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42-31903

B-17 Flying Fortress

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Delivered Denver 3/1/44; Kearney 30/1/44; Grenier 18/2/44; Assigned 350BS/100BG [LN-T] Thorpe Abbotts 23/2/44; Missing in Action Merseburg 29/7/44 with Eden Jones, Co-pilot: Bob Ries, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Jim Eadie, Radio Operator: Leo Griffin, Ball turret gunner: Harry Prince (5 Killed in Action); Navigator: Albert Fincher, Bombardier: Cordy Ramer, Waist gunner: Frank Moran, Tail gunner: Jerry Cassell (4 Prisoner of War); enemy aircraft, crashed Wulfingerode, W of Nordhausen, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 7811. (npo) HARD LUCK II.

Service

Units

  • 100th Bomb Group

    100th Bomb Group

    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...

  • 350th Bomb Squadron

    350th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

People

  • Earl Benham

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Van Steenis crew. Flew on B-17 "Hard Luck" and 'Hard Luck II', 28 x combat missions. Earl later wrote up his wartime experience in the book 'With Crew 13' Awards: AM (3OLC), WWII Victory, EAME.

  • Edward Butchino

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Van Steenis crew. 28 x combat missions. ETD Awards: AM (3OLC), WWII Victory, EAME.

  • Jerry Cassell

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Tail Gunner
    Shot down 29 July 1944 in AC #4231903. Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Joseph Clouthier

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Van Steenis crew, replaced S/Sgt Yarnall (WIA) after Posen mission. ETD Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME.

  • James Eadie

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner
    Shot down by fighters and crashed at Wuelfingerode in B-17 #42-31903, Killed in Action (KIA).

  • Albert Fincher

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
    Prisoner of War (POW) Shot down by fighters and crashed at Wuelfingerode on 7/29/44 in B-17 34231903

  • Magee Fuller

    Military | Lieutenant Colonel | Command Pilot / Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    Major Fuller was Command Pilot on this 20-Jul-44 mission to Merseburg, Germany, on board B-17 42-97564. Shot down by flak and force-landed near Chaam, Holland. Captured and made Prisoner of War (POW). Was the last of the original Bloody 100th to be...

  • Robert Goodman

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Van Steenis crew. 28 x combat missions. ETD Awards: DFC, AM (3OLC), WWII Victory, EAME..

  • Leo Griffin

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator
    Killed in Action (KIA) Shot down by fighters and crashed at Wuelfingerode in B-17 #4231903

  • Archie Holladay

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner; Flight Engineer | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Van Steenis crew. 28 x combat missions. ETD Awards: DFC, AM (3OLC), WWII Victory, EAME (1 battle star).

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Places

  • Thorpe Abbotts

    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...

Events

Event Location Date
Failed to Return (FTR) Merseburg, Germany 29 July 1944
Crashed Wülfingerode, 99759 Sollstedt, Germany 29 July 1944
Nicknames
Hard Luck II
Production block number
G-30-BO
Manufacturer
Boeing
Markings and paint scheme/livery

The associated image is more characteristic of a Douglas, Long Beach delivery. Note the height of the underside reaches the panel line, while typically the Seattle procedure is lower, and the data block stencil is more forward than standard Boeing position under the third window. Moreover, Seattle was using data block format decals in this era, and that is not the case in this image.

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
09 February 2020 14:29:08 phil marchese Changes to production block number
Sources

Typo
Date Contributor Update
01 January 2020 18:23:37 phil marchese Changes to production block number and markings
Sources

Marchese, Flying Fortress 1936 1945
Date Contributor Update
13 March 2018 00:56:36 Wojo Changes to media associations
Sources

Personal effects of Jerry Cassell
Date Contributor Update
13 March 2018 00:19:58 Wojo Changes to media associations
Sources

Personal Effects of Jerry Cassell
Date Contributor Update
07 March 2018 10:03:54 Lucy May Changes to description and events
Sources

Added locations to events from information in biography field.
Date Contributor Update
07 March 2018 02:53:47 Wojo Changes to person associations
Sources

War records of Jerry Cassell
Date Contributor Update
05 March 2018 16:00:18 Wojo Changes to nicknames and person associations
Sources

Military records of Jerry R. Cassell.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:40:41 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 7811 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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