B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 41-24443

History of
B-17 41-24443

Assigned 326BS/92BG Bangor 1-August-1942; transferred to 414BS/97BG Polebrook 24-August-1942; Missing in Action 21-October-1942 on mission to bomb the U-Boat pens at Lorient/Keroman, France. All were picked up by a French fishing boat and turned over to the Germans at Quimper, France. 8POW 1DIC 1EVD. No Missing Air Crew Report (MACR).

Last updated: 3. November 2017

B-17 41-24443 Details

The Navigator, 1Lt Harold Spire provided the following details of the loss in his Escape & Evasion account (EE #2846).

“Over the Brest peninsula just under the 13,000 foot ceiling, FW-190’s and flak wounded Lt. Spire and shot away one engine, the ball turret, the top turret, the intercom system and the elevator controls. The bombardier, Lt Ewart Sconiers salvoed his bombs and baled out over land. At 13:00 the plane landed 10 miles from shore in the Bay of Biscay and remained afloat for 30 seconds, giving the crew time to ditch. No swimmer, Lt. Spire inflated his Mae West and paddled to the half-inflated large dingy which supported all of the crew except the engineer who sat in his own small dingy.”

B-17 41-24443 Crew