B-17 Flying Fortress
Officers and crew of B-17G 42-97380
Officers and crew of B-17G 42-97380
Delivered Cheyenne 24/2/44; Kearney 17/3/44; Dow Fd 5/4/44; Assigned 600BS/398BG [N8-R] Nuthampstead 3/5/44; mission to French bridges 8/7/44 with Curtis Lovelace, Co-pilot: Bob Hart, Navigator: Bob Uhl, Bombardier: Alton Andrews, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Bob Rees, Radio Operator: Cliff Weatherwax, Ball turret gunner: Gerard Antaillia, Waist gunner: Phil Fritsch, Tail gunner: Sam Miller (9 Returned to Duty); forced to bail out over Essex on return and crash landed Chelsworth, Suffolk; 8/7/44, Salvaged 2 SAD Abbotts Ripton.
Group
The 398th Bomb Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire on strategic bombing raids over Germany. The Group switched focus in the days before D-Day, when they targeted enemy positions on the Cherbourg peninsula. When the Allies...
Squadron
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 398th Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17 #42102599
POW
Military | Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 398th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) Hit by flak on 16 July 1944 on Munich Germany mission in B-17 #42102599
Military | Staff Sergeant | 398th Bomb Group
Wounded in action on 8 July 1944 at English Beach
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 398th Bomb Group
POW Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17 #42102599
Post war he was a businessman and Air Force reservist and,in 1989, Reunion Chairman for the Association.
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 398th Bomb Group
KIA Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen in B-17 #42102599
...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 398th Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17 #42102599
...
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 398th Bomb Group
POW Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17 #42102599
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 398th Bomb Group
POW Shot down by flak and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17 #42102599. A prisoner of war he recalled how 'spirits were lifted' whenever B-17's flew over the camp.
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 398th Bomb Group
Cifford Weatherwax was shot down by flak over Munich and crashed at Achen Kirchen on 7/16/44 in B-17; the Pilot and Ball Gunner were not heard from and are assumed dead. POW for approximately 1 year at Camp Stalag Luft IV, Tychowo, Poland.
Military site : non-airfield
Strategic Air Depots were given separate station numbers to avoid confusion with the main airfield operation; the 2nd Strategic Air Depot, originally at Little Staughton, moved to Alconbury in March 1944 as that airfield, well served by road and rail,...
Military site : airfield
Built during 1942-43, Nuthampstead was the nearest Eighth Air Force heavy bomber base to London. It had three concrete runways, 50 loop hardstandings and two dispersed T2 hangars. It was first occupied from September 1943 to April 1944 by the 55th...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Crashed | Chelsworth, Ipswich IP7 7HU, UK | 8 July 1944 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 10 April 2018 11:47:17 | Lucy May | Changes to production block number, description, events, unit associations, person associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Brought in information from Dave Osborne's 'Fortlog' that had previously been part of B-17 42-97880's biography by mistake. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 24 September 2017 09:38:44 | john4297380 | Changes to production block number |
| Sources | ||
John Woodgate of Long Melford in Suffolk, England |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 24 September 2017 09:34:40 | john4297380 | Changes to manufacturer, nicknames and markings |
| Sources | ||
John Woodgate of Long Melford in Suffolk, England |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:41:12 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log |
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