Production-block:
B-17G-10-BO: 42-31232 to 42-31331
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 452nd Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 731st Bomb Squadron
MACR: 2536
History of
B-17 42-31318 / Belle of Broadway
Delivered Cheyenne 20/10/43; Walla Walla 6/11/43; Assigned: 731BS/452BG Deopham Green 6/1/44; MIA Brunswick 10/2/44 Pilot: Milton Turner, Co-Pilot: Major Don Dilger, Navigator: Francis Bauman, Bombardier: Germany. ld Ranus, Engineer / Top Turret Gunner: John Cunningham, Radio Operator: Norman Parnell, Waist Gunner: Chester Zinis, Waist Gunner: Art Jones (8POW); Ball Turret Gunner: Adam Bomba{turret blown off and body found 17 miles NE of crash site}, Tail Gunner: Claude Westerfield (2KIA); mid air coll w/42-39961, crashed Wagenfelder Brickyard, on Barver road, 15 miles SE of Diepholz, Ger. MACR 2536.
Last updated: 19. June 2018
B-17 42-31318 / Belle of Broadway Details
Mid-air-collision with B-17 #42-39961 Bad Check on 10 February 1944.
11. January 2023 access_time 10:35
Claude Westerfield, tail gunner on board , “The Belle of Broadway, was my Father’s highschool classmate.
When I was growing up in the 1960’s, my Father told me
about him, and how it was a very sad time for him and
his friends.
Karl T. Botkin. Cold War and Iraq War Veterans. Ret. USN, USNR 2007.