42-37886 Blitzing Betsy
Blitzing Betsy
388th BG - 562nd BS
Code: U
Chris Brassfield
Object Number - UPL 6362 - B-17G-15-DL Blitzing Betsy 388th BG - 562nd BS Code: U
Delivered Denver 2/10/43; Gr Island 21/10/43; Assigned 562BS/388BG Knettishall 25/10/43; Missing in Action Berlin 6/3/44 with Lowell Watts captured by civilians, Co-pilot: Bob Kennedy, Navigator: Emmett Murphy, Bombardier: Ed Kelley, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe Ramsey, Radio Operator: Ivan Finkle (6 Prisoner of War); Ball turret gunner: Robert Sweeney, Waist gunner: Don Taylor, Waist gunner: Raymond Hess, Tail gunner: Harold A. Brassfield (4 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft attack, causing mid-air collision with #42-40054 (388BG), crashed near Zwartemeer, near Emmen, Hol. Missing Air Crew Report 3089. BLITZING BETSY. On the return from a mission to Klein Machnow, Berlin on 6 Mar 1944, B-17G #42-37886 Blitzin' Betsy was severely damaged by attacks from several FW190s causing it to collide with another 388th B-17, namely #42-40054, exploding in mid-air and crashing near Emmen, Holland. https://www.slodrenthe.nl/b-17g-flying-fortress-42-37886-blitzing-betsy/
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39178621
- Highest Rank: Master Sergeant (1st Grade)
- Role/Job: Crew Chief
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35447653
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (Technician Third Grade)
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-807969
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15382852
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (Technician Third Grade)
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-672780
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot/Pilot
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Missions
- Date: 6 March 1944
- Date: 4 March 1944
- Date: 3 March 1944
- Date: 2 March 1944
- Date: 25 February 1944
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Delivered |
Denver, CO, USA | 2 October 1943 | |
|
Assigned |
Knettishall, Diss, Suffolk IP22, UK | 25 October 1943 | 388th BG - 562nd BS |
|
Other First 388th BG Mission |
Bordeaux, France | 5 December 1943 | |
|
Other Failed to Return (FTR) |
Klazienaveen, Netherlands | 6 March 1944 | Attacked by FW 190's of JG11 over the German/Dutch border on return from Berlin. Though her gunners shot down two of the attackers, Blitzing Betsy was set afire with hits to the #3 engine and to the oxygen bottles under the flight deck. Out of control she collided with the aircraft flying above her (B-17 #42-40054), knocking the ball turret off of that ship and peeling the roof away from her own flight deck. Going into a spin, the pilot, Lowell Watts was just beginning to recover from the spin with the aircraft blew apart. |
Revisions
https://www.slodrenthe.nl/b-17g-flying-fortress-42-37886-blitzing-betsy/ --> website of foundation 'Stichting Luchtoorlog Onderzoek Drenthe' who placed a information panel near the crashlocation.
https://www.slodrenthe.nl/b-17g-flying-fortress-42-37886-blitzing-betsy/ --> website of foundation 'Stichting Luchtoorlog Onderzoek Drenthe' who placed a information panel near the crashlocation.
Added a space in the A/C “Description” for clarity.
Added a space in front of the words "Tail gunner" in the A/C “Description” for clarity.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / self, MACR 3089, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces,
href="http://www.388bg.info/servlet/Controller?pageType=detail&id=388-I-FIN04-...">http://www.388bg.info/servlet/Controller?pageType=detail&id=388-I-FIN04…;
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 3089 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database
