Production-block:
B-17G-10-BO: 42-31232 to 42-31331
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 452nd Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 731st Bomb Squadron
Crash site:
Nienburg
MACR: 3190
History of
B-17 42-31331 / Mon Tete Rouge aka Tina Tangerine
Delivered Cheyenne 25/10/43; Walla Walla 6/11/43; Assigned: 731BS/452BG Deopham Green; MIA Berlin 8/3/44 Pilot: Glenn Butterworth, Co-Pilot: Joe Schaller, Navigator: Chas Mueller, Engineer / Top Turret Gunner: Jim Mullany, Radio Operator: Fred Thibodeau, Ball Turret Gunner: John Leatherbury, Waist Gunner: Milton Knedler, Waist Gunner: Andy VanOver, Tail Gunner: Marlin Monson (9POW); Bombardier: Orville Robertson (KIA); Enemy aircraft KO’d #3 then shattered cockpit, crash-landed on bank of River Weser, near Nienburg, Germany. MACR 3190. MON TETE ROUGE aka TINA TANGERINE.
19. May 2019 access_time 16:16
The Mon Tete Rouge was not also known as Tangerine. I believe the crew , my father was the navigator, Charles Mueller, had flown the Mon Tete Rouge previously and it was damaged. When they flew their last mission, it was dark and they assumed their plane was repaired and they flew their last mission to bomb Berlin. The Mon Tete Rouge had not been repaired in time and they were switched to the Tangerinre, unbeknownst to the crew. They were shot down and became POWs. My father was sent to Staalag luft III (of The Great Escape fame) before being sent to Stalag VII near Moosburg, where they were liberated by Patton
09. September 2019 access_time 2:18
My father Milton knedler was also on that flight. Don’t know if crews were kept together but he was on luftstalag 6
09. September 2019 access_time 2:09
My father Milton knedler was also on that plane and was taken to luftstalag 6. I don’t know if crews were kept together
14. April 2020 access_time 14:46
Keith,
My Mom and Dad re-visited the city and site of where they crash landed and met some townspeople who were children at the time but remembered the crash. With the help of a German historian, they tried to locate the name of the pilot that shot them down, to no avail.