Production-block:
Boeing B-17E: 41-2393 to 41-2669
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 11th Bomb Group
- 7th Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 42nd Bomb Squadron
MACR: 16269
History of
B-17 41-2442 / Yokohama Express
Delivered Salt Lake SAD 3/12/41; Assigned 7BG Java then with ? Kualoa, HI 1/7/42; 42BS/11BG Hickam 22/7/42; crashed Shortland Bay, Bougainville 1/2/43 with Capt Harold B. Hensley, Co-pilot: Chas Bingham, Bombardier: S/Sgt Oreste Natiello, Navigator: John Jackson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Lester Gudenschwager, Radio Operator: John Powers, Waist gunner: Bill Tomko, Waist gunner: Pete Fabino,Tail gunner: Willett Allen (9 Killed in Action). YOKOHAMA EXPRESS. Missing Air Crew Report 16269.
Last updated: 20. November 2017
22. February 2022 access_time 19:49
My uncle, Oreste George Natiello, was on Yokohama Express when it went down. We are trying to find out when he joined the crew. You can find out more about George and his father in an article written by Kevin Ambrose at the Washington Post website. The article is about the Knickerbocker Theater Disaster and supplemental material about My Uncle George.
11. November 2022 access_time 17:42
My uncle was shot down and killed on the same mission. https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/85726/Stephens-James-C-Jr-Biography.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y
There is an entire 11 Bomb Group made up of family members that can most likely provide the info you are looking for. There is also a book called “Gray Geese” that details many of the flight crews.
05. December 2022 access_time 3:49
I just caught this. Thanks. We are trying to find out when he arrived in Hawaii and what he did after bombardier school.. It is hard to know where to look. My uncle was the bombardier Oreste George Natiello.
13. March 2023 access_time 19:59
I read the article on Staff Sergeant James C. Stephens Jr. My uncle was in the Yokohama Express – Peter Fabiano. I’ve heard alot of info about that day, but not in so much detail. I never before saw maps and flight plan of that day. Thank you for your research, John T. Fabiano
20. March 2024 access_time 4:44
My father Sylvan Einbinder was a navigator on the Yokohama Express before it went down.