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A formation B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 95th Bomb Group leave contrials behind during a mission. B-17 Flying Fortress (QW-L, serial number 42-30173) in in the foreground. Official caption on image: "35 Flying Forts Leaving Trails Over Brunswick, Germany. US AAF Photo 226-8."
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Nose art of B-17F Flying Fortress 42-30173 'Circe' 335th BS, 95th BG, 8AF USAAF.
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Page 01 of the 95th Bomb Group unit history.
Many of the 8th Air Force Groups produced an unofficial unit history in the months after the war ended in Europe but before they were redeployed out of the ETO (European Theater of Operations). The 95th Bomb Group unit history was published by the Group’s Photographic Section.
Resembling a college yearbook, unit histories were an unofficial – and often tongue-in-cheek – record of the unit’s time based in the UK. They include photo montages showing different aspects of base life. Often the servicemen in the photos are unnamed. The American Air Museum hopes that by adding unit histories to the website as individual pages, the men in the photos will be identified and associated to their person entries. Many included lists of personnel and a mailing address, providing a means for servicemen to keep in contact with each other after the war. These lists are now incredibly useful records of where US airmen in England in 1945 called their home.
Delivered Cheyenne 22/4/43; Smoky Hill 29/4/43; Tinker 12/5/43; Lincoln 21/5/43; Dow Fd 24/5/43; Assigned 410BS/94BG Earls Colne 28/5/43 GORGEOUS HUSSY; transferred 412BS/95BG [QW-O] Framlingham 6/6/43 CIRCE; 335BS [OE-O/L] Horham 12/6/43; 20m, Missing in Action Brunswick 10/2/44 with Jim Pearson, Co-pilot: Ralph Roe, Navigator: Fred Spingler, Bombardier: Arnold Malkin, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Sam Orlich, Ball turret gunner: Albt Durham, Waist gunner: Jim Henry (7 Prisoner of War); Radio Operator: Ralph Coyle, Waist gunner: Mike Croker, Tail gunner: Jackson Hardeman (3 Killed in Action); caught fire in action over Lingen and crashed Schaferhof, near Leeseringen rail station, four miles S of Nienburg, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 2544. ALL AMERICAN.
Service
Units
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Group
Activated 15 June 1942 at MacDill Field, Florida. Initial organization and training at Pendleton Field, Oregon on 29 June 1942. Primary flight training at Davis-Monthan Field in Arizona from 28 Aug. 42 to 31 Oct. 42; then at Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas...
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Group
The 95th Bomb Group was the only Eighth Air Force Group to be awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The first, shared by all four Bomb Wing Groups, was for the bombing of an aircraft factory under intense enemy fire at Regensburg on 17 August...
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Squadron
Part of 94th Bomb Group.
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People
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Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 95th Bomb Group
Assigned to 412BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat mission. Loren Seger crew. ETD
Awards: AM (OLC), WWII Victory, EAME (2 x Battle Stars).
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Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator, Radio Operator Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Killed in Action (KIA).
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near in Steimbke, 10km East of Nienburg, North of Hannover, Germany, on a mission to Brunswick on 10 February 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. Killed in Action (KIA).
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed in Steimbke, 10km East of Nienburg, North of Hannover, Germany on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe'. Killed (FOD).
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Assigned to 412BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. Flew 25 x combat missions. Loren Seger crew. ETD
Awards: DFC, AM (OLC), WWII Victory, EAME (2 x Battle Stars).
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
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Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down by fighters and crashed near Nienburg, GR on a mission to Brunswick on 10 Feb 1944 in B-17F #42-30173 'Circe. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Show more
Missions
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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 ...
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10 February 1944
This mission is a despatch of two separate formations. One formation is a combined force of 169 B-17Fs from 3rd Bomb Division: 94BG; 95BG; 96BG; 100BG; 385BG; 388BG; 390BG; 447BG; and 482BG despatched to bomb the industrial areas of Brunswick, Germany....
Places
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Military site : airfield
Earls Colne was built in 1941 as an airfield for No.3 Group, RAF Bomber Command, although never used as such. Assigned to the US Eighth Air Force (as Station 358) in 1942, its 36 hardstands were increased to 50, bringing the airfield up to Air Ministry...
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Military site : airfield
Built for the Eighth Air Force from 1942 to 43, Framlingham was home first to the 95th Bomb Group, before that unit moved to RAF Alconbury. From 1943 to 1945, it was operated by the 390th Bomb Group. The airfield was handed back to the RAF in 1945, and...
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Military site : airfield
Horham airfield was planned and built for RAF use, but handed over to the Eighth Air Force and used initially by the 47th Bomb Group. When they joined the Twelfth Air Force in January 1943, it became home to the B-26 Marauders of the 323rd Bomb Group....
Events
Event |
Location |
Date |
Crashed |
Schäferhof, 37194 Wahlsburg, Germany |
10 February 1944 – 10 February 1944 |
Missing in Action Brunswick 10/2/44. Caught fire in action and dropped out of formation over Lingen and crashed Schaferhof, near Leeseringen rail station, four miles S of Nienburg, Germany. (7 x POW, 3 x KIA) Missing Air Crew Report MACR2544.
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