We were on a bombing mission 28 May 1944, target being just outside of Dessau, Germany. We were flying a B-17 Bomber. Between 1130 and 1200 hours (English time) we received a direct hit by flak in the Radio Compartment, causing a fire and explosion. The plane broke in half, burning furiously. We had not dropped the bombs. A crew of ten men were aboard.<\/p>\n
T\/Sgt. Wayne W. Wicks was in the Radio Compartment at the time the airplane was hit by the flak. This Compartment immediately became a mass of flames. An explosion followed, which I believe was from the gasoline. We had not dropped the bombs, but I do not believe they exploded at that time. It is my opinion that Wicks was killed instantly, as I do not believe it was possible for him to have gotton out.<\/p>\n
T\/Sgt. Altbert P. Reinhardt<\/em>
\n17 October 1945<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Cheyenne 16\/3\/44; Gr Island 1\/4\/44; Dow Fd 8\/4\/44; Assigned 613BS\/401BG [IN-Q] Deenethorpe 3\/5\/45; Missing in Action Dessau 28\/5\/44 with Bill Protz, Ball turret gunner: Frank Bartak, Waist gunner: Alby Reinhardt, Waist gunner: Glenn Cliff,Tail gunner: Jim Appleby (5 Prisoner of War); Co-pilot: Dick Barnett, Navigator: Alvin Stiegel, Bombardier: Sam Bennett, Flight engineer\/top turret gunner: Jim Morrow, Radio Operator: Wayne Wicks (5 Killed in Action); direct flak hit in radio room, causing fire and explosion, crashed four miles E of Aken, three miles W of Dessau, Ger; MACR 5307.","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[135],"status-date":[238],"status-day":[1869],"status-month":[1871],"status-year":[1892],"production-block":[17],"manufacturer":[130],"delivered":[],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[286],"bomb-squadron":[403],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[574,872],"class_list":["post-7962","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","hentry","airplane-status-lost-by-aa-flak","status-date-28-05-1944","status-day-1869","status-month-may","status-year-1892","production-block-b-17g-55-bo-42-102544-42-102743","manufacturer-boeing","bomb-group-401st-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-613th-bomb-squadron","b17tags-akenelbe","b17tags-dessau"],"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\/7962","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=7962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=7962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}