| General | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer: | Douglas |
| Production-Block: | , B-17F-35-DL: 42-3189 to 42-3228 |
| Operational History | |
|---|---|
| Bomb Group: | , 381st Bomb Group |
| Bomb Squadron: | , 535th Bomb Squadron |
| RCL | MS-V |
| MACR | 378 |
| Fate: |
, Lost by enemy aircraft (17 August 1943) |
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History of
B-17 42-3225 / Chug-A-Lug Lulu
Delivered Cheyenne 1/4/43; Dow Fd 23/5/43; Assigned 535BS/381BG [MS-V] Ridgewell 6/6/43 WIDGET. Missing in Action 11+m Schweinfurt 17/8/43; enemy aircraft KO’d three engines, crashed Fexhe-Slins, near Tongeren, Bel. Missing Air Crew Report 378. CHUG-A-LUG LULU.
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B-17 42-3225 / Chug-A-Lug Lulu Crew
| Position | Rank | Name | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | 1LT | Lorin C. Disbrow | POW | - |
| CP | 2LT | Allen J. Chapin | POW | - |
| NAV | 2LT | David R. Jones | POW | - |
| BOMB | 2LT | George Gaydos | POW | - |
| ENG/TT | T/SGT | Otto F. Bruzewski | EVD | - |
| RO | T/SGT | Thomas R. Moore | EVD | - |
| BT | S/SGT | Joseph J. Walters | EVD | - |
| WG | S/SGT | Ernest C. King | POW | - |
| WG | S/SGT | John H. Moulton | POW | - |
| TG | S/SGT | William P. Kiniklis | EVD | - |
This page was last updated on 18 October 2018
18. October 2018 access_time 23:09
Hi, My father’s name was/is George, not Georges(4th name in the list on the Chug-a-lug Lulu). Could you possibly correct it? Thanks! Und vielen Dank für die Site. Ironisch, dass sein Sohn Deutschlehrer gewesen ist, oder?
David Gaydos
Newfield, NY
18. October 2018 access_time 23:34
Done! Name corrected.
Ironisch, dass ein in Deutschland lebender Chinese eine Website über ein amerikanisches Flugzeug erstellt? 😉
31. January 2019 access_time 19:17
Gruß Jing! Interessant ist es gewiss, dass Sie die Site erstellt haben : ) Wie sind Sie denn am Ende in D gelandet? Bin jetzt 58, aber in meinen 20er Jahren verbrachte ich viel Zeit als Weltenbummler mit nur wenig Geld in Berlin, Offenburg/Freiburg, Österreich und anderswo in Europa. Interessanterweise war meine erste Deutschlektion auf Kreta in Griechenland, wo ich als Schwarzarbeiter samt anderen jungen Leuten Tomaten geerntet hatte. Alles Gute! David
27. January 2019 access_time 9:13
Hello David, I’m living in Belgium near the place your fathers ship game down . Would be great if we could get in contact …. Greetings, rudi.simons2@telenet.be
27. January 2019 access_time 11:29
Hello Rudi, I informed David about your comment.
Hope you get answer from him.
Greeting
Jing
31. January 2019 access_time 19:45
Hi Jing, I responded to Rudi in Belgium. Thanks! –david gaydos
03. August 2021 access_time 22:41
My Grandfather was stationed at Ridgewell Airfield and I have many original pictures he took and one of them is of your father’s plane.
06. August 2021 access_time 20:23
Hi Sean, Thanks much for contacting me about the photo! Sure, my sibs and I would love to see it. Was your grandfather also an airman? —David
23. January 2024 access_time 2:14
Hi Sean,
Any chance you still have any of those photos?
My grandfather was the BT gunner
Thanks.
03. August 2021 access_time 22:45
My Grandfather was stationed at Ridgewell Airfield and he took many pictures. I have a picture of your Father’s plane.
06. June 2024 access_time 18:43
Hi Sean, my father was George Gaydos, bombardier on the Chug-a-lug Lulu. Could you possibly send my the photo of the plane that you have? Thanks.
14. August 2021 access_time 9:34
Greetings,
My Grandfather was Otto Bruzewski on this B-17. He actually survived the crash of the Chug Alug LuLu, and managed to avoid enemy capture with help from the Belgium Underground. If anyone has pics or stories regarding, would love to hear from you.
Warmest Regards,
Carrie
25. September 2021 access_time 4:40
Otto is my great grandfather
01. November 2021 access_time 14:39
Carrie: I am a transcriber for National Archives and have just transcribed Otto’s handwritten report on his shot down and escape experience. If you have not seen this, let me know and I’ll send you copy.
01. November 2021 access_time 20:59
Hello I’m very interested is seeing what you have….thanks for reaching out to me. Warm regards, Carrie
02. November 2021 access_time 19:19
Carrie, following are the transcriptions of Otto’s handwritten report on his experience. Problems here and there with reading. Unfortunately, it ends with report that Belgians enabled his escape and I wish I knew how he got back to England. He was truly a hero.
Best wishes, Bob
************
We were on the way back from target, but still over Germany, when enemy fighters hit number three engine. The oil system was hit, so the prop could not be feathered. We dragged and lost formation. Ten minutes later other fighters hit number four. This time the prop could be feathered, but we started to lose altitude. Three minutes later we lost number two. There was nothing left to hold us up and we started down. My inter-phone had been shot out, so I never heard the bail-out order. I was still fighting when the pilot came back to tell me to get out.
I put on my chute and jumped out. We must have been at 10000ft at that time. The pilot and Sgt. King followed me.
