Military
"A crew of the 379th Bomb Group poses beside a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" "Peter Wabbit" at an 8th Air Force base in England, 24 July 1943."
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 10 x combat missions. Flew Kassel raid 28-Jul-43, lost control cables on B-17 42-29974 by flak damage.
Crash landed in B-17 42-5822 at Norfolk RAF base returning crew with 4 crew members wounded.
Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid in B-17 42-29830 'Peter Wabbit' 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350.
Awards: AM (3OLC), PH.
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 379th Bomb Group
Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. 18 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 1350
Award: Purple Heart
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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Group
The 379th Bomb Group (H) (heavy), based at Kimbolton, flew more sorties than any other Bomb Group in the Eighth Air Force and dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other Group. The B-17 Flying Fortress Group was awarded two Distinguished Unit...
Squadron
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 23/2/43; Sioux City 20/3/43; Kearney 8/4/43; Dow Fd 15/4/43; Assigned 525BS/379BG [FR-A] Kimbolton; then 524BS [WA-T]; Missing in Action Schweinfurt 17/8/43 with Erwalt Wagner, Co-pilot: Bill Barnard, Navigator: Joe Hilderbrand,...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 4/3/43; Sioux City 20/3/43; Kearney 8/4/43; Dow Fd 15/4/43; Assigned 524BS/379BG [WA-N] Kimbolton 22/4/43; returned Osnabruck 22/12/43 with Ken Davis, Co-pilot: Chas Fowler, Navigator: Paul Clark, Bombardier: Stan Dolgin, Flight...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Denver 20/3/43; Romulus 10/4/43; Assigned 367BS/306BG [GY-L] Thurleigh 19/4/43; battle damaged Kassel 28/7/43, with Larry Kooima, Co-pilot: Frank Crawford, Navigator: Don Berkey inj in crash, Bombardier: Chas Cressey, Flight engineer/top...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Long Beach 27/2/43; Cheyenne 4/3/43; Gore Fd 18/3/43; Kearney 8/4/43; Dow Fd 16/4/43; Assigned 525BS/379BG [FR-G] Kimbolton 21/4/43; battle damaged Kassel 28/7/43 with Kermit Wooldridge, Co-pilot: Don Herrin, Navigator: Bill Cook, Bombardier:...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Long Beach 6/3/43; Sioux City 20/3/43; Kearney 9/4/43; Dow Fd 15/4/43; Assigned 524BS/379BG [WA-T] Kimbolton 20/5/43 AL JO-SON; transferred 2 Base Air Depot, Lt Staughton 4/4/44; Returned to the USA Homestead 26/7/44; Tinker 1/9/44;...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 5/1/45; Hunter 12/1/45; Grenier 7/2/45; Assigned 526BS/379BG H2X Kimbolton 21/2/45; mid air coll with 44-8198 over Braintree, Ex, UK 10/5/45 with Elliott Porter; Salvaged 11/5/45.
17 August 1943
The mission flown on 17-Aug-43, the 1st anniversary of the 1st mission flown by the 8th Air Force, is probably the most written about mission of the war. This is the famous Schweinfurt/Regensburg mission on which 60 B-17s are lost. It has been dubbed ...
Military site : airfield
Planned for RAF use, Kimbolton airfield was built by W and C French Ltd. in 1941. The airfield was increased in size to accommodate a full US heavy Bomb Group, and the first such unit to us it was the 91st Bomb Group, who arrived in September 1942....
| Event | Location | Date |
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| Born | Seymour, Texas, USA | 18 July 1913 |
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Dr George Wesley and Georgia Lee [Johnson] Andruss |
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| Enlisted | Sheppard Field, Witchita Falls, TX | 23 January 1942 |
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Sheppard Field, |
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| Based | Kimbolton | 1943 – 17 August 1943 |
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Assigned to 525BS, 379BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Died | Dorrebach, Germany | 17 August 1943 |
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Failed to Return (FTR) Schweinfurt raid in B-17 42-29830 'Peter Wabbit' 17-Aug-43. Shot down by enemy aircraft, crashed Dorrebach, 6 miles W of Bingen, Germany KIA MACR 1350 |
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| Buried | Dorrebach, Germany | 18 August 1943 |
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Interred |
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| Buried | Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial | 1946 |
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Re-Interred |
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| Buried | Masonic Cemetery Seymour, Baylor County, TX | 1948 |
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Memorialised |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 01 September 2021 15:12:36 | Al_Skiff | Changes to biography and events |
| Sources | ||
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56652278/eldred-jerome-andruss |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 August 2021 18:21:19 | jmoore43 | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Added punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid readability. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 30 April 2021 09:46:55 | Al_Skiff | Changes to biography and events |
| Sources | ||
Removed # from A/C serial No. to aid clarity and consistency |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 29 April 2021 20:02:39 | jmoore43 | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Added punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 14 February 2021 11:20:42 | Al_Skiff | Changes to biography and events |
| Sources | ||
Removed # from A/C serial No. to aid clarity and consistency |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 16 March 2020 17:13:22 | jmoore43 | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Added a "#" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 02 August 2019 16:42:46 | Al_Skiff | Changes to middlename, role, biography, awards, events, unit associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
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https://www.fold3.com/image/625450118 |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:08:48 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 1350 / MACR 1350, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol I by Bishop & Hey p. 204, ABMC / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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