B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 42-5867 / Alice from Dallas

History of
B-17 42-5867 / Alice from Dallas

Delivered Long Beach 2/4/43; Kearney 15/4/43; Wendover 2/5/43; Dow Fd 27/6/43; Assigned 350BS/100BG [LN-O] Thorpe Abbotts 30/5/43; Missing in Action Regensburg 17/8/43 with Roy Clayton, Co-pilot: Ray Nutting, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: John Burgin, Radio Operator: Bill Quinn, Waist gunner: Chas Bailey (5 evaded capture); Ball turret gunner: Bill Hinton, Waist gunner: Edmund Musante {chute caught on tail} (2 Killed in Action); Navigator: Oscar Amison, Bombardier: Ken Lorch{originally evaded but caught eight months later}, Tail gunner: Cliff Starkey (3 Prisoner of War); flak KO’d two engines, crashed Langerloo, five miles E of Hasselt, Bel. Missing Air Crew Report 678. ALICE FROM DALLAS.

Last updated: 17. June 2022

B-17 42-5867 / Alice from Dallas Details

Lt. B. A. DeMarco’s observation: Aircraft #867, about ten minutes before reaching target, lost altitude. Tail gunner thinks he saw 6 chutes, wheels dropped down. Did not see aircraft crash or land.

Roy F. Claytor’s statement as regards Edmund A. Musante was as follows:

He was a strange boy and was frequently given to air sickness. I think he was actually afraid of the air. However, I mentioned having him removed from the crew several times but he always persuaded me to keep him.

He seemed to be brave and courageous except I believe he had an inherent fear of the air. I admired him very much and have never seen him fail in anything.

But I do believe he was refuse to bail out.

Charles Bailey’s statement as regards Edmund A. Musante was as follows:

He was the Right Waist Gunner and I was the Left Waist Gunner.

I always took a personal interest in him because I was older then he, and he seemed to depend on me to a great extent.

He always had trouble hearing over the intercom and I always made it a point to be sure that he always understood the commands given over the intercom, so when the pilot gave the command to bail out I checked with Musante and he started making preparations to bail out.

We both went to the escape hatch and I pulled the emergency release, and Musante stepped up to jump, but for some reason he changed his mind, and motioned for me to jump first, and Because two engines were on fire, and the plane seemed to be going down fast, I couldn’t see any reason to waste more time, so I jumped.

After my chute opened, I tried to keep my eye on the plane to see how many chutes opened but all I could ever see was eight chutes.

The underground organization that helped me, told me that one of the crew members was killed when the plane went down, because his chute hung on the plane and from their description I knew it was Musante.

Charles Bailey’s statement as regards William M. Hinton was as follows:

The only thing I know about him is, that I saw him coming out of the Ball Turret and I presumed that he was doing O.K. but evidently he didn’t because I never heard from him again.

That was his first mission on our crew, and I never had an opportunity to know much about him.

Source: MACR 678

B-17 42-5867 / Alice from Dallas Crew

Related web sites about the B-17 42-5867 / Alice from Dallas

1. https://100thbg.com/index.php?option=com_bombgrp&view=aircraft&id=10055&Itemid=326
2. http://www.luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/b-17-bij-genk