B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 42-97381 / Linda Ball II

Delivered Cheyenne 24/2/44; Kearney 17/3/44; Grenier 6/4/44; Assigned: 511BS/351BG [DS-U] Polebrook 12/4/44; {66m} battle damage Brandenberg 6/8/44 Pilot: Chas Woodrun, Raoul Brickman, Bahard Levins, Andy Bevin, Walt Raakin, Arnold Lomen, Don Fish (7RTD); Ellis Tompkins, Paul Tuerck (2MIA); Bill Rohrbacher, Virgil Carneal, Nick Marcinizyn (3POW). flak ko’d #4 engine, caught fire, but after feathering and using fire extinguisher to no avail, pilot gave order to abandon ship, when the latter three crewmen bailed out. However Woodrun dived the ship and managed to put the fire out and found some of the crew had bailed, the he ordered up TG Fish up front to act as co-pilot, and shuffled the rest but then lost another engine north of Hamburg. Losing altitude all the way back the ship eventually crash-landed at Leiston base. Repaired and back to operations but crash: takeoff w/Ray Butler 10/1/45; Returned to US: Bradley 31/5/45; 4168 BU Sth Plains 21/10/45; Scrapped: Kingman 14/12/45. LINDA BALL II.