Original pilot of B17-G #42-31488 - "Shade Ruff" and B-17G #42-97478 - "Shade Ruff #2." Shot down 11 April 1944 in B-17G #42-39881 "Gloria J." Killed in Action (KIA).

Robert Oscar Stine

First Lieutenant, United States Army Air Forces

614th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy),  401st Bombardment Group (Heavy) 

Service Number O-803891

Missing in Action on April 11, 1944 near Isernhagen, Germany.

Robert Stine was born on October 12, 1923 in Los Angeles, the son of William Lloyd Stine and Lillian Stine (née Quick) of Alhambra, California. His father was a steward in the hotel business and died in 1938, leaving Robert's mother a widow. Robert had an older brother, William, Jr., and sister, Elizabeth Blanche, who were twins. William was an engineer in the oil industry in the Middle East during the war and Elizabeth served in Europe as a lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. Another brother, Jerald Henry, was a lieutenant in the Navy. Known as Bob or Bobby by family, Robert graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles with the Spring Class of 1941 and attended nearby Loyola University.

Stine enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a private on April 15, 1942. He was eighteen years old, stood 6’ 4” tall, and identified acting as an interest. At the age of nineteen, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings on May 28, 1943 at Blytheville Air Field in Arkansas.

Lt. Stine was assigned to the 614th Bombardment Squadron, “The Lucky Devils” as a Boeing B-17G Heavy Bomber pilot in the 401st Heavy Bombardment Group at USAAF Station 128, Deenethorpe, Northampton, England. Lt. Stine flew nineteen bombing missions between January 5, 1944 and April 11, 1944. In a February 20th raid on Leipzig, the Group was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for the destruction of a Nazi fighter plane manufacturing plant. In the month of March,  Stine’s crew recorded eight bombing missions including targets in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Schweinfurt. 

 Lt. Stine’s final mission on April 11th was an enemy Focke-Wulf-190 fighter plane assembly plant at Sorau, southeast of Berlin, deep in the Nazi heartland. According to the 614th Bombardment Squadron History by Vic Maslen, “the Squadron came to the day in which their losses were the greatest of any single day since they had become operational.” Maslen further states, “The primary target was obscured by clouds so the secondary, the large synthetic oil refinery at Politz just north of Strettin, was attacked…Enroute to the target terrific flak was encountered north of Hannover.” One of the lead aircraft was “shot up so badly it was forced to leave the formation and return home alone.”

The formation flew in at 14,000 feet and during the flak barrage north of Hannover, three aircraft were lost. According to the unit history, Lt. Stine’s No. 3 engine was hit by flak “and the aircraft left the formation and seemed to be under control. Lt. Stine ordered the crew to bail out but “suddenly it caught fire and exploded almost immediately.” Two of the crew bailed out and parachuted to the ground. The tail gunner, having been burned on his face and hands, bailed out just prior to the ship going out of control. The navigator reported “I was moving towards the escape hatch when the ship fell into a spiral and blew up...and I was blown clear of the ship on explosion.” Both were captured as prisoners of war. Eight of the crew were killed, including the pilot, Lt. Stine.

According to witness statements and after action reports, the damaged aircraft exploded, breaking apart, and spun out of control, making impact near Isernhagen, north of Hannover. German documents translated after the war reported the destruction of the aircraft at 97%. Three of the crew were identified by the Germans in the documents but they remain unaccounted for. However, the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Agency categorizes the three missing crewmen in Active Pursuit with “sufficient information to justify research, investigation, or recovery operations in the field.” 

 Lt. Stine is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten and on the Wilson High School World War II List of Honor in Los Angeles as well as the Imperial War Museums Wall of Honour at the American War Museum in Duxton. England.