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42-107007

B-17 Flying Fortress

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Delivered Cheyenne 24/1/44; Kearney 15/2/44; Presque Is 2/3/44; Assigned 351BS/100BG [EP-B] Thorpe Abbotts 6/3/44. Missing in Action Merseburg 29 July 1944 with Pilot William L. Greiner Jr, Co-pilot James D. Coccia, Navigator Robert D. Fulkerson, Bombardier Robert E. Marsho, Flight Engineer/Top Turret gunner John R. Vuchetich, Radio Operator Harry E. Whitford, Ball Turret gunner Frank Madrid, Tail gunner Harry G. Feldkamp (8 Prisoners of War - POW). Waist gunner Bernie Baumgarten, severely wounded by fighter shells couldn't be helped out ot the sinking Fortress and he went down into the sea with.(Killed in Action and still listed as Missing In Action). Enemy aircraft KO’d one engine and the Fortress dropped back before another attack by an Me 262 jet. Ditched North Sea, North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 7815.

Service

Units

  • 100th Bomb Group

    100th Bomb Group

    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...

  • 351st Bomb Squadron

    351st Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

People

  • Bernard Baumgarten

    Military | Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Bernard Baumgarten had been severely wounded in the enemy fighters attack of B-17 #42-107007 on the Munich mission 29 July 1944. The Fortress ditched off Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands and, despite the efforts of fellow crew members...

  • James Coccia

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    James Coccia was Co-Pilot of B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Stanley Diamond

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    Attended Duke University and University of Wichita ...

  • Harry Feldkamp

    Military | Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Harry Feldkamp was Tail gunner on board B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Robert Fulkerson

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
    Robert Fulkerson was Navigator on board B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW). Interned mostly at Stalag Luft 3, Sagan/Zagan, Poland.

  • William Greiner

    Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    William Greiner was Pilot of B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Frank Madrid

    Military | Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Frank Madrid was Ball Turret gunner on board B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Robert Marsho

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 100th Bomb Group
    Bombardier on board B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

  • Homer Parish

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    As told on page 291 of Roger Freeman's "The Mighty Eighth War Diary", Homer Parish was underneath B-17 #42-107007 on return from the 11 July 1944 mission to Munich, cleaning his guns. Suddenly, one of the guns began to fire, sweeping the area as the...

  • John Vuchetich

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    John Vuchetich was Top Turret gunner on board B-17#42-107007. Shot down by fighters on 29 July 1944. Ditched North of Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands. Prisoner of War (POW).

Show more

Missions

  • 466

    11 July 1944
    More than 1000 planes bombed Munich. Flak cut our control cables to elevators and rudder. Flew back by wing trim tabs. Shippy spliced cables before landing. Nine hour ride. Flak hit Sgt Rollinger's oxygen mask and injured his nose and eyes.

  • 503

    29 July 1944

Places

  • Thorpe Abbotts

    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...

  • Presque Isle Army Airfield

    Military site : airfield

Events

Event Location Date
Failed to Return (FTR) Over Water (OW) Ameland Island, West Friesland, The Netherlands 29 July 1944

ditched in the North Sea
Nicknames
She-Hasta
Production block number
B-17G-35-DL Fortress
Manufacturer
Douglas
Markings and paint scheme/livery

Woman with blown dress and "She-Hasta" spelled out in crooked letters

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
03 July 2020 14:19:26 ED-BB Changes to markings, description, events and mission associations
Sources

MACR 7815
Date Contributor Update
03 July 2020 10:29:11 ED-BB Changes to markings, description, events and mission associations
Sources

MACR 7815
Date Contributor Update
03 July 2020 09:50:38 ED-BB Changes to markings, description, events and mission associations
Sources

MACR 7815
Date Contributor Update
05 March 2018 20:24:53 Dustin Divinia Changes to media associations
Sources

Dustin Divinia
Date Contributor Update
05 March 2018 20:20:49 Dustin Divinia Changes to markings
Sources

Dustin Divinia
Date Contributor Update
05 March 2018 20:20:21 Dustin Divinia Changes to nicknames and markings
Sources

Dustin Divinia
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:40:15 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 7815 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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