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42-102952

B-17 Flying Fortress

Delivered Cheyenne 22/4/44; Kearney 7/5/44; Grenier 24/5/44; Assigned 511BS/351BG [DS-H] Polebrook 31/5/44; Missing in Action 29m Merseburg 28/7/44 with Pilot Bill Long POW; Co-Pilot Ben Upshaw POW; Flight engineer/top turret gunner Jack Hurley POW; Ball turret gunner Frank Gozy POW; Waist gunner Carmelo Frontino POW; Tail gunner Jim Howarth POW; Navigator Pete Mandros POW* (wounded, bailed out, captured, killed by SA during transport to Friedberg/Hessen the same day); Bombardier Chas Gratiot KIA (during air attack); Radio Operator Don Skoglund POW (wounded, died in german hospital in Bad Nauheim 27th of August 1944); enemy aircraft set an engine afire, with Germans shooting at descending chutes, crashed in a field close to the village Bauernheim, NE of Friedberg/Hessen, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 7817. (*Give as POW in book by Pete Harris/Ken Harbour)

Service

Units

  • 351st Bomb Group

    351st Bomb Group

    Group
    The 351st Bomb Group flew strategic bombing missions from their base at Polebrook, Northamptonshire from April 1943 to June 1945. The Group's most famous member was Hollywood actor Clark Gable, who flew four/ five missions with them as an observer...

  • 511th Bomb Squadron

    511th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

People

  • Carmelo Frontino

    Military | Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 351st Bomb Group
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort in B-17 #42102952 POW

  • Frank Gozy

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 351st Bomb Group
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort on 7/28/44 in B-17 #42102952 POW

  • Charles Gratiot

    Military | Flight Officer | Bombardier | 351st Bomb Group
    Killed in Action (KIA) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort in B-17 #42102952

  • James Howarth

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 351st Bomb Group
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort on 7/28/44 in B-17 #42102952

  • Jack Hurley

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 351st Bomb Group
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort on 7/28/44 in B-17 #42102952 POW

  • William Long

    Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 351st Bomb Group
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort on 7/28/44 in B-17 #42102952 POW

  • Peter Mandros

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 351st Bomb Group
    Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfurt/Main in B-17 42-102952. Bailed out the burning ship. Captured by German civilians. POW and murdered on transport to Friedberg/Hessen by an SA man the same day.

  • Donald Skoglund

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 351st Bomb Group
    Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfurt/Main in B-17 #42102952. Wounded during combat, bailed out the burning plane and was captured near the crashplace in the village Bauernheim. Transported as POW to a hospital in Bad Nauheim. Died there on...

  • Benjamin Upshaw

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 351st Bomb Group
    Shot down by fighters and crashed near Frankfort on 7/28/44 in B-17 #42-102952, Prisoner of War (POW). POW

Places

  • Polebrook

    Military site : airfield
    Polebrook was laid down for RAF Bomber Command use in 1940-1941. Built by George Wimpey and Co. Ltd, it had short runways which were lengthened for USAAF heavy bomber use. The RAF used the base for operational trials - including of B-17 Flying...

Events

Event Location Date
Failed to Return (FTR) Germany 28 July 1944
Nicknames
Not yet known
Production block number
B-17G-60-BO Fortress
Manufacturer
Boeing
Markings and paint scheme/livery
Not yet known

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
11 September 2019 12:30:56 Mission_501 Changes to description
Sources

added known facts.
a) Peter Mandros jr. killed by an SA man, when transported after capturing from Bauernheim to Friedberg/Hessen, shortly before reaching village Fauerbach. The SA man was living in Fauerbach. The SA men was arrested by the US Army after the war and sentenced to death. According an historian, his "excuse" was, that Peter Mandros jumped out and wanted to escape. The crew reports say, that Peter was wounded and also seemed to have a hard landing because some trouble with his chute. So I ask myself, if Peter really wanted to escape in his condition. In Friedberg history archieve is only little information available. But I guess the court documentation of the US-Army knows the truth... Fauerbach, which is closely located to the Friedberg marshalling yard, had a lot of civil losses during that time due to inprecise bombing. So may be hate was a motivation. War...
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:40:13 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 7817 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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