{"id":4978,"date":"2017-11-18T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T23:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/?post_type=b17database&p=4978"},"modified":"2026-04-05T08:56:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:56:42","slug":"42-31929-tennessee-hillbilly","status":"publish","type":"b17database","link":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/b17\/42-31929-tennessee-hillbilly\/","title":{"rendered":"42-31929 \/ Tennessee Hillbilly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was the tail gunner on aircraft 42-39875 which was the lead ship in the lead squadron. Aircraft 42-31929, the missing aircraft, was flying in #3 position in the squadron as indicated in the diagram of the formation below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aircraft 42-31929 was hit by anti-aircraft gunfire just a few seconds before bombs away. It then peeled off to the right passing under #4 position and went into a shallow glide. About thirty (30) seconds later four parachutes came out and opened as soon as they had cleared the slip stream. About (30) thirty seconds after that two more came out. One dropped from about 19,000 feet to about 15,000 feet before it opened, and the other dropped to about 17,000 feet. The ball turret gunner on my Aircraft then reported that one more parachute came out. The man in this parachute apparently made a long delayed jump because the parachute did not open for some time after it left the Aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aircraft then nosed down in a half spin with the left wing on fire. Then the left wing tip fell off. The Aircraft made a three-quarters turn after which it exploded in the air. Just at this time another parachute came out and opened. Although parts of the Aircraft were all around it, the parachute did not seem to be hit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Altogether eight parachutes were seen to come out of Aircraft 42-31929 before it blew up. The incident took place in the vicinity of Wizernes, France which is a few miles southwest of St. Omer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd Lt. Dallas E. Kendall<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: MACR 3475<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Aircraft damage: 2 engines (inboards) knocked out by flak shrapnel, No.4 Engine fired by flak burst during bombing run – dropped bombs on time and target before leaving formation. All men left ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delayed jump 21,000 ft. ran into woods pursued by 12-13 Germans evaded them by running out of woods hiding in a hedge for 6 hours. People took me in for the night. Next day went to St. Omer train station and bought ticket for Lille. My captured crew showed up at station. To avoid recognition missed train on purpose. Returned to same house – Patriot underground took charge of me that night (27-3-44) Advised by underground impossible to make spanish border. Later joined FFI, sabotage battled with German troops, etc. upon Liberation reported to British authorities and hence to proper authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\/Sgt. Conrad J. Kersch<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Escape and Evasion Report 2225<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Cheyenne 7\/1\/44; Gr Island 15\/1\/44; Presque Is 21\/2\/44; Assigned 427BS\/303BG [GN-R] Molesworth 1\/3\/44; Missing in Action Pas de Calais 26\/3\/44 with Chas Mars, Co-pilot: Bill Dallas, Navigator: George Arvanites, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: Ray Foster, Radio Operator: Ed McGinnis, Ball turret gunner: Chas Dunlap, Waist gunner: Alby Senechal, Waist gunner: Dolbert Nivens,Tail gunner: Vince Agione (9 Prisoner of War); Bombardier: Conrad Kersch (EVD-ret UK after D-Day); flak, crashed Cote de l\u2019Haeneberg, Lederzeele, three miles N of Omer, Fr; Missing Air Crew Report 3475. TENNESSEE HILLBILLY.","protected":false},"featured_media":20995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[135],"status-date":[505],"status-day":[1888],"status-month":[1872],"status-year":[1892],"production-block":[49],"manufacturer":[130],"delivered":[1813],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[277],"bomb-squadron":[371],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-4978","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","airplane-status-lost-by-aa-flak","status-date-26-03-1944","status-day-1888","status-month-march","status-year-1892","production-block-b-17g-30-bo-42-31732-42-31931","manufacturer-boeing","delivered-cheyenne","bomb-group-303rd-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-427th-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\/4978","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=4978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=4978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}