B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 21/1/44; 1SAG Langley 3/3/44; Grenier 6/4/44; Assigned as SH ship 96BG Snetterton 7/4/44; transferred 728BS/452BG Deopham Green 8/4/44; Missing in Action Hamburg 31/12/44 with John Kostuch (Killed in Action); Co-pilot: Bob McCutcheon, Navigator: Bill Silvey, Bombardier: Jim Allen, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: George Zimmer, Radio Operator: Bill Willard, Ball turret gunner: Chas Buatte, Waist gunner: Leon Roberts, Tail gunner: Nick Moramarco (8 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft set wing and #2 on fire, crashed Hellwege, six miles W of Rotenburg, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 11234.
Group
The 452nd Bomb Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from Deopham Green, Norfolk, from January 1944. The air crews hit strategic sites in Germany but also supported the movement of ground forces across Europe after D-Day. On 6 June 1944 itself, the Group...
Squadron
Military | Staff Sergeant | Bombardier | 452nd Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) crashed near Rotenburg on 31 Dec 44 in B-17 #4297666
Military | Captain | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
Flew 30 missions with the 388th BG between July 44 and Jan 45, the last 14 as lead pilot. Known to have flown on the following aircraft.
...
Military | Staff Sergeant (Technician Third Grade) | Waist Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
He flew with Pilot Lt. Ray Cambell on 'Ray's Hell' The plane crashed in England but the crew escaped.
DFC, purple heart, etc
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 452nd Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) crashed near Rotenburg on 31 Dec 44 in B-17 #4297666
Military | Captain | Pilot | 388th Bomb Group
Military | Brigadier General | Group Commanding Officer | 388th Bomb Group
Retired from the USAF with the rank of Brigadier General
Military | Staff Sergeant (Technician Third Grade) | Waist Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | Tail Gunner | 388th Bomb Group
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | Flight Engineer | 388th Bomb Group
Military | Flight Officer | Pilot | 452nd Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) 31 December 1944 in A/C #42-97666.
AM w/ Oak Leaf Cluster/ PH
Military site : airfield
Deopham Green was another air base constructed after America's entry into the war to Class A standards for use by the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. When the 452nd Bomb Group arrived in January 1943 they found a main runway of 2,000 yards, two...
Military site : airfield
Intended to be an RAF bomber base, construction of Snetterton Heath started in Autumn 1942 but continued until mid-1943, because it was extended after allocation as an Eighth Air Force bomber base. It had eventually three concrete runways, 50...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Germany | 31 December 1944 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 19 August 2020 18:21:17 | jmoore43 | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Added a space before the words "Tail gunner" in the A/C “Description” to aid clarity. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:41:15 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 11234 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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