I delayed my jump for 2000 ft because I had been told that if one pulls the rip-cord too soon, the prop wash tears the chute. I could see FWs still attacking the ship; one of the pilots waved at me. Then I counted nine chutes most of them very close to the ground. I took off my gloves helmet, throat mike, and mask; then and them fall one by one. Eight people were going into the woods in which I thought I was going to land, when I saw them, and then noticed there were people on all the roads, I thought I had very little chance for I believed we were over Germany.
My landing was gentle. My chute caught in the tree branches and left me hanging with my feet two inches from the ground. I took off my flying
pants and left them with my chute, which I could not disentangle. People were coming through the brush, and were 50 ft away at most. I sneaked 300 ft from my chute, and crawled into a mass of brush and grass beside a fence.
The search went on in my immediate vicinity for over two hours. Once a man stood 2 ft from my face, and I stared at him through the grass, but they never saw me. I knew they were civilians, but did not dare risk leaving [illegible]. From what I later learned, I believe they were friendly, and probably had my chute.
Travels at Night
When it grew dark I started to travel [illegible] I walked all night. I kept to the field
and side roads; a curfew never bothered me, for I thought I was in Germany. I went through the outskirts of one little town and my compass must have jammed. The needle drew over so that south always pointed back to the village. This lead me to circle the village three times. It was daybreak before I got straightened out, and I did not feel that it was safe to travel further.
The garden of a priest’s house was very untidy, and I hid in an overgrown dry ditch. I slept most of the day, and no one ever noticed me. I did make a note of the side on which the sun rose, so that I would have me bearings when I was ready to leave town again. I had nothing to drink all that day, and found no water
the previous night. I ate the apples, pears and plums that I had picked up as I walked as well as some chocolate and tablets from my aids box.
At dusk I started on again. When I was well outside the village, my compass started to working again.
I started through a town. As I went down an alley, a man in boots and smoking a cigarette stepped out into the road. I just turned around and went back the way I had come; he did not follow me. I kept walking all night. Toward morning but when the moon was still out I started down a muddy side road. When a man yelled at me in German, I knew something was wrong. I stopped and looked across the field towards the voice. I saw guns, and realized that I
had run into a mobile anti-aircraft battery. I froze in my tracks and watched. No one came toward me so I decided that I had not been seen, and that they must have been yelling at one another. I retraced my steps, and left the area safely.
It was now time to look for a suitable place in which to spend the day. I still had no ide of what country I was in. I cut across the fields eating the apples, plums and carrots that I had found on the way. I also ha a small head of cabbage but it did not taste too good.
At a creek I filled my water bottle and dropped in a halazone tablet. Then I walked another half hour before drinking any, when I did it tasted
disagreably of rubber, although the bag had been rinsed times before it was filled. Shortly thereafter I climbed a barbed wire fence, the water bag was punctured, and there was no water when next I wanted a drink.
I went to sleep in the corner of a sugar beet field on the edge of a forest. I awoke to find a man standing 20 ft from me. His feet, rustling the sugar beets, had roused me. We stared at one another, then he made hungry motions, asked, in English, who he was. He pointed to himself and said “moi ?” I nodded in the affirmative
He then said: “moi Belgique”. And asked xxx whether I were English or American. I said American [start strike] and was [end strike] greatly relieved to hear that I was in Belgium. He told me to wait there until he returned. I was uncertain as to whether this would be wise or not. I looked at the house to which he was going, and saw that there were no telephone wires. The field was so long and open, that I decided that if anything suspicious happened, I would have enough time to make a get away.
A woman came out to me with sandwiches and coffee. She asked me if I hand any photos and wanted to see my dog tags. Luckily I had both. She made it clear that I was to remain until she returned. In [strike] 20 [strike] twenty minutes she was back with civilian clothes, and a pick and shovel. She handed me a note in English which said “Dress – Take these tools and follow this woman. signed, a friend.” I did just that, and came to a place from which the rest of my journey was arranged.
The largest munitions plant in Belgium is the F&M factory15 [paper tear] uth xxx of Liege. It is a good target that has never been bombed. Ammunitions of all kinds is made here, as well as a new type of incendiary bomb and tank grenade. A diagram showed the grenade to be 18 inches long [insert] including the handle [end insert] and about 4 inches thick. The handle is one [strike ‘e’] one end, and the three magnetized ends at the other. The handle has some sort of safety pin which is pulled before the grenade is thrown.
Front view of magnetized end [diagram] circle with 3 inner notches and arrow to word “magnet” below; arrow to word “explosive” to right side] Hearsay late October
West of Juivisy there is a large airfield. There are no underground …….etments. All aircraft are in camouflaged emplacements. The French built two Zeplin hangars here in peacetime, but the Germans use the field as a JU88 base
The largest munitions plant in Belgium is the F&M factory15 [paper tear] uth xxx of Liege. It is a good target that has never been bombed. Ammunitions of all kinds is made here, as well as a new type of incendiary bomb and tank grenade. A diagram showed the grenade to be 18 inches long [insert] including the handle [end insert] and about 4 inches thick. The handle is one [strike ‘e’] one end, and the three magnetized ends at the other. The handle has some sort of safety pin which is pulled before the crew list to be used -Carrie, file is to long for this space. If you send me your email address
06. June 2024 access_time 18:39
Hi Robert, my father was George Gaydos….bombardier on the Chug-a-lug Lulu. He wasn’t able to escape as did Otto, and spent time in Luft Stalag 3. I’d much appreciate the complete transcription of Otto’s escape account. Thanks!
07. June 2024 access_time 0:44
I would like the full transcript and photos in this comment. As David Gaydos, said, our father George Gaydos was the Chug-a-Lug Lulu’s bombardier.
14. October 2021 access_time 21:24
Lorin Disbrow is my Uncle. He was only about 21 yrs old. My mom his youngest sister told me he was captured by a farmer and spent the last two yrs in the German prison camp until the end of the war.