Oscar G Flores
Military
UPL 76803
UPL 76803
Westrope Crew, 708th Squadron, 447th Bomb Group. Photo taken at Rattlesden. Standing in front of B-17 "Satchel Lass" (42-31185). Judging from the mission marks on the plane, this was taken after April-May 1944; probably autumn 1944. Satchel Lass crash-landed near Honington, England on September 9, 1944 and was repaired at Rattlesden and returned to combat duty. The presence of Sgt. Robert Orlosky, the crew chief for "Milk Wagon" (43-37756), which the Westrope crew flew for the last third of their combat tour, suggests that the photo was taken at the end of that tour in late October, 1944. Satchel Lass was simply a convenient backdrop.Back Row: Otto Moreland, Robert Westrope, Harold Motz, Warren Callahan, Oscar Flores; Front Row: Joseph Pfeiffer, Robert Orlosky, Edwin Wells, Harold Woods. Missing from photo and thus probably the photographer, Willard "Bill" Lawrence.
As far as has been determined, this crew never actually flew this aircraft. It is interesting that in contrast to the official crew photo taken before the Westrope crew left the US for England in which officers and enlisted men are in separate rows, in this photo officers and enlisted men are mixed together.
Cropped from image media-23690.jpeg (media id 24628)
Timothy Motz
Object Number - UPL 76803 - Westrope Crew, 708th Squadron, 447th Bomb Group. Photo taken at Rattlesden. Standing in front of B-17 "Satchel Lass" (42-31185). Judging from the...
Oscar Flores served as a waist gunner with the 708th Bomb Squadron of the 447th Bomb Group, flying bombing missions out of Rattlesden, England.
Connections
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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: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35652655
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade)
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
- Role/Job: Bombardier / Pilot / Comptroller
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 37536427
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Lower Ball Turret Gunner/Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-717475
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Due Back
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Blanco Diablo
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Swanee Pride
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Ground Pounder
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Shack Happy
- Unit: 447th Bomb Group 708th Bomb Squadron
Missions
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Memorial
- Known as: Rattlesden Control Tower
- Site type: Memorial
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Died |
Corpus Christi, TX, USA | 30 December 2002 | |
|
Born |
Revisions
Timothy Motz; from a mission list kept by Harold Motz, compared with Doyle Shields, "History of the 447th Bomb Group"
Likely birth and death dates added by Timothy Motz from obituary:
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Flores&GSfn=Oscar&GSb…;
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Unit History Roster, Enlisted Men, as of 01 August 1945
