B-17 Flying Fortress B-17 44-6808 / Kraut Stomper

History of
B-17 44-6808 / Kraut Stomper

Delivered Hunter 18/11/44; Grenier 24/11/44; Assigned 863BS/493BG Debach 29/11/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 6/7/45; Sth Plains 8/7/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 28/11/45.

Last updated: 16. October 2021

B-17 44-6808 / Kraut Stomper Details

Was damaged on March 18, 1945 while flying to Berlin, Germany. The right wing and tail were heavily damaged by flak. One flak shell hit the left elevator without exploding.

44-6808 was repaired and flew missions again on 03 April 1945. This B-17 survived the war and was scrapped in the States.

News article

Crew identification – research and information from Darren Jelley.

Personal records of Harvard C. Kniffen

They got us up again for a mission this morning at 0315. We briefed at 0430 for an all out mission on Berlin. Our bomb load was 18 100# G.P.’s and 8 M-17’s. we took off at 0800. It was 10/10 coverage all the way over until we reached the IP. Then it cleared off. we could see the flak coming up from the ground until it burst up at us. We had our bomb bay doors open and was one minute away from our primary target when we received a direct hit in our right wing and a shell through our left horizontal stabilizer. The entire interphone was out and no one knew what was wrong and was any one hurt. Right quick all the fellows from the radio room on back came up to the nose. All the oxygen was shot out from radio room on back. We are all thanking the Lord tonight that we are here. The direct hit in our wing put a hole in it big enough for two men to stand in. it made the fuselage look like a sieve. The hole in the stabilizer was big enough to put our head in it and look around. We sweated the whole ride back. Really no need for it as Lt Greene (Richard J Greene) did a swell job in bringing us back. He is quite capable of it. We couldn’t use our flaps to land, and we weren’t sure that we didn’t have a flat tire, so we were last to land in case we made a bad landing.

The other planes would be down and not have to wait for the runway to be cleared. I stood behind the co-Pilot for the landing. We landed rather fast because we didn’t have any flaps to slow us down, so we didn’t stop at the end of the runway. We just rode her out into the middle of a field. A crowd gathered fast and pictures were taken. Then the Colonel came out to see what happened.

B-17 44-6808 / Kraut Stomper Crew