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B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 10/8/43; Gr Island 3/9/43; Assigned 336BS/95BG [ET-G] Horham 8/9/43; with L. Jeffers force-landed RAF Lissett 13/11/43; with Robert Currence force-landed Thorpe Abbotts 16/12/43. Missing in Action on its 19th mission, to Kiel, Germany on 5 January 1944. Pilot Robert B. Currence, Co-pilot Harry L. Hankins, Navigator Marvin B. Edwards, Bombardier: John F. Werner, Flight engineer/Top Turret gunner Louis Rabinowitz, Right Waist gunner John P. Campbell, Tail gunner/Assistant Engineer Leo J. Landy (7 Prisoner of War). Radio Operator: Theodore R. Woznicki, Ball Turret gunner Ray E. Davis (2 evaded capture). Left Waist gunner/Assistant Radio Operator James J. Kelleher (Killed in Action). Crashed Biesmerée, four miles SE of Florennes (about 40km SW of Namur), Belgium. Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 1686.
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...
Squadron
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 95th Bomb Group
Flew missions as a Radio Operator with the Leonard Jeffers crew in the second half of 1943. Flew in "Cuddle Cat (42-37734) , "Holy Terror" (42-30244) and "Flak Fed Gal" (Serial ?) - Completed tour.
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
John Campbell was Right Waist gunner on B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat", shot down 5 January 1944. Evaded capture with the help of Belgian citizens until his arrest on 5 February 1944. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat". Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Ray Davis was Ball Turret gunner on B-17 #42-37734 “Cuddle Cat”, shot down over Belgium on the 5 January 1944 mission to Elberfeld, Germany. Evaded capture with the help of Belgian citizens. Hidden in Marèdret, Surice, Vodelée, Soulme, and finally in a...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 10 October 1943 in B-17 #42-30272 'Fritz Blitz', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat". Initially evaded. Arrested on 30 January 1944. Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat". Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Left Waist Gunner/Assistant Radio Operator | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat". Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 #42-37734 "Cuddle Cat". Prisoner of War (POW).
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 95th Bomb Group
Louis Rabinowitz was Engineer/Top Turret gunner on B-17 #42-37734 “Cuddle Cat”, shot down over Belgium on the 5 January 1944 mission to Elberfeld, Germany. Wounded in both legs, he was helped by Belgian citizens and members of the Résistance. Hidden...
5 January 1944
This mission consists of five elements: The first element is a combined force of 131 B-17s are despatched by 1st Bomb Division: 92BG; 303BG; 305BG; 306BG; 379BG; 384BG; and 482BG to bomb the shipyards and industrial areas of Kiel, Germany. 119 are...
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....
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...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Biesmerée, Belgium | 5 January 1944 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 12 June 2020 14:42:00 | ED-BB | Changes to description, events and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
MACR 1686 |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:44 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 1686 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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