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Three B-17 Flying Fortresses (LL-B serial number 41-24459), (LL-F serial number 25763) and (LL-C serial number 41-24484), all of the 401st Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, line up for take off. Handwritten caption on reverse: '22/3/43. 124459 LL-B, 25763 LL-F, 124484 LL-C. 91BG.' Passed for publication 24 Mar 1943. On reverse: Associated Press Ltd and U.S. Army Press Censor [Stamps]. Print No: 254769.
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P-47 Thunderbolts fly over a B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 41-24459) of the 91st Bomb Group. Printed caption on reverse: '22939. P-47 "Thunderbolt" breaking formation over a Flying Fortress. S&G.' Passed for publication 11 Mar 1943. On reverse: Sport & General and US Army Press Censor [Stamps]. Print No: 252438.
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A formation of P-47 Thunderbolts fly past a B-17 Flying Fortress (LL-B, serial number 41-24459) of the 91st Bomb Group. Passed for publication 11 Mar 1943. Printed caption on reverse: '18. A formation of Thunderbolt fighter planes flying over the tail of a Fortress bomber, at a U.S. Army Air Force station "somewhere in England". And March 11th 1943 PN.' On reverse: Planet News Ltd and US Army General Section Press & Censorship Bureau [Stamps]. Print No: 252518.
Assigned 401BS/91BG [LL-B] Bangor 2/9/42; Bassingbourn 1/10/42; Missing in Action Bremen 17/4/43 with Pilot: John W. Wilson, Waist gunner: Walt Bohaczyk, Ball turret gunner: Gil Andrews, Waist gunner: Clifford Cadle, Tail gunner: Robert Ade; (5 Killed in Action); Co-pilot: Art Bushnell, Navigator: Bob Barton, Bombardier: Harry Romm, Radio Operator: Howard A. Earney, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Norman Thompson (5 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft & intense flak barrage and dropped back to crashed Hassel, near Bassum, 12 miles S. of Bremen, Germany; Missing Air Crew Report 15520. HELLSAPOPPIN.
17 April 1943, Target: Bremen, Aircraft Plant
Three or four minutes after the target there was a very hard jolt under the left side of “Hellsapoppin”, close in to the fuselage. An anti-aircraft shell had exploded just under the plane. Flak ripped into the left front side of the aircraft, flaking off chunks of metal from the fuselage and throwing them through the interior of the plane. At the same time, three feet of the right wing tip was blown off by a flak burst. A one and one-half foot hole appeared in the nose compartment and the nose window Plexiglas blew out. There was fire in the left wing and nose compartment. The radio room became engulfed in fire from broken oxygen lines.
The pilot, Lt Wilson, was wounded in the head and the copilot, 1Lt Arthur A. Bushnell, in the right eye, both legs, left arm, and right hand by flying aluminum. In the nose, the bombardier, 1Lt Harold Romm, was hit in the left leg by flak. Earlier, before the target, Lt Romm had been hit in the same leg by a machine gun bullet during an attack by a FW 190.
In the top turret, the flight engineer, T/Sgt Norman L. Thompson, felt the jolt and when he looked out, saw the left wing on fire. He had just seen a fighter off the left wing going after a plane below and was afraid it would come back up at “Hellsapoppin.” The enemy fighter was about 15 feet too low for Sgt Thompson to deflect his top turret guns to get off a burst. Since the intercom was shot out, Sgt Thompson was not certain what was happening to the plane. He stepped down from the turret and went into the cockpit. There he saw both pilots with their oxygen masks off and blood pouring out from under their helmets. He assumed both were dead. Sgt Thompson had not heard any firing from the gunners since “Hellsapoppin” had left the target. He believed they either had been killed by the flak and fighters or were too seriously injured to move. From the intensity of the fire, he knew “Hellsapoppin” could explode any second. Sgt Thompson took a final glance at the instruments to ensure the plane was still in level flight. He went back to the bomb bay and opened the doors, which still operated. After checking below and seeing there was no plane under him, Sgt Thompson dropped out.
Almost immediately after Sgt Thompson bailed out, the plane broke in two at the radio room. Four others some how or other managed to escape the aircraft, Lts Bushnell, Barton, and Romm and the radio operator, T/Sgt Howard A. Earney. All were wounded. These four survived to become POWs. The rest of the crew remained trapped in the falling aircraft.
“Hellsapoppin” crashed 20 miles south of Bremen. (The first of Many: First Crews of the 8th Air Force by Lowell L. Getz)
Service
Units
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Group
The 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated at Harding Field, Louisiana on 15-April-1942 and went to MacDill Field, Florida for the first phase of training from 16-May-1942 to 25-June-1942. The Group was then assigned to 2nd Air Force at Walla...
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People
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA). Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 41-24459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard.
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA). Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 41-24459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard.
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Military | Lieutenant | Navigator | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 #4124459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard. Prisoner of War (POW) put in Stalag Luft 3.
POW
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Killed in Action (KIA). Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 41-24459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard.
Purple Heart
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Military | Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 #4124459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard. Prisoner of War (POW) at Stalag Luft 3
POW
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
KIA 17 April 1943 in B-17 #41-24459 'Hellsapoppin'. According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard.
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Military | Sergeant | 303rd Bomb Group
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Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 #4124459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard. Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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Military | 306th Bomb Group The Reich Wreckers
Shot down on 17 April 1943 on 'Hellsapoppin'. Prisoner of War (POW) at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf Near Krems Austria 48-15.
Wounded on 29 January 1944
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Military | Lieutenant | Bombardier | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Shot down 17 April 1943 in B-17 #4124459 'Hellsapoppin. ' According to Havelaar, the target was the Focke Wulf aircraft factory. Fighters and flak were heavy and the 401st BS was hit especially hard. Prisoner of War (POW) in Stalag Luft 3.
POW
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Places
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Military site : airfield
Now home to a museum all about the aifield and its USAAF residents (http://www.towermuseumbassingbourn.co.uk/) , Bassingbourn opened in 1938 as part of the RAF's pre-war expansion programme. The RAF continued to use it until late in 1942 when its long...
Events
Event |
Location |
Date |
Failed to Return (FTR) |
Germany |
17 April 1943 |