First Lieutenant Otto W Kuhlmann served as a pilot with the 305th Bomb Group from Chelveston. His first mission was a raid to Heroya, Norway on 24 July 1943.

He flew B-17 42-30282.



Events as written up by John Kuhlmann, whose father was a cousin of Otto Kuhlmann:

"As the plane neared the enemy coast the crew would don their oxygen masks and bulky flak jackets, worn body armor made of overlapping thin steel plates inside canvas aprons. The German radar and listening posts would have been tracking them as the planes neared the coast and the enemy defense controllers would be trying to guess their mission’s objective."



"The gunners in the B-17 would looking all around the sky, up, down, left, right, directly in front, in their fields of fire, looking for German marauders. The flack would begin to burst into little black clouds in and around the formation: in front, behind, left right, above, below. The formation would reach the Initial Point: the selected point over which the bomber force will begin its turn to make the bomb run on the target. Flares would be fired to give visual confirmation. In case, the cloud cover (under cast) is too thick, the leading aircraft from the Pathfinder Force would mark the target using their H2X ground-scanning radar sets. The bombardier would take control of the aircraft in its final approach to the target."



"The noise was incredible: four engines humming away, many 50 caliber machine guns in the air craft banging way at the marauders zipping in and out of the formation at 300 miles an hour, enemy bullets piercing the skin of the B-17, the wounded screaming for help while they still did their dangerous and demanding job. As the leading Combat Wing approached, the bombing run would begin. There were four minute intervals between Wings."



"Flak intensified and squadrons of enemy fighters would sweep again through the formations firing at "Purple Heart Corner": the lowest, rear most and therefore most exposed flight in the formation - where Uncle Otto’s plane was on their second mission."



"The second mission on 26 July 1943 was incomplete."



"Uncle Otto’s plane suffered the loss of at least one engine, either by mechanical failure, flack, or German fighters. They tried to return to their base in England and flew into clouds to hide from German planes and anti-aircraft fire as they flew towards their base at Chelveston. At the end, they did not bail out of the injured plane. As the plane emerged from the clouds, at the coast of the English Channel between the Netherlands and Germany, the plane was too low for anyone to bail out as they came out over a German air field and were then probably pursued by the German fighters. As Uncle Otto went to ditch the B-17 they were still under attack from apparently Me-110."



"The ditching procedures called for the plane to fly parallel to the waves and ditch in the trough between two waves, fly at 90 mile per hour, have the rear landing wheel down, and have the tail section hit the water first, feather the engines, and ring the crash bell ten seconds before the plane struck the water. The German planes attacked the B-17 as it was ditching as evidenced by the wounds that the men received as they headed for their ditching positions in the radio compartment. The marauding German Me-110’s showed no mercy on the aircraft or its crew."



Missing in Action Hanover 26/7/43 while on the way to bomb a synthetic rubber factory, they were at 30,500 southeast of Hannover and turning on to the target at 1240.



After ditching the aircraft, Otto escaped out via the pilot’s cockpit window and into a life raft.

He was taken as a Prisoner of War (POW).



Excerpt from article published in 'The New York Sun' on August 21, 1943:

Held in the Land of His Fathers Lieut. Kuhlmann Is Prisoner in Germany After Being Forced Down in Raid

“Otto went to England last June,” said Mr. Kuhlmann. “The last letter we had from him was dated July 17, his birthday, and in it he said he hoped we’d be together again on his next birthday. The next we heard of him was that he had been lost over Germany on July 28.”



Then, last Monday, messages began pouring into the Kuhlmann apartment at 117 Seaman Avenue. Strangers had heard news of Otto over the short-wave radio. He was well, and a prisoner in a German camp.



“I guess we had a little celebration,” said Mr. Kuhlmann, “we were so glad to hear.”



“A coffee klatch,” said Mrs. Kuhlmann. “Yes, we had to tell our friends that Otto was not dead.”



Otto had two brothers:

- 1st Lt. Edward W. Kuhlmann who served in the 3842nd Quarter Master Truck Company in the US Army in India.

- T/Sgt. Walter Kuhlmann, who was a radio operator in the 10th Air Force, 331st Troup Carrier Squadron.