B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 5/4/43; Kearney 15/4/43; Wendover 2/5/43; Kearney 22/5/43; Dow Fd 29/5/43; Assigned 561BS/388BG Knettishall 2/6/43 PADDLEFOOT; transferred 418BS/100BG [LD-S] Thorpe Abbotts 9/6/43; Missing in Action Regensburg 17/8/43 with Capt Bob Knox, Co-pilot: John Whitaker, Ball turret gunner: Frank Tychewicz, Waist gunner: Alex Markowski, Waist gunner: Joe LaSpada, Tail gunner: Henry Norton (6 Killed in Action); Bombardier: Ernie Warsaw, Navigator: Edwin Tobin, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Glover Barney, Radio Operator: Walt Paulsen (4 Prisoner of War); Me 110s KO’d one engine then ship lost another before a wing snapped off, crashed Schmalgraf, five miles N of Eupen, Ger; Missing Air Crew Report 677. PICKLEPUSS.
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...
Squadron
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Captain | Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
Military | Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30063 'Picklepuss', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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
Knettishall was built to Class A standard for an American Bomb Group that would be bringing up to forty heavy bombers with them in three or four Squadrons. The 388th Bomb Group, which stayed at Knettishall for their entire service in the ETO, flew B-17...
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...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Germany | 17 August 1943 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 09 April 2020 19:28:29 | jmoore43 | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Added a space in front of the words "Tail gunner" in the A/C “Description” to aid clarity. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 January 2019 22:52:20 | jmoore43 | Changes to nicknames |
| Sources | ||
Added nickname per the description. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:26 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 677 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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