{"id":17122,"date":"2020-01-26T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T07:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&p=17122"},"modified":"2025-03-18T21:54:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T20:54:52","slug":"44-6808","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/44-6808\/","title":{"rendered":"44-6808 \/ Kraut Stomper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

44-6808 was repaired and flew missions again on 03 April 1945. This B-17 survived the war and was scrapped in the States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crew of Lt. Richard J. Greene after landing on March 18, 1945. In the background is B-17G 44-6808. The damage is clearly visible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

News article<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Send by Darren Jelley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Crew identification – research and information from Darren Jelley.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Personal records of Harvard C. Kniffen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.\u2019s and 8 M-17\u2019s. 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\u2019t use our flaps to land, and we weren\u2019t sure that we didn\u2019t have a flat tire, so we were last to land in case we made a bad landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t have any flaps to slow us down, so we didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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