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B-17 Flying Fortress
1Lt Ralph Almon Felton, Jr, Pilot on B17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day' 322th Bomb Squadron 91st Bomb Group . Aircraft sustained damage from repeated fighter attacks and crashed into North Sea just west of the southern tip of Texel Island, Holland.
Assigned 322BS/91BG [LG-N] Bangor 1-Sep-42; Bassingbourn 29-Sep-42; Missing in Action (MIA) 7+m Hamm 4-Mar-43. Aircraft sustained repeated attacks by fighters and crashed into the North Sea just of the southern tip of Texel Island, Holland. The crew was ordered to bale out, but most landed in the sea and were lost. Co-pilot: 1LT Harold E. Kious rescued by ferryboat Dr Wagemaker, and then captured as a POW. Missing Air Crew Report 3721. ROSE O'DAY.
P 1LT Ralph A. Felton, Jr. (KIA); CP 1LT Harold E. Kious (POW)
N 1LT William D. Toole (KIA); B 1LT William H. Hylton (KIA)
E/TTG Elio Traverso (KIA); RO SSGT Robert M. Paul (POW)
BTG SSGT Robert J. Larson (KIA); WG SSGT Walter L. Bliven, Jr. (KIA)
WG SSGT Braden C. Griffin (POW); TG SSGT Andrew H. Burnett (KIA)
Group
The 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated at Harding Field, Louisiana on 15-April-1942 and went to MacDill Field, Florida for the first phase of training from 16-May-1942 to 25-June-1942. The Group was then assigned to 2nd Air Force at Walla...
Squadron
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA) on 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Waist Gunner. The aircraft was repeadely attacked by German fighters and was seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew were arderd to bale out...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA) on 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Tail Gunner. The aircraft was repeadely attacked by German fighters and was seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew were arderd to bale out...
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
On 23 Nov 1942 St Nazaire Submarine Pen mission, he failed to reach the target and turned back. The Stabilizer was accidentlly shot off by the waist gunner.
...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
On 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Radio Operator the aircraft was repeatedly attacked by German fighters and seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew, including SSGT Griffin were ordered to bale out...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Assigned to 322BS, 91BG, 8AF USAAF. Wounded in action 22 November 1942 during mission to bomb U-boat base along coast. Plane named 'Rose O'Day'. RTD
Awards: DFC, PH, EAME (with Battle Star).
Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA) in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Bombardier. The aircraft was attacke repeatedly by German fighters and seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew were ordered to bale out over the southern...
Military | First Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
On 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BD/322BS while serving as Co-Pilot the aircraft sustained damage from repeated attacks by fighters on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany. The aircraft crashed into North Sea...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in action (KIA) on 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Ball Turret Gunner. The aircraft was attacked repeatedly by German fighter and was seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew were ordered to...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Radio Operator | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
On 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Radio Operator the aircraft was repeatedly attacked by German fighters and seen to have the #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew, including TSGT Paul were ordered to bale out...
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA) on 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BG/322BS while serving as Navigator. The aircraft was attacked repeatedly by German fighters and seen to have #2 engine on fire. The surviving crew was ordered to bale out over the...
4 March 1943
After several weather-caused aborted attempts in attacking the marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany, the 8th Air Force is finally successful in attacking this target. A total of 71 B-17s are despatched: 91BG (20); 303BG (18); 305BG (12) amd 306BG (21)....
Military site : airfield
Now home to a museum all about the aifield and its USAAF residents (http://www.towermuseumbassingbourn.co.uk/) , Bassingbourn opened in 1938 as part of the RAF's pre-war expansion programme. The RAF continued to use it until late in 1942 when its long...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Texel, Netherlands | 4 March 1943 |
|
Sustained damage from fighter attacks and crashed on the tip of Texel Island, Holland. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 23 June 2015 21:58:32 | Lee8thbuff | Changes to markings, description, events, place associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Lee Cunningham 23-Jun-2015. Added Markings, FTR event and edited Description converting dates to militray-style signification, added loss details per "Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces", Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE; added rank, crew position, fill propername and dispositions for all crew and formattted crew display per MACR 3721. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:03 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 3721 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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