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

Delivered Denver 17/3/43; Pueblo 8/4/43; Smoky Hill 7/5/43; Dow Fd 25/5/43; Assigned: 534BS/381BG [GD-D] Ridgewell 25/5/43 Pilot: Bill Wroblicka, Omen Jones, Jim Delano, Lester Schneider, Joe Labushevicz, Fred Smith, Dick Wante, Edwin Jonson, John Kratzer, Walt Cecil; MIA Gelsenkirchen 12/8/43 w/Bill Wroblicka, Co-Pilot: Claude Neeley, Navigator: Dave Harris, Bombardier: Lester Schneider, Engineer / Top Turret Gunner: Joe Labushevicz, Radio Operator: Fred Smith (6 POW), Ball Turret Gunner: Edwin Jonson, Waist Gunner: John Kratzer, Waist Gunner: John Phelan, Tail Gunner: Walt Cecil (4 KIA); Enemy aircraft, crashed Hemmerich, NW of Bonn, Germany. MACR 383. DEVIL’S ANGEL.

Delivered Long Beach 19/1/43; Salina 2/2/43; Homestead 21/2/43; Assigned 323BS/91BG [OR-U] Bassingbourn 9/3/43; Missing in Action {5+m} Gelsenkirchen 12/8/43 with Jerold Kethley, Co-pilot: Ennis Cox, Navigator: Bob Sternberg, Bombardier: Jim Cullen, ttg-Bob Danielson, Radio Operator: Conrad Dussault, Ball turret gunner: Harry Stokes, Waist gunner: Alf Bragg, Waist gunner: John Burke,Tail gunner: Wilf Bacon (10 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft strafed cockpit and KO’d #1, crashed Forsbach, near Cologne, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 262. BILLIE K.

Assigned 367BS/306BG Westover 17-Aug-42; Thurleigh 13-Oct-42; transferred 324BS/91BG [DF-J] Bassingbourn 20-Feb-43; Missing in Action (MIA) 2m Hamm 4-Mar-43. Shot down by Lt Kostler (IV/NJG1) in Me 110, KO’d #1 & #3,oil pouring away before #4 was feathered ditched 40 miles west of Texel Is, Holland, in North Sea; five rescued by Royal Navy minesweeper and landed at Grimsby; EXCALIBUR. 3KIA 7RTD (Rescued by Royal Navy). No MACR issued.

Delivered Cheyenne 11/2/43; Gt Falls 17/2/43; Salina 5/3/43; Assigned 303BG Molesworth 15/4/43; transferred 368BS/306BG [BO-V] Thurleigh 17/4/43; 324BS/91BG [DF-F/D/P] Bassingbourn 11/9/43; battle damaged over Schweinfurt 14/10/43 with Lt Christensen wia-died next day, cp Lt Mendelsohn brought ship back to crash landed at RAF Tangmere and slammed into tree; After long repair returmed to base and transferred 401BS [LL-D] before re-ass. to AFSC 6/4/44; Returned to the USA Tinker 29/4/44; Winston Salem 5/22/44; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Bush Fd 15/5/45. CORN STATE TERROR.

Delivered Cheyenne 23/5/43; Smoky Hill 2/6/43; Gr Isle 5/6/43; Dow Fd 20/6/43; Assigned: 337BS/96BG [AW-B] 3/7/43; detailed Warnemunde 27/7/43 Pilot: Carrol Bender, Co-Pilot: Lewis Feldstein, rest unknown, after jettisoning bombs in The Wash crash-landed with only one engine running at RAF Lt Snoring, Nfk, (10RTD), Salvaged. TARFU II.

Delivered Dallas 26/9/44; Hunter 26/10/44; Dow Fd 31/10/44; Assigned 358BS/303BG [VK-W] Molesworth 5/1/45; battle damaged Hamburg 30/3/45 with Capt Hugh Johnson, Maj Glynn Sinmake, Herb Hanson, Bob Wallace {ex nav}, Wallace Burkett, Gene Edwards, Bob Carter, Harry Peck, Harry Hopkins, Capt Larry Lifshus {radar nav} (10 Prisoner of War); force landed continent; Salvaged 22/4/45. MACR 13539

Delivered Denver 2/12/43; Kearney 17/12/43; Romulus 6/1/44; Kearney 7/1/44; Memphis 9/1/44; Presque Is 10/1/44; Assigned 612BS/401BG [SC-B] Deenethorpe 31/1/44; 134m crash landed Polebrook 22/4/44. But survived the war. FANCY NANCY IV.

Delivered Cheyenne 23/10/43; Walla Walla 6/11/43; Assigned 452BG [ -S] Deopham Green 4/1/44; with Kuhlmeier, caught fire on return from mission Salvaged 11/4/44.

Delivered: Dallas 18/4/44; Kearney 2/6/44; Dow Fd 27/6/44; Assigned: 835BS/486BG [H8-R] (H8-V?) Sudbury 28/6/44; battle damage Frankfurt 8/1/45 Pilot: ‘; forced landing continent; Salvaged. 30/1/45. Superstitious Aloysius

Delivered Cheyenne 22/2/44; Rapid City 8/3/44; Grenier 21/4/44; Assigned: 398BG Nuthampstead 25/4/44; no ops, Transferred: 366BS/305BG Chelveston 1/5/44; MIA battle area support 13/8/44 Pilot: Wendell Terry, Henry Richardson (2POW); Tom Crow (KIA); Joe Robichaud, Henry Schiengold, Chas Kittle, Frank Holland, John Lanz, Theo Meek (6RTD); flak, crashed Flers, Fr; MACR 10709.