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B-17 Flying Fortress
42-31144
Delivered Dallas 25/9/43; Harvard 6/10/43; Assigned 708BS/447BG Rattlesden 21/11/43; Missing in Action Berlin 29/4/44 with Hayden Hughes, Co-pilot: Howard Barr, Navigator: Bill Allen, Bombardier: Dick Johnson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Walt Zesut, Radio Operator: Ray Small, Ball turret gunner: Jim Boyd, Waist gunner: Barley Hill,Tail gunner: George Bentley (9 Killed in Action); Waist gunner: Roger Hess (Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft KOd #2, crashed near Destedt, seven miles E of Brunswick, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 4247.
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 | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 42-31144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot, Pilot | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #42-31144, Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 447th Bomb Group
B-17G 42-31227 'Dottie Jane' was hit by flak on a mission to Klein Machnow, Berlin on 6 Mar 1944 but was able to return to base. RTD. Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 42-31144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
Military | Lieutenant | Bombardier | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
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 | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 447th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 April 1944 in B-17 #4231144. Killed in Action (KIA).
PH
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 | 29 April 1944 |
