8th Air Force
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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42-102937
B-17 Flying Fortress
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42-102937 'Ready Freddie' 412th BS, 95th BG, 8AF USAAF.
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Page 19 of the Duxford Diary. Many of the 8th Air Force Groups produced an unofficial unit history in the months after the war ended in Europe but before they were redeployed out of the ETO (‘European Theater of Operations’). The Duxford Diary was the book created by and for the service personnel who were based at Duxford at the end of the war in Europe, as a memento of their time at the airfield. Resembling a college yearbook, unit histories were an unofficial – and often tongue-in-cheek – record of the unit’s time in the UK. They include photo montages showing different aspects of base life. Often the servicemen in the photos are unnamed. The American Air Museum hopes that by adding unit histories to the website as individual pages, the men in the photos will be identified and associated to their person entries.
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A bomber crew of the 95th Bomb Group and their B-17 Flying Fortress ( serial number 42-102937) nicknamed "Ready Freddie"
Delivered Cheyenne 20/4/44; Kearney 16/5/44; Grenier 27/5/44; Assigned to the 412th Bomb Squadron/95th Bomb Group as [QW-E]. Based at Horham 30/5/44; non-operation crash, pilot given permission to land at Duxford airfield, UK 19/7/44, to pick up others. When pilot buzzed tower but clipped a warning beacon, it rolled over on its back and hit an 83rd Fighter Squadron barrack; with Jim Sasser, Co-pilot: Vic Mintz, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Francis Bradburn, Radio Operator: Jim Heil; the rest were 78th Fighter Group personnel; Lt Martin Smith, Lt John Putnam, ncos-Wilbur Edwards, Don French, John Gorman, John Hamilton, Tony Loguidice, Ellsworth Seecz, Frank Wojicki, Ernie Taylor (total 14 men Killed in Service); ncos-Ray Robertson, Oscar Severson (2 Wounded In Service); Salvaged 21/7/44. READY FREDDIE.
Account of the July accident: http://blogs.iwm.org.uk/historic-duxford/
Further information on the crash: http://www.ulongbeach.com/B17_Crash_Sasser.html
Service
Units
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95th Bomb Group
Group
The 95th Bomb Group was the only Eighth Air Force Group to be awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The first, shared by all four Bomb Wing Groups, was for the bombing of an aircraft factory under intense enemy fire at Regensburg on 17 August... -
412th Bomb Squadron
Squadron
People
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Wilbur Edwards
Military | PS
KIS. Plane crashed at Duxford airfield. -
Donald French
Military | PS
KIS. Plane crashed at Duxford airfield. -
John Gorman
Military | Technical Sergeant
Killed in Action (KIA) -
John Hamilton
Military | PS
KIS. Plane crashed at Duxford airfield. -
James Heil
Military | Radio Operator | 95th Bomb Group
KIS -
Anthony Loguidice
Military | Corporal | Transportation Section | 84th Service Group
KIS. Plane crashed at Duxford airfield. ... -
Victor Mintz
Military | Co-Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
KIS -
John Putnam
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 78th Fighter Group
KIS. Plane crashed at Duxford airfield. -
James Sasser
Military | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
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Ellsworth Seesz
Military | Sergeant
Died on joyride aboard B-17 "Ready Freddie" when it crashed at Duxford.
Places
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Duxford
Military site : airfield
RAF Duxford, now a museum and still a working airfield, was operated by the USAAF from 1943 to 1945. The base was briefly the home of the 350th Fighter Group in late 1942, but it was not until April 1943 that it became a fully American station when the...
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
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| Crashed | Location of destroyed barracks | 19 July 1944 |
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non-operation crash, pilot given permission to land at Duxford airfield 19/7/44, to pick up others. When pilot buzzed tower but clipped a warning beacon, it rolled over on its back and hit an 83rd Fighter Squadron barrack. |
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| Salvaged | Duxford, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB22, UK | 21 July 1944 |
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Salvaged 21/7/44. |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 20 December 2015 13:09:21 | Al_Skiff | Changes to production block number, manufacturer, nicknames, markings, description, events and unit associations |
| Sources | ||
AAM DB Entry. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 02 October 2014 11:01:11 | Carl | Changes to nicknames, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Location of crash source - Duxford Diary, 1944 |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 02 October 2014 10:55:24 | Carl | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
List of men killed in the crash - source: Records of 78th Fighter Group USAAF at Duxford, 1943 - 1945 (IWM Documents.10395 - http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030010237 ) |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 01 October 2014 16:28:42 | Carl | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Account of loss of 'Ready Freddie' ( http://blogs.iwm.org.uk/historic-duxford/ ) taken from Records of 78th Fighter Group USAAF at Duxford, 1943 - 1945 (IWM Documents.10395 - http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030010237 ) |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:13 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log |
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