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B-17 Flying Fortress
Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for 1st Lieutenant Fletcher H Johnson of the 94th Bomb Group researched by historian Bill Beigel. The file contains copies of primary documents that discuss the return of personal effects, circumstances and causes of death, and memorialisation of the fallen airman.
Delivered Dallas 21/9/43; Harvard 5/10/43; Assigned 94BG Rougham 27/11/43; transferred 710BS/447BG Rattlesden 30/11/43; Missing in Action Wilhelmshafen 3/3/44 with Francis Graham, Co-pilot: Carroll Velt, Navigator: Karol Dubiel, Bombardier: Dave Wohl, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joyce Riddlehoover, Radio Operator: Henry Pruett, Ball turret gunner: Ralph Bender, Waist gunner: Felix Hall, Waist gunner: Lynn Brown,Tail gunner: Ed Hallock (10 Killed in Action); mid air coll with 42-38075 (94BG), crashed Wesermunde, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 2887.
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 3/12/43; Kearney 14/12/43; Assigned 331BS/94BG [QE-Q] Rougham 7/1/44; on Wilhelmshaven mission 3/2/43 (sic) with Don Ahlwardt, a B-17 from another group collided with tailplane killing tg Sgt Lublinski; Missing in Action Berlin 3/3...
Group
The 447th Bomb Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses on strategic bombardment missions out of Rattlesden, Suffolk. With their first mission coming on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1943, their main focus was hitting sites that would weaken enemy forces...
Squadron
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G#42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | First Lieutenant | Waist Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G 42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G#42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G#42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G #42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 1944 in B-17G #42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 94th Bomb Group
1st Lieutenant Fletcher H. Johnson was born October 6, 1915. His next of kin were his father, Elbert Johnson, and his sister, Marian Johnson. He was from Middleport, New York.
...
Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 447th Bomb Group
Robert John Kropp was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 18 Nov 1915. As a child, he worked as a newsboy. He graduated high school and college and worked for a long time as treasurer at McGillis and Gibbs, a company that sold telephone poles. Robert...
Military | Sergeant | Airplane Mechanic | 447th Bomb Group
Believed he painted many of the Aircraft
Military | Staff Sergeant | Radio Operator, Radio Operator Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Involved in a mid-air collision with a B-17 from the 94th BG over the German coast NW of Hamburg after a mission to Berlin was recalled on 3 Mar 3 1944 in B-17G#42-31112 'Paper Doll'. Killed in Action (KIA).
Military site : airfield
The airfield was purpose-built for American bomb groups and as such had a 2,000 yard main runway that lain in concrete with a tarred and wood-chipped surface. The scale of bases such as this meant that very often the technical, administrative and...
Military site : airfield
Built for the Eighth Air Force in 1942, Rattlesden had three concrete runways, 50 hardstandings and two dispersed T2 hangars. Intended to be a twin-engine B-26 bomber base, it was originally a satellite for nearby Rougham, and first occupied from...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Germany | 3 March 1944 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 19 November 2017 23:59:11 | PaperDoll | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 06 May 2015 16:41:24 | narosenboom | Changes to nicknames |
| Sources | ||
Nadine Rosenboom |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:36 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 2887 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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