zoom_in
Source:
www.fold3.com
Production-block:
B-17G-80-BO: 43-38074 to 43-38273
Manufacturer:
Boeing
- Bomb Group:
- 381st Bomb Group
- Bomb Squadron:
- 534th Bomb Squadron
- RCL: GD-D
Missions: 27
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History of
B-17 43-38158 / Smashing Time!
Delivered Cheyenne 1/7/44; Kearney 11/7/44; Dow Fd 20/7/44; Assigned: 534BS/381BG [GD-D] Ridgewell 26/7/44; forced landing base 17/12/44 Pilot: John Rice; battle damage {27m} Aschaffenburg 21/1/45 w/Bradley; f/l Sauverne, Fr; Salvaged. 28/2/45. SMASHING TIME!
Last updated: 18. November 2018
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12. October 2019 access_time 2:48
HIi there.
My mother is the lady in the picture(now passed) who christened the Smashing Time bomber in the photo. I have the originals and more. She told me a few stories during her time serving.
Feel free to contact me by phone or email.
My mother Was Cynthia isabelle May Burvill. Then married to David Bridge Williams a bomb disposal chap in the Army. Then married my father Frank Patrick Wiltshire who has also passed.He was in the glyder regiment. Hope this is of interest. Thanks
17. March 2021 access_time 5:58
Hi Clinton, thank you for that information. My uncle Chas Tryka , navigator in Bob Coates crew ,533rd BS was shot down in “Smashing Time” on 1/21/1945 Aschaffenburg mission crash landing in Saverne, France. MIA . All crew returned safely 3 days later with
help I believe by French Underground. The rest of crew were: CP: Bill Pettit, B: Joe Walsh, RO: Miles Bruner, TT: Keith Halstead, RW: John Andrews, BT: Pat Keenan, TG: Herb Lovenson. In all, my uncle flew 35 misssions. Last on 3/05/1945. All crewmembers remained lifetime friends. Best wishes to you.
06. April 2024 access_time 13:45
Hi my grandpa was Robert Coates and my father and I are trying to locate his crash site in saverne does anyone have any detailed info on the location?
06. April 2024 access_time 13:45
Hi my grandpa was Robert Coates and my father and I are trying to locate his crash site in saverne does anyone have any detailed info on the location?
27. April 2024 access_time 16:26
hello, I am John C Fontan. On January 21, 1945, the B-17 G “Smashing Time !” belly-landed safely near thé Alsatian village of Altenheim, alongside the D230 departmental road. This was close to Steinbourg and Saverne. The area was already in Allied hands, there was an airfield nearby. Please go to the internet site ‘67006 Altenheim” on fr.geneawoki.com, it is well documznted there. As the local civilians went to that site before US troops closed the area, many pictures have been taken. Kin d regards. J Fontan, France.
06. April 2024 access_time 11:30
Greetings all.
My name is Paul Coates. I am the son of Robert Coates who was the Captain of this B-17 when it crash landed. He has passed away a few years ago. I am most eager to share anyone all the information I have regarding this experience. The Plane did crash land safely on the Allied sign of the line. It was in the same location that his brother was serving in the Army. There is a picture of the two of them standing by the plane. An article of this miraculous event was written up in the Stars and Stripes magazine a short time later. I am headed to France shortly for the first time. One of my key objective is to locate the spot in Saverne where the plane landed. It was a farmers field at the time.
Please email as I would love to share all that our families knows.
– Paul Coates
06. April 2024 access_time 11:37
Bob is there anyway you could reach out to me or I contact you? My Cell is 303-829-Four7Five4
27. April 2024 access_time 18:26
Hi, My name is John C Fontan and I live in France. There are two alledged belly-landing sites for “Smashing Time !” The most likely one is on the high grounds of Altenheim (near Steinbourg, ca 3 miles East of Saverne in Alsace), alongside the D230 departmental landroad. It is documented by local historians and by war and after-war pictures. The second one is Rosenwiller, 2 miles North of Altenheim, according to France crash 39-45 internet site, based on wartime crash reports. There was an airfield near Steinbourg and it might have been the emergency destination the B-17G pilot was looking for. Northern Alsace was already liberated since late November 1944 (the last German pocket in Alsace was 20 km South, gained by February 1945 just before invasion of Germany. So the whole crew was in US hands from the firts hour on. Many pictures have been taken by civilians arrived on the spot before US troops arrived and secured the crash site. I trust you will find all your answers on internet sites, such as “fr.geneawiki.com – 67006 Altenheim” and others. This plane is well-known to the local historians. It has been disarmed and demotorized by US engineers units after a day or two; the remainder has been left for after-war scrap. And some parts of the plane have been used for repairing church clocks around before the end of the war ! Kind regards. JC Fontan
05. May 2024 access_time 11:07
John this is Paul Coates. I greatly appreciate your insight in the the crash landing site of “Smashing Time” it was my father who was the captain. All airmen survived the landing in the field.
I am here in France today, May 4th and will be spending time in and around Saverne over the next several days to try to locate the field where the plane landed and hopefully find a scrap yard that might still have some of the remains of the plane.
I was not able to access any additional information using the website you reference in you entry. I tried several times. Is there a possibility that we could talk on the phone or you could email be directly the site information. I plan to interview farms and town leaders on Monday I hope.
Thanks much. -Paul
17. May 2024 access_time 12:55
Hello Paul, I apologize for my late answer : it took weeks for this site to post my comments. I finally thought they were lost and did not run across them, nor your answer, before today. Here is the site mail address I was talking about : https://fr.geneawiki.com/wiki/67006_-_Altenheim?mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop. You can join me on my mail if you wish so: fontan95@wanadoo.fr. Kind regards. JC Fontan
17. May 2024 access_time 18:38
Paul, this is John again. According to the American Air Force Museum in Britain – http://www.americanairmuseum.com/connect, a most valuable source for US WWII planes – Smashing Time ! is reported having been salvaged on February 28, 1945. Therefore, pictures I thought were “post-V day in Europe” pictures might likely have been taken in February 1945. One of these pictures shows Smashing Time! alongside other plane parts, so a recovery by the US Army Air Force has probably been done before May 8th, end of the war in Europe. Smashing Time! was not so damaged and aluminium was valuable Nonetheless, local historians speak of mechanical parts ‘informally retrieved’ by Alsatians for local use. The internet site of the American Air Museum in Britain will help you much. I am sure you know that Smashing time serial number was 43-38158, in the 381st Bomb Group.
I hope you have left Saverne, as there are unusually heavy rains and floodings there today. Kind regards. John C Fontan
29. May 2024 access_time 3:52
Hi Smashing Time team:
My grandfather – Robert Louis Hansen – was a belly gunner of Smashing Time. Hoping someone has more crew pictures / stories for our family. We lost him in 2012.