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B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 2/5/44; Hunter 2/5/44; Dow Fd 24/5/44; Assigned 349BS/100BG [XR- ] Thorpe Abbotts 27/5/44; Missing in Action Abbeville 5/6/44 with Chas Peterson, Co-pilot: Jim Keefe, Navigator: Elmer Vishion, Bombardier: Jim Jones, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Carl Phillips, Radio Operator: Paul Zima, Ball turret gunner: Jim Heller, Waist gunner: Dick Sawaya, Tail gunner: Corwin Alspach (9 Killed in Action); Waist gunner: Andy Addison (Prisoner of War); mid air coll with 42-107095 (100BG); crashed two miles E of Hardelot, four miles S of Boulogne, Fr. Missing Air Crew Report 5383.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Tulsa 18/2/44; Gr Island 2/3/44; Grenier 3/4/44; Assigned 349BS/100BG [XR-F] Thorpe Abbotts 7/4/44; Missing in Action French A/Fds 5/6/44 with Mark Wilson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: John McAuliffe, Radio Operator: Gene Sweeney, Ball...
Group
"The Bloody Hundredth", so-called because of a reputation for losing a high number aircraft and crews, flew B-17s from Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk. Their losses were not the highest of any Eighth Air Force Group but on several occasions the Group lost many...
Squadron
Military | Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 5383.
Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.
Military | Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Petersen crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 538.
Awards: PH.
Military | Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 538.
Awards: PH.
Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 5383.
Awards: PH.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 5383.
Awards: PH.
Military | Flight Officer | Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 538.
Awards: PH.
Military | Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Petersen crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 538.
Awards: PH.
Military | Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 5383.
Awards: PH.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 5383.
Awards: PH.
Military | Sergeant | Radio Operator | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Chas Peterson crew. Failed to Return Abbeville mission in B-17 #43-37591; collided with another aircraft 5-Jun-44. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 5383.
Awards: AM, PH
5 June 1944
Military site : airfield
Home of the 'Bloody Hundredth’, a Bomb Group with a reputation for high casualty rates, Thorpe Abbotts was under USAAF control from June 1943 to the end of the war. Some of the airfield survives today, and the control tower houses the 100th Bomb Group...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Manufactured | Long Beach, CA | 1944 |
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Built at Boeing. |
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| Assigned | Thorpe Abbots, UK | 1944 |
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Assigned to 349BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Delivered | Cheyenne AAF, WY | 2 May 1944 |
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Delivered Cheyenne AAF 2-May-44. |
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| Crashed | East of Hardelot, France | 5 June 1944 – 5 June 1944 |
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Failed to Return (FTR) Abbeville with Chas Petersen crew; mid air collision with 42-107095 crashed 2 mles east of Hardelot, Fr. 1 x POW, 9 x KIA MACR 5383 |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 18 May 2022 09:13:34 | Al_Skiff | Changes to unit associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/image/28650458 |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 18 April 2021 17:44:08 | 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 |
| 07 June 2020 11:38:03 | Al_Skiff | Changes to production block number, events, aircraft associations, unit associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/image/28650458 |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:41:21 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 5383 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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