William R Cole | American Air Museum

William R Cole Jr

Military

Shot down 11 April 1944 in B-17 #42-39847 'Battlin' Betty'. Prisoner of War (POW).

Connections

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Units served with

401st Bomb Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

614th Bomb Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

42-39847

Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
Nicknames: Battlin Betty
Unit: 401st Bomb Group 614th Bomb Squadron

Places

Bomber crews from the 401st Bomb Group look over P-51 Mustang, FT-T, serial number 43-12172, of the 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, at Deenethorpe airfield. One of their B-17 Flying Fortresses is in the background. Printed caption on reverse of print: '...401st Bomb Group look over a North American P-51 Mustang at an 8th Air Force base in England, 27 December 1943.'

Deenethorpe

Site type: Airfield
Known as: Benefield

Events

Event	Location	Date	Description
Other Prisoner of War (POW)	Germany	11 April 1944	Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang Prussia 54-12
Born	Montgomery, Alabama

Event

Location

Date

Description

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Germany

11 April 1944

Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang Prussia 54-12

Born

Montgomery, Alabama

Revisions

Date24 Jan 2020 22:45:53

Contributorjmoore43

Changes

Sources

Added a "-" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" for clarity. Added a POW event.
Added S/N and POW camp information from WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).

Date27 Sep 2014 18:28:37

ContributorAAM

Changes

Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Flak Dodger by Roland Byers; MACR 4016