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Charles P Kopriva

Military

  • Lead crew on bombing mission to Wesseling, Germany, beside Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 44-8038. 427th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group. England, 11 October 1944.

    Lead crew on bombing mission to Wesseling, Germany, beside Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 44-8038. 427th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group. England, 11 October 1944.

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Assigned to 427BS, 303BG, 8AF USAAF. 30 x missions. Ended Tour Duty (ETD).

Awards: WWII Victory, EAME.

Service

People

  • William Flesh

    Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 303rd Bomb Group

  • Selwyn Flowers

    Military | Captain | Bomber pilot | 303rd Bomb Group

  • Richard Healy

    Military | Captain | Pilot | 303rd Bomb Group
    RTD

  • Robert Sheets

    Military | Major | Pilot / Squadron Commanding Officer | 303rd Bomb Group
    Major Sheets joined the 427th Squadron in October, 1943, as a 2nd Lt. Because of his flying ability he soon became outstanding and it wasn't long before he was leading the squadron and then the group formations on missions. When Lt. Col. Edgar E....

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Units served with

  • 8th Air Force

    8th Air Force


    Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. ...

  • 303rd Bomb Group

    303rd Bomb Group

    Group
    The 303rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated on 3-Feb-1942 at Pendleton Field, Oregon. They assembled at Gowen Field, Idaho on 11-February 1942 where it conducted flight training until 12-Jun-1942. The Group then moved to Alamogordo Field, New...

  • 427th Bomb Squadron

    427th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

Aircraft

  • 42-97281 'Queenie'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Cheyenne 12/2/44; Dalhart 2/3/44; Kearney 25/3/44; Grenier 26/3/44; Assigned 427BU/303BG [GN-Q] Molesworth 12/4/44; battle damaged Berlin 28/3/45 with Forrest Miller, crash landed Sandwich, Kent, UK; Salvaged 2 SAD 31/3/45. QUEENIE.

  • 42-97311 'SILVER FOX', 'SHOO SHOO BABY'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Cheyenne 17/2/44; Rapid City 5/3/44; Dow Fd 28/4/44; Assigned 398BG Nuthampstead 1/5/44; no ops, transferred 427BS/303BG [GN-O] Molesworth 13/5/44; 457BG Glatton 22/4/45; 351BG Polebrook 29/5/45; on mission to Brux 12/9/44 with ? . Tail...

  • 42-97691

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Denver 28/1/44; 1SAG Langley 11/3/44; Dow Fd 17/5/44; Assigned 803BS/305BG RCM Chelveston 19/5/44; transferred 384BG Grafton Underwood 1/8/44; transferred 427BS/303BG [GN-Y] Molesworth 4/8/44; sent to 803BS Alconbury for installation of...

  • 43-37597 'Earthquake McGoon'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Cheyenne 2/5/44; Hunter 16/5/44; Dow Fd 29/5/44; Assigned 427BS/303BG [GN-G] Molesworth 7/7/44; Missing in Action Dresden 17/4/45 with Tom Kahler, Theo Smith (2 Killed in Action); Lew Cotton, Dick Bowler, Dick Fogarty, Lloyd Lowery, Leslie...

  • 44-8038

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Tulsa 17/5/44; Dallas 14/6/44; Langley 3/7/44; Grenier 1/8/44; Assigned 322BS/91BG Bassingbourn 2/8/44; transferred 427BS/303BG [GN-Z] Molesworth 10/44; landing accident with Wallace Wildstein 27/3/45; Salvaged 9AF Germany 23/5/46.

  • 44-8238

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Dallas 19/7/44; Hunter 23/8/44; Grenier 2/9/44; Assigned 358BS/303BG [VK-Y] Molesworth 3/10/44; landing accident with Sam Taylor 5/5/45, Salvaged 6/5/45.

  • 44-8351

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Dallas 18/8/44; Langley 2/9/44; Grenier 19/9/44; Assigned 358BS/303BG [VK-Z] Molesworth 2/11/44; transferred 544BS/384BG [SU-P] Grafton Underwood 10/5/45; Salvaged 9AF Germany 30/12/45.

Missions

  • 628

    13 September 1944

  • 672

    11 October 1944
    Black Week

Associated Place

  • Molesworth

    Military site : airfield
    Molesworth was one of the early stations used by the Eighth Air Force in the UK, first occupied by the 15th Bomb Squadron’s Douglas Bostons in June 1942. Built in 1940 and extended and improved in 1942, Molesworth is most associated with the 303rd...

  • Arlington National Cemetery

    Cemetery

Events

Event Location Date
Born Beaver County, PA, USA 3 October 1923
Enlisted Pittsburgh, PA, USA 12 June 1942
Based Molesworth July 1944 – 3 February 1945

Assigned to 427BS, 303BG, 8AF USAAF.
End Tour Duty (ETD) England, UK 3 February 1945

Ended Tour Duty (ETD).
Died 5 May 1964
Buried 8 May 1964

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington
Arlington County
Virginia, USA
Nationality
American
Nickname
Not yet known
Service numbers
13086423
Highest rank
Staff Sergeant
Role/job
Radio Operator
Awards
  • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
  • World War II Victory Medal

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
07 March 2017 14:05:20 Al_Skiff Changes to biography, awards, events, person associations, unit associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations
Sources

https://www.fold3.com/image/161248857/?terms=44-8038
https://www.fold3.com/page/83796083_charles_p%20kopriva/details/
http://www.303rdbg.com/lc242.html
http://stichting-mia.nl/index.php/nl/adoptie/stichting-m-i-a/truman-r-lo...
http://stichting-mia.nl/index.php/nl/component/content/category/9-adoptie
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124984647
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:05:52 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / http://303rdbg.com/rost-kl.html#K

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