Robert Leroy Carlberg | American Air Museum in Britain

Robert L. Carlberg in a photograph with the Milton Stenstrom crew on 21 October 1942. Back row, from left to right : Pilot Milton Stenstrom, Co-Pilot Robert Carlberg, Bombardier Ewart Sconiers, Navigator Harold Spire (Photo courtesy of Rick Flack)

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The B-17F JOHNNY REB JR. or II (41-24443) crew on the October 21, 1942 97th BG Mission #16. Back row, from left to right : 1st Lt. Milton Marion “Milt” Stenstrom (Pilot), 1st Lt. Robert L. "Rob" Carlberg (Copilot), 1st Lt. Ewart Theodore "Sconnie" Sconiers (Bombardier), 1st Lt. Harold "Harry" "Shorty" Spire (Navigator). Bottom Row, from left to right: Sgt. James C. "Jim" Simmons (Tail Gunner), Sgt. Thomas C. "Tom" Calhoun (Waist Gunner), Staff Sgt. William A. "Bill" Adams (Radio Operator), Sgt. William E. "Bill" Schimke (Ball Turret Gunner), Sgt. John M. Hughes (Waist Gunner), Staff Sgt. Roy T. Nalley (Engineer / Top Turret Gunner). (Photo courtesy of Fredrick Richard "Rick" Flack)

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Robert Carlberg was assigned to the 97th Bomb Group/414th Bomb Squadron, and was sent to England. Shot down on 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Co-Pilot on a mission to bomb U-Boat pens at Lorient/Keroman, France. The Fortress was hit by a Flak burst, lost altitude and was attacked by one or more enemy fighters. After a French fishing boat picked them up, they were taken to port and arrested by the Germans. Prisoner of War (POW).

Service

People

William Adams

Military | Staff Sergeant | Radio Operator | 97th Bomb Group
Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Radio Operator, Prisoner of War (POW).
Thomas Calhoun

Military | Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner | 97th Bomb Group
Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Left Waist Gunner, Prisoner of War (POW).
John Hughes

Military | Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner | 97th Bomb Group
Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Right Waist Gunner, Prisoner of War (POW).
Roy Nalley

Military | Staff Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 97th Bomb Group
Note : the 1930 US Census has his family's name wrongly spelled as Nally... This was corrected in the 1940 one > Nalley... A Top Turret Gunner, Roy Nalley was shot down on 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443, Prisoner of War (POW).
William Schimke

Military | Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 97th Bomb Group
Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Ball Turret Gunner, Prisoner of War (POW).
Ewart Sconiers

Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier | 97th Bomb Group
Lt Ewart Sconiers was Bombardier on B-17 #41-9089 'Johnny Reb', one of the 12 B-17s participating in the first heavy bomber raid of the 8th Air Force on 17 August 1942. The target were the shipyards of Rouen/Sotteville, France. ...
James Simmons

Military | Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 97th Bomb Group
Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 #41-24443 while serving as Tail Gunner, Prisoner of War (POW). After being held at Stalag Luft 1 (Barth, Germany), he was transferred to Stalag XIII (Hammelburg, Germany), where he was head of the escape committee.
Harold Spire

Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 97th Bomb Group
Note : In both the 1930 and 1940 Censuses, Harold and his parents are listed as Spires. All later documents, including his Enlistment records, his Escape & Evasion Report have him as Harold Spire... ...
Milton Stenstrom

Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 97th Bomb Group
Milton Stenstrom enlisted in April 1941 and followed pilot training. Assigned to the 97th Bomb Group/414th Bomb Squadron, he was sent to England. ...

Units served with

97th Bomb Group

Group
The 97th Bomb Group flew the Eighth Air Force's first heavy bomber mission from the UK when they bombed a marshalling yard at Rouen on 17 August 1942. Just a month later though the Group were reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force and left England for the...
414th Bomb Squadron

Squadron

Aircraft

41-24443 Johnny Reb II, Johnny Reb Jr

B-17 Flying Fortress
Assigned 326BS/92BG Bangor 1-August-1942; transferred to 414BS/97BG Polebrook 24-August-1942; Missing in Action 21-October-1942 on mission to bomb the U-Boat pens at Lorient/Keroman, France. The Navigator, 1Lt Harold Spire provided the following...

Missions

VIII Bomber Command 15

21 October 1942
German U-Boat pens are Lorient, France are the Primary (P) targets for this mission along with the German airfield at Cherbourg, France. 93BG despatches 24-B-24s to Lorient, but cloud cover prevents them from bombing. The main attack force to Lorient...

Associated Place

Polebrook

Military site : airfield
Polebrook was laid down for RAF Bomber Command use in 1940-1941. Built by George Wimpey and Co. Ltd, it had short runways which were lengthened for USAAF heavy bomber use. The RAF used the base for operational trials - including of B-17 Flying...

Events

Event	Location	Date
Born	Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska, United States	30 December 1919
the son of Roy B. Carlberg and Dora Marguerite Henrietta (Hinrich) Carlberg
Lived in	Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska, United States	1940
	Brest, France	21 October 1942
ditched with B-17 # 41-24443 in the Atlantic Ocean about 10 miles off the coast of Brest, France
captured	Quimper, France	21 October 1942
after his rescue, together with 8 other crew members, by a French fishing boat and arrested after landing by the Germans
Prisoner of War (POW)	Sagan, Poland	21 October 1942 – May 1945
Interned at Stalag Luft 3. Liberated by US troops in Moosburg 29 April 1945. NARA POW Records : "Officially Returned to Military Control (RMC) 19 May 1945."
Buried	Crown Hill Cemetery, Seattle, United States	1989
Died	Seattle, King County, Washington, United States	13 March 1989

Date	Contributor	Update
23 April 2020 00:46:07	jmoore43	Changes to biography
Sources
Added a "#" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Date	Contributor	Update
22 November 2017 14:40:51	ED-BB	Changes to middlename, biography, events and person associations
Sources
NARA WWII POW Records US Census 1930 Social Security Death Index
Date	Contributor	Update
22 November 2014 19:20:44	Lee8thbuff	Changes to events
Sources
Lee Cunningham 22-Nov-2014. Added POW event. National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database.
Date	Contributor	Update
28 October 2014 20:56:05	Lee8thbuff	Changes to service number, biography, events, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations
Sources
Lee Cunningham 28-Oct-2014. "Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces" Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE; National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database.
Date	Contributor	Update
27 September 2014 18:23:42	AAM	AAM ingest
Sources
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol 1, pp 38-39 by Bishop and Hey