Production-block:
B-17G-10-BO: 42-31232 to 42-31331
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 452nd Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 731st Bomb Squadron
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.
Last updated: 20. April 2018
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
31. December 2023 access_time 22:22
Keith, I’ll go through my Dad’s records this weekend to see if they were both part of the same crew. My Dad was a 2nd Lt. The Germans separated the officers from the non. All the POWs at Stalag Luft III were officers….
31. December 2023 access_time 22:32
Keith, Yes, your Dad was the waist gunner. I believe they flew together on the Mon Tete Rouge which was damaged on an earlier mission and unbeknownst to the crew in the early morn they border their plain for the Berlin bombing, but they had been switched to the Tangerine, and were shot down all the while thinking they had been on the Mon Tete Rouge….
03. January 2024 access_time 19:19
To: Mark Mueller: Are you the son of Charles Mueller, navigator of the Butterworth crew?
I intend to write a chapter about them in our book. If you like, send me an eMail, so we could change information. Jens Schaper
27. January 2024 access_time 5:02
Jens, Yes my father was the navigator on Butterworth’s crew. I have so much info on voice tapes of my father describing his entire flying experience, plus I have actual photos from Stalag Luft III. Would love to speak with you!
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.
27. January 2024 access_time 17:20
Mark,
I talked to your father several times on the phone 12 years ago.
His crash landing happened nearly 80 years ago not far from here.
His story will be published in a German book next year.
My phone no is +49 4272 654
We might make a telephone date next 2 weeks.
All the best
Jens Schaper
D-27254 Staffhorst
jensschaper@gmx.de