Production-block:
B-17G-30-BO 42-31732 to 42-31931
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 390th Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 571st Bomb Squadron
- RCL: FC-E
MACR: 4584
History of
B-17 42-31913 / ETO-ITIS aka Shy Ann
Delivered Cheyenne 4/1/44; Kearney 13/1/44; Grenier 25/1/44; Assigned 571BS/390BG [FC-E] Framlingham 3/2/44 ETO-ITIS; Missing in Action Berlin [24m] 8/5/44 with Tom Hammond, Co-pilot: Bill Hately, Navigator: Lionel Israel, Bombardier: Orlando Merrill, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Carl Fields (5 Prisoner of War); Radio Operator: Ernie Quayle, Ball turret gunner: Alvin Smith, Waist gunner: Chas Snideman, Waist gunner: Lou Luedte,Tail gunner: Phil Maitner (5 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft KOd #1 and #2, along with electrics, crashed Hademsdorf, 22 miles N of Hanover, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 4584. SHY ANN.
Last updated: 19. May 2017
14. May 2024 access_time 16:24
The right waist gunner on this plane was my Great-Uncle, Louis A. Luedtke of Wausau, WI.
Snideman, Luedtke, Smith, Quale, and Maitner perished in the crash. The remaining five successfully bailed out and were captured by German forces, according to German War Records. The five dead were buried in nearby Hademstorf, Germany on 11 May 1944. Years later, Louis was exhumed and returned to the US and is buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau, WI.