molesworth 21/3/43; Missing in Action Bremen 20/12/43 with John Henderson, Co-pilot: Capt Merle Hungerford, Navigator: Warren Wiggins, Bombardier: Woodrow Monkres, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Bill Simpkins, Radio Operator: Forrest Vosler (awarded Con. Medal of Honor), Ball turret gunner: Ed Ruppel, Waist gunner: Ralph Burkhart, Waist gunner: Stan Moody,Tail gunner: George Buske{Wounded in Action} (10 Returned to Duty); flak, ditched North Sea, two miles off Happisburgh, Nfk. all rescued by MV Empire Sportsman. JERSEY BOUNCE Jr. No MACR.

Assigned 422BS/305BG [JJ-O] Presque Is 22/9/10/42; Grafton Underwood 25/9/42; transferred 547BS/384BG [SO-Y] Grafton Underwood 14/10/43; Missing in Action Ludwigshafen 7/1/44 with Walter Ernest Garner, Co-pilot: Philip Bern, Bombardier: James Daigle, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Russell Hawk, Radio Operator: William Edmiston, Ball turret gunner: Edward Radon, Waist gunner: Charles Hays,Tail gunner: Jack Anderson (8 Prisoner of War); Navigator: Guy Canale, Waist gunner: Charles Hannah (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, crashed Port-le-Grand, four miles NW of Abbeville, France. Missing Air Crew Report 1608. WHAT’S COOKING DOC?