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Source:
www.91stbombgroup.com
Production-block:
B-17F-50-BO: 42-5350 to 42-5484
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 306th Bomb Group
- 379th Bomb Group
- 91st Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 323rd Bomb Squadron
- 367th Bomb Squadron
- 526th Bomb Squadron
- RCL: GY-L
MACR: 1354
History of
B-17 42-5407 / Fightin’ Pappy
Delivered Denver 3/12/42; Morrison 5/2/43; Assigned 367BS/306BG [GY-L] Thurleigh 8/2/43; taxi accident with Bill McKearn 10/3/43; later transferred 323BS/91BG [OR- ] Bassingbourn 11/9/43; 526BS/379BG [LF- ] Kimbolton 27/9/43; Missing in Action Anklam 9/10/43 with Vernon Smith, Co-pilot: Bob Greenhaig, Navigator: Calvin Ford, Bombardier: George Dickerson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe Lemischak, Ball turret gunner: Walt Johnson, Waist gunner: Dave Sharman, Waist gunner: Howie Hinman,Tail gunner: Quentin Breed (9 Prisoner of War), Radio Operator: John Bryant (Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, crashed Kalifornien, near Schonberg, 11 miles NE of Kiel, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 1354. FIGHTING PAPPY.
Last updated: 12. April 2018
B-17 42-5407 / Fightin’ Pappy Details
In the autumn of 1943. B-17s formed up over East Anglia to attack the German FW 190 fighters factory at Marienburg. Fightin’ Pappy was chosen to go with 120 B-17s for a diversionary attack at the aircraft component factory, Anklam. This was the crew’s fifth mission and the B-17’s 19th. the Group passed over Cromer at 1000 feet trying to fly under German radar. Unfortunately, they were spotted by the Bremen defense area and fighters were vectored along the Danish coast on an interception course. The formation reached 11,000 feet, found the target and released their bombs. At 12.00 hours, the group were intercepted over Kiel by a force of FW 190s. Fightin’ Pappy’s engines were hit badly. The B-17 spiralled downwards out of formation and dropped. Pilot and co-pilot struggled with the spinning aircraft and managed to straighten her up. The radio operator had been hit by a cannon shell but still sent out a distress signal, then clamped transmitter key down and returned to his gun. The pilot warned the crew to take up crash positions and wait for the impact. He managed to fly her straight and level, putting the B-17 down on a small island north of Kiel without further injuries to the crew. Unhappily, the radio operator had died from his wounds before the crash. He was recommended by the captain for a Silver Star and buried with full military honors at Kiel.
Fightin’ Pappy s/n 42-5407; 379th BG. Shot down by enemy fighters on October 9th 1943
Thanks to Thomas Hampel and Edwin Hess for the informations about the B-17 Fightin’ Pappy
The Crew of Fightin’ Pappy
2Lt Vernon R. Smith – POW
2Lt Robert L. Greenhaigh – POW
2Lt Calvin F. Ford – POW
2Lt. George A. Dickerson – POW
T/Sgt Joseph Lemischak – POW
T/Sgt Johnie B. Bryant – KIA
S/Sgt Walter D. Johnson – POW
Sgt David C. Sharman – POW
S/Sgt Howard D.Hinman – POW
S/Sgt Quentin E. Breed – POW
An other crew of Fightin’ Pappy
Photo contributed by Ray E. Wood.
11. June 2017 access_time 0:28
Hello
Do you know that film about “flying pappy” B17 ?
This film has been taken by germans after the crash.
Title : ” Abwehr eines US Bomberangriffes am 11. 01. 1944″
Look very carefully at 4mn39s, and see the wreck !
11. June 2017 access_time 2:23
Hello, yes I know the film. Thanks for your tip 🙂
25. March 2018 access_time 16:56
I have an orginal picture of the Fighten Pappy and its crew; my dad left it to me; its an 11 x 14……….not sure who the airmen are.
27. March 2018 access_time 20:09
Thank you Ray for sharing the photos!
18. July 2022 access_time 7:35
This Fightin Pappy was the second Fightin Pappy plane that used the same logo on the nose as my uncle, Capt Jack Harwood and crew were shot down April 17th, 1943 in the Fightin Pappy plane over Bremen and 3 were KIA, including my uncle while others were POWs til end of war. My uncle wrote in his letters that they were getting their ship painted with the Lil Abner emblem, Fightin Pappy and would be able to fly with it in early April of 43. This Fightin Pappy was flown in the fall of 43 after he was killed so would be the second Fightin Pappy. I did recognize some faces from pictures in my uncle’s items of a couple of these men in the group picture. thanks
18. July 2022 access_time 7:26
My uncle flew B17 in a plane called Fightin Pappy, Capt.Jack Harwood, killed April 17,1943 Bremen mission. Plane went down over Bremen in that raid. Are there pictures of that plane with the Fightin Pappy in it.
Thanks, A. Cote
02. August 2022 access_time 19:59
Here is a link to an auction where items from the crew are being sold
https://www.proxibid.com/BOX-OF-MISC-MILITARY-PHOTOS-AND-PAPERWORK/lotInformation/70383234
30. January 2024 access_time 21:39
here’s an upload of ” Die Deutsche Wochenschau “, the weekly German news reel, at 16.34 mark of the film is a clear shot of Fighting Pappy in the German Scrap yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S1lnNRlFq8
05. February 2024 access_time 2:21
I just saw the wreck of “The Fightin Pappy” on “Die Deutschen Wochenshau”, a German weekly propaganda newsreel. It’s on Youtube. I think it was January 1944.