8th Air Force
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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42-3307
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 27-May-43; Dow Field, Bangor, Maine 4-Jub-43; Assigned 351BS/100BG [EP-N] Thorpe Abbotts 9-Jun-43; on takeoff for Frankfurt the aircraft dove down to miss another aircraft during assembly and could not recover and was crash landed near base at High London Farm, Shelfhanger, Nfk, setting off incendiaries which demolished ship. Salvaged 25-Jan-44. SKIPPER. Aircraft was Damaged Beyond Repair (DBR) 1KIA 9RTD Survivors all had minor injuries.
CREW
P Archie J. Drummond (RTD); CP 2LT Claude E. Schindler (RTD)
N 2LT Frank J. McGuire (RTD); B 2LT Maurice G. Zetlan (KOM)
E/TTG TSGT Sidney A. Cary (RTD); RO TSGT Talbert E. Spenhoff (RTD)
BTG SSGT John P. Pendleton (RTD); LWG SGT Steven M. Szekley (RTD)
RWG SSGT Guthrie H. Head (RTD); TG Nocholas Petrovich (RTD)
Service
Units
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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... -
351st Bomb Group
Group
The 351st Bomb Group flew strategic bombing missions from their base at Polebrook, Northamptonshire from April 1943 to June 1945. The Group's most famous member was Hollywood actor Clark Gable, who flew four/ five missions with them as an observer...
People
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Sidney Cary
Military | Technical Sergeant | Engineer
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. Earlier 27 December 1943 accident upon landing B-17#42-3474 ÒKing BeeÓ during formation training flight.... -
Dewey Christopher
Military | Master Sergeant (1st Grade) | Crew Chief | 100th Bomb Group
Dewey R Christopher was original cadre 100th, arriving with the bulk of the group at Thorpe Abbotts in May 1943. He was Crew Chief on Skipper, Skipper II, Humpty Dumpty, a Pathfinder aircraft, and finally, Humpty Dumpty II. He flew the second Russian... -
Arch Drummond
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. -
Guthrie Head
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. Earlier, 27 December 1943 accident upon landing B-17#42-3474 ÒKing BeeÓ during formation training flight.... -
Frank McGuire
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. Earlier 27 December 1943 accident upon landing B-17#42-3474 ÒKing BeeÓ during formation training flight.... -
Nicholas Perovigh
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. Earlier, 27 December 1943 accident upon landing B-17#42-3474 ÒKing BeeÓ during formation training flight.... -
Claude Schindler
Military | First Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
27-Dec-43 accident upon landing B-17 42-3474 'King Bee' during formation training flight. All returned (RTD). ... -
Talbert Spenhoff
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. ... -
Steven Szekely
Military | Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner
Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24 Jan 1944, B-17F #42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. WIA. -
Maurice Zetlan
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 100th Bomb Group
Assigned to 351BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Shortly after take off on mission to Eschweiler on 24-Jan-44, B-17F 42-3307 'Skipper' crashed to avoid a mid-air collision at low level. When A/C struck barn, he was ejected through the plexiglass nose and died of...
Missions
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VIII Bomber Command 191
24 January 1944
The primary target of this mission was the Zukunft power station at Eschweilier, Germany. The mision was composed of 563 bombers three elements from 1BD, 2BD and 3BD. The despatch from 2BD was recalled due to weather before it could take off. Mission...
Places
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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... -
United Airlines Modification Center
Other location
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
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| Manufactured | Long Beach, CA, USA | 1943 |
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Built at Douglas. |
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| Delivered | 722, 6207 Missile Dr, Cheyenne, WY 82005, USA | 27 May 1943 |
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Delivered Cheyenne AAF 27-May-43. |
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| Assigned | Thorpe Abbotts, Diss IP21 4JA, UK | 9 July 1943 |
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Assigned 351BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Crashed | Shelfanger, Diss IP22 2EQ, UK | 25 January 1944 |
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Crash landed Shelfhanger, Norfolk after avoiding mid air collision 25-Jan-44 9 x RTD, 1 x KIA. A/C DBR. |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 26 June 2018 23:55:31 | RayWells | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
x |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 09 December 2017 17:49:38 | Al_Skiff | Changes to description, events, unit associations and person associations |
| Sources | ||
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbasn.asp?SN=42-3307&Submit4=Go |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 12 January 2016 23:15:22 | Lee8thbuff | Changes to production block number, manufacturer, nicknames, markings, description, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Lee Cunningham 12-Jan-2016. Converted dates to USAAF military-style signification; made connections to Unit, Place, and Mission, Added Block number and Coding, Added crew position, rank, full proper name and disposition of all crew memembers and formatted crew disply per "Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces" Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:43 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log |
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