William Amos Whitcomb | American Air Museum in Britain

S/Sgt William A Whitcomb, 334BS, 95BG

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Bill Thomas crew, 334BS, 95BG. Rear L-R: William Prochaska (B), William K Thomas (P), James B Stapleton (CP), Collis Haynes (N). Front L-R: William Whitcomb (TG), Floyd Thompson (BTG), Rex Neely (TTG), Guy Tice (WG),

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Back row from left; Prochaska, W K Thomas, Stapleton, Haynes Front Row from left; Whitcomb, Thompson, Neely, Tice and Cameron

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Assigned to 334BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. Bill Thomas crew. 23 x combat missions.

7-Apr-43, B-17 42-3090 'Taint-a-bird' force landed near Clonakilty, County Cork Ireland. Crew was safe. RTD

B-17 42-3267 ditched in Bay of Biscay out of fuel 28-Jun-43. All on board returned. RTD

Shot down 29-Nov-43 in B-17 42-6039 'Wildfire', Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 1560

Awards: AM (OLC), POW, WWII Victory, EAME (2 x Battle Stars).

Service

People

Leslie Palmer

Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 29 November 1943 in B-17 #42-6039, Prisoner of War (POW). POW
William Thomas

Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Assigned to 334BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. 27 x combat missions. ...

Units served with

95th Bomb Group

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...
334th Bomb Squadron

Squadron

Aircraft

42-29787 'Wilder Nell II'

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 18/2/43; Salina 5/3/43; Gulfport 31/3/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-F] Alconbury 15/4/43; Framlingham 12/5/43; Horham 15/6/43; 3m, transferred 326BS/92BG [JW- ] Alconbury 6/8/43, the transferred 525BS/379BG [FR-E] Kimbolton 4/9/43;...
42-30219

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 30/4/43; Smoky Hill 12/5/43; Bangor 6/6/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-J] Horham 15/6/43; 6m, battle damaged Oschersleben 28/7/43 with Bill Thomas, rest unknown (7 Returned to Duty); Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Carl Cameron,...
42-30300 'Hell N Back'

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 11/5/43; Gore 24/5/43; Smoky Hill 25/5/43; Kearney 27/5/43; Dow Fd 2/6/43; Assigned 303BG Molesworth 16/6/43; transferred 334BS/95BG [BG-C] Horham 17/6/43; with E.L. Lemke force landed RAF St Eval 28/6/43; 15m, Missing in Action...
42-3090 'T'aint A Bird'

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 6/2/43; en route to UK aircraft force landed Clonakilty, N. Ireland 7/4/43 with Bill Thomas, Co-pilot: Jim Stapleton, Navigator: Bill Prochaska, Bombardier: Collis Hayes, Ball turret gunner: Floyd Thompson frost-bitten feet, Radio...
42-3267 'Harley Charley'

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 15/4/43; Dow Fd 28/5/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-A] Framlingham 28/5/43; Horham 15/6/43; (2m) Missing in Action St Nazaire 28/6/43 with Bill Thomas, Co-pilot: Jim Stapleton, Navigator: Collis Haynes, Bombardier: Bill Prochaska, Flight...
42-5445 T'aint A Bird/Lee L

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 10/12/42; Sioux City 8/1/43; Rapid City 2/2/43; Minneapolis 19/3/43; Ephrata 12/4/43; Spokane 3/5/43; 390BG crash landed Moses Lake 26/7/43 with Lionel Coon; Written off 20/8/43.
42-6039 'Blondie III'

B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Long Beach 30/6/43; Amarillo 18/7/43; Dallas 9/8/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-H] Horham 14/10/43; 5m, Missing in Action 29/11/43 with Les Palmer, Co-pilot: Ray Grass, Bombardier: Joe Kolar, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe Wilbert, Radio...

Missions

VIII Bomber Command 78

28 July 1943
The German aircraft industry at Kassel (Fieseler works) and Oscherleben, Germany are the primary targets of this mission. 182 B-17s from: 91BG (20); 92BG (17); 303BG (20); 305BG (21); 306BG (24); 351BG (21); 379BG (19); 381BG (20); and 384BG (20) are...

Associated Place

Horham

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....
Stalag XVII-B

Other location
Dulag Luft 12

Other location

Events

Event	Location	Date
Born	Mecosta, MI	4 February 1915
Son of Lena Whitcomb.
Enlisted	Kalamazoo, MI	20 June 1942
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Based	Horham	1943 – 29 November 1943
Assigned to 334BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF.
Prisoner of War (POW)	Krems an der Donau, Austria	29 November 1943 – May 1945
Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag XVIIb.
Baled out POW	SE of Friesoythe, Germany	29 November 1943
Shot down 29-Nov-43 in B-17 42-6039 'Wildfire', Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 1560
Died		27 June 1966
Buried	Maple Hill Cemetery Charlotte, Eaton County, MI	July 1966
Maple Hill Cemetery Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan

Date	Contributor	Update
26 July 2021 19:17:38	Al_Skiff	Changes to middlename, service number, biography, awards, events, person associations, unit associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations
Sources
https://www.fold3.com/image/659614198 https://www.fold3.com/record/89521895/william-a-whitcomb-wwii-army-enlis... https://95thbg.mmsw.eu/person/7084 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61267668/william-a-whitcomb
Date	Contributor	Update
08 January 2021 22:43:13	jmoore43	Changes to biography
Sources
Added a "-" to the A/C tail # in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Date	Contributor	Update
08 January 2021 22:42:14	jmoore43	Changes to biography
Sources
Added a "-" to the A/C type in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Date	Contributor	Update
27 September 2014 18:27:41	AAM	AAM ingest
Sources
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 1560 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Roll of Honor; MACR 1560, Losses of the 8th and 9th AFs Vol. 1 by Bishop and Hey pp. 101, 169, 391