Statement of S\/Sgt. Alfred Nowak, lower turret gunner on B-17 No. 671, flying in formation of the first wave, third squadron, second element, number one position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw B-17 No. 428 last at 1426 hours from 23000 feet at 4738N\/1811E where he received a direct flak hit in the number two engine; he then pulled out to the right, left the formation in flames. The A\/C was then going down; an at this time, I observed two (2) chutes; after he had lost a little more altitude, I observed two (2) more chutes, one (1) of which was on fire. The A\/C then exploded and I observed pieces of the A\/C felling earthward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
S\/Sgt. Alfred Nowak<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Statement of S\/Sgt. Maurice Tilby, tail gunner on B-17 No. 671, flying in formation of the second wave, third squadron, second element, number one position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw B-17 No. 428 last at 1426 hours from 23000 feet at 4738N\/1811E where flak hit the number two engine and the A\/C burst into flames. The A\/C then peeled off to the right losing altitude but still under control. The A\/C then came back in behind the formation and blew up. I observed four chutes, one (1) of which appeared to be on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n S\/Sgt. Maurice Tilby<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Statement of Cpl. William Kopke, tail gunner on B-17 No. 378, flying in formation of the first wave, third squadron, third element, number one position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw B-17 No. 428 last at 1425 hours form 22800 feet at 4743N\/1812E where I observed that he had received a direct hit in the number two engine which burst into flames; he peeled off to the right and went into a dive. I then observed one (1) chute. After he leveled off, I observed that the fire was out and the plane went into the clouds and I saw the plane no more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cpl. William Kopke<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Statement of Cpl. Ronald T. Sebold, bombardier (toggelier) on B-17 No. 378, flying in formation of the first wave, third squadron, third element, number one position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw B-17 No. 428 last at 1425 hours from 22800 feet at 4745N\/1812E where he had received a direct hit in the number two engine and burst into flames. I observed the A\/C peel off from the formation losing altitude. Because my range of view was then obstructed, I didn’t see him again and observed no chutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cpl. Ronald T. Sebold<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Lincoln 31\/7\/44; Dow Fd 17\/8\/44; Assigned 20BS\/2BG Amendola 28\/8\/44; Missing in Action Szony oil refinery 14\/3\/45 with Fred Reed, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: Laverne Chambers,Tail gunner: Henry Bullis (3 Returned to Duty); Co-pilot: Bentley Moberg, Navigator: Aubry D. Poindexter, Radio Operator: Ed Wagner, Ball turret gunner: Floyd Lechner (4 Killed in Action); Bombardier: Harry Hollinger, Waist gunner: Jim Hamilton, Waist gunner: Max Wilder (3 Prisoner of War); flak hit #2, aircraft on fire; four chutes seen with one ablaze; aircraft exploded, crashed Tata, Hungary; Missing Air Crew Report 12823.","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[135],"status-date":[489],"status-day":[1885],"status-month":[1872],"status-year":[1844],"production-block":[107],"manufacturer":[131],"delivered":[],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[274],"bomb-squadron":[391],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-4770","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","hentry","airplane-status-lost-by-aa-flak","status-date-14-03-1945","status-day-1885","status-month-march","status-year-1844","production-block-b-17g-50-dl-44-6251-44-6500","manufacturer-douglas","bomb-group-2nd-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-20th-bomb-squadron"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database\/4770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/b17database"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=4770"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=4770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n