B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 42-39936 / Bar Fly

History of
B-17 42-39936 / Bar Fly

Delivered Long Beach 12/10/43; Walla Walla 11/10/43; Assigned 728BS/452BG [9Z- ] Deopham Green 31/12/43; Missing in Action Warnemunde 9/4/44 with Carroll Boyd, Co-pilot: Elmer Julius, Navigator: Bill Abernathy, Bombardier: Bill Craighead, Waist gunner: Ray Raley, Waist gunner: Jim Parker (6 Killed in Action); Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Chas HopperWounded in Action, Radio Operator: Tim Nunan, Ball turret gunner: Bernie Brand,Tail gunner: Oather Meese (4 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft, crashed Meltofte, near Maribo, Den. Missing Air Crew Report 3662. BAR FLY.

Last updated: 22. November 2019

B-17 42-39936 / Bar Fly Details

“The two inner engines of the plane caught fire after hits from a number of attacking FW 190s. Also the middle section of the fuselage was heavily hit and navigator 2ndLt William D. Abernathy and left waist gunner Raymond E. Raley perished. The intercom in the plane was destroyed and after the pilot 1st Lt Carroll G. Boyd had regained some of the control over the plane, he, co-pilot 2nd Lt Elmer P. Julius and bombardier 2nd Lt William H. Craighead abandoned the plane from the front emergency hatch. They landed in the waters south of Kramnitse and drowned. Just before the plane passed the coast line the crew members from the rear end of the plane started bailing out. Right waist gunner S/Sgt James E. Parker landed in the water and drowned. His body was washed ashore at Dannemare where he was buried. The last three S/Sgt (Radio Operator) Timothy J. Nunan, S/Sgt (Ball Turret Gunner) Bernard H. Brand and S/Sgt (Tail Gunner) Oather G. Meese) bailed out south of Tillitse. After a short while they were captured by the Germans. Just as S/Sgt Charles F. Hopper (engineer/top turret gunner) bailed out over Arninge, the German flak in Nakskov started firing at the plane and he was hit in one arm by splinters of shells. The plane flew on towards Halsted and exploded at an altitude of about 200 m. Debris fell north east of the then Old People’s Home in Meltofte and about 1 km south of the road between Nakskov and Maribo. An ambulance from Falck was sent to Arninge to take S/Sgt Hopper to Nakskov Hospital. Here Consultant MacDougal worked hard to save his arm, but it had to be amputated. On 5 June Hopper was discharged and taken to further treatment in Germany.”

B-17 42-39936 / Bar Fly Crew

Related web sites about the B-17 42-39936 / Bar Fly

1. http://www.airmen.dk/p280.htm
2. http://www.flensted.eu.com/1944032.shtml
3. https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=149368