Harry Collier McIntosh

Military
media-24209.png UPL 24209 2nd Lieutenant Harry McIntosh, 31 July 1943, Alconbury, England

Added photo

Object Number - UPL 24209 - 2nd Lieutenant Harry McIntosh, 31 July 1943, Alconbury, England

A graduate of Suffern High School, Harry McIntosh enlisted in the Air Corps in 1941. After receiving his Pilot wings, he was sent overseas and assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group / 407th Bomb Squadron. His son reports that he had been a pilot of another B-17 which got severely damaged in a previous bombing raid so it was un-operable. [NOTE : In a March 2001 telephone conversation with Harry McIntosh, Ruth Godwin, daughter of RWG Carl Ward, learned that McIntosh had flown on 17 previous missions on board a B-17 nicknamed “Lord Cesspool”. He said the name of that Fortress was changed later by the USAAF after remarks from the British who didn’t like it. In fact, according to July 1943 press articles, it was under pressure from visiting American dignitaries who had seen the plane near the entrance to a bomber base they were visiting and had raised their eyebrows… – Another article from the same period mentions McIntosh was in the “tail gunner” position (?) on board B-17 “Flagship” (# 42-29996 – 92/407 PY-R) on the 17 July 1943 mission to Hannover, Germany and that is the previous one he was on and mentioned above. They were on their way back from the target when, in the first of between 30 and 40 head-on attacks by German fighters, a 20 millimeter shell crashed through the nose knocking out the navigator, Lt. Lohnas H. Knapp and the pilot Captain Donald G. Parker, ruining the oxygen system on one side of the ship and starting a fire of oxygen and hydraulic fluid in the cockpit. Flying as Co-Pilot, Colonel William E. Buck Jr took over control of the plane, pulled Parker out of the fire and ultimately brought the stricken Fortress back to base, a feat that earned Buck the Distinguished Flying Cross. ] Harry McIntosh volunteered to go as a co-pilot on B-17 # 42-30726 with another crew than his own on the 14 October 1943 mission to Schweinfurt, Germany. This plane was also shot up and on fire pilot Webb and co-pilot McIntosh waited until the rest of the crew bailed out. By then the fire was big and when Harry McIntosh was in the cockpit preparing to bail out, the plane exploded at about 28,000ft. He was blown out of the Fortress and his hip was injured. He did not open his parachute being afraid that burning debris would fall on him and burn the chute. He waited and, miscalculating, opened his chute at the last moment, at just about 500 feet from the ground. He had a very hard landing and described it to his son as 'kissing my foot'; his legs were broken and almost touching his face. He had landed in a farm field and local Germans came out with pitch forks wanting to kill him. He spoke a bit of German (being Scottish-German) and stalled them until the German Army picked him up and brought him to the hospital. He was patched up medically and went to a Prisoner of War (POW) camp until the end of the war. Note : his page at NARA’s WWII POW database has him at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, Poland, from where he was “transferred to another camp”. Due to the rapid advance of Soviet troops, Stalag Luft 3 was evacuated at the end of January 1945 and the American prisoners there were force-marched South to Germany. The great majority ended up at Stalag 7A in Moosburg where they were liberated on 27 April 1945 by troops under Gen. Patton. His wife Jane was notified by the Red Cross 3 months after the crash that he was alive. Harry McIntosh ended his 30-year military career as a Lt Colonel in the Air Force. He had hip problems for the rest of his life and he died at the age of 89.

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 92nd Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 18040599 and O2044434
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 13038030 and O-660326
  • Highest Rank: Major
  • Role/Job: Bombardier
Headshot of man wearing military uniform and hat.
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 384th Bomb Group 92nd Bomb Group 325th Bomb Squadron Headquarters (384th Bomb Group)
  • Service Numbers: O-023072, •ASN amended to O-023072 on Station 106 SO# 113 dated 9 October 1943.
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
  • Role/Job: Squadron Commander, Deputy Group Commander, Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 32513804
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 38124471
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Gunner / Bombardier

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Flag ship
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 407th Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Tuxedo, New York State, United States 24 March 1918 the son of John James and Alice Collier McIntosh

Enlisted

New York City, New York, United States 29 August 1941 as a Private in the Air Corps

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Żagań, Poland 14 October 1943 Immediately captured upon landing in parachute near Kembach, Germany. NARA WWII POW records: "Interned at Stalag Luft 3, Sagan, Poland - returned to Military Control 1 June 1945". See Summary biography.

Died

Suffern, Rockland County, New York, United States 3 January 2007
Hillburn, Rockland County, New York, United States

Buried

Airmont Lutheran Cemetery, Suffern, New York, United States

Revisions

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

Added details obtained from Right Waist Gunner Carl Ward's daughter
Article about the 17 July 1943 mission to Hannover, Germany : https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/10750270/
Research on the Donald G. Parker crew

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 846
NARA WWII Enlistment Records
NARA WWII POW Records

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 846, son

Harry Collier McIntosh: Gallery (2 items)