| General | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer: | Boeing |
| Production-Block: | , B-17G-25-BO: 42-31632 to 42-31731 |
| Operational History | |
|---|---|
| Bomb Group: | , 301st Bomb Group |
| Bomb Squadron: | , 32nd Bomb Squadron |
| MACR | 2593 |
| Fate: |
, Lost by enemy aircraft (25 February 1944) |
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History of
B-17 42-31664
Delivered Denver 2/12/43; Felts Fd 4/12/43; Gt Falls 5/12/43; Denver 17/12/43; Savannah 22/12/43; Assigned 32BS/301BG Lucera 5/2/44; Missing in Action {5m} Regensburg 25/2/44 with Dave Paxton, Co-pilot: Chapas, Bombardier: Mullen (3 Prisoner of War); Navigator: Baughman, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe, Radio Operator: Greenwood, Ball turret gunner: Frost, Waist gunner: Alexander, wgt-Tate,Tail gunner: O’Connor (7 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, crashed Bodenkirchen, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 2593.
Information may include corrections and additions based on Jing’s research.
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This page was last updated on 04 April 2018
27. January 2025 access_time 8:23
I had Mr. Paxton as a drafting teacher in middle school back in the mid 1970s. One day he told me the story of him maintaining the the aircraft as it was greatly damaged so that the crew could bail out. When he left the controls he had found that the co pilot had opened his chute inside the plane by accident. The co pilot had taken paxtons chute and was already out of the plane. Paxton had no choice but to strap on the opened chute and jump with the fabric in his hands. He said he had no idea how it would turn out. Lucky for him he survived. Ironically he captured and was placed in the same pow camp as the co-pilot. He told me what he said to the co-pilot and then he said he never spoke to him again. Mr. Paxton was a great teacher and a humble man.
08. September 2025 access_time 8:28
I am glad I ran across this. My moms brother was tail gunner on this plane. His name was Joe Davis Tate. According to my mom, someone came and spoke to my grandfather after the crash and said he saw Joe in a prison camp. My grandfather waited for some time for his son to come home. It was around 7 or 8 years before his remains were brought back. I wonder where his remains were all those years
03. February 2026 access_time 16:20
On 25th of February 1944 two planes crashed on the mountain Pokojisce near Ljubljana, Slovenia, former Yugoslavia. One was B24 ser. nr. 42-7765 and the other one was B17. In some sources it is mentioned with ser. nr. 42-31644 and in some with ser. nr. 42-31703. Please, can someone confirm that 42-31644 earlly crashed near Bodenkirchen in Germany as mentioned above? I need this information to eliminate it from my further investigation in order not to be mislead – and to focus on 42-31703 only. Thank you!