B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 42-3316 / Betty Boom aka Big Stinky

History of
B-17 42-3316 / Betty Boom aka Big Stinky

Delivered Denver 6/5/43; Kearney 29/5/43; Assigned 550BS/385BG [SG-F] Gt Ashfield 26/6/43; Missing in Action Warnemunde 28/7/43 with Bill Storr, Co-pilot: Bob Blakely, Navigator: Clinton Weaver, Bombardier: Athel Miller, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Harry McComb, Radio Operator: Walter Reep, Ball turret gunner: Joe Schipani, Waist gunner: Art Spicas, Waist gunner: Jim McDonough,Tail gunner: Jim Murphy (10 Killed in Action); coll with 42-30257 off Heligoland, ditched North Sea, Missing Air Crew Report 189B. BETTY BOOM aka BIG STINKY.

Last updated: 5. May 2017

B-17 42-3316 / Betty Boom aka Big Stinky Details

120 B-17’s assigned to target the Fieseler Works and AGO factory in Oschersleben producing Fw190 components and airframes on 28/07/1943. Also of note this was the deepest USAAF bombers had ever flown into Germany since the start of the war. Only 37 B-17’s recorded a bomb strike on the primary targets, yet the mission was rated as a good result. After the mission at 0910 hrs the outbound formation of bombers was intercepted by Fw190 fighters of II./JG 11 near the North Sea coast and after a 20 minute engagement claimed 12 B-17s. Luftwaffe pilot Unteroffizier Wilhelm Fest’s rocket struck the the “Lady Susie II” (#42-30257), and the aircraft lost control and collided with “Betty Boom” (#42-3316) piloted by 2Lt. Wiliam Storr, and subsequently into the flight path of “Roundtrip Ticket” (#42-30285). All three aircraft went down into the North Sea west of Sylt, near the island of Helgoland (54°30’0″N / 7°45’0″E). The bodies of the deceased crewmen from all three aircraft washed ashore along the coastline during into weeks of late August.

More information

http://www.flensted.eu.com/19430071.shtml

B-17 42-3316 / Betty Boom aka Big Stinky Crew