42-31097 Mission Belle

Delivered Cheyenne 20/9/43; Gt Falls 12/10/43; Scott 18/11/43; assigned 401BG Deenethorpe 19/11/43; transferred 535BS/381BG Ridgewell 21/11/43;



Missing in Action (1st mission for this aircraft) Leverkusen 1/12/43 with Pilot Harland V. Sunde (KIA - body recovered 12/6/44); Ball turret gunner: Doyle C. McCutchen (KIA; body recovered from river 30/5/44); Tail gunner: John F. Healey (KIA). Co-pilot: James W. Sweaney; Navigator: Roger G. Christensen; Bombardier: O.D. Tully; Flight engineer/top turret gunner: William P. England; Radio Operator: Claudio Carano; Right Waist gunner: Charles J. Culver; Left Waist gunner: Carlton A. Josephson (those 7 Prisoner of War).



Hit by flak, left formation a few minutes before hitting the target and was attacked by fighters. Ditched in River Lek between Streefkerk and Nieuw-Lekkerland, Holland.



All wounded, except Co-Pilot Sweaney. Ball Turret gunner McCutchen was killed by MG fire in the radio room. Tail gunner John Healy was last seen slumped on his gun. He had reportedly asked to let him stay there. According to the testimony of a crew member, when the aircraft was ditched, having only one serviceable dinghy, Lt Sunde refused to use it (probably so as not to overload it) and tried to swim to shore, but he drowned before that crewman could reach him. See Missing Air Crew Report 1661.



Read more about this aircraft and its crew on John Heuvelman's informative website: http://hazy.home.xs4all.nl/MissionBelle.html



Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

The insignia of the 381st Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 32410832
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator / Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 17065322 and O-739541
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 381st Bomb Group 534th Bomb Squadron 535th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 35722592
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: waist gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 38168075
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner; Flight Engineer
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 32335119
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Tail Gunner

Places

Missions

Events

Event Location Date Description

Crashed

Nieuw-Lekkerland, Holland, The Netherlands 1 December 1943

Other

Failed to Return (FTR)

Leverkusen, Germany 1 December 1943

Revisions

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Date
ContributorARowe95
Changes
Sources

ARowe95

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

Changes to punctuation and spaces in Biography.
Corrected some names of crew.

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 1661
Freeman's "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story"
Corrected some crew members' names in the Description

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 1661 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database