Robert F Sommer
Military
Re-uploading image added by user 'KChasteen' with correct orientation:
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/32051
Object Number - UPL 32533 - Robert Franklin Sommer, Staff Sergeant, Tail Gunner, 379th Bomb Group
Oranienburg, 10 April 1945 believed to have the top of the rudder shot off and seen going down under control. RTMC
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: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 377-23-808
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Corporal
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Bombardier, Enlisted, Nose Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Goo Goo
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Oregon, Missouri |
Revisions
War department flight records, certified by Captain William Chandler, indicate my father was a tail gunner.
My father's discharge records indicate the following:
Date of entry into active service (enlistment): 20th, January 1944
Date wounds received in action: 9th, April 1944 (Blankenship lists this as October 4th)
Date my father returned to the United States: 28th, May 1945
My father always stated that the B-17 "Goo Goo" was shot down in April. His record of what happened is as follows:
My father served with two crews
MACR 13874 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database
379th Bombardment Group Anthology, pg 341 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia
