Production-block:
B-17F-40-DL: 42-3229 to 42-3283
Manufacturer:
Douglas
- Bomb Group:
- 379th Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 527th Bomb Squadron
- RCL: FO-U
MACR: 958
History of
B-17 42-3269 / Piccadilly Willy
Delivered Denver 15/4/43; Assigned 527BS/379BG [FO-U] Kimbolton 6/6/43; Missing in Action Schweinfurt 14/10/43 with Capt Walt Carnal, Co-pilot: Bill Davidson, Navigator: Albt Chudoba, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Dean Wyland, Radio Operator: Leon Cruzan, Ball turret gunner: Don Sherman, Waist gunner: Monico Rodriguez,Tail gunner: Wilton Fisher (8 Prisoner of War), Co-pilot: Leslie Gross{body never recovered}, Waist gunner: Nick Rukavina{broke neck when chute opened} (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, crashed Machtilhausen, 10 miles W of Schweinfurt. Missing Air Crew Report 958. PICADILLY WILLY.
Last updated: 10. July 2017
16. September 2021 access_time 13:05
Hallo,
Captain Karl-Heinz Langer, squadron captain of the 7./JG 3 ‘Udet’, shot down the Piccadilly Willy on October 14, 1943 with a Me109G6 with the factory number 26024. The Me109G6 took off from Wörishofen Air Base.
The Messerschmitt flew too close to the B-17F so that it was hit by parts and crashed itself, the German pilot seriously injured in the process. Piccadilly Willy flew for a while, smoking, before she went into a tailspin and broke apart. Shortly before you saw how the parachutes opened between Trimberg and Machtilshausen. 3 bombs were still on board the B-17 that lay next to the debris and had to be defused. The 2 dead were buried in the cemetery of Machtilshausen and later exhumed by the US Air Force.
14. November 2022 access_time 4:39
Hello. My father-in-law was the co-pilot on Piccadilly Willy. He survived being shot down, was a POW, had 6 children and lived to be 96. Thank you for posting this information. I will share it with his family.
11. January 2026 access_time 6:24
Would you happen to have any photos of the Piccadilly Willy and the crew? I’m from the same small rural town in Lecompte, Louisiana as was Mr. Carnal. After the war he became the rural mail carrier in our little town.
My stepfather flew the P-40 and P-51, and he and Mr. Carnal were great friends. I guess they had a lot in common.
Obviously your father-in-law was Mr. Davidson. I cannot imagine the mental stress those crews went through preparing for and making those bombing runs. Un-imaginable to me.
12. January 2026 access_time 0:34
Thanks for sharing info about Mr. Carnal. You are correct about my father-in-law, and yes, I do have picture(s). Can’t see an option to attach a file to these comments, so the following link is to a PDF of a document I wrote about the Piccadilly Willy crew. It contains pictures and more information. Let me know if any questions or if you have trouble accessing. The password to access the file is “PiccadillyWilly” with no quotation marks or spaces. Cheers! https://1drv.ms/b/c/4c8d6e90f5570a2a/IQDU9TmFoLUUR4jBbCOz11dtAU65rlNz2nMgiNEAIRUo5cA?e=aJJgxE