B-17 Flying Fortress
"A crew of the 379th Bomb Group poses beside a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" "Peter Wabbit" at an 8th Air Force base in England, 24 July 1943."
Delivered Denver 23/2/43; Sioux City 20/3/43; Kearney 8/4/43; Dow Fd 15/4/43; Assigned 525BS/379BG [FR-A] Kimbolton; then 524BS [WA-T]; Missing in Action Schweinfurt 17/8/43 with Erwalt Wagner, Co-pilot: Bill Barnard, Navigator: Joe Hilderbrand, Bombardier: Ken Gibbs, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Henry Kushman, Radio Operator: Ben Radensky, Ball turret gunner: Francis Donahue, Waist gunner: Marvin Charlson, Waist gunner: Eldred Andruss, Tail gunner: Dean Yates (10 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, six miles W of Bingen, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 1350. PETER WABBIT.
Group
The 379th Bomb Group (H) (heavy), based at Kimbolton, flew more sorties than any other Bomb Group in the Eighth Air Force and dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other Group. The B-17 Flying Fortress Group was awarded two Distinguished Unit...
Squadron
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 10 x combat missions. Flew Kassel raid 28-Jul-43, lost control cables on B-17 42-29974 by flak damage.
...
Military | First Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 13 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: PH.
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 524BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 14 x combat missions. Co-pilot of B-17 42-29866 'Judy B' on Hamburg mission, when pilot Lt Willis C Carlisle was killed at controls. A/C fought off fighters whilst in uncontrolled plunge from 16,000ft to 3,500ft 25...
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 524BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 14 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Le Bourget in B-17 42-29866 16-Aug-43; Shot down by flak. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 1352
Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 524BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 11 x combat missions. Pilot fatally wounded by fighter attack in B-17 42-29866 'Judy B' on Hamburg mission. Took deflected round (ricocheted off co-pilots seat) in back. Crew fought off fighters and co-pilot...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 16 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: AM, PH.
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 15 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: AM, PH.
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 12 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: Purple Heart
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 18 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid in B-17 42-29830 'Peter Wabbit' 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350...
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 13 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: AM (OLC), PH.
17 August 1943
The mission flown on 17-Aug-43, the 1st anniversary of the 1st mission flown by the 8th Air Force, is probably the most written about mission of the war. This is the famous Schweinfurt/Regensburg mission on which 60 B-17s are lost. It has been dubbed ...
Military site : airfield
Planned for RAF use, Kimbolton airfield was built by W and C French Ltd. in 1941. The airfield was increased in size to accommodate a full US heavy Bomb Group, and the first such unit to us it was the 91st Bomb Group, who arrived in September 1942....
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Manufactured | Long Beach, CA | 1943 |
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Built at Boeing. |
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| Delivered | Denver AAF, CO | 23 February 1943 |
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Delivered Denver AAF 23-Feb-43. |
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| Assigned | Kimbolton, UK | March 1943 |
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Assigned 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Crashed | Dorrebach, Germany | 17 August 1943 |
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Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt 17-Aug-43; ; enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, six miles W of Bingen, Germany. 10 x KIA MACR 1350. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 2021 21:30:42 | 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 |
| 04 August 2019 08:49:12 | Al_Skiff | Changes to production block number, nicknames, markings, events and unit associations |
| Sources | ||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:24 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 1350 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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