Frank William Cranz

Military

media-33276.jpeg UPL 33276 Captain Frank W. Cranz D.F.C.

Family photograph

Object Number - UPL 33276 - Captain Frank W. Cranz D.F.C.

Frank was born in San Francisco in 1918, but grew up in Glendale, California (CA). He joined up in March 1942 and graduated as an Aviation Cadet from the Army Flying School at Victorville, California, in October. The crew he was to fly with for the next year was probably put together in Redmond, Oregon, in late February 1943 before they moved for training proper to Rapid City, South Dakota, in early March. After about a month of training in the "Sad Sack", Frank and his crew moved to Salina, Kansas, where they took charge of their own, brand-new B-17, which they christened "Sweaty Betty". They spent another month working with this new plane before they transferred to West Palm Beach, Florida, for their imminent departure overseas. On the 27th May, just four days before his 25th birthday, Frank piloted 'Betty' and her crew out from Morrison Field and headed south across the Caribbean to Natal in Brazil from where they would cross the Atlantic to Dakar in Senegal, finally arriving in Algeria on the 4th June where they joined the 342nd Squadron of the 97th Heavy Bombardment Group. To their great disappointment they were immediately relieved of their precious 'Betty', which was commandeered by another officer who out-ranked them! In its place they were given an ageing B-17 that had already completed over 75 missions - the "Berlin Sleeper II". However, when Frank and his crew completed their 23rd mission, this plane would become famous as the first B-17 to complete 100 missions - this despite the fact that on one mission she was to have two engines shot-out, leaving Frank to bring her home on her two remaining engines. Sometime in November, after about 35 missions, Scott Bascom was made the squadron navigator, and as squadron leader Frank was promoted to Captain. Frank would eventually complete his tour of 50 missions at the beginning of 1944 having fought in the Sicily, Naples-Foggia, and Rome-Arno Campaigns flying out of both North Africa and Italy. Captain Cranz finally returned Stateside arriving in Savannah, Georgia, in March 1944.

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Units served with

342nd Bomb Squadron

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

97th Bomb Group

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

Aircraft

41-24370

Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
Nicknames: Berlin sleeper ii

Revisions

Date12 Mar 2021 22:08:57

Contributorjmoore43

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Added a "-" to the S/N to aid clarity & consistency.

Date14 May 2018 15:20:09

Contributorpjthomas

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1. Military Record and Report of Separation, Certificate of Service: National Personnel Records Center, St Louis, MO.
2. "Brewmaster's bombardier & belly gunner" - ed. Joseph E. Fulton.
3. USAAF Nose Art Research Project - http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/plane.php?plane=sadsack25293#.Wva7VZpG3IU

Date14 May 2018 11:49:40

Contributorpjthomas

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Date13 May 2018 16:02:26

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Date13 May 2018 15:43:17

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Date13 May 2018 15:39:20

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Date13 May 2018 14:41:06

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Date13 May 2018 14:04:03

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Date13 May 2018 13:54:25

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Date13 May 2018 13:44:45

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Date12 May 2018 10:02:18

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Date10 May 2018 20:29:47

